Discuss the fun task of marketing a t-shirt shop. Where to advertise, local marketing tips, word of mouth, press releases, search engine marketing, keyword advertising, magazines, etc.
What's the best way to distribute flyers?
What method have you used and how did it work out?
I go walking for 4 miles at a time for exercise, so I'm thinking of printing a map and putting a flyer on every house that I can in my area. Anybody try that? Did it boost your sales much?
What's the best way to distribute flyers?
What method have you used and how did it work out?
I go walking for 4 miles at a time for exercise, so I'm thinking of printing a map and putting a flyer on every house that I can in my area. Anybody try that? Did it boost your sales much?
I did this for a local non-profit that I am a part of when we launched.
Rather than flyers we ordered in 15,000 door hangers and sold the back 1/3 of the door hanger as an advertisement to a local car dealership to pay for the printing. We organized a team of about 20 volunteers and were able to hit about 1000 houses in 2-3 hours - residential areas.
The door hanger was printed in bulk and remains a consistent marketing piece. Each month or each time we go out, we staple the latest menu or in your case the latest t-shirt design or whatever to the back of the door hanger with an order form that can be mailed in.
We combined this with a newspaper article and some road signs and our program launched with great success for little money.
Get some High School Kids to do it, they work cheap and do a good job if its the right kids, contact the High School football coach and ask him if he has any kids that want to make money.
John
I was thinking just about the same Richard, I printed out 5,00o flyers with the info of my business but I was wondering how to put them out there and be efficient, maybe the houses itself may not work, but maybe different business in your community or your near vicinity; I don't know, i need help like you richard!!! Good luck!!!
I guess it would depend on your target market. If you are selling to the general public then door to door may work, if you are targeting wholesale orders then making appointments with business and organizations may be the better option.
I would also ask apartment communities if you could hang flyers on their bulletin boards if they have them near their mailboxes. Most grocery stores and some other businesses also have bulletin boards that you could place flyers on.
Another person posted an idea of having your flyers have the tear off tags on them and place them near colleges.
Also ask friends and family members to place flyers in break rooms at their employment.
Well, in my case i'm promoting both, I'm working with a friend who is in the Marketing Industry, and boy!!! he really brought my ideas down to earth. But we are working in the services only; I still need to work in my individual products.
Since you are in the printing business, i suggest that you go to all of the local sports teams member sign ups, get to know ALL of the coaches..When my dad did work for the P.A.L. softball league, i noticed that they always used whoever they knew in order to print the shirts.. those types of organizations dont always want to mail order from some big box company.. HOWEVER high school teams always purchase from the same place because the school board needs to approve the purchase.. but dont give up on high schools.. In high school, there are various clubs and organizations that want some t-shirts, but they arent an official uniform.
You should get in with some of the teachers at the local schools. Let them know that you can give them a deal if it is for a school organization. You dont have to make it HUGE, but anything is better than nothing. Offer some type of price matching for your competition. Try to set up actual MEETINGS when you talk to the orgnaization leaders..
Also, dont give up on sports teams.. Even though they have their uniforms covered, they ALWAYS purchase "in school" team shirts or hoodies. Items to wear in school that have their number and name btu arent the actual uniform.. and then, if they are in a competition, they will want spirit shirts.
Market yourself to EVERYONE.. but i think that actually walking around and talking to people, keep a business card and maybe even some examples in the trunk.. Also, postcards are nicer than flyers. We printed large postcards for the photography business and they really stand out. They are stiffer and thicker so the FEEL of them automatically stands out if it is in a pile of other papers.. and then they are glossy so they are eye catching.
Hand them out to EVERYONE along WITH your business card. Postcards dont fit in a wallet
You should also contact afterschool programs and such. Day camps and the like will always need shirts made.
You have a pretty decent website, but you need more "branding" you have a theme, but no logo type thing to put on everyhing (post cards and business cards) .. you really want to get people thinking about your business whenever someone says "i need a custom shirt"
Your best bet is getting as much local accounts as possible. Be friendly and outgoing. Make people TRUST you and LIKE you. Make them want to do business with you.
The conversion rate of someone reading a postcard vs. the owner of the company actually talking to you is SOOO largely different that you can not deny that face to face contact is the best way to sell yourself.
Same goes with photography. We send out all sorts of postcards and internet ads, but for the 3 bookings we get from 30,000 cards and internet impressions it does not NEARLY compete with the Bridal Shows where we talk to 300 brides and get 8 weddings!!
I have been reading alot about promoting a business and came across this article about using postcards. I thought it was a good idea because I could target a certain market and make cards for that group.So I thought I would give it a try, and since things are slow right now I spent a day making postcards geared towards the local fire departments. My logo and contact information and my products on the left side with a colorful background. Headlined it with Feb. Specials. I do print raffle tickets as a side thing besides t-shirts so I listed the tickets and prices for various amounts. And then I put a special on 100 T-Shirts. I googled the area fire departments and all addresses were listed on one page, hand wrote all the cards and mailed on Monday and by 3:00 Tues. I started getting calls from 3 diffrent departments about the raffle tickets.
It cost me $10.00 to do. I'm now working on doing cards for the local church's alot more of them.. I think it's going to pay off thanks for the idea!
i was looking into the door hanger thing today. does anybody know about needing permits for this from the city. some people say you need them, others dont know, or even seem to care.
Since you are on SoCal you should check with each city that you are doing this in. You may need a business license in the city and will almost for sure need a permit to distribute handbills or flyers. If you are in San Marino you will get fined as soon as you set foot in the city without a business license and permit (they are agressive).
Distributing Flyers 
Re: Distributing Flyers 
