They say if you love what you do then you’ll never work a day in your life. Designing and printing your T-shirts allows for a level of creativity other jobs can’t touch. It also lets you be your own boss and avoid the oppressive 9 to 5 grind!
The market for custom-printed T-shirts is enormous and growing substantially every year. Currently valued at 4.71 billion USD, this is a wagon worth jumping on. With a revenue forecast of just shy of 10 billion by 2030, it’s fair to say custom-printed graphic tees are here to stay.
Graphic T-shirt printing is a sure bet, but how do you ensure your presence is felt in such a competitive environment? Read on to find out more!
T-Shirt Marketing Tactics
For anyone looking to sell a product, no matter what it is, a good marketing strategy is your golden goose. There are a few ways to promote what you’re selling, and you’re already aware of most of them whether you realize it or not. If you’re living on Planet Earth, you’ve likely been subjected to all the marketing tactics available already.
You can’t walk down the street, watch a YouTube video, or search for something online without being bombarded with adverts. Whether or not you take any notice of them is another matter entirely, and therein lies the rub. In a sea of marketing strategy and advertising, how do you get people to pay attention?
The answer is blessedly simple. Pay attention to the adverts that you don’t immediately feel like skipping. If you find yourself watching an advert through to its conclusion, take note of why!
Effective Marketing
Effective marketing strategies are all the same in terms of the result. There are a few ways to get there, but in the end, you want to engage the interest of your chosen demographic. If you’re unsure who your demographic is, your marketing strategy is already dead in the water.
Most people have a T-shirt or two, especially considering how popular graphic tees are. The rise in popularity of the humble T-shirt isn’t so much to do with the garment itself, rather it’s what’s printed on it. The genius of the graphic tee industry is that everyone is enthusiastic about something, and there’s usually some way to plaster it on a T-shirt!
For this reason, marketing specific interests to targeted demographics works wonders. People love to show the world what they’re passionate about. If you can get a popular person with a large reach to wear one of yours, your T-shirt business will explode.
Strategic Reach of Graphic Tees
It doesn’t take much for an idea to spread. You’re probably familiar with a viral meme or two. These are just ideas that have managed to propagate from one person to the next due to their implicit receivability.
All it takes is to create a well-made product and couple it with a joke or image that people in the know will appreciate. In the case of graphic tees, this is an image or a sound bite coupled with impeccable graphic design. Once you’ve got the product, you can send your T-shirt directly to a cherry-picked influencer or two along with a link to your store.
If your product has been crafted well, you won’t even need to pay them to wear it. They’ll understand it will be well received by their target audience, further solidifying their place within their sphere of influence. If you want to further your chances of success, you can discuss a fee for them to mention the business where the T-shirt was made or even a continuing sponsorship.
A few nice words from someone regarded highly within a particular niche are like throwing gas on a fire in terms of garnering interest. Once people discover your products they’ll explore what else you have of their own volition!
Ensure Quality
One of the best ways to sink your ship is to skimp on quality. The foundation of any successful business is positive word of mouth and repeat custom. If your product is of sub-standard quality, you’ve just destroyed all hope of both.
In the graphic tee printing world, your product lives and dies on the quality of the T-shirt and the standard of the print itself. Before you start printing on your chosen T-shirts, ensuring you’ve chosen the best possible standard of print available is of paramount importance. This means doing your research into different printing techniques and technologies.
Screen printing requires more steps but the quality of print is somewhat longer lasting. Direct-to-garment printing facilitates bulk orders much more easily but at the cost of the longevity of the print. In terms of screen printing vs DTG, you’ll have to make the decision yourself based on the particular needs of your print shop.
Stick With It
Whatever direction you want to take in the marketing of your graphic tees is up to you. Take care when assessing the quality of your product so people in your chosen niche will learn to appreciate your attention to detail. Overnight success isn’t guaranteed, especially in the competitive world of logo tees, so remember to tough it out while you get the ball rolling.
If you’re looking for more advice on getting your business up and running, we’ve got more great articles where this came from! Check out the rest of the blog today!
