Utilizing Apparel in your Marketing Communications Strategy
PDF Areas often overlooked by small to mid-sized businesses in the marketing communications plan are apparel with their product or service printed on them. While some may argue that having such items as t-shirts printed may exceed their marketing budgets, sometimes the benefits of advertising on apparel may outweigh the costs; especially if you charge a fee for the apparel product.
Hypothetically speaking, lets say that you are a photographer and your main focus is family portraits or even weddings. Publicizing your services on T-shirts can be beneficial. Items that you can print on your t-shirt could be your logo, select images, or your website.
Apparel is not limited to just t-shirts either. You can print on cooking aprons, baseball caps, jackets, etc. And while you may think the cost of printing the apparel is out of your marketing budget, there are alternatives to sending your print job to a standard apparel printer. You can utilize online services such as Cafe Press. Such online apparel printing services allow you to do small print runs without the high costs. In addition, you can sell your apparel directly from their website, making a little money in the process.
In the end, it’s worth taking a look at apparel as an off-beat marketing communication tool. If your design and price is right, you could see an army of individuals wearing your company name and promoting your products and services in areas you may have never been able to reach with your ad dollars.
