How to Market your Merch

You just received your first batch of merchandise and you’re excited to see the vision come alive. Now it comes time to sell and show off the design you created. Here are some tips on how to market your merchandise.

1. Social media

This is a go-to when it comes to sharing what you’ve made. Social media can spread information like rapid fire, it is in the palm of everyone's hand, and one post can catch huge amounts of attention. Creating an Instagram page can help your audience quickly decide if they want to buy. Nowadays, Tiktok has been a useful app that makes a lot of short videos go viral. To get popular on Tiktok, you have to follow the trends. People love when businesses get quirky and funny so using a trending sound for your Tik Tok videos will make the algorithm show your videos to more people, on their For You page. Using hashtags also builds up your number of views. Since you are focusing on marketing your merch, you would want to use hashtags such as art, fashion, creative, merch, and also using your brand’s name as a hashtag.

2. Make a Website

After showing it off on social media, you can either sell it through Instagram directly, or make a website that would focus on your brand and about you. Design the website to be eye-catching and expressive of your brand. Design it around your creations, and make it feel authentic to your brand. Having a website can help consumers gain a better visual of your merchandise. Also, having the website as a direct source to buy the merch can help the consumer feel more secure about their purchase.

3. Tell your family and friends

Having people in our lives that can support our ideas definitely helps us in the long run. Telling your family and friends about your merch and asking them to share on their online platforms can spread your merch faster and can reach your community of people who want to support you. Having a person who wants to see you thrive can push you to new opportunities, and gain success for your brand.

4. Networking

Telling your family and friends about your brand may even introduce you to other like-minded people. This will allow you to practice talking about your merchandise and show it off to people who have similar interests as you. Attend social events and conventions that are around your location. If you are still in school, go to events that are provided by the school and socialize to find people who can help you to create a bigger profit for your merchandise, or people who are into the same styles as you that would buy from you. For conventions, you can find some around your community that relates to your artwork.

Having a media presence is important to build up the brand and for the people who have followed you on those platforms. They want to see more of you, and selling merch can make them feel a part of your community. Evening having a little pop up stand at a flea market can build a stronger foundation between the relationship with you and your followers. Reaching out to other creatives such as you can build up your brand, be able to collaborate and gain ideas that you have not thought of. This will open the doors to many opportunities to grow as a brand. Always market yourself, because people love an authentic creative that is willing to express themselves genuinely. Eventually a community of fans will grow and support that person.