In our previous blog entries,

we’ve covered a broad spectrum of ways to market your custom shirt brand. For this article, however, we’re going to concentrate on the most powerful marketing tool at your disposal: the Internet. There are 7 billion people on this planet. About 3 billion are connected to the World Wide Web. The internet is vast and its potential as a marketing tool is limitless.

Before we get into how you can utilize the web to expand and promote your custom shirts, we need to address a common misconception in regard to fashion marketing. Marketing does not make the brand. Contradictory? Paradoxical? Let us elaborate.

You might have heard the Cinderella stories about a celebrity wearing a particular garment and that piece of clothing selling out the following day. Although Selena Gomez’s rockin’ your design of a kitten dressed as a puppy would be a huge break for your brand, you would still need to be able to maintain that momentum. All the marketing in the world won’t matter unless your custom shirts are desirable.

Before taking this step, you have to have a great product. It should be something people will want. Would a celebrity wear it? Once you’ve taken a hard look at your custom shirts and have decided it is fit for the fashion gods, you’re ready to take on internet marketing.

 Here are some tips to get you started with Screen Printed Shirts.

Create An Etsy Store 

When it comes to mom-and-pop goods and creative items, there’s no online marketplace more popular than Etsy. Setting up a store is quite simple and only requires a few minutes of your time. Not a technical web super hacker person? No problem! Etsy’s easy-to-use interface does the majority of the work for you giving you a sleek, professional design that’s simple to navigate.

Not a technical web super hacker person? No problem! Etsy’s easy-to-use interface does the majority of the work for you giving you a sleek, professional design that’s simple to navigate. With over 54 million users, Etsy provides a market with huge marketing potential at relatively low costs. 

Submit Designs On Popular Sites/Blogs And Competitions.

There are plenty of popular industry blogs that feature new t-shirt designs. Some also have contests for up-and-coming screen printed shirts brands to join. The key is submitting to sites and blogs that generate significant traffic. This is a great way to create exposure for your t-shirt designs as users can provide feedback detailing what they like, or don’t like about them. Even if you don’t win, you’re still putting your custom design out there for the world to see and if you have something that works, the buzz generated will definitely be worth it.

Here’s a list of potential sites for you to submit your t-shirt designs.

Join T-shirt Design Forums.

Don’t just stop at industry blogs. The world of design is full of creatives willing to exchange ideas and feedback for the goal of bettering their skills, products, and services. There are many communities one can join to exhibit potential ideas and projects. The key is to engage in creative discussions regarding your brand, while, at the same time doing the same for others.

The key is to engage in creative discussions regarding your custom t-shirt brand, while, at the same time doing the same for others. Providing sincere, constructive, yet, positive posts can open many doors for your brand’s exposure as you seek the same to be done for you. Sites like www.deviantart.com and www.allgraphicdesign.com are great places to start.

Social Networks.

This one is obviously a no-brainer. In this day and age, it might be rarer to find someone who doesn’t have a Facebook or social network profile than a person with no tattoos. Creating a page for your custom shirt brand on a social network such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram unlocks some serious marketing potential. Learning to use the right tags in your description can lead to significant brand discovery by potential customers. You can also create great brand exposure through contests and giveaways.

Learning to use the right tags in your description can lead to significant brand discovery by potential customers. You can also create great brand exposure through contests and giveaways.

Project Wonderful.

Project Wonderful is an online advertising network where companies bid on ad boxes to be placed on frequented websites for a day. In a nutshell, it’s like an eBay for advertising space. PW has become somewhat of an industry standard for up-and-coming and established screen-printed shirts or clothing brands. It’s an excellent way for small companies to generate traffic through affordable means. Unfortunately, unlike real live auctions, there isn’t a dude doing the auctioneering out loud.

Search Engine Optimization. (SEO)

Sounds a bit technical, but these tips could help increase the chances of your custom shirt website/store being discovered. The key is to have descriptive titles for your pages. Google indexes websites and pages based on their title. So if someone searches for “Kangaroo doing the Macarena.”, google will bring up sites with those words in the site or page titles. Thus, it is important to provide a short, but descriptive title for your site and pages. Instead of having “Homepage” as a title description for a tab on your site, you could name it “(Insert brand name) Custom Shirts. The likely hood of your page popping up if someone searches “Custom Shirts” is higher than just “Homepage”.

Create A Blog

Another important strategy is to update your content regularly. This is why creating a blog for your custom t-shirt’s online store could do wonders for traffic generation. You may not be producing a lot of products on the storefront consistently but you can counter that with weekly or bi-weekly content through your blog relating to your custom shirt brand and culture.

If your content is engaging and informative, it gives potential customers another reason to visit your website. Well written, relevant content also increases your chances of being chosen by search engines.

This is only possible by submitting your website to search engines. Some require compensation for the services. Others don’t. Don’t be discouraged by the fact that Google is the most used search engine on the web. There are plenty of other search engines that are used and are free to submit to. You’d be surprised how many different SE’s are actually used by net users.

The age of the internet has changed the marketing industry. No longer does one have to rely solely on print ads or delegating a huge portion of the business budget towards hiring an expensive advertising firm. With some clever mental elbow grease, you can harness the power of the internet to share your custom shirt brand and vision with the world. The opportunity is literally, at your fingertips.

 Conclusion – Screen Printed Shirts – 7 Tips to Increase Visibility

In the end, you want to do what is best for your brand. Whether you are starting a new clothing line, promoting your business or hosting a promotional event, your brand has the opportunity to grow, be recognized and allow you to expand your potential. If you’re ready to take the first step in bringing your vision to life, drop us a line and let us help you discover the possibilities.