Top Five Secret Techniques the Big Guys Use in Their T-Shirt Marketing Campaigns

Selling t-shirts might not sound like a profitable business opportunity, yet differentiation is the true key to making it successful. Just do a search for t-shirts online, and you'll see a lot of direct marketers doing very well in this industry. It proves there's room for everybody in selling t-shirts, as long as you come up with unique designs.

In many cases, standing out from the crowd means using designs or quotes fitting in with the times. In other cases, it means reaching back to the past and reinventing what we saw decades ago.

Sometimes it means keeping up with technology to provide innovative design ideas.

The big guys out there who find success have some specific secrets in marketing their shirts. Here's a look at five techniques they use to borrow from.

1. Using Facebook Marketing

Business Insider did a compelling story about a man named Glyn Williams who once worked in radio and had to switch careers due to cancer. After some struggle, he discovered TeeSpring where he set up campaigns to sell t-shirts.

Since TeeSpring doesn't cost anything for you to design and sell t-shirts there, he didn't lose any money doing some experimenting. He finally hit on a design customers loved, ultimately pulling in $2 million as a result.

Yet, Williams credits Facebook marketing as the real secret to doing well on TeeSpring. He placed $10 into Facebook advertising for every campaign. Plus, he did a lot of customer targeting, which is another secret to consider.

2. Targeting the Right Customers

While you may think selling t-shirts applies to everybody, creating a niche can sell you even more. By identifying and clarifying your audience, you'll be able to tap into a valuable area that sells you millions.

Part of this involves analyzing your audience's passions, their sense of belonging, and what they think helps them stand out. A lot of these make up the psychology behind why people wear t-shirts.

3. Don't Reinvent the Wheel on T-Shirt Designs

You'll find a lot of other success stories in selling t-shirts, and almost all of them say you don't need to become a design wizard. Simply taking what already sells and reinventing them with your own style can work very well in attracting customers.

Most of the designs you see in t-shirts are ones adapted from others, including retro designs from many years ago.

So don't hesitate to study other designs out there and improve on them.

4. Simpler Designs Sell More

Yet another secret successful t-shirt sellers adhere to is in keeping their designs simple. It's not necessary to create busy graphics just because you have the shirt space to do so.

It's really all about the message you provide. This can mean just using text, though with a unique font style. Quotes on shirts still do very well, especially when it resonates about a particular political cause, or an ironical statement about world events.

Nevertheless, it pays to study your competition and see what you could add to your designs that they don't.

5. Funny T-Shirts Sell Well

Humor always does well in a lot of things, though satirical quotes on shirts always sell in large supplies. You can sell better with these because you're targeting two markets: Those who want something funny, and those who want something trendy.

Study what the latest trends are in funny quotes. Just be careful not to alienate your customer base with something overly controversial. You have to know whether being satirical really hits the mark in being trendy or just being offensive.

Keep reading us at TeeSpy as we explore what it takes to succeed in selling t-shirts through direct marketing.