How do YOU promote?

Do you do any special little things to get people to buy your stuff? (beyond a rad design)

I’m going to start an ida where you could get a free plush (of one of our new designs), so give one every 20 orders or so.

Do you do anything like this?

1. 

   heroes said 3 months ago

   just make shirts people want itll promote itself

2. 

   basil said 3 months ago

   emptees.com

3. 

   explodingtoes said 3 months ago

   fully body massage with happy ending?

4. 

   FuzzyInk said 3 months ago

   We don’t do any special promotion, but all orders include little surprises including novelty mustaches and stickers.

5. 

   stesfs said 3 months ago

   explodingtoes said: fully body massage with happy ending?

   You clearly have the skillz to pay the billz!

6. 

   jimmyheartcore said 3 months ago

   I make my logo look as close as possible to an existing logo.

7. 

   Joey said 3 months ago

   jimmyheartcore said: I make my logo look as close as possible to an existing logo.

   i chuckled

8. 

   Perudoesitbetter said 3 months ago

   I think that it definitely helps to go around and spread the word using emptees, rumplo, other t-shirt related blogs if they decide to review you.

   Social networking works to an extent, i’m not too invested in it though.

   Any little things that you can add to the order when it’s shipped is definitely great loyalty builders. Since your selling to people half way around the world, the only experience from your company they have is the site and when they recieve their order. So anything you can do to make that experience ace, makes your company look better and the consumer will definitely remember that.

9. 

   derekdeal said 3 months ago

   church raffles and car washes

10. 

    wmeredith said 3 months ago

    heroes said: just make shirts people want itll promote itself

    This is bad advice. "If you build it they will come" is simply not true. There are over 1 trillion web pages online, now. "They" are not coming unless you invite them to the party, because "they" are busy on all those other sites. (Even if you DO build it and they DO come, you might be dead before they ever get there. 1 trillion pages at 1 page per second is still 31,688 years.)

    Alternatives to dying alone at your great party:

    -Register your shop on Google Local
    -Submit your shop/site to Metafilter Projects
    -Submit your design to NotCot
    -Submit your design to Awesomer
    -Submit your designs to Uncrate
    -Stumble your designs, digg them, reddit them.
    -Open an Etsy shop.
    -Post your services / goods on Craigslist.
    -Put your shop in your signature tag in online forums you frequent.
    -Go to malls on weekend nights and give out stickers / coupons to kids that look stupidly dressed. They’re trendy and they have friends that they’re stuck with everyday for 8 hours.
    -Make a YouTube video of your creative process and post it as a How-To with an onscreen link at the bottom of the frame where your design can be bought.

    That’s all I can think of off the top of my head, but it’s just scratching the surface of free/viral marketing. None of it will cost you dime and it will keep you busy while you’re waiting for them "to come."

    (Stuff like this is how I put 160k pageviews and 80k unique visitors through My T-shirt shop, since we launched 8 weeks ago. We now have 908 subscribers to our new-design-notice email list and we’ve been profitable for just over 2 weeks. (I’m an online marketing/usability consultant by day.))

    Oh yeah, and post helpful comments on relevant forums and hope people check out your product because of it ;-)

11. 

    ithew said 3 months ago

    are there any places like emtees out there?
    is emptees the best place for this?

12. 

    Simply Complicated said 3 months ago

    wmeredith said:

    heroes said: just make shirts people want itll promote itself

    This is extraordinarily bad advice. "If you build it they will come" is simply not true. And even if it was, there are over 1 trillion web pages online now. If you build and they do come, you’ll be dead before they ever get there.

    May I suggest...

    -Register your shop on Google Local
    -Submit your shop/site to Metafilter Projects
    -Submit your design to NotCot
    -Submit your design to Awesomer
    -Put your shop in your signature tag in online forums you frequent
    -Submit your designs to Uncrate
    -Stumble your designs, digg them, reddit them.
    -Open an Etsy shop.
    -Post your services / goods on Craigslist.
    -Go to malls on weekend nights and give out stickers / coupons to kids that look stupidly dressed. They’re trendy and they have friends that they’re stuck with everyday for 8 hours.
    -Make youtube video of your creative product and post it as a how to with an onscreen link to where to buy what you just made at the end.

    That’s all I can think of at the moment, but it’s just scratching the surface of free/viral marketing. None of it will cost you dime and it will keep you busy while you’re waiting for them "to come."

