Try giving away t-shirts, hats, polo shirts or even jackets with your logo to your best
customers as a form of promoting your small business!
Typically, small businesses advertise in local newspapers and/or the yellow pages with a
simple offer to purchase their product. Target marketing on Google and Yahoo have opened the
world of online advertising but it can get costly. 'Cost-per-click' advertising typically
runs $1 per visitor but can rise to $50 or even $200+ per customer. So, unless your average order
is over $400, you'll lose money with the best of margins. Many of our customers have opted for a
more creative solution which is to give away t-shirt, hats, polo shirts or even jackets with their
logo to their best customers as a form of promoting their business.
Word-of-mouth is how most small businesses gain new customers but this can take many years to
develop and can be unpredictable. Local press is a great resource for cost effective marketing
but can be challenging to instigate and can seem disingenuous if not done correctly.
So, small businesses have few economical options to gain new customers unless they develop a
promotion plan. Most think a promotion plan is offering promotional products as an incentive to
an existing customer for future business. BUT, a better promotion plan, offers an incentive for past
customers AND advertises your business to potential customers. Offering a polo shirt, fleece jacket or
even a t-shirt or hat to a customer with your logo embroidered or printed on them creates an immeasurable
marketing opportunity. First, the past customer that receives the garment is flattered to receive such a
nice gift and will likely remain a long-time customer. Second, the customer is likely to wear the
'logo-ed' product in public and offer you a walking advertisement. Third, if a potential customer sees
your client wearing YOUR logo in public and asks about it....they become an advertisement and a referral.
So, offering 'logo-ed' apparel to past customers can act as your display advertising, PR and word-of-mouth
(referral advertising) all wrapped into one.
Custom embroidered or printed apparel can cost as little as $10 per unit and without a minimum order,
and trying it takes no real investment until you're sure it will work for your business. T-shirts are
the industry-standard because they are inexpensive. T-shirts also allow for full color designs, intricate
detail and a large imprint area (most t-shirts are full front). With new DTG (direct-to-garment) printing,
there are no minimum orders, which allows the customer to order one t-shirt at a time or customize it for a
customer or event.
The custom embroidery revolution is similar. With new smaller machines and online technology, customers can
order embroidered apparel like hats, polo shirts and fleece jackets without minimums as well. This offers
small businesses a way to not only outfit their staff with sharp looking embroidered uniforms but also to order
embroidered apparel for great customers on demand.
Top brands like Patagonia, Nike and Adidas have entered the market giving small businesses the ability to
embroider their logo next to the best branded clothing in the world. It also says a lot about your brand
when you choose to order and embroider top brand clothing. The other benefit to these great brands is the
customer will proudly wear that Nike golf shirt or Patagonia fleece with YOUR logo as often as possible! There
really is no limit to the goodwill you can generate by giving embroidered or printed apparel with your logo to
current customers.
Purchasing 'logo-ed' apparel for affinity or advertising your brand is not a new concept but the ability to
order one at a time is revolutionary. In the old days you needed to order 24-36 units at a time. This meant
really small businesses did not order them, top brands were untouchable because the total invoice was astronomical
and you needed to guess at sizes, color and product styles....then inventory them until you used them! The new
technology and machinery has changed all that, and now small businesses can offer embroidered and printed apparel
to their best customers just like Fidelity or Nextel.
Whether you look online or locally, purchasing embroidered or printed apparel as part of your promotion plan is
a great way to create goodwill for your business. And, unlike print advertising, you can try it for very little
investment. Ordering a few hats or a couple fleece vests for your best customers can cost less than $50 and provide
a great advertising opportunity.
