Any marketing ideas for a textile printing company?

[Fersko]

Hey Fastlaners,

I have a (B2B) textile printing company, and time from time I get a good amount of customers and revenue. However, most of my customers are acquired through mouth-to-mouth recommendations by prior clients. So, on that segment I can really rely, but I still often have these empty voids of no orders (recurring clients have order patterns). To fill this void, I've experimented with Instagram, Google Ads, Meta Ads and cold emailing without much success unfortunately.

Therefore, I was wondering if anyone has creative ideas or strategies on how to penetrate my local B2B market better? (I know that my market is saturated, but the business model works.)

EDIT:
My clients are majorly: small construction companies, youth scouting, student associations, ... (so not really creative clients)

Cheers

Fersko

 

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[SEBASTlAN]

Have you tried local events using BNI, meetup or 10times

 

[BigRomeDawg]

What is your offer?

 

[Rangermac2]

Hey Fastlaners,

I have a (B2B) textile printing company, and time from time I get a good amount of customers and revenue. However, most of my customers are acquired through mouth-to-mouth recommendations by prior clients. So, on that segment I can really rely, but I still often have these empty voids of no orders (recurring clients have order patterns). To fill this void, I've experimented with Instagram, Google Ads, Meta Ads and cold emailing without much success unfortunately.

Therefore, I was wondering if anyone has creative ideas or strategies on how to penetrate my local B2B market better? (I know that my market is saturated, but the business model works.)

Cheers

Fersko

If your textiles are marketed through word of mouth, find a way to increase this method or even make it seem like other people are talking about it. Take the role of the customer and review your own product. For instance lets say you have a textile print your company made displayed within your house, notice how many compliments you get and how people gravitate it, inject how much you like the tile yourself. Then refer where they can purchase it. HGTV does the same thing, displaying styles of home decor, walk into a Target and they have the collection from some popular shows in their store. Compliment your product and people will be drawn toward it.

While lacking full control, see about tailoring your algorithms on instagram, tiktok, meta, etc. this can be done by following companies of similar products, liking similar posts, and eventually a market will appear.

If you don't mind I ask, what are some products you provide? This may make or break my previous suggestion on displaying a design for guests - I was thinking as if it were a rug or some type of tapestry since they are fabric based

Edit: Since you are business to business, is there any retailers within your area whether being family furniture store or store curtailed to your products where you could have a display to get some exposure? Not every store is willing to showcase someone's products without an incentive, you will need something that automatically benefits them and provides additional benefit - that could be a generous split on sale profit, it may be loyalty in working together as an exclusives print for in store guests - textiles throughout history have been used in an artistic approach so maybe find a way to display your products like an art gallery

 

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[Fersko]

Have you tried local events using BNI, meetup or 10times

I once stationed myself on a B2C event, without any success. I feel like people don't want to spend too much time on their firm merch, they just want their logo on X, and pick the first one they see one Google I feel like.

What is your offer?

https://deprintbar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PriceList_DePrintBar.pdf

If your textiles are marketed through word of mouth, find a way to increase this method or even make it seem like other people are talking about it. Take the role of the customer and review your own product. For instance lets say you have a textile print your company made displayed within your house, notice how many compliments you get and how people gravitate it, inject how much you like the tile yourself. Then refer where they can purchase it. HGTV does the same thing, displaying styles of home decor, walk into a Target and they have the collection from some popular shows in their store. Compliment your product and people will be drawn toward it.

While lacking full control, see about tailoring your algorithms on instagram, tiktok, meta, etc. this can be done by following companies of similar products, liking similar posts, and eventually a market will appear.

If you don't mind I ask, what are some products you provide? This may make or break my previous suggestion on displaying a design for guests - I was thinking as if it were a rug or some type of tapestry since they are fabric based

Edit: Since you are business to business, is there any retailers within your area whether being family furniture store or store curtailed to your products where you could have a display to get some exposure? Not every store is willing to showcase someone's products without an incentive, you will need something that automatically benefits them and provides additional benefit - that could be a generous split on sale profit, it may be loyalty in working together as an exclusives print for in store guests - textiles throughout history have been used in an artistic approach so maybe find a way to display your products like an art gallery

Hey, thank you for your extensive answer! Maybe I should've been more detailed; unfortunately I don't have physical location, as I'm hustling this company from my garage on the side. My clients are majorly: small construction companies, youth scouting, student associations, ... (so not really creative clients)

See my answer above for our offer.

