Tell them where to go
The key to showing your customers how to get your custom merchandise is understanding the five Ws.
Who, What, When, Where, and Why.
1. Who is your target audience?
Knowing your audience is integral, and who better to know it than yourself! It’s going to be those supporting your business already and those closest to them.
Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Print advertisements might already be some ways you reach your customers. Leaving your merchwindow.com/yourstorehere link in your profile bio, posting it directly to your followers, or sharing it to your story are all great ways of reaching the people that would love to support you.
BUT we are here to help you expand your brand, which means leaping into the unknown—raising brand awareness and building an audience outside of your existing customer base.
Using some of the creative keyword selection options on Facebook and Instagram, you can target those with similar interests to your loyal followers. If you are in the health and fitness industry, selecting keywords within your marketing campaign such as ‘Health, Fitness, Weights, Yoga mats’ within your area can bring awareness of your custom merchandise to people that are most likely to support it!
2. What's my audience looking for?
We’re a wide-ranging audience. Something we all look for in almost everything is quality. That’s a guarantee. Merch Window guarantees it, too.
Your audience is looking for quality when purchasing custom merchandise. We can cater to that! Our products are made by reputable brands. We’re sending products out the door faster than our competitors. You can use this within your marketing content and know you have the Merch Window promise.
Outside of that, your followers are looking to support you! So show your authentic self within your posts; they can’t wait to rock your magical looking merchandise and do just that.
3. When should I publish/post?
There is no wrong time to post! Once you've created your store, and you're happy with the products you've designed, go and show the world.
Additionally, there are indicators that show more general social activity from followers in various parts of the day. You can use this information as a guide for when to post to grow your audience outside of your current followers and expand your brand. Our friends over at Sprout Social have some amazing insight into how you can understand this further along with a bunch of other great resources. Check them out in this article by their self-confessed cat lady and former SEO Lead, Elizabeth Arens!
You'd like something a little more long term or scheduled? Consider 'boosting' a post to get more people to see it or you could tweak a campaign to increase engagement. Meta for Business (the name Facebook wants everyone to use now) gets right into everything you should know about their own marketing and a lot of it is translatable to other social channels. Discover more about their processes here.
4. Where can I measure success?
For this, we’d like to (possibly) challenge your perspective of success. It’s not always about sales, but authentic customer satisfaction. Take a look around; the more people wearing your custom products and supporting your brand in the streets means you must be doing something right… right? Right!
Of course, another way to determine how well a product is received is to follow the money and check your sales, and for that, we use the eCommerce industry’s best friend, Stripe. It’s used by some of the biggest names in online sales to collect payments, make payments and keep crucial information secure.
Once you’ve signed up to your free Stripe account and connected it with Merch Window, you’re able to track all of your sales through your dashboard easily. Log in to dashboard.stripe.com and monitor everything from incoming payments to orders coming in.
5. Why does my audience want my custom merchandise?
People want your merchandise because they love your ‘thing’. Your music, food, team, and business. You. They want to let the world know; by association!
You have influence.
Spend some time (not creepily) watching people in the street and take notice of how many different organisations are promoted on clothing, accessories, and other personal products. You might be surprised at how much people enjoy representing a brand they enjoy for one reason or another. What better way for someone to support your business other than purchasing something they’ll use, wear, and share with their own network?
For more on how you can use Merch Window to do this and why it’s a good idea, here’s some excellent information.
Product, Price, Place, and Promotion
You might’ve heard of these as the ‘Marketing Mix’, The 4 Ps are used by companies to identify some key factors for their business, including what consumers want from them, how their product or service meets or fails to meet those needs, how their product or service is perceived in the world, how they stand out from their competitors, and how they interact with their customers.
It's important to understand that the elements of the first marketing mix you create are not intended to be static; they are meant to be adjusted and refined as your company's product grows and as your potential buyers change.
Product
An easy one! Make sure your product looks exactly how you want it to look via the design tool while we ensure the quality behind it.
Asking your customers what they would like to see on your customised merch is also a great way of ensuring your followers get what they want.
Price
The price of your custom merchandise is entirely at your discretion! Our recommendation is to ask yourself what you might pay for your product and go from there.
Have you sold merchandise for your business in the past? Consider the price point your customers were happy with and determine if it’s still suitable or needs adjusting.
Place
Make sure your product is in the right place at the right time. What we mean here is ensuring that your custom merchandise is advertised to those most likely to support you, although this doesn't mean only your already existing customers.
The more relevant the placement of your store advertisement, the more likely it will succeed.
Promotion
Finding the best channel of communication for your custom merchandise can be tricky. We suggest placing advertisements in multiple locations across social media and physical locations to gauge traction. Earlier in this page, we mentioned Larry Kim and his social superhero advice. Following the data will lead you to victory.
Additional Notes
Physical advertisement placement
Once you have created your free store you will receive an e-mail with a downloadable PDF featuring a unique template with your store's QR code attached. You’re able to print this pdf to place anywhere within your business location to allow for people to access your store, anywhere, anytime.
Our suggestions are countertops, window placements, changing rooms, and waiting areas.
Network marketing
Don’t be afraid to utilise your network! Reaching out to friends to help promote your store can be a great way of building traction and support, the more people that are aware the better! Do you know who is part of your network? You're friendly, neighbourhood Merch Window team! Reach out to us here and we'll be happy to help.