Zero sales, clothing brand...

[Johnny boy]

You spent 6 MONTHS working on stuff with ZERO market validation and evidence that people would be buying from you?

LMFAO

Welcome to the painful world of learning business lessons.

Do NOT invest your time, energy or too much money into things that are not validated with real sales or a ton of interest.

You make a mockup, run some fake ads, test the conversion rate, then you make it real or kill the project. Rinse and repeat and you can test an idea every weekend.

Do NOT think that being busy is being productive. The customer does not know anything. They do not know if your ads are to a real product. They do not know if you spent 45 years hand stitching a single shirt or if you waved a magic wand and made it appear for one cent. Use that to your advantage instead of your disadvantage.

You should test an idea in a single weekend with a grand of ad spend or so.

No sales? Then no one gives a shit and you are free to move on.

Now you're stuck because you're so invested it HAS to work, which means you'll go crazy trying to swim upstream when you're in the wrong river.

Hard work is important. Smart work is important. In business you have to do both.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Thanks for interest
I cannot set specific target group when targeting people under 18, so It's just set to
Poland, all gender, 13-24

1 zł = 0,25 USD

View attachment 41021

Maybe should I remove reach ads and invest all money into conversion/traffic ads? If yes, which one - conversions or traffic?

Yeah reach ads for you will be useless.

I don't have all the factors. I'm worried about your site not being set up for conversions/capture/etc... simply because any idiot can get traffic and leads, it's what you DO with those leads that actually makes the difference.

What I'd suggest is run 10 conversion ads to 10 audiences with VERY little targeting.

Meaning: everybody in Poland, all ages, all genders who like __________________

The blank is under the detailed targeting for interests.

Figure out what your people MIGHT like (I'm totally bullshitting these answers so you'll have to figure this piece out yourself):

everybody in Poland, all ages, all genders who likes fashion
everybody in Poland, all ages, all genders who likes clothing
everybody in Poland, all ages, all genders who likes video games
everybody in Poland, all ages, all genders who likes food

The trick is to find audiences that would align with your stuff.

So if I were you:

Run 10 conversion ads for 10 audiences @ $5 per day (no more) for a week. So you're spending $50 per day.

At the end of the week, you take a look at which audiences are working, which ones aren't. Kill the ones that aren't and either take that $5 and add it into one that IS working or create a new test audience.

If $50/day is too much, run 5 ads for $5 a day.

Let the algorithm do the work -- let Facebook find the right people for you instead of trying to tell it what to target. That'll decrease your costs and increase your conversion.

But once again... any idiot can get leads and traffic... it's the site that's going to make the real difference.

NOTE: Make sure your ads are SUPER clear you're selling these types of shirts ( or whatever)

 

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[BD64]

Jeff Trotman, is that you?

 

[biophase]

So you spent about $40 a piece on them. Seems pretty expensive. Do you communicate that they are locally made, hand made? What’s so special about their quality?

300 visits and no conversions tells me it’s a price, product or audience issue. You need to figure out which one it is.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

Who's Jeff Trotman ?

I haven't even read Rat Race Escape and I know who that is, but you have the badge and you don't?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

You read Fastlane and your idea of a first business is to sell clothing this is priced more than average?

Clothing brands can work, but generally speaking it is purely a business of BRANDING and top-level MARKETING expertise, not product based.

Jeff Trotman, is that you?

Ha Ha, but it's my passion! And the gurus said I could make millions!

 

[Paydette]

Screw the ads. Validate your product/design first by validating THE STORY of your brand. Get on tiktok/instagram tell a good story or at least a story that resonates with an audience. Some kid from the hood slapped on a patch on some hoodies and made 500k in 6 months off of tiktok....even though he sells locally to barbershops who then sell his hoodies. Fashion retail is all about the story.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I would rather not give away any details like name or website

Really tough to see what's wrong if we can't see what's wrong.

I'd also like to see a screenshot of your FB ad numbers. Costs, targeting, etc.

 

[biophase]

Maybe your designs aren’t good? Or the price is too expensive for an unknown brand.

 

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[Shonit]

I mean small unknown brands make nothing special and people buy it, not supreme or something like that

Hey man I came across your post. I think I can help you a little bit here. I sell home decor products in India through instagram. I think same principles you can apply in Poland.

First of all, your target audience is probably more on instagram than on facebook. So just open up instagram business account and start posting. Initially get your family and friends to follow you there. Once you have 10-20 posts start running promotions.

Now for small businesses like you when you run promotion, select the goal of your campaign to be "messaging". I was running traffic straight to my website but was not getting any sales. You can try this even with facebook.

When you run messaging ads, people start to enquire about your products and some of them buy. And these ads are really cheap if you know your target audience.

The most important thing is the post itself. You need to add multiple images or a video of your product. And it becomes even more powerful if you take the lifestyle photo of your product. I mean like some people wearing your hoodie and playing basketball or people sitting in a sofa and having a good time. If the photo is in plain white background I have found that people do not connect and don't buy from you or message you.

Also bring something unique to your product which does not increase the cost but increases it's value. This will differentiate you from your competition. You can look for the ideas at pinterest or etsy.

Once you have sales through messaging campaign. Ask your customer that how was the product. Take the screenshot of this and post it as a story and a highlight.

And when you have got these reviews, you can leverage them to make more