    (Some of this is how I put 160k pageviews (80k uniques) through 200nipples.com since we launched in 8 weeks ago. We have 900 subscribers to our new design notice email list.)

    teach me master

13. 

    jsheldon said 3 months ago

    wmeredith said:

    heroes said: just make shirts people want itll promote itself

    This is bad advice. "If you build it they will come" is simply not true. There are over 1 trillion web pages online, now. "They" are not coming unless you invite them to the party, because "they" are busy on all those other sites. (Even if you DO build it and they DO come, you might be dead before they ever get there. 1 trillion pages at 1 page per second is still 31,688 years.)

    Alternatives to dying alone at your great party:

    -Register your shop on Google Local
    -Submit your shop/site to Metafilter Projects
    -Submit your design to NotCot
    -Submit your design to Awesomer
    -Submit your designs to Uncrate
    -Stumble your designs, digg them, reddit them.
    -Open an Etsy shop.
    -Post your services / goods on Craigslist.
    -Put your shop in your signature tag in online forums you frequent.
    -Go to malls on weekend nights and give out stickers / coupons to kids that look stupidly dressed. They’re trendy and they have friends that they’re stuck with everyday for 8 hours.
    -Make a YouTube video of your creative process and post it as a How-To with an onscreen link at the bottom of the frame where your design can be bought.

    That’s all I can think of off the top of my head, but it’s just scratching the surface of free/viral marketing. None of it will cost you dime and it will keep you busy while you’re waiting for them "to come."

    (Stuff like this is how I put 160k pageviews and 80k unique visitors through My T-shirt shop, since we launched 8 weeks ago. We now have 908 subscribers to our new-design-notice email list and we’ve been profitable for just over 2 weeks. (I’m an online marketing/usability consultant by day.))

    Oh yeah, and post helpful comments on relevant forums and hope people check out your product because of it ;-)

    good list, thanks for sharing.

14. 

    illdthedj said 3 months ago

    wmeredith said:

    heroes said: just make shirts people want itll promote itself

    This is bad advice. "If you build it they will come" is simply not true. There are over 1 trillion web pages online, now. "They" are not coming unless you invite them to the party, because "they" are busy on all those other sites. (Even if you DO build it and they DO come, you might be dead before they ever get there. 1 trillion pages at 1 page per second is still 31,688 years.)

    Alternatives to dying alone at your great party:

    -Register your shop on Google Local
    -Submit your shop/site to Metafilter Projects
    -Submit your design to NotCot
    -Submit your design to Awesomer
    -Submit your designs to Uncrate
    -Stumble your designs, digg them, reddit them.
    -Open an Etsy shop.
    -Post your services / goods on Craigslist.
    -Put your shop in your signature tag in online forums you frequent.
    -Go to malls on weekend nights and give out stickers / coupons to kids that look stupidly dressed. They’re trendy and they have friends that they’re stuck with everyday for 8 hours.
    -Make a YouTube video of your creative process and post it as a How-To with an onscreen link at the bottom of the frame where your design can be bought.

    That’s all I can think of off the top of my head, but it’s just scratching the surface of free/viral marketing. None of it will cost you dime and it will keep you busy while you’re waiting for them "to come."

    (Stuff like this is how I put 160k pageviews and 80k unique visitors through My T-shirt shop, since we launched 8 weeks ago. We now have 908 subscribers to our new-design-notice email list and we’ve been profitable for just over 2 weeks. (I’m an online marketing/usability consultant by day.))

    Oh yeah, and post helpful comments on relevant forums and hope people check out your product because of it ;-)

    i just checked out your site...people actually buy shirts for 100 bux??? just asking...and nice list of free promotion

15. 

    heroes said 3 months ago

    meh
    its not all about the internet and blogs

    build up a bit of a buzz around your own town and let the word spread

    also i meant if you dont have good shirts no matter how much net spamming you do your still not gonna sell much

    also for you people who arnt scared of the outside world

    gig stalls
    tradeshows
    sponsoring bands
    sponsoring tours

16. 

    wmeredith said 3 months ago

    heroes said: meh its not all about the internet and blogs build up a bit of a buzz around your own town and let the word spread also i meant if you dont have good shirts no matter how much net spamming you do your still not gonna sell much also for you people who arnt scared of the outside world gig stalls tradeshows sponsoring bands sponsoring tours

    *thumbs up*

    Diversify your marketing every chance you get. And you do have to let the word spread. Word of mouth cannot be forced. Spamming is counterproductive at best and destructive at worst. Push your product in communities that are receptive or where you have something of value to add, online and off.

    It should be well noted that none of this matters if you don’t have a good product. Good marketing and good products need each other. Neither one is sustainable for long by itself, except in rare cases. (Don’t plan on being that exception, try to be that exception, but plan not to be. Count on lots of hard work, and then execute.)

    @illdthedj: Not many, but I only need one.

