🏆 The #1 tip to increase your merch sales
I’m often asked for my top tips for creators to increase their merch sales. The answer always comes very easy and fast to me. While having great looking designs and a cool shop is a plus, my number one go-to tip is…
TELL PEOPLE ABOUT YOUR MERCH!
I mean, that might seem like a “no-brainer” right? But clearly not enough creators actually mention their merch. They tell me they totally do talk about it, but all it takes is a quick look at their socials to see they are not being honest with themselves. If you’re currently selling merch of any kind stop right now and ask yourself when was the last time you actually talked about your merch or put out a new product?
I get it. I do. Nobody wants to be “that guy” at the party who is only talking about themselves or how great their custom merchandise is. And then there are the creators who are afraid to mention it because they don’t want to be labeled a sell-out.
💩You don’t have to be any of those guys.
Don’t be the guy who’s spamming shirt links or dropping in annoying merch plugs like you’re a Paul brother or something. And don’t be the guy who’s afraid to talk about their merch either.
The good news is there’s a way to balance this. The key is “conversational marketing”. It’s something that’s deployed on the highest levels of big companies like Disney, HBO, Amazon, Facebook. Nowadays you’ve probably been bombarded with “chatbots” on sites that pop up from the lower corner to ask if you need help with something. But it’s not ALL automated. Do you know that companies actually hire people to go to parties and slightly bring up their brand or product? There’s even “an app for that” which matches you with brands and pays you to attend parties and restaurants. Crazy right?
You don’t need all that fancyness to deploy conversational marketing for your personal brand or small business. You just need your voice and real engagement with your customers. This can be done in several ways from commenting in your comments section to slipping it casually into your content.
Here’s a quick example of conversational marketing:
Last week, Nathan, Moose and I were recording the Spreadshop Merch Cast (now available on Spotify!) ✨ And we were talking about how often times creators will sell merch with “inside” jokes that only their true fans will get. To that point on our show, Moose loves to introduce himself with the word “Crab Cakes!” (no, we’re not sure why he does this) It’s completely silly and fun and it’s caught on over the 15 episodes we have so far. We joked about offering a secret contest where whoever could name all the combinations of Crab Cakes that Moose offers in his intros would win a cool “Crab Cakes” shirt designed by him. What do you think of this idea?
So what was I advertising there? Was it the podcast itself? Or the potential to have a crab cakes shirt for the podcast fans? Maybe it was all of those things. Take notice how I asked for thoughts at the end of that story to get the fan’s feedback and keeping them engaged in the conversation. Keep an eye out of this method being deployed in content that you read and watch online and now you will see it in action.
“Just slip it in to the conversation…”
We’ve all heard that saying before when you don’t want something to be overpowering. Whatever type of content you’re putting out there, be it blogs, vlogs, comics, podcasts, music, the best way to deploy conversational marketing is just by “slipping it in to conversations” you’re already having with your audience. People tend to do this mindlessly now, but if you begin to do it mindfully you will see results. It’s even fun to keep a record of times you deployed this technique and see if you had spikes in sales or conversations about your brand.
And that’s the REAL trick here… you can’t deploy conversational marketing for your personal brand or small business without actually starting and engaging in conversations about your brand. So what conversations are you starting today about your service, product or passion? Do you have an example when this has worked for you? Share with us!
And if you don’t have merch to sell just yet, I’d be remiss in not mentioning that our Spreadshop is always free to use and sign up for. The entire team has worked very hard to make it the smart way to start selling your merch today. Like, literally TODAY. No hassles. No overhead. Register and reserve your shop name right here.