I should indeed put more effort into social media, because if it can get off the floor, it can give a lot of value... I was contemplating about hiring a VA for this, as it really isn't my passion...

Thanks for that latter advice, will definitely consider that!

 

[BigRomeDawg]

https://deprintbar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PriceList_DePrintBar.pdf

So, when you run FB ads, you just run ads to a price list?

 

[Fersko]

So, when you run FB ads, you just run ads to a price list?

Hahah no, I've experimented with different ad sets etc.

 

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[Ing]

Maybe that thread s for you:

HOT! - Spend your money on diesel and coffee

"Spend your money on diesel and coffee" (Blaise Brosnan of The Management Resource Institute Wexford) Just getting started? Wondering what to spend your time and money on? Hustle. Build relationships. Make stuff happen. You'll be amazed what happens when you get out of the building...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[Rangermac2]

I once stationed myself on a B2C event, without any success. I feel like people don't want to spend too much time on their firm merch, they just want their logo on X, and pick the first one they see one Google I feel like.

https://deprintbar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PriceList_DePrintBar.pdf

Hey, thank you for your extensive answer! Maybe I should've been more detailed; unfortunately I don't have physical location, as I'm hustling this company from my garage on the side. My clients are majorly: small construction companies, youth scouting, student associations, ... (so not really creative clients)

See my answer above for our offer.

I should indeed put more effort into social media, because if it can get off the floor, it can give a lot of value... I was contemplating about hiring a VA for this, as it really isn't my passion...

Thanks for that latter advice, will definitely consider that!

I see, thanks for clarifying. Since you are online, it would be best for you to use a lot of social media marketing. You could always reach out and ask a school if they would like some shirts, as you said for student associations. For instance, my school does a thing where student council (Upper Classmen) will help incoming 8th graders on their day that they would come to the High School and be toured and learn what it is about, sort of like an exposition. They always choose shirts with colorful print and colors so we can be easily identifiable.

If you could find someone on the inside of a school that sponsors clubs you could offer to be the producer and vendor of the shirts for a club or for a club/organization event. Even selling shirts for things like sporting meets with the school's/district's permission could create a presence. Since you're working in a garage it really wouldn't matter because no body would go to a store front, you would deliver the shirts to the customer just as if you owned a large distribution center. PTA's (Parent Teacher Alliance) always like to sport the shirts of their schools so you may be open to a market that is typically untouched.

You've got plenty of options and I believe that you can really get this growing, you'll just need a way to inject yourself into the market and announce yourself where you can than begin having consistent clients.

Edit: Are you able to do Logos or other slogans and text?

 

[BigRomeDawg]

Hahah no, I've experimented with different ad sets etc.

Gotcha. So what's your offer?

 

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[James Klymus]

You AREN'T a "B2B textile printing company"

You're a company that creates uniforms that bring teams together.

You don't just print shirts. You create uniforms that unite teams to charge head on to their goal.

The problem is, Nobody wants a "B2B textile printing company". It sounds boring and corporate, And I didn't even know what you sell until I went through the thread and found the link. Just say you print T-Shirts at the very least.

EVERYONE wants to be apart of a team/movement. Everyone wants to feel like they belong.

Position your self differently and your offer will become more apparent.

Figure out what people want in your industry. I can tell you from experience, If i'm ordering custom apparel, I want it done quickly and with high quality. I also want an easy way to preview my designs before I send them to print.

You aren't selling shirts, You're selling a result e.g. a stronger team bond, More productivity, Higher employee morale etc.

 

[bpbrewer]

I’m not sure if I have anything “creative” to recommend, but maybe I can walk you through some basics. You already know that your product and service are good. The testament to that is word-of-mouth. You don’t get that with crappy produce or service, so that base is covered. And that’s the most important base to cover because no amount of marketing will fix a shitty product or service.

There’s nothing wrong with supplementing your marketing efforts with ads or trying to get new business leads via ads. However, it's super easy to litter the internet with ads, but I think you've already discovered that it's super hard to create an ad that converts. But if you don’t have an ad that converts, you can spend a fortune quickly littering the internet without getting much in return.

Now, I have not seen your ads, so it's hard for me to judge. But if I was to create an ad, here’s what I would consider first. Take it for what it’s worth.

Get down to the root of the problem

You said that you work with local construction companies. Let’s run with that as an example.

Who’s doing the buying? Who’s the decision maker? Probably the big boss (or maybe the boss's wife who runs the back office).

