Successful Teespring Campaigns

[Sean Haddad]

Hey all!

I discovered Teespring very recently and it has me hooked. I have never thought about selling T-shirts with custom designs as I didn't know it has become so easy these days. That, plus the competition, made me figure it wasn't something I'd be interested in.

But after doing more and more research, and coming up with designs, it has gotten me really excited. More than anything else has in a long while. I have created a couple of designs that have been really fun to make. I always had a side interest in graphic design and digital painting.

However, this would technically be my first real "business" venture. I have no Instagram account with thousands of followers (don't even use IG). I don't use any social media except for my personal Facebook account, which I barely use and am only friends with close family and friends. I'm not entirely sure I could reach my target market well enough. Plus, I don't want to limit myself to one niche market as I have ideas for many T-shirts that reflect my own varied interests. I have lots to figure out!

I was wondering if there were people on this site that have run a successful Teespring campaign without a pre-acquired following. If someone has, I'd like to pick their brain .

 

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[harerace]

I was wondering if there were people on this site that have run a successful Teespring campaign without a pre-acquired following. If someone has, I'd like to pick their brain

That would be impossible and go against what teespring is for. If you have no social media, no business . Who would you sell to?

 

[hughjasle]

That would be impossible and go against what teespring is for. If you have no social media, no business . Who would you sell to?

LOTS of guys are doing the "impossible" then. Paid Traffic. Can sell to anyone.

Make a shirt of a Dog? Sell to dog lovers etc.

@Sean Haddad - I know some guys who used to run teespring, but I never have. Good luck. Get ready to grind.

 

[harerace]

LOTS of guys are doing the "impossible" then. Paid Traffic. Can sell to anyone.

Make a shirt of a Dog? Sell to dog lovers etc.

@Sean Haddad - I know some guys who used to run teespring, but I never have. Good luck. Get ready to grind.

Yes, and people also hit the lottery everyday.

 

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[hughjasle]

Yes, and people also hit the lottery everyday.

What is that supposed to mean? And why the passive aggressiveness? If you have an issue with something state it clearly instead of giving BS info.

 

[harerace]

What is that supposed to mean? And why the passive aggressiveness? If you have an issue with something state it clearly instead of giving BS info.

lol.. I'm serious. People do luck up and hit the lottery. I'm sure your plan of buying traffic to a site that's made for a pre-acquired following is that 1 in a billion idea. People do the impossible everyday. Good luck Sean!

 

[Sean Haddad]

That would be impossible and go against what teespring is for. If you have no social media, no business . Who would you sell to?

It's possible to get sales based solely on paid Facebook advertisements. However, I'm not sure how successful that can be. It is an option, but I'd like to take advantage of the free marketing potential of social media of course.

I don't plan on trying to sell T-shirts to nobody. I have specific markets in mind. I imagine I might have to spend quite a bit of time laying groundwork (ie, gaining followers) ahead of time, and that's what I plan to do. Just wonder if others have been down the road already. Experience is the best teacher, after all!

 

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[harerace]

It's possible to get sales based solely on paid Facebook advertisements. However, I'm not sure how successful that can be. It is an option, but I'd like to take advantage of the free marketing potential of social media of course.

I don't plan on trying to sell T-shirts to nobody. I have specific markets in mind. I imagine I might have to spend quite a bit of time laying groundwork (ie, gaining followers) ahead of time, and that's what I plan to do. Just wonder if others have been down the road already. Experience is the best teacher, after all!

Again, it's not impossible. Sorry to suggest such things.

Teespring is platform optimize for your following that you already have. No one knows for sure if paid ads will work or not. I can spend a few minutes telling you why it wouldn't work but I could be wrong. Spend money and test it as soon as possible. That's all you can do at this point.

 

[Sean Haddad]

Again, it's not impossible. Sorry to suggest such things.

Teespring is platform optimize for your following that you already have. No one knows for sure if paid ads will work or not. I can spend a few minutes telling you why it wouldn't work but I could be wrong. Spend money and test it as soon as possible. That's all you can do at this point.

I appreciate the input. Ads can work but I think only if the design is right. Even then, probably not so much.

By the way, I was mostly thinking of using Teespring to test the waters of my designs. See what people like, ya know? My goal for each campaign would be small. After analyzing the results of each campaign, I can figure out which direction to go for (in terms of design and niche markets) starting an actual online store.

Can't do that without exposure of course! I'll figure it out :-D

Thanks again

 

[Captain Jack]

I did this for a little while when Teespring was fairly new and not really saturated in 2014.

I had a few successful shirts. They were basically sub-niches. My most successful design was marketed to grandmothers that were also Green Bay Packer fans. I had no following and relied completely on paid traffic.

Ultimately, I didn't make enough money to justify continuing, especially since I didn't really like designing t-shirts.

If you're into this sort thing, there was definitely money to be made with Teespring when I used it. Not sure about now.

 

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[m500]

I've had a couple of shots at this with paid traffic. No success though!

