Marketing

This section is all about the business side of screen printing. This may include but is not limited to business procedures, marketing and advertising, return or misprint policies, customer relations and pricing. Basically anything that has to do with the business side of screen printing.

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ppdlao
Master Screen Printer
Posts: 139
Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2012 9:18 am
Location: Villahermosa, Tabasco, México.

Re: Marketing

Post by ppdlao »

Ochtees wrote:
ppdlao wrote:
Ochtees wrote:Yeah I pay $140 a month.
Wow!! yeah it is a lot $ ! :o

Yeah I called my rep because of the lack of response. Well they had me under "screen printing" which is right but they said they have a "custom t-shirt" category too. Well duh!!! So they are going to put me in both to see if it helps.
Gee! they should do that in the first place!
woveninc
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:11 am

Re: Marketing

Post by woveninc »

Great thread. I have always found word of mouth to be the best form of marketing in our industry, as many of you suggest, however I have had a lot of work from other sources, mainly online:

Social media
I have found social media marketing has really worked for us, it really got our name out there when we started. The reason a lot of companies don't take part in social media is because they say they have nothing to post but that really isn't an issue in this industry, after all we are producing a very visual and interesting product everyday!

Pay per click
Google Adwords, for example, can work really well if you have a little bit of knowledge in the system. You can elevate your website to the front page of Google and be seen by a vast amount of people with a small budget and good choice of keywords.

Search engine optimisation
Ensuring your website does the basics of SEO really can get you a lot of traffic. Just ensuring your title tags are filled out manually is a great place to start but if you really want to keep up with the big boy is does take some dedication and reading of blog posts which keep you up to date with the latest techniques such as http://www.digital22.com/2012/seo-in-2012

I would be happy to see if other people have had some success with online marketing too?
Woven Inc Screen Printers - http://www.woveninc.com/
Casams
Squeegee Master
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:48 pm

Re: Marketing

Post by Casams »

I use a different business model than most other screen print product promotional companies. I operate using fundraising on a consignment basis. We determine the retail value the item is to be sold for by the organization offering the fundraising event. The proceeds are than split 50/50. Out of my 50% all the product and production costs are paid. I have found that I do NOT have to COLD CALL as organizations will call me. This makes marketing extremely easy. Besides the 50/50 split I also offer a 15% donation to the charity organization for referrals from their business associates. These referral sales average $2480 per sale. Another marketing effort used is EVENT SALES. I work fair, events within my state, farmer's markets, etcetera. On paper I divide the transaction up into two sections, production & event sales at 50/50. This is done strictly for accounting as well as cost management. I determine the amount of inventory needed by using the "Booth Rent" fees (rent plus utilities when required) @ 15%. This means by dividing the rent by the 15% figure it works out that the sales goal is $2,000. If I am selling shirts at $15.00 retail sales profit of $7.50 divided into the sales goal of $2000. requires that I have available at least 267 printed shirts.

Fundraising I average two programs per month. Event sales during the summer period is one per week for about 25 weeks out the the year. I also work craft show fair at Christmas time bring the total shows worked to about 30. Working this schedule through the year produces a net income just exceed the 6 figure mark. I have been able to do this for several years without have to COLD CALL. There is NO competition to speak of. The only negative I know of is that the money necessary for the first fundraising event as well as the fair events can be out of the reach of those just beginning in the business.

I hope this is helpful to others!
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Shamax
Master Screen Printer
Posts: 145
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 7:08 am
Location: Charleston, WV
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Re: Marketing

Post by Shamax »

Great input, Casams, thanks for the info! So when you do "event sales" do you mean that you're there with another organization and printing on-site?
Andy Barker
Owner/Operator of Fragile Branch
Store: http://fragilebranch.storenvy.com
Site/blog: http://www.fragilebranch.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FragileBranch
Casams
Squeegee Master
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:48 pm

Re: Marketing

Post by Casams »

I am representing my own company. Depending on the volume of business traffic at the show I may be alone or with an employee or two. I do NOT want to miss out on business therefore, some extra hands to complete sales are necessary. Yes to the question of whether I print onsite. The action of printing on site stops traffic at my booth (the curiosity factor). I go into an event show with 10 to 15 designs printed on shirts. If I have judged the group properly the all 15 designs will sell adequately. If not, well I have made a few mistakes over the years, however, most of the time I know what will or will not sell. The shirts I print at the shows are simple one color whereas the majority of the other 15 designs are multi-color.

I print other products other than t-shirts. I will screen textile grocery bags, aprons, jackets etcetera. In addition to the textile printed items I go into the shows with cups, glasses, as well as golf balls that I have printed using pad printers. Everything we print to market at the EVENTS have our logo hidden somewhere on the item. I get a few custom orders from using the company logo in this manner. I always have novelty printed golf balls. Even non-golfers will purchase a set of three novelty golf ball set if the printing causes them to laugh. I have used golf balls with Osama bin Laden's photo on one side and the words Osama's Been Gotten on the other. Today, the use of Obama's photo with the words "Oh NO, NO MORE!" sell faster than I can set them out. The novelty items change quickly. What sells this month won't sell at all next month. However, when something does not sell, I hold onto the inventory. I have found that other geographic areas will have different buying habits as well as the political climate may cause interest again in the old novelty. Novelties are high profit sales making some bad traffic shows worthwhile.

I usually meet or exceed my established sales goals based on rent. Some shows do NOT performs as well as others. However, even bad performing shows may be beneficial over the long term. I have received custom orders from individuals days or weeks after a show. I just have to chalk the bad performing shows up to advertising. In the long run, the event shows perform very well. I try to make sure I have sufficient inventory available for each show. If I am projecting a $2,000.00 show I try to have at least $4,000.00 retail inventory available. Hopefully, I have chosen the correct mix of product.

Event show marketing works! Work diligently to know the type of person that will be attending an event. This is especially true with the novelty items that are presented.
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