Now the important question to ask yourself is WHY the big boss is buying branded swag in the first place? Is it because his crew doesn’t have enough shirts in their wardrobes?

Probably not.

A construction company is a business like any other business, and what they care about is maximizing the value of their projects, and increasing the quality and quantity of their clients.

Ultimately this is what they care about, and if you can tie your product and service to their needs, the more likely you are to be noticed and hired.

For instance, having a good-looking and presentable crew increases the chances that they can charge top money for their service, increase respect from the client, increase chances of repeat business, increase reputation in the community, increase chase of word-of-mouth exposure, and the list goes on.

The big boss knows that if the crew shows up wearing random dirty rags, the chances of all the things above go down. This is why they buy branded uniforms for their crew.

Write to them and only to them

The best ad and best copy is the one that’s ridiculously specific to that one individual who you’re trying to reach. This is how you get their attention.

The big boss sees ads for shirts all day long, and 99% of them are invisible to him. That’s because most ads say some form of “T-Shirt Printing - Low Price. Click Here Now”. Those ads are written to “appeal” to everyone, but the irony is that they appeal to no one.

However, if the big boss sees an ad that says “Make your Pros look like Pros. Your clients will love you. Get branded shirts for your crew today.” He may actually look because that appeals to his specific problem.

The fact is that your customers are not interested in your business as much as they’re interested in solving their problems. So appeal to their problem, not your business.

The more specific you are to one specific person, the more traction your ad will get with that person.

Focus on only one idea per ad

Your ad should focus on one thing and one thing only. Common sense dictates that more is better, therefore, many advertisers try to cram as much into the ad as possible. More products, more features, more offer, more of everything. But decision fatigue is real. It’s easy to overwhelm a reader into inaction. So it’s best to present only one idea at a time.

Your main idea may be centered around looking professional. But there are plenty of other ideas that you can structure your ads around too. Just to think of a few:

• A good quality shirt that won’t rip each time a carpenter brushes against a nail
• Thicker print that lasts longer on the job sites
• A comfortable shirt that the crew will actually want to wear all day long
• Hand delivery with a smile on your face
• Fresh new shirts delivered to the job site the next day
• And so on…

For each ad, pick one idea and stick with it.

Ask for only one action

Same as above. Think of what action you want the big boss to take when they read your ad. Of course, you want them to buy a shirt, eventually, but asking to buy right away may be too much to ask for initially. Maybe you want to ask the big boss to check out the product landing page or contact you for a quote. Whatever it is, make it clear.

But don’t try to ask for too much, or too many things all at once.

As you can imaging, all of the above is true for any copywriting, not just Ad copy.

Also, for your marketing as a whole, think about:

Where can you compete where others can't?

Sounds like you’re trying to compete in your local market (city/metro area) rather than your national (or even the international) market. In that case, you need to think of what advantage you got over your competitors.

You're right, there are a dime-a-dozen apparel printing companies out there—some exist in your local market, but most exist on the internet (but they still compete with your local market). But knowing anything business, most of those companies try to compete on price. And that’s ok, let them. They can price themselves out through the bottom. But I’d recommend that you don’t (unless you want to be just like everyone else).

Where you can compete is value and quality. Value of your products, and quality of your service.

You’re local. You can shake hands and make real face-to-face connections. This is how people form relationships with other people, and it’s very hard to do that over the internet. Most of your competitors won’t even try.

If you absolutely need to compete on price, you can always make the case that you can compete with others on price, but others can’t compete with you on service.

What is the story your customer will tell about your product?

This is important because many times the story is the deciding factor of why someone would buy from you vs your competitor, and why someone will recommend your products to others (word of mouth). Your story is your advantage because you have a monopoly over it. No one else can have it.

I checked out your website and I like the simplicity of it. Good job! But what I like the most is your story on the “Contact Us” page. I think you should expand on that and tie it better with your products and service. Because if that story is known to your customers, this is what they’ll tell others.

If someone asks the big boss, “hey that’s a cool crew shirt, where did you get it?”

Would you want them to say:

“I don’t know, some online store. They were cheap.”

Or would you rather have them say:

“Oh, you like it? It’s from a local company that's run by these two skater dudes. They make shirts in their garage. Best shirts I’ve ever bought. Plus these dudes know service! You want their contact info? I’ll hook you up!”

Telling a good story of your products and service makes all the difference.

