If you want to sell digital Custom T-Shirt printing, you have to market it. People have to know you have it, what it is, and why they need it.

If you added custom digital t-shirt  printing to your existing decorated apparel business, you’re going to have an easier time than if you are starting from scratch. In fact, adding a new medium gives you a great opportunity to contact all your existing customers to let them know about your new service.

When I added digital tee shirt printing in 2006, I had built a solid business starting with screen printing and later adding embroidery. I had great news for most of my customers. They were used to having a 48-piece minimum, and now I had a new medium with no mininum!

However, if you are brand new to the custom tee shirt industry, you’ve got your work cut out for you. Ideally, you should put together a marketing plan before you buy the equipment. Determining your customer base is a critical piece of infomation you need to have before choosing a digital tee shirt machine, because it determines whether you purchase a low-volume or high-volume production model, which can have a price tag difference of $50,000 or more.

Whether you want go after lower-volume small business and Internet markets or higher-volume clientele like licensed properties and retail designers also dictates whether you can work out of your garage or need to have an industrial location. You need to have all this decided before you start marketing.

In my case, my customers were well aware that we were adding this technology months in advance of the purchase of my first digital tee shirt printer. As a result, we were busy from the day we started.

In either case as a new or existing business, your starting point will be with personal contacts, friends, and family. Mention it during any business contact you have as the more seeds you plant, the more potential orders you’ll reap down the road.

The next tier to move up to is networking. This involves joining local business groups such as the chamber of commerce, Kiwanis, Rotary clubs, BNI (Business Networking International), etc. By attending functions hosted by organizations such as these, you are put in contact with like-minded people who have the same goals as you and who can help you with with referrals and advice and many of them will be interested in you custom t-shirts. This continues to be an easy way to market your custom printed t-shirt company. If you are diligent about it, you will make good connections that will bring you business.

Using The Internet

For my business, I don’t believe in traditional print advertising to sell cheap custom t-shirts. All of my marketing efforts have gone into Web-based promotion. In my opinion, pay per click, if done correctly, is one of the least-expensive, easiest methods to get a new business visibility.

People are going to the Internet to get information regarding cheap custom t-shirts and sweatshirts. The big advantage of pay-per-click advertising is that is it easy to tailor to your budget. You can set a per-diem amount, which may be as low as $15  or as high as $1,500. Spending $500 to be in a phone book with a display ad is a prehistoric way of marketing. It’s not a worthwhile investment.

However, that being said, I’ll readily admit that just because someone clicks on your link, doesn’t mean you get a tee shirt sale. A lot of clicks are worthless. And, if you don’t have an effective website that is specifically designed to capitalize on pay-per-click advertising, then you still are wasting your money.

I have invested a considerable amount of personal time and energy learning how to use the Internet to market my business. I have read books, blogs, and spent a lot of time—and still do—surfing the Internet for the latest techniques and information on how to maximize website results. This has paid off for my company.

01/18/2012
Little Falls, New Jersey 07424