Want to make a lasting impact? It’s time to start thinking about merch.
Great businesses have great marketing strategy. While a lot of recent effort has been put into digital marketing strategies, merchandising is an often overlooked venue for making an impact. Merchandise has always been a good way for small businesses or independent artists to make money; but it can potentially become so much more. It’s a way to create an authentic connection to your audience.
Merchandise creates the quick, effective opportunity to convey your message, your personality, and engage with your customer base more intimately. It’s also one of the easiest ways to step into promotion and marketing with the highest immediate returns. It can be an inexpensive way to branch into a larger marketing strategy. Lower cost items can be produced in large quantities that won’t break your budget but give you some big returns!
So why merchandise? First, it increases brand awareness. Something as simple as a t-shirt is a walking advertisement for your brand. It’s on display wherever the wearer goes and provides the opportunity for countless new people to come in contact with your brand for the first time. Good merchandise can go a long way to cementing your reputation. A well-designed piece of merchandise speaks for itself. It’s about more than just slapping a logo on a shirt or water bottle. It’s about making that connection to your audience that conveys what your brand is about.
More than anything else, it provides your customers with a physical experience of your brand. Many times – especially in the music industry – you aren’t producing physical products for consumption. Merchandise gives your fans a way to feel connected to you. It’s a powerful way to give your audience something tangible they can walk away with.
It’s time to start thinking about how the right merchandise can connect your audience to your brand and create a lasting relationship. It’s time to start merchandising an experience – you.