Of course, you can take the same format and run with it for any other customer you got. Why would a football team want to buy uniforms? Who’s the decision maker, the coach? What is the story they’ll tell others about their uniform?

Then create a landing page for each buyer. Be as specific to them as you possibly can. Link your ad to the landing page. The landing page can have multiple ideas, as long as you have one reader in mind and ask for one action.

Hope this helps, good luck.

 

[Fersko]

BTW @Everyone:
If you want more context I can send you over my website in a PM. I just don't want my clients to be able to find me on here when they Google me, as I think it wouldn't really appear professional.

I see, thanks for clarifying. Since you are online, it would be best for you to use a lot of social media marketing. You could always reach out and ask a school if they would like some shirts, as you said for student associations. For instance, my school does a thing where student council (Upper Classmen) will help incoming 8th graders on their day that they would come to the High School and be toured and learn what it is about, sort of like an exposition. They always choose shirts with colorful print and colors so we can be easily identifiable.

If you could find someone on the inside of a school that sponsors clubs you could offer to be the producer and vendor of the shirts for a club or for a club/organization event. Even selling shirts for things like sporting meets with the school's/district's permission could create a presence. Since you're working in a garage it really wouldn't matter because no body would go to a store front, you would deliver the shirts to the customer just as if you owned a large distribution center. PTA's (Parent Teacher Alliance) always like to sport the shirts of their schools so you may be open to a market that is typically untouched.

You've got plenty of options and I believe that you can really get this growing, you'll just need a way to inject yourself into the market and announce yourself where you can than begin having consistent clients.

Edit: Are you able to do Logos or other slogans and text?

I've cold emailed youth organizations in the past, and I think out of the 30 organizations I had mailed 2 converted. Even one ordered multiple times after that. So yea, mailing schools could work, I'll try that out. Thanks for your input

Yes, slogans and text are no problem.

You AREN'T a "B2B textile printing company"

You're a company that creates uniforms that bring teams together.

You don't just print shirts. You create uniforms that unite teams to charge head on to their goal.

The problem is, Nobody wants a "B2B textile printing company". It sounds boring and corporate, And I didn't even know what you sell until I went through the thread and found the link. Just say you print T-Shirts at the very least.

EVERYONE wants to be apart of a team/movement. Everyone wants to feel like they belong.

Position your self differently and your offer will become more apparent.

Figure out what people want in your industry. I can tell you from experience, If i'm ordering custom apparel, I want it done quickly and with high quality. I also want an easy way to preview my designs before I send them to print.

You aren't selling shirts, You're selling a result e.g. a stronger team bond, More productivity, Higher employee morale etc.

Interesting angles you suggest, I will definitely try out that approach!

I’m not sure if I have anything “creative” to recommend, but maybe I can walk you through some basics. You already know that your product and service are good. The testament to that is word-of-mouth. You don’t get that with crappy produce or service, so that base is covered. And that’s the most important base to cover because no amount of marketing will fix a shitty product or service.

There’s nothing wrong with supplementing your marketing efforts with ads or trying to get new business leads via ads. However, it's super easy to litter the internet with ads, but I think you've already discovered that it's super hard to create an ad that converts. But if you don’t have an ad that converts, you can spend a fortune quickly littering the internet without getting much in return.

Now, I have not seen your ads, so it's hard for me to judge. But if I was to create an ad, here’s what I would consider first. Take it for what it’s worth.

Get down to the root of the problem

You said that you work with local construction companies. Let’s run with that as an example.

Who’s doing the buying? Who’s the decision maker? Probably the big boss (or maybe the boss's wife who runs the back office).

Now the important question to ask yourself is WHY the big boss is buying branded swag in the first place? Is it because his crew doesn’t have enough shirts in their wardrobes?

Probably not.

A construction company is a business like any other business, and what they care about is maximizing the value of their projects, and increasing the quality and quantity of their clients.

Ultimately this is what they care about, and if you can tie your product and service to their needs, the more likely you are to be noticed and hired.

For instance, having a good-looking and presentable crew increases the chances that they can charge top money for their service, increase respect from the client, increase chances of repeat business, increase reputation in the community, increase chase of word-of-mouth exposure, and the list goes on.

The big boss knows that if the crew shows up wearing random dirty rags, the chances of all the things above go down. This is why they buy branded uniforms for their crew.

Write to them and only to them

The best ad and best copy is the one that’s ridiculously specific to that one individual who you’re trying to reach. This is how you get their attention.

