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.
hey,
Just curious how many of you have a DTG machine and are selling with no retail shop/walkin traffic..what are your best markets? obsticles?..marketing techniques.
I am getting a Brother 541 , and want to approach non profits, businesses, and a little wholesale.
We don't have a DTG machine but we are a screen printing and sign shop. Currently we are on the second floor of a building with no entrance directly to street level. We've been successful at that location for the past year by marketing non-stop. Everyone we talk to, we give out cards. We hit the streets and talk to small business owners, bands, clubs, etc. and we have asked our friends to help scout work for us. We've advertised online on facebook, myspace, our blog is linked to twitter and our myspace/facebook pages, we've done offline advertising in the phone book and our cars are all plastered with our logo and contact information. Other than that, our business has been word of mouth, and while all the marketing hasn't been easy (actually it's been quite time-consuming and tiring), it worked. We are moving soon to a street-level building but still will not have walk-in traffic because of the location, but we're moving because we need a bigger space and an easier way to accept deliveries and for customers to pick up their orders.
Don't rely on business coming to you, you need to go out and do everything you can to bring people in.
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The proud owner of a full service print shop. Screen printing, vinyl decals, stickers, signs and banners, vehicle lettering and wraps, and more! Check out our blog too!
" other than that .."...Aaron , you're killing me!
That's quite alot, good for you . I agree, we have to go get it, that is one reason I do not want the additional overhead of a retail store. I feel comfortable making calls. Of the things you tried which ones do you think worked the best.
Have you ever sampled with customer logoed product?
Going out and talking face to face with people is by far the most effective. Everyone needs t-shirts, or can find a reason to need them once they have an idea in their head. We do decals and lettering too, so it gets peoples minds going when you bring in samples of all the things they can use our services for. I have not made samples with the actual business's name on it, but have thought of doing that in the past. Generally a standard generic sample of your work is enough to prove your product quality.
I also have a product line that is sold in retail stores, so all of my marketing for that line was face to face, walking into dozens of stores and showing my products. People seem to respond more kindly when I put on my screen printing hat than my product sales hat, maybe they feel that they can use a service more than a bunch of products sitting on shelves, who knows.
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The proud owner of a full service print shop. Screen printing, vinyl decals, stickers, signs and banners, vehicle lettering and wraps, and more! Check out our blog too!
You guys must keep busy! Just wondering if you also have an online store? This can also act as your "retail" presence if you can ensure you can attract a lot of traffic to it.
I think also having websites that target specific niche markets can help alot too.
Our website is fairly interactive in terms of ease-of-contact, customers can fill out forms to get quotes, etc. - most of our business that has not been done face to face out of the shop has been through our website.
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The proud owner of a full service print shop. Screen printing, vinyl decals, stickers, signs and banners, vehicle lettering and wraps, and more! Check out our blog too!
selling without a retail store 
