There are advantages and disadvantages to offering customized merch to your fans. You should know what they are before you start creating your bling.
Pick Out a Design Carefully
Have you thought about the image that you will use on your merch? You should not overwhelm your followers with too many different designs and color options. Pick a photograph of yourself or an image that directly reflects your brand. If you review video games on YouTube, take a picture of yourself playing your favorite game or dressed as a popular character from that game. If you make funny or political videos, use a whimsical image or caricature of yourself. Fashionistas who are popular on Instagram might want to photograph themselves with a bunch of their favorite stuff or with an enormous pile of shoes. Some people prefer to create a logo to put on their clothing. Make sure your logo is something you can live with and something that reflects the personality and values of your brand. You can find logo design tools online.
Take the Drawbacks into Consideration
Sometimes it’s best to think about what can go wrong before starting a new project. Before you run out and have a bunch of mugs, t-shirts, or blankets printed up, you should consider a few things.
What kind of products do you want to offer?How many of them do you want to purchase at first?How much will you have to pay for the products?How much will you charge for the product?Where will you advertise your product, and how much will it cost?
It is important to think about what you will do if few or none of your followers buy your merch. Will you be stuck with a garage full of merch, or will you give it all away in a raffle? Will you donate those unused shirts and mugs to a shelter or wear nothing but your shirts for a year? One solution is to offer your merch on an on-demand basis. There are companies online that will allow you to upload a design or create a logo or design on their website. They have a wide variety of items in their warehouse for you to choose from. You can get clothing, cups, stickers, or bags with your design on them. When someone orders one of your items, the company will simply print it out and mail it to that person. On-demand printing might help, and it certainly won’t hurt as there is no upfront cost. Be sure to order a shirt for yourself before offering it to the public. You want to make sure it looks good and is up to your standards before promoting it on your page.
Think About the Positive Results of Making Merchandise
If you give away a t-shirt or two and get them into the right hands, you will get plenty of free advertising. It is a way to drive traffic to your site and let people know who you are. You can give a free shirt to the 100th visitor to your site, or you can hand out keychains at an event. If there is an event coming up where potential followers of your brand will be, you may want to consider hiring brand ambassadors to walk around wearing your merch. Events such as Comicon are a good place to promote your brand. Brand ambassadors can tell people who you are and answer questions about your products. Hire people who are articulate and excited about your brand. Your fans should be able to show their love for you, and you shouldn’t have to pay for it. If you use an on-demand printer and pick out the right merchandise, you can have fun and increase your followers.
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