The big boss sees ads for shirts all day long, and 99% of them are invisible to him. That’s because most ads say some form of “T-Shirt Printing - Low Price. Click Here Now”. Those ads are written to “appeal” to everyone, but the irony is that they appeal to no one.

However, if the big boss sees an ad that says “Make your Pros look like Pros. Your clients will love you. Get branded shirts for your crew today.” He may actually look because that appeals to his specific problem.

The fact is that your customers are not interested in your business as much as they’re interested in solving their problems. So appeal to their problem, not your business.

The more specific you are to one specific person, the more traction your ad will get with that person.

Focus on only one idea per ad

Your ad should focus on one thing and one thing only. Common sense dictates that more is better, therefore, many advertisers try to cram as much into the ad as possible. More products, more features, more offer, more of everything. But decision fatigue is real. It’s easy to overwhelm a reader into inaction. So it’s best to present only one idea at a time.

Your main idea may be centered around looking professional. But there are plenty of other ideas that you can structure your ads around too. Just to think of a few:

• A good quality shirt that won’t rip each time a carpenter brushes against a nail
• Thicker print that lasts longer on the job sites
• A comfortable shirt that the crew will actually want to wear all day long
• Hand delivery with a smile on your face
• Fresh new shirts delivered to the job site the next day
• And so on…

For each ad, pick one idea and stick with it.

Ask for only one action

Same as above. Think of what action you want the big boss to take when they read your ad. Of course, you want them to buy a shirt, eventually, but asking to buy right away may be too much to ask for initially. Maybe you want to ask the big boss to check out the product landing page or contact you for a quote. Whatever it is, make it clear.

But don’t try to ask for too much, or too many things all at once.

As you can imaging, all of the above is true for any copywriting, not just Ad copy.

Also, for your marketing as a whole, think about:

Where can you compete where others can't?

Sounds like you’re trying to compete in your local market (city/metro area) rather than your national (or even the international) market. In that case, you need to think of what advantage you got over your competitors.

You're right, there are a dime-a-dozen apparel printing companies out there—some exist in your local market, but most exist on the internet (but they still compete with your local market). But knowing anything business, most of those companies try to compete on price. And that’s ok, let them. They can price themselves out through the bottom. But I’d recommend that you don’t (unless you want to be just like everyone else).

Where you can compete is value and quality. Value of your products, and quality of your service.

You’re local. You can shake hands and make real face-to-face connections. This is how people form relationships with other people, and it’s very hard to do that over the internet. Most of your competitors won’t even try.

If you absolutely need to compete on price, you can always make the case that you can compete with others on price, but others can’t compete with you on service.

What is the story your customer will tell about your product?

This is important because many times the story is the deciding factor of why someone would buy from you vs your competitor, and why someone will recommend your products to others (word of mouth). Your story is your advantage because you have a monopoly over it. No one else can have it.

I checked out your website and I like the simplicity of it. Good job! But what I like the most is your story on the “Contact Us” page. I think you should expand on that and tie it better with your products and service. Because if that story is known to your customers, this is what they’ll tell others.

If someone asks the big boss, “hey that’s a cool crew shirt, where did you get it?”

Would you want them to say:

“I don’t know, some online store. They were cheap.”

Or would you rather have them say:

“Oh, you like it? It’s from a local company that's run by these two skater dudes. They make shirts in their garage. Best shirts I’ve ever bought. Plus these dudes know service! You want their contact info? I’ll hook you up!”

Telling a good story of your products and service makes all the difference.

Of course, you can take the same format and run with it for any other customer you got. Why would a football team want to buy uniforms? Who’s the decision maker, the coach? What is the story they’ll tell others about their uniform?

Then create a landing page for each buyer. Be as specific to them as you possibly can. Link your ad to the landing page. The landing page can have multiple ideas, as long as you have one reader in mind and ask for one action.

Hope this helps, good luck.

Wow, what a valuable post, could be a thread on it's own. Very much appreciated, thanks!

Actually the campaign that I ran on Meta, was with a little bit of expertise of an e-commerce guru that I know personally. So, I did most of what you said, but probably still to roughly. The campaign was focused on 'company clothing' specifically and had a separate landing page, so I was really aiming for that customer persona (how the guru would've said it haha). The ads that I ran had copy with: 'Blink out as most other companies, with quality custom clothing". I only changed them visually, maybe experimenting with the copy is more important? The landing page had a simple mail, whatsapp and calendly button to request and quotation or meeting. As you're right that it makes no sense to design their order, decide on quantity right away. We noticed in general that customers are really not interested in designing their tshirt on your website themselves. We had this application in the beginning, but removed it. These, construction companies just want to drop there logo in a mail, and leave it over to you. That's were we pivoted to, but I'm struggling to incorporate that in our brand...

