How to Create a Marketing Plan for Your Shop

Marketing is vital for any business that wants to make itself known to potential customers—which, let’s face it, is every business in the world. Find out how you can generate T-shirt marketing ideas, and learn how to create a marketing plan that perfectly fits the needs of Shop Owners.

T-Shirt Marketing Ideas – Exploiting Untapped Potential

Why am I not making sales? This is a question anyone who’s just started selling t-shirts is bound to ask in the initial stages of their venture. The same can be asked by old hands when confronted with an occasional dip in sales.

Imagine you run a convenience store on a busy street, but nobody ever sets foot in your store. This is probably because you haven’t put a plan into place of how to market your products to an audience you don’t really know. Putting a sound marketing analysis into place will help get things off the ground.

The Plan: T-Shirt Marketing Analysis

You need to find your niche and corner it. Two things are important here:

• Your strategy: a polished marketing plan that outlines exactly what you want to achieve.
• Your tactics: a sequence of steps or actions that details how you put your strategy in place.

Marketing Plan: 5 Points for Strategy Success

1. Target audience research

To create a memorable and successful brand, you need to be 100% sure about who you’re selling to. Knowing your audience inside-out is absolutely vital. Ideally, you’re already part of the group, movement or subculture you’re creating designs for. Find out about people’s hobbies, their role models, preferences, likes and dislikes. Maybe even what they like having for breakfast. Always try to answer the question, “Why would they buy my designs?”

2. Competitor analysis

Learn from your competition and find your niche. Successful competitors have established a clear idea of their identity and know how to captivate their audience’s attention. The audience needs to be able to identify with your products. Seek out a couple successful brands that you admire to model your own brand upon. Analyze their marketing strategy. See what the top sellers in your niche do well and learn from them.

3. Step-by-step product promotion plan

It’s important to monitor your efforts and costs versus your actual success. This is easily managed with these two factors:

• Forecast the outcome of your marketing measures (e.g. number of sales, followers you want to gain, etc.)
• Measure the actual result and compare it to your forecast so you can learn to calculate future estimation of effort and costs

4. Monitor customer feedback

Set up Google alerts to be notified when your brand is mentioned. Follow social media trends, and engage in conversation with your followers on social media. Be a patient listener and stay alert to whatever your audience is interested in to gather new ideas for designs.

5. Review your marketing plan

Once your initial plan has been fulfilled, set yourself new goals and revise your marketing plan when needed. Updates and adaptations will become necessary when you start creating designs for a slightly different target group.

What can you do to promote your brand?

As a one-person venture, you are the creative marketing director for your brand. Consider creating a little video clip to serve as an image film for your brand. You don’t need any expensive camera equipment or models to shoot a video to draw people’s attention to your brand and products. Turn your friends into actors. Imagine what could make the video fun to watch and worth sharing. Try adding an exciting story or reference to popular culture. Capture the hearts and imaginations of your audience – just give it a go!

Learn more about sharing your designs and products on Pinterest, LookBook and similar websites.

 What has your experience with marketing been so far? Are you a good planner, or do you need to push yourself to get things done? Please drop your feedback or questions in the comments!

P.S. When you are done with the business plan, open your free online shop with Spreadshirt and start selling.