For a large business, it’s not a big deal to have custom t-shirts printed. It’s a tried-and-tested way to enhance corporate branding at a relatively low cost. If you’re a smaller business, though, it might seem like it’s an unnecessary expense.
Using Custom Shirts in Your Marketing Strategy
It’s a shame more small businesses don’t see the benefit of t-shirt marketing, because you can get a lot of mileage out even just one shirt. First up, you can get custom shirts printed for all your staff to wear. It gives a cohesive look to your establishment and gets your brand name out there when employees are out of the office.
Having shirts printed for your clients as well is also a solid marketing move. You can hand them out to select clients, use them as a promotional freebie, or even sell them at cost. That way, you get your clients to do the advertising for you.
Every time someone wears one of your branded tees, it’s literally a walking advertisement.
The Benefits of Branded Shirts
What are the benefits of t-shirt printing? Actually, there are quite a lot, so settle in and let’s go through them.
- You’ll get new, qualified leads that are already prepared to consider doing business with you. They’ll see the shirt and seek you out—that is marketing gold because you’re not really putting in much effort here.
- It’s an affordable way to get a good deal of exposure. Every time one of your shirts is worn, your business gets free marketing exposure.
- If you put some effort into the design, the tees will be used and appreciated. You can even sell them if they look good enough. Also, a clever design will show that your brand is innovative.
- It’s an excellent way to show people something about what your brand stands for. Do you want a design that’s very cool, something that’s got a bit of humor in it, or something that sends out a specific message? You choose based on the brand image you want to create.
- Shirts create a buzz about your brand. People that see them will want to know what all the fuss is about. They’ll want their own.
- Your loyal clients will have the opportunity to show off your brand. They’ll love being able to promote your brand on your behalf, especially if they’re given the shirt. Even if they have to buy it, it still gives them the opportunity to lend you support.
- They help you build brand recognition. Your company name and logo will be printed out, and so people who see it will start to recognize your brand. If someone sees ten people wearing a shirt advertising a service, it won’t be long before the name of the company sticks.
- Tees can be more useful for marketing purposes than pens and stickers, for example. If you’re using them as a gift, they’re seen as being more valuable than a pen or sticker.
- They’re a great tool for showing clients that you appreciate their business. Giving clients the odd freebie is a good way to help nurture and build the relationship.
- If the design is good, friends and family of the person wearing the shirt will want to get one too. This opens the conversation about what your business offers.
- If used by staff, they can help build a sense of team spirit and unity.
- They can help to create a more informal atmosphere in the office, putting staff on an equal
- They are also extremely useful instore. Clients will be able to see at a glance who the staff in the branch are.
- You can use them as ice-breakers. Why not send out a shirt to someone that you want to bring on board? This gives you a starting point for the relationship.
- They are useful promotional tools that can represent real value for a client. Hand them out at an event you’re sponsoring, as a promotional item with a deal, or as prizes in a competition.
What’s My ROI?
Your return on investment is a little harder to measure. Let’s say that you use the shirt as a free gift to sweeten a particular deal. You’ll be able to get a rough idea of how well it was received by checking how many people bought the deal.
That’s only a tiny fraction of your ROI. Every time someone wears your shirt out and about, you’re getting exposure. It’s hard to work out exactly what your ROI is but let’s give it a go anyway.
Say, for example, that you have 100 shirts printed. Of those, maybe fifteen of the customers that you gave it to will wear it regularly. Let’s assume then that those people wear the shirt once every two weeks. For the others, let’s assume that they wear the shirt once a month.
Throughout a year – because you bought tops that wouldn’t fall apart in their first wash, how many times would the tops be seen. For the fifteen that wear it every two weeks, that would be 24 times in the year each. The total there would, therefore, be 360 occasions the shirt would be seen.
For the rest, who might wear it once a month, you’d have a total of 1,020 days that it would be seen. So, in total, you’re looking at around 1,380 times the tops would be worn as a somewhat conservative estimate.
Assuming that they’re worn for around six hours at a time, that is 8,280 hours of advertising. Think about how many different people you see on an average day. If every person with a top only saw eight people in a day, that means your brand is being viewed at least 11,040 times.
In short, you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck with this option.
In Conclusion
Overall, custom printing makes it possible to build brand awareness and get a reasonable amount of exposure. The key is to choose a decent quality fabric and create a design that people will want to wear.
You can use the tops in many different ways. They can make nice gifts for loyal customers, incentives with a purchase, staff uniforms, and even an income source. If the design is really good, people will be happy to pay for the tops.
If you’re concerned about budgetary constraints, why not consider selling some or all the printed items at cost? It’s a win-win for the business and client. Having custom-printed clothing for your company doesn’t have to cost a fortune and brings so many benefits.