As for our pricing, we're more expensive but still very reasonable, not experienced any issues with this.

 

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[Rangermac2]

BTW @Everyone:
If you want more context I can send you over my website in a PM. I just don't want my clients to be able to find me on here when they Google me, as I think it wouldn't really appear professional.


I've cold emailed youth organizations in the past, and I think out of the 30 organizations I had mailed 2 converted. Even one ordered multiple times after that. So yea, mailing schools could work, I'll try that out. Thanks for your input

Yes, slogans and text are no problem.

Perfect, I asked one of my friends to send a picture of a hoodie he bought for 60$ (about 55 Euros) a long while back. It had 2 decals one was of an emoji smiling and the other it said "Even your girlfriend cheers for me" - he got it as more of a joke but ended up enjoying it. We were running a track meet that weekend and it was cold. If you could find a way to set up and do on demand orders at an event you could sell loads of shirts and hoodies with whatever decal for the event. People want shirts and hoodies that represent their teams but more than that, an event - since majority of the world is event driven, so you could find a way to put the event name on there too. The cold weather had everyone buying a hoodie to stay warm since no body comes prepared, take advantage of that and you could make a great profit.

 

[Fersko]

Perfect, I asked one of my friends to send a picture of a hoodie he bought for 60$ (about 55 Euros) a long while back. It had 2 decals one was of an emoji smiling and the other it said "Even your girlfriend cheers for me" - he got it as more of a joke but ended up enjoying it. We were running a track meet that weekend and it was cold. If you could find a way to set up and do on demand orders at an event you could sell loads of shirts and hoodies with whatever decal for the event. People want shirts and hoodies that represent their teams but more than that, an event - since majority of the world is event driven, so you could find a way to put the event name on there too. The cold weather had everyone buying a hoodie to stay warm since no body comes prepared, take advantage of that and you could make a great profit.

Hahah interesting. I personally don't have a good experience with on-demand printing on a event, as no one wanted to put time into creating 'the idea' for on the shirts. I guess it depends on the event type then.

 

[Rangermac2]

Hahah interesting. I personally don't have a good experience with on-demand printing on a event, as no one wanted to put time into creating 'the idea' for on the shirts. I guess it depends on the event type then.

Yeah it would all be experimental for you. The cool part is the ability to go from school to school that hosts events and put similar prints up for the events you would just need to prints designed so you'll have a template ready.

Thought it may be of use to you, when planning on expanding customers

 

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[LateStarter]

https://deprintbar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PriceList_DePrintBar.pdf

Harsh reality, if this is your website you need to up your game in a few areas.

You're not advertising or marketing your potential. How are you different than other printers? What's the value to customers? Same for your instagram.

I'm sure there are lot more experienced people here who can help pick apart and improve your site better than I can, but here are some areas for starters:

• Remember, you're not in the printing business. You're in the fashion business.
• Show what you're capable of. Aside from a few client images everything else is your logo printed on white clothes. Frankly, it's boring.
• Use more lifestyle photos with your prints across your website. If you need to, hire a designer to push the boundaries of what you can do. Print some samples. Hire some models and a photographer. A brand is more that just a logo. Use lifestyle photographs and impressive prints to speak to your brand.
• Showcase your capabilities.
• Ditch the mock-ups.
• Reduce the amount of whitespace.
• Do you offer design services? Become a 'creator' for people. Let them come to you with ideas that you bring to reality for them. Use that kind of copy on your site.
• What are your capabilities? 'One colour, Multi-color, velvet press' may not mean much to your clients. Curate images around each that 'show' what this means.

Do you have a showroom where you can meet with clients, discuss their needs and design their solution? Advertise it! Make a contact page around it. Post the hours of the showroom.

Check this video out. It may help give you some more inspiration.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJRWc1ZPCpQ&t=1256s

 

[MitchC]

Partner with graphic designers in your area

Someone getting a logo will likely want some merch with their logo on it

 

[Fersko]

Harsh reality, if this is your website you need to up your game in a few areas.

You're not advertising or marketing your potential. How are you different than other printers? What's the value to customers? Same for your instagram.

