Discuss the fun task of marketing a t-shirt shop. Where to advertise, link building, word of mouth, press releases, search engine marketing, keyword advertising, magazines, etc.
I have been doing shirts for a while, but I have no brand registered yet. I know I NEED to. I have played with different brand names to see what I like, but I always end up changing it (it is like I'm experimenting).
Recently a problem emerged. I have 2 kinds of designs:
1. Funny/Offensive text shirts (sometimes graphics + text)
2. Fashion/Night Club kind of shirts (with vibrant color combinations and eye catching designs).
The problem is that I dont know if I should have one brand for them all or if I should have them separated. I dont know if I want to have them together. I dont know what effect can the Funny/Offensive shirts have over the Fashion/Night Club shirts as they are 2 way different markets.
Is there anybody else with this problem? How did you solve it? What do you guys think is better?
Tough call, because I'd consider those markets with a highly interconnected demographic. If they were a little more different or a little more the same it would be easier
I think it would come down to what the two lines were doing more specifically. In general I think those two may or may not be compatible. My gut says one line in this case though.
This is a pretty hard question to answer without seeing the designs themselves. It could be that they interconnect well and could be branded and marketed together. They also could be very different and need very different marketing schemes. Without seeing the designs, it is hard to make that determination.
My gut would say that the designs you described would require very different marketing schemes to make them successful and so should be separate brands. Without more information I can't really make a more definitive judgment.
I think these are similar enough that you can do one brand with two collections. You can do a different branding look for each collection.
It's not just what you're offering, but who you are offering to - your market - that is important. To me it seems like both those products would appeal to the same market.
I think 2 brands gives you more options. There is nothing stopping you of having 2 individual sites, or 1 site selling both. Links to both could be applied if you go the individual site direction. Just my opinion if you're taking it to the web.
I'd do 2 different brands. I had the same problem where I am designing for swim teams and such but my actual clothing line is more urban. Rather than doing two businesses, I made a design creative using the name of my company that houses the designing for swim teams and holds my tshirts while keeping the name. That would be one way to go, but it all depends on who is buying and how you want to expose yourself. For me, it was a great idea.
I have been doing shirts for a while, but I have no brand registered yet. I know I NEED to. I have played with different brand names to see what I like, but I always end up changing it (it is like I'm experimenting).
Recently a problem emerged. I have 2 kinds of designs:
1. Funny/Offensive text shirts (sometimes graphics + text)
2. Fashion/Night Club kind of shirts (with vibrant color combinations and eye catching designs).
The problem is that I dont know if I should have one brand for them all or if I should have them separated. I dont know if I want to have them together. I dont know what effect can the Funny/Offensive shirts have over the Fashion/Night Club shirts as they are 2 way different markets.
Is there anybody else with this problem? How did you solve it? What do you guys think is better?
Please vote and comment.
Thank you
Joe
Jeez..I thought i was the only one with this problem.I have 2 brands as well and still can't decide on what to do. Well goodluck on whatever you decide to do.
I believe 2 brands will be better. It's two different markets that you are targeting and i find that it's better to segregate the two markets so that marketing will be more effective geared towards the specific market.
Think about big corporations, they usually have a company register as a corp. but have different small companies dedicated to different things who report to the big daddy.
You can always manage your two brands under one company, just find out with the Secretary of State in your area about registering a corporation if you are thinking about being BIG.
I would definitely separate the 2 and look toward creating a single site that would sale both (possibly a third brand) that would be marketed on all of the marketing material for both. That would allow you to pick up any crossover clientele in future marketing (more specifically email marketing)
This would also allow you to market the site that sells the shirts to market both brands of shirts and allow you to later introduce additional brands, lines and/or types of shirts without risk of tarnishing your brand image.
One brand or Two brands? 
