A client was in town from out of state. During the time he was here we created a website and had a few T-Shirts made. He then went to the airport and hung out for a couple hours. He was wearing one of the T-Shirts, and a Native American Battle Choker that was one of his products. The T-Shirt had an attractive logo and said, “CoolToBeNative.com.” Within 12 hours of landing in Dallas, the brand new website was getting visitors from all over American, as well as from Canada, Britain, and Australia.
You just never know who may be watching as you prance around in your spiffy new duds. The biggest names in business know that creating branded apparel is smart. Who would have thought years ago that people would pay for the privilege of being a walking billboard for someone else?
When promoting your own business, why wouldn’t it be just as smart if you did what you have always done, but this time for yourself?
You may be in a business that is a little more high-class than would be appropriate for a T-Shirt. In such cases have some expensive Polo/Golf shirts made, with a tastefully smaller logo in the Crest area.
If your business lends itself to a bit of humor, certainly run with that. Actually, you could have several variations of apparel to fit different occasions.
The T-Shirt shown here isn’t real but is an illustration made for this article. Although… it might be fun enough to get some conversations started.
Getting shirts made in small quantities is easy. All you need is a good graphic. You can even do it online. The shirt you see here is from CafePress, and all I had to do was upload my graphic and they show me the shirt for approval.
I have read that people have sold parts of their bodies to advertisers and then got Permanent tattoos. A little excessive, to say the least. But what about handing out your T-Shirts to everyone you know? If it looks cool, they will wear it. Just be sure it looks hot enough to entice people to put it on proudly.
And of course, have some business cards made, preferably that tie in with the design of your shirt.
While out and about, a shirt opens up doors of conversation you may not get otherwise, so when giving out your card, give several. The checkout girl at the grocer may not have a need for your product or service, but she will remember your bubbling personality—and your shirt—and may turn over your card to someone who does need you.
Have you ever used clothing as an ice breaker or advertising vehicle? Leave us a comment below and tell us your story.
What an awesome idea Rick! I was just a guest speaker at an expo for women. I wish I had thought of doing this. Actually, I may be better off bribing my daughter to wear one when she runs trivia night at the local pub and restaurant.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Guest Post- 10 Steps to Inking Successful Deals by James Adams
.
Hi Sherryl,
I would have loved to have heard your speech! Did they record it? If so, be sure to put a link on your site; if not, post the text, even if you have to write it from memory. Whenever you do something like that it’s a badge of Authority, so promote it
with a picture of their logo.
Thanks for stopping by.
Rick
Hi Rick,
It was not recorded. There were about 12 women in the audience. I basically had notes from my blog about self-hosting your blog. I threw in some statistics, talked about the 3 main ways of making money blogging and stressed the importance of building your brand. I went on my usual spiel about using an AOL email account when you have your own domain name. One of the women approached me afterwards and asked me how I knew she blogged about baby products (of course I didn’t) and that she has her own domain name and uses AOL for email.
I think it was a win-win. I know at least one of them is following me on Twitter and I suspect that a few of them are reading my blog. All of them took my business cards.
I don’t think they have a logo but I’m teaching 4 classes this fall and I do intend to promote that. I just saw a great example of a landing page for that so…. maybe tomorrow or over the next few days, I’ll create that and then start tweeting, FB etc.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..Create an Online Presence – Be Seen Out There
.
He Sherryl,
Once you get a reputation for speaking you won’t be able to accept all the offers. When I was more heavily involved in the Markets I would usually have my upcoming speaking dates listed. That always adds more authority to what you are saying today.
Rick
What’s the weather like out there Rick?
Mate I love your thinking. You seriously step outside the box everytime and this is no exception!
Brilliant, brilliant brilliant is all I can say.
I ‘m doing it!
Wait – I need a logo.
D’OH!
Site looks awesome btw – much cleaner
Alex recently posted..Keyword Winner SEO WordPress Plug-in
.
Hey Alex,
You could at least try to be a little more enthusiastic
The rain woke me this morning, so didn’t sleep in. lol, I do my best writing before I’m awake…
Thanks about the site. My original idea was to be a bit edgy and different, but no one liked it. Still trying to decide if I should get rid of the little dude. Some like him, and some don’t.
Let me know what you think about that.
Thanks for stopping by.
Rick
Hey Rick,
You speak a lot of wisdom. I have always thought about making my own line of tee shirts. I never really got around to doing it because I got side tracked. I believe as important as it is to promote your site online, it is equally important to do so offline.
Thanks again.
God bless,
William Veasley
William Tha Great recently posted..Make Money- Don’t Let It Make You
Hi William,
I have shirts and business cards with my website logo. They are inexpensive, fun, and make interesting conversation.
I believe that offline marketing is often more valuable and important than online marketing. If you do both you have given yourself an edge than others don’t have.
Rick
Hi Rick
I was trawling through your articles and came upon this one that I actually hadn’t commented on! I had the idea of teeshirts but when I enquired the cost was prohibitive.
The cheap places to buy seem to be outside Oz. Still looking and Murray from Murlu who has a zillion innnovative ideas has a few that he will share with me in the biz/marketing support group. So I’ll be interested to hear what he comes up with.
Will RT this and I’ve asked Pawel about putting up quality marketing posts in our forum. Just waiting for his reply as still very early morning in the UK.
As always, appreciate all your marketing tips; cos you have tried them and they work
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia@lavenderuses recently posted..A Gardener’s Guide to Growing a Business
It really is a lot more about looking cool than innovative marketing
Priorities, you see.
But really, there is a lot you can do inexpensively on a local level. Not all your business must be on the other side of the globe. There are cars around here with magnetic signs advertising their websites. I’ve even gone to a few that way.
Everything works to a point. But it gets tougher because so many people are trying to start businesses on a shoestring. They really have no choice now that all the jobs are in China or India or…
Rick
Printing a T-shirt, I think, is the cheapest way in advertising. And, I guess it’s one of the best because we can wear or carry it anywhere. You might not notice people along the way might get interested on the things you are promoting just by seeing your shirt.
Adrian recently posted..DIY Chicken Shed Plans