I'm sure there are lot more experienced people here who can help pick apart and improve your site better than I can, but here are some areas for starters:

• Remember, you're not in the printing business. You're in the fashion business.
• Show what you're capable of. Aside from a few client images everything else is your logo printed on white clothes. Frankly, it's boring.
• Use more lifestyle photos with your prints across your website. If you need to, hire a designer to push the boundaries of what you can do. Print some samples. Hire some models and a photographer. A brand is more that just a logo. Use lifestyle photographs and impressive prints to speak to your brand.
• Showcase your capabilities.
• Ditch the mock-ups.
• Reduce the amount of whitespace.
• Do you offer design services? Become a 'creator' for people. Let them come to you with ideas that you bring to reality for them. Use that kind of copy on your site.
• What are your capabilities? 'One colour, Multi-color, velvet press' may not mean much to your clients. Curate images around each that 'show' what this means.

Do you have a showroom where you can meet with clients, discuss their needs and design their solution? Advertise it! Make a contact page around it. Post the hours of the showroom.

Check this video out. It may help give you some more inspiration.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJRWc1ZPCpQ&t=1256s

No offense was taken! Honestly, I have let many people review our website and the opinions are very broad, so it's really hard me to find the optimal design (as we tried out many versions already). Although I often heard that the simplicity is appreciated, and different compared to the super crowded websites from 'huge offer' competitors... Anyways, you're right about the capabilities, I want to incorporate that but I don't want to lose simplicity... We also offer design services, should indeed be more emphasized...

Damn, very valuable video, weird that I didn't stumble upon it yet. (many hours of watching those kind of videos)

Partner with graphic designers in your area

Someone getting a logo will likely want some merch with their logo on it

Really like this idea, it's creative. I should email some local shops for a collaboration.

 

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[Kung Fu Steve]

Gotcha. So what's your offer?

@Fersko you're so deep in the weeds trying to figure out what tactics to deploy... you need to take a step back and look at the strategy.

BigRomeDawg here has asked 3 times now what your actual offer is...

What do you think you do for your customers... and what do you actually do for them?

I have some ideas but I'm curious what your answer would be here first.

 

[Fersko]

@Fersko you're so deep in the weeds trying to figure out what tactics to deploy... you need to take a step back and look at the strategy.

BigRomeDawg here has asked 3 times now what your actual offer is...

What do you think you do for your customers... and what do you actually do for them?

I have some ideas but I'm curious what your answer would be here first.

Well right now, the customers that we treat want to put in the least effort for ordering their custom merch. They, don't care about the process, looks,... They simply drop their logo in a mail, and we guide them from there. We also make adjustments to their logo if necessary, to achieve a better end-result.

That's why we simplified our website, and limited the actions to only contacting us. Many companies don't care how their tshirts, hoodies are made as it is a very basic thing nowadays. So, our goal with the 'simple' look is to make the process look as simple and fast as possible.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Well right now, the customers that we treat want to put in the least effort for ordering their custom merch. They, don't care about the process, looks,... They simply drop their logo in a mail, and we guide them from there. We also make adjustments to their logo if necessary, to achieve a better end-result.

That's why we simplified our website, and limited the actions to only contacting us. Many companies don't care how their tshirts, hoodies are made as it is a very basic thing nowadays. So, our goal with the 'simple' look is to make the process look as simple and fast as possible.

How is this any different than anybody else?

I understand the business pretty well. In fact, I almost bought one myself back in the day.

What I'm not communicating well enough to you is that you don't have a solid offer.

The current offer I had to dig for on your website says:

Receive a quote for your custom printed clothing in no time for FREE!

• Personal Assistance
• Deliver Time of 1-2 weeks
• Custom products

People want the end transformation, not these 3 things.

An offer is defined by 4 things:

1. Something somebody already wants
2. At a price they've already agreed to
3. that they believe will make their life much better
4. and enjoy the process

"25 Company Branded High-Quality Polo Shirts Delivered To Your Doorstep"

While it's not perfect, the offer is very clear.

My point above was you THINK you're offering T-shirts with a logo slapped on it. What you're actually offering is a professional look, team cohesion, camaraderie -- it's a feeling they're after.

Your marketing, your website, your Instagram -- none of the pictures, images, or copy share what you're ACTUALLY offering.

How would you do that? Well imagine your offer IS this: "25 Company Branded High-Quality Polo Shirts Delivered To Your Doorstep" and you had an image of some business's company picnic with all their employees in the same branded shirt looking really sharp?

