Selling merch in 2023 is all about knowing your audience and leveraging your passion. Your merch line shouldn’t try to appeal to everybody. The more specific – the better.
By following these 5 tips, you’ll be able to build a profitable merch line!
1. Find Your Niche
Having a niche allows you to focus on connecting with your target audience. You don’t have to create a bunch of designs and hope they resonate with someone out there. When you have a niche, you can focus on creating merch specifically for that demographic.
You’ll sell more merch when you have your own niche. You can be more obscure with your references in designs and get creative with your marketing. It’s the best way to turn your merch line into a full-blown brand.
And your niche can be about anything! We’ve seen so many shops with interesting niches succeed: magnet fishing, pride-based art, funny cats, you name it. Whatever your passion or hobby, there’s an audience out there ready to buy your merch.
2. Create Quality Designs
You don’t need to be a professional designer to make quality merch. Once you know your niche, you can determine what kind of designs would best sell. And you know what you can do within your skillset.
Here are some ways you can use your skills (and others) to create quality merch designs that sell:
Use a FREE Design Tool
You don’t need fancy design software to make standout merch designs. We personally think tools like Canva can fulfill all your design needs.
Canva has hundreds of FREE premade graphics and text options you can use to create unique designs. Find designs that suit your niche by using keywords.
Phone a Friend
It doesn’t hurt to ask family and friends if they know someone with design experience, especially if you don’t feel like playing around with these tools.
A young designer or college student would be the perfect person to help you satisfy your vision. And they’re eager to get experience.
Hire a Professional
If you need a designer with a stacked portfolio, look into a service like Fiverr. They have thousands of designers ready to fulfill your requests.
Search “t-shirt design” or “merch design”, and you’ll find plenty of designers with different specialties. You can narrow it down from there.
Try to be specific with what you want. Are you looking for a bundle of similar graphics? A logo for your shop? This will make it easier to find a designer that suits your needs.
3. Make Merch Drops Special
You’ll sell more merch when you make it exciting for your followers. And there’s an art to the perfect drop.
Tease our your merch drops with little sneak peeks. Utilize the countdown feature on your Instagram stories. Post about it on your most relevant channels.
If you make videos or livestream on platforms like Twitch, wear your merch. This will get people interested and excited about what you have to offer.
You can also do a giveaway leading up to your merch drop. This will help generate interest and get people talking about your brand.
4. Develop a Social Strategy
Your merch isn’t going to sell itself. You’ve got to create a promotional strategy that works for you and your audience. This is key to selling more merch in 2023.
You don’t have to be on every platform. Be active on the channels where the majority of your audience is. Gamers are mainly be on Twitch, while artists and creatives dominate Instagram. When you find the right channels and use them effectively, you’ll generate more sales and avoid burnout.
Don’t spam your followers with too many merch-centric posts; it’s going to turn people off. Trickle in posts promoting your merch line amongst your normal content. And even if a post isn’t necessarily about merch, you can slyly post your shop link somewhere in the caption.
Be yourself. Create content that is authentic to you. Don’t turn into a different person just because you’re promoting a product.
5. Ask Your Audience
When in doubt, ask your followers what they think. It’s the best way to get honest, direct feedback that will benefit your merch line and allow you to sell more merch.
Show your followers that their opinion matters by reaching out on socials and asking what kind of merch they’d be interested in buying. If you already have some designs, run a poll or do a Q&A to see which designs resonate the most.
Not only will this help you create merch tailored specifically to your followers, but it’ll also build trust and deepen your connection. This could easily lead to more merch sales in the future.
Ready to start selling your own custom merch?
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