17. 

    illdthedj said 3 months ago

    heroes said: meh its not all about the internet and blogs build up a bit of a buzz around your own town and let the word spread also i meant if you dont have good shirts no matter how much net spamming you do your still not gonna sell much also for you people who arnt scared of the outside world gig stalls tradeshows sponsoring bands sponsoring tours

    this is what im planning.

    Im a club/ravey-rave DJ in the bay area, CA...i have about 2-4 gigs a month....and of course there is a giant message board all the local scene kids frequent that i spend a lot of time on.

    what ive been doing for the past couple months is showing tshirts ive been designing, finished designs, asking what people think, what they like, dont like....making polls people can vote which shirts they like most, etc.

    i have no physical product yet, just lots of research and zeroing in on what people in the rave scene are into here out of what I am capable of designing. because of that, ive been getting lots of people asking "WHEN THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING TO PRINT SOME SHIRTS???"

    I made a poll the other day on the message board (100's of locals frequent it regularly) with a question IF ANY OF THESE WERE AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE WHICH ONES WOULD U WANT TO BUY, IF ANY and images of 6 tshirt designs...so basically now i have 3 tshirts that a good amount of people have expressed interest in buying.

    basically, like you said, i want to start off REAL SLOW and very locally within a scene ive been a part of for a while. Im only going to get printed 2 designs at a time in real low quantities (im thinking 48ish) that i know people like and have been bugging me about.

    ALSO, because i know a lot of the party promoters that throw club nights and events (because they book me for DJing), it would be real easy for me to be able to set up a table/gig stall at parties for free and sell shirts there.

    sorry, just thinking aloud lol!

    but i definitely agree....getting off the internet and focusing on your own local scene is a great idea, at least for a person like me who wants to take baby steps in setting up tshirt brand.

    fyi, i also notice if you have a local music scene you are part of and know people in, people tend to want to support people in the same scene.

    also, i have another thing going for me: college kids with mom and dad’s money at raves while on drugs that are easily impressed lol

    sorry that was probably the longest post ive ever made on emptees.

18. 

    beth said 3 months ago

    We have cute girls ride around in minis and give away addictive products so they buy some from us....kind of like crack

19. 

    Randomentity said 3 months ago

    treydeuce said:

    wmeredith said:

    heroes said: just make shirts people want itll promote itself

    This is extraordinarily bad advice. "If you build it they will come" is simply not true. And even if it was, there are over 1 trillion web pages online now. If you build and they do come, you’ll be dead before they ever get there.

    May I suggest...

    -Register your shop on Google Local
    -Submit your shop/site to Metafilter Projects
    -Submit your design to NotCot
    -Submit your design to Awesomer
    -Put your shop in your signature tag in online forums you frequent
    -Submit your designs to Uncrate
    -Stumble your designs, digg them, reddit them.
    -Open an Etsy shop.
    -Post your services / goods on Craigslist.
    -Go to malls on weekend nights and give out stickers / coupons to kids that look stupidly dressed. They’re trendy and they have friends that they’re stuck with everyday for 8 hours.
    -Make youtube video of your creative product and post it as a how to with an onscreen link to where to buy what you just made at the end.

    That’s all I can think of at the moment, but it’s just scratching the surface of free/viral marketing. None of it will cost you dime and it will keep you busy while you’re waiting for them "to come."

    (Some of this is how I put 160k pageviews (80k uniques) through 200nipples.com since we launched in 8 weeks ago. We have 900 subscribers to our new design notice email list.)

    teach me master

    i seriously lol’d
    
    seriously good web advice!

20. 

    wmeredith said 3 months ago

    beth said: We have cute girls ride around in minis and give away addictive products so they buy some from us....kind of like crack

    Do you work for Redbull?

21. 

    robolove said 3 months ago

    I think its awesome what you do if it works for you but I dont understand why someone would pay $100 for a shirt if its available for $1-$99 first?

22. 

    brett_district said 3 months ago

    beth said: We have cute girls ride around in minis and give away addictive products so they buy some from us....kind of like crack

    it worked on me. fucking pushers.

23. 

    Jon Kruse said 3 months ago

    beth said: We have cute girls ride around in minis and give away addictive products so they buy some from us....kind of like crack

    I just saw one the other day Laurel Canyon.

    I have also been fortunate enough to see a broken down oscar mayor wiener car on the side of the 101.

24. 

    molasses4masses said 3 months ago

    jimmyheartcore said: I make my logo look as close as possible to an existing logo.

    I almost put that as well. Haha.

    JC?

25. 

    heroes said 3 months ago

    molasses4masses said:

    jimmyheartcore said: I make my logo look as close as possible to an existing logo.

    I almost put that as well. Haha.