I could go on but you've got to come back to the drawing table and figure out what are your main offers and what are your introductory offers. If you knew all of the community events in your area, you could go to them ahead of time and make an offer to outfit them all for the "5k Fun Run" or whatever.

 

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[Fersko]

General update:
I thought the video from @LateStarter was really informative having some really to the point marketing/sales strategies. So I've tried one of the suggested methods in that video (here above in the thread). Which is cold emailing prospects automatically with follow-up through a SaaS. I had email list of a local niche, so I thought why not. I used Woodpecker.io and mailed 50 prospects and got 4 leads

How is this any different than anybody else?

I understand the business pretty well. In fact, I almost bought one myself back in the day.

What I'm not communicating well enough to you is that you don't have a solid offer.

The current offer I had to dig for on your website says:

Receive a quote for your custom printed clothing in no time for FREE!

• Personal Assistance
• Deliver Time of 1-2 weeks
• Custom products

People want the end transformation, not these 3 things.

An offer is defined by 4 things:

1. Something somebody already wants
2. At a price they've already agreed to
3. that they believe will make their life much better
4. and enjoy the process

"25 Company Branded High-Quality Polo Shirts Delivered To Your Doorstep"

While it's not perfect, the offer is very clear.

My point above was you THINK you're offering T-shirts with a logo slapped on it. What you're actually offering is a professional look, team cohesion, camaraderie -- it's a feeling they're after.

Your marketing, your website, your Instagram -- none of the pictures, images, or copy share what you're ACTUALLY offering.

How would you do that? Well imagine your offer IS this: "25 Company Branded High-Quality Polo Shirts Delivered To Your Doorstep" and you had an image of some business's company picnic with all their employees in the same branded shirt looking really sharp?

I could go on but you've got to come back to the drawing table and figure out what are your main offers and what are your introductory offers. If you knew all of the community events in your area, you could go to them ahead of time and make an offer to outfit them all for the "5k Fun Run" or whatever.

I understand where you are going at. However, I really don't feel comfortable with this explicit style. Maybe this is more the general expectation in the US? Putting up these crazy 'exciting' offers, really comes off as sketchy and unreliable in Europe I feel like. At least, I would never purchase on sites like that. My biggest competitors are just discrete with their offering, showing their products without too much noise.

 

[Spenny]

You're a company that creates uniforms that bring teams together.

This is spot on. I do something similar and we never mention the corporate speak. There is already plenty of that out there.

Have you had any particular groups that have really loved the product? Just curious.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I understand where you are going at. However, I really don't feel comfortable with this explicit style. Maybe this is more the general expectation in the US? Putting up these crazy 'exciting' offers, really comes off as sketchy and unreliable in Europe I feel like. At least, I would never purchase on sites like that. My biggest competitors are just discrete with their offering, showing their products without too much noise.

You missed the whole point, my man. It wasn't about how I wrote that particular offer, it's that you have no offer that sets you apart from every other commoditized screen printing business.

It's not crazy, nor exciting, it's direct and to the point. The sketchy and unreliable offer is "just call me and we'll talk about it... then maybe I'll tell you a price."

I've done business in Europe, too. Everyone thinks their business, their situation, their market is different -- it just isn't.

Your biggest competitors have money to burn on customer acquisition -- and until or unless you get competitive, they will win all of the business!

It's time to use stronger strategies, not just random tactics.

 

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[Fersko]

This is spot on. I do something similar and we never mention the corporate speak. There is already plenty of that out there.

Have you had any particular groups that have really loved the product? Just curious.

I feel like that must be the construction companies, they come back the most I think for the ease of our process. Just a simple mail and we deliver their goods next week.

You missed the whole point, my man. It wasn't about how I wrote that particular offer, it's that you have no offer that sets you apart from every other commoditized screen printing business.

It's not crazy, nor exciting, it's direct and to the point. The sketchy and unreliable offer is "just call me and we'll talk about it... then maybe I'll tell you a price."

I've done business in Europe, too. Everyone thinks their business, their situation, their market is different -- it just isn't.

Your biggest competitors have money to burn on customer acquisition -- and until or unless you get competitive, they will win all of the business!

It's time to use stronger strategies, not just random tactics.

Alright yea, that was not how I was perceiving it indeed.

Market is indeed saturated, and it's hard to stick out. I've noticed though, that on a very local level the SEO game isn't that populated (organically at least). So I'm producing content for that now. I was also lingering about installing a chat or introducing a loyalty program...