I found this case study helpful: http://www.cloudincome.com/make-over-400-week/ Which lays it all out well, and makes it seem straightforward.

The set up etc. is straightforward but getting conversions isn't as easy.

I think this comes down to finding a good niche, where people are motivated to buy, writing good ads to lure them in, and having a great design for them to buy.

There's also the possibility that Teespring doesn't really work like it did a couple of years ago, and things are too saturated. I'm don't know enough about this though to comment. So, I'm assuming that either my target audience, ads or designs (or all of the above) weren't up to scratch and needed more optimisation. You can really burn money with FB ads!

 

[Sean Haddad]

I've had a couple of shots at this with paid traffic. No success though!

I found this case study helpful: http://www.cloudincome.com/make-over-400-week/ Which lays it all out well, and makes it seem straightforward.

The set up etc. is straightforward but getting conversions isn't as easy.

I think this comes down to finding a good niche, where people are motivated to buy, writing good ads to lure them in, and having a great design for them to buy.

There's also the possibility that Teespring doesn't really work like it did a couple of years ago, and things are too saturated. I'm don't know enough about this though to comment. So, I'm assuming that either my target audience, ads or designs (or all of the above) weren't up to scratch and needed more optimisation. You can really burn money with FB ads!

That's a very great resource, thanks for the info!

I'm thinking about switching direction a little as I've come up with a "theme" for a line of designs. I've been struggling with coming up with a name, logo, and "image" that is unified and complete, and I think I may be close to that. I'm thinking that with that, I could start building some kind of following by sharing my content to get some pre-campaign buzz maybe?

I also want to ask if people register a company (as an LLC or whatnot) and trademark a logo BEFORE beginning to sell things online. I'm worried that if I do not do this, then my name/logo/designs can easily be ripped off by someone else. Not really sure how trademarks and copy right in graphic design works on the internet. Any thoughts?

Thanks again for response, and good luck with any future campaigns!

 

[m500]

I'm thinking about switching direction a little as I've come up with a "theme" for a line of designs. I've been struggling with coming up with a name, logo, and "image" that is unified and complete, and I think I may be close to that. I'm thinking that with that, I could start building some kind of following by sharing my content to get some pre-campaign buzz maybe?

I think for this type of approach you would need an audience/community who are motivated to buy. This isn't easy to do and will probably take a long time to do, so be prepared for this.

I also want to ask if people register a company (as an LLC or whatnot) and trademark a logo BEFORE beginning to sell things online. I'm worried that if I do not do this, then my name/logo/designs can easily be ripped off by someone else. Not really sure how trademarks and copy right in graphic design works on the internet. Any thoughts?

My thoughts on this would be to not worry about this in the short term as it will add time and cost. Better to test your idea and see if it works first.

 

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[Sean Haddad]

I think for this type of approach you would need an audience/community who are motivated to buy. This isn't easy to do and will probably take a long time to do, so be prepared for this.



My thoughts on this would be to not worry about this in the short term as it will add time and cost. Better to test your idea and see if it works first.

Thanks for the tips, man, I really appreciate the input

 

[dzk1991]

It can work out and there are guys making lots of money with it, but always be aware that many guys are doing this (saturation) and you are also dependent on teespring. If you are building a real business you should not be dependent on anyone. Also the entry barriere is pretty low which leads to lots of competition. Nevertheless it can work out and there are still goldmines. You could start with free traffic (also free isn't the correct word, it just means u dont pay actual cash for the traffic, you pay with your time) - there are so many facebook groups about specific topics - just create a shirt post that link in those groups and make your first income. Paid traffic can be pretty nasty, especially when you have no real experience yet.

You could also start growing fanpages and instagram accounts and market afterwards, so youre building a base first and sell afterwards.

 

[Sean Haddad]

It can work out and there are guys making lots of money with it, but always be aware that many guys are doing this (saturation) and you are also dependent on teespring. If you are building a real business you should not be dependent on anyone. Also the entry barriere is pretty low which leads to lots of competition. Nevertheless it can work out and there are still goldmines. You could start with free traffic (also free isn't the correct word, it just means u dont pay actual cash for the traffic, you pay with your time) - there are so many facebook groups about specific topics - just create a shirt post that link in those groups and make your first income. Paid traffic can be pretty nasty, especially when you have no real experience yet.

You could also start growing fanpages and instagram accounts and market afterwards, so youre building a base first and sell afterwards.

Yea, that would be my plan.

The market is definitely saturated, with more low quality than high quality from what I've seen. But so far, the experience has been fun and exciting. So even if it doesn't work out, I think I'll enjoy myself and learn from the experience .

 

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[LifeTransformer]

As far as trademarking goes; if you have proof of when you began using your branding, you should be safe to trademark at a later date.

Don't take my word for gospel on that though! Register the domain (.com) too, and record everything then you should be fine.

I'm sure there is someone here with more knowledge on this than me though.

Will send you a PM too, there's something you may not know about.

 

[welshmin]

Check out gearbubble for some alternative products, mugs and jewellery can be very good for the right niche. Fairly new site too.