    JC?

    so u think anyone who uses crossbones is a johnny cupcakes rip off? i best get the pirates on the auld dog and bone

26. 

    molasses4masses said 3 months ago

    heroes said:

    molasses4masses said:

    jimmyheartcore said: I make my logo look as close as possible to an existing logo.

    I almost put that as well. Haha.

    JC?

    so u think anyone who uses crossbones is a johnny cupcakes rip off? i best get the pirates on the auld dog and bone

    In this case......yes

27. 

    Simply Complicated said 3 months ago

    tramp stamps on hookers get tons of attention..its like a walking billboard

28. 

    jimmyheartcore said 3 months ago

    molasses4masses said:

    jimmyheartcore said: I make my logo look as close as possible to an existing logo.

    I almost put that as well. Haha.

    JC?

    No, tokidoki.

    

29. 

    stesfs said 3 months ago

    haha it was a nod to tokidoki yeah,
    I’m getting rid soon, obvious reasons really

30. 

    Truman325i said 3 months ago

    Ive got tatoos on hookers lower backs.

31. 

    beth said 3 months ago

    wmeredith said:

    beth said: We have cute girls ride around in minis and give away addictive products so they buy some from us....kind of like crack

    Do you work for Redbull?

    old news......yes i work in the IT dept of Red Bull

32. 

    Birdie3431 said 3 months ago

    Truman325i said: Ive got tatoos on hookers lower backs.

    excellent marketing plan! props on the low initial investment as well as the strategic placement. basically you want to stab the hookers in the face but instead you use them as a money making tool designed specifically for low budget perverts with no morals or budgeting skills. genius.

33. 

    gabroll said 3 months ago

    Pssh Tokidoki wasnt the first person to use a heart & crossbones. Are you gouys serious? I knew a signed band in jr. high who used that for their whole career (Noggin Toboggan). Toki was just the first guy to trademark it. That doesn’t mean everyone else who thinks of the idea is ripping him off.

34. 

    stesfs said 3 months ago

    it’s not as though it’s the same logo anyways.

    OHEMGEES HE’S USINGA HEART ABOVE A CROSSBONES, I MUST COMMENT ON IT!

    Yes, i nod, tokidoki heart isnt pixelated.

    Get a life

35. 

    heroes said 3 months ago

    no ones saying its a rip or you cant use it but if your a small company whats the point of having such a similair logo as another founded company

    also you get a life

36. 

    stesfs said 3 months ago

    it was aimed at that jon guy who said "a nod, hmmm"

    and i’d enjoy a life but they’re all sold out :(

37. 

    heroes said 3 months ago

    wow your so funny!

38. 

    RustyEight said 3 months ago

    explodingtoes said: fully body massage with happy ending?

39. 

    stesfs said 3 months ago

    blergh, i really dont care.

    It’s just annoying people get sarcastic and arsey when the topic wasnt anything relevant to my avatar.

40. 

    FuzzyInk said 3 months ago

    Ok ok, can this end now?

41. 

    stesfs said 3 months ago

    gladly!

42. 

    heroes said 3 months ago

    pff

43. 

    a killer wombat said 3 months ago

    my tattoo is kind of a heart and cross bones and I just heard about tokidoki the other day... well I knew about them, but didn’t know their logo. And I just decided to bring back noetic with this as the logo.

    

    although I think there is more to it than just the heart over the crossbones.

44. 

    benaiahclothing said 3 months ago

    well back on the subject of promotion.

    2 things I have done outside of online promotion:

    Sponsor a really good local band that has a huge following here in Lynchburg. We’re having a launch show in the next month, and I’ll officially introduce the scene here to Benaiah. The band will rock my shirts on stage. Should be a fruitful sponsorship. www.myspace.com/thepoisonwritten

    Liberty University is also in Lynchburg, VA. I had a student, well graduate of Liberty design a shirt for me, so that should also give me exposure at the college itself. He designed my "This Is Not The Threat" shirt. I also hope to have a design contest for the students to submit something

45. 

    RustyEight said 3 months ago

    benaiahco said: well back on the subject of promotion. 2 things I have done outside of online promotion: Sponsor a really good local band that has a huge following here in Lynchburg. We’re having a launch show in the next month, and I’ll officially introduce the scene here to Benaiah. The band will rock my shirts on stage. Should be a fruitful sponsorship. www.myspace.com/thepoisonwritten Liberty University is also in Lynchburg, VA. I had a student, well graduate of Liberty design a shirt for me, so that should also give me exposure at the college itself. He designed my "This Is Not The Threat" shirt. I also hope to have a design contest for the students to submit something

    I really want to look into the world of sponsorship a little more. I have a hard time thinking that will ever be beneficial... even if I put flyers on their merch table. I mean, how much exposure can you get out of a local band?

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