Guerilla Marketing Tactic #1 - The TShirt

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This series will feature creative guerilla marketing tactics to effectively promote your online business or website at low cost.

The first marketing tactic involves the tshirt. Clothing is something we all need to wear (hopefully) so why not promote your business with a custom made shirt? This provides branding through people who essentially act as a walking billboard advertisement. Distribute tshirts to the right crowd and this can be a very effective marketing method. For example, if you have a website dedicated to soccer, create a unique tshirt related to soccer and distribute to soccer fans and athletes. Not only will these people love you for the shirt, but they will provide you with free exposure.

Designing a tshirt

• Use unique colors that stand out or go along with the theme of your site
• Go with a custom design with catchy graphics
• Use humor when possible, something that will appeal to your target market. People will identify with your shirt and want to wear it.
• Include your business name and URL, but go easy on advertisements. You want people to go out in public with your shirt on.
• If you are looking for a good custom tshirt designer, I’ve had good success with NDesigns

Ideas for distributing your business tshirts

• Give them away for free at related events or places (e.g. at a rock and roll concert for a music site)
• Start a contest, and give shirts away as a prize. This works well if you have a unique and catchy shirt.
• Use your shirts as leverage for building relationships with others in your industry. Everyone loves a free gift and this is a great conversation starter.
• Sell them for money. Make sure your tshirts are high quality if you go this route.

Creating custom tshirts is a great offline method for promoting your website. They are relatively cheap to make, look great, and can stir up a lot of buzz in your desired industry. Are you using tshirts for your business? How much success have you seen? Leave a comment and let me know!