Make That Sh*t Cool
For years, I’ve been saying that your merch and swag should be first cool, then marketing. It needs to be something that folks want to wear, use, take with them and moreover be seen in and with. If it’s cool, folks will wear it, use it and be seen in it…thus fulfilling the goal of said item…marketing that someone else paid for (or at least subsidized).
But unfortunately, merch is typically thought of in the converse. Meaning it's merch first and because of that, it isn't cool at all. To demonstrate, I want you to think back to the last conference or corporate event you went to where someone handed you a branded flash drive. They smiled at you and said, “This is for you” as if all you ever wanted was a $10 flash drive with the name Quantum Synergy Dynamics on the side with a generic corporate logo on it. But, you likely graciously took it and either dropped it in the nearest trash can or you “accidentally” left it on the table where you were hanging out drinking those free beers after you got off the conference floor.
The point here is that you’ve got to understand that if you make shit for merch, it doesn’t have the longevity it could have if you first focus on making something cool that happened to be merch. Also, shitty merch costs the same if not more than merch that folks want to spend their money on.
So, first and foremost, make that shit cool. Spend a few hundred or thousands and hire a good designer to design something cool for you. Get samples of whatever it is you’re planning on getting. Do some test prints and be sure to allocate at least 5% of your overall budget just for mocks, samples, and test prints.
You’re better off taking your budget for shitty merch and getting a few less items that are more cool and that you’ll run out of faster because everyone wants one vs. coming home with a ton of merch or swag that no one wanted in the first place. Splurging on merch that you are able to unload quickly achieves a much better result than the alternative. If you’re coming home with merch and swag you either brought too much or it’s shit.
Take some time, work out what it is that folks don’t already have and or could use another one of. Look around for the quality and vendors that resonate with your brand. Grab that!
Whatever populates in the first few rows of your google search for “event merch” or “coffee roaster t shirt provider” should probably be thrown out because those are the same items that everyone else is seeing in their search query too.
So, make your merch or swag first and foremost cool, then make it marketing. Not the converse.
Does your brand need some fresh merch? We can help. Drop us a line, send a carrier pigeon, or do the old fashioned thing and DM us. We’re all ears.