April 17th, 2015 Show Notes – Niche Markets Revisited
Please find some links and notes from the 2 Regular Guys Podcast. Aaron Montgomery and Terry Combs are headed back to Google + to bring you one of their most popular monthly shows, Niche Markets Revisited. Terry Combs is an industry known speaker on the topic of Niche Markets so they guys are going to give you some ideas to get your spring off to a good start in the garment decorating world. This show will be played as a podcast from BlogTalkRadio on Friday morning, but be sure to join the live Google Hangout to ask questions and be part of the show.
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Niche Markets
Caterers & Wedding Planners
Suggested in one of my seminars by Dan from Invinci Graphics. They’re regular listeners to the show so a little shout out to the guys at Invinci.
The folks are providing the food and event products. Give them the chance to offer apparel, coffee mugs, and more. Partner with them for bachelor/bachelorette parties, other events. And of course the caterer and wedding planner staff garments as well.
Aaron, how many bachelorette parties have we stumbled upon over the years? Berlin was my favorite I think.
Company Picnics
We talked just last week about the approach of Memorial Day and the types of opportunities with Spring and Summer. If you already decorate for businesses, be sure to suggest shirt for upcoming summer get-togethers and events. A friend on Facebook posted a picture of her company outing to a Royals game. Maybe your suggestion will motivate your customer to have the event.
Join Civic & Booster Club Groups
Let me say right up front, do not join a local group with the sole purpose of selling T-shirts to the membership. What I’m referring to are groups like the Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce, or even your local high school Football Boosters. These groups, and in turn the members, are the volunteer movers and shakers in your community. That means they not only belong to different groups, but they also open up opportunities to you of being involved in the homecoming parade, the local art festival, and open the door to meeting varied business owners in your area.
So when you get involved, really get involved, and the reward will go far beyond selling your services. The increase in sales will be just a bonus to you.
Gymnastics Teams
In the Summer Olympics, you see eight teenagers walking across the mats to perform. Back at each of their home gyms, there are another 100 or 200 girls and boys aspiring to greatness. Gymnastics are a huge draw for kids, taking classes after school and on weekends.
Team T-shirts are a part of the deal for which parents readily buy with their monthly class payments. Besides competition teams, there are non-competing groups of all ages. Beyond T-shirts, you’ll also have the opportunity to decorate bags, jackets and more. This is a great opportunity for the bling producers out there.
Your best approach is to contact the gym owners with an assortment of packages they can offer to their students. Don’t forget about the cheer squads who compete from these facilities as well as use the facility for practice.
One more source of income is the birthday parties many of these gyms sponsor with the intention of recruiting new students. With your help they can offer T-shirts as a part of the birthday package. Maybe a special deal with your logo on the sleeve?
Be ready to offer small, smaller and smallest T-shirts and jackets, and large sports bags for kids to carry all their supplies.
Bicycle Clubs
It’s Springtime so the perfect time to approach this niche. I’ve got two buddies from college who are on their bikes nearly every night with their respective groups – one in Detroit and one in KC. As with many of the niche markets, this is a market where the participants are passionate and want to associate with the group. Help them to put together shirt purchases as a fundraiser for the group, then duplicate, and duplicate.
Bicycle Clubs meet sometimes once a week for a ride from here to there. And there is often a bar or restaurant for socializing after the ride. These are serious riders in that they invest in high end bikes and ride reasonably long distances, but camaraderie is the reason for belonging to an organized group.
As with any hobby or passion, people will spend money on their passion. You’ll want to offer them breathable shirts and prints, generally in light colors. You will have the potential of selling multiple shirts to each member as well as special event/ride shirts as they arise.
Check the local newspaper for event notices, and check with local bicycle shops for signup sheets on their bulletin boards.
Tip: Offer to print a reflective strip across the bottom of the shirt back as well as on each sleeve of the shirt. This will offer an extra level of safety, and might just set you above the competitor who is only offering custom shirts.
Game Day Packages
Partner up with a local business or group who do game day trips. Anyone ever tell you you’re business name should say what you do? Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers! Package should include a Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers t-shirt!
People are passionate about sports, and will spend freely when it comes to their passion. (Spending money on passion is something we’ve talked about more than once here.) You’ll likely need to partner up with one or more other businesses for this deal, but a game day package is a good way to generate interest and sales. The idea is to combine game tickets, transportation, meals, even hotel reservations depending on where the game might be played, and of course, printed apparel.
The idea is to build a package. One example is a local restaurant or tavern sponsoring a bus trip to a sporting event. The package includes game tickets, transportation to the game, a tailgate party upon arrival, and of course shirts to commemorate the event and to find members of the group. The trip might be to a professional football game, a college basketball game, or any sporting event that has strong interest in your community.
Tip: Professional teams and schools will work with you on getting more people to events with ticket packages, preferred seating, parking, etc. The pros and colleges have staff for this single purpose.
Your part of the package is the smallest in cost by comparison, but you can be the participant who plants the seed to create this event. If successful, it can be both an annual event, and a repeatable concept for other events.
Tip: Restaurant gift cards and gift cards/coupons to your own store can be an added enticement in this package.
Home Brewers
Hugely popular hobby today. Promote your line of t-shirts, hats, etc. through home brew websites and events.
Home brewing beer is hugely popular right now. What’s popular and what people are passionate about translates to a niche market for you and your products.
Create a line of shirts where a home brewer can name drop his family name brand. Your best bet will be to set up a website offering these niche specific products. By doing a single color namedrop, you can create multicolor graphics, print longer runs of the multicolor portion, but still offer customers short runs… at a premium price!
While you’re at it, you can contract out (unless you have the capability in house) printed beer glasses, and even bottles.
Political Campaigns
It’s all over the news again. It’s all about politics. T-shirts and caps are a part of every campaign for public office. The higher the office, the more potential for garment printing sales. I’m definitely an independent when it comes to this part of the political landscape. Which means, I will accept orders from either major party, and any third, fourth or fifth party as well. But try to schedule their pickups on different days!
The one and only drawback to selling to one campaign or another is getting payment. Someone is always the loser on election day. The losing candidate’s election committee breaks up faster than a flock of scavenging buzzards on a busy freeway.
On the plus, the printing is pretty basic, which means a fast setup and a simple print run. Stock up on red, blue and black ink, and lots of white Tees.
Tip: Here’s the basic rule of political sales. Get paid immediately. If you give any terms at all, be sure the payment date is before election day.
The potential for print orders will range from governor to the local school board. Nearly everyone on the ballot is going to buy garments from someone. Call that phone number in small print on a candidate’s yard signs, and make sure it’s you winning that order!
Summer Camps for Local Schools
We’re not talking about local camps, but local school groups going to camp. Specifically high school bands and cheerleaders will commonly travel and attend a camp during the summer months. Outfit them before they go!
Shows
- DAX Chicagoland – April 24-25
- ASI New York – May 5-6
- ISS Nashville – May 7-9
- NBM Arlington – May 14-16
- NBM Indy – June 4-6
Other News/Events
- Complete Screen Printing Business Course – Atlas Screen Supply in Chicago – May 16-17
Terry’s Books
Screen Printing: A Practical Guide to Starting Your Own T-Shirt Business Just $4.95 as an e-book.
Direct to Garment: A Practical Guide to Starting Your Own T-Shirt Business Just $4.95 as an e-book.
Scheduling and Estimating Production Time for Garment Screen Printing Just $2.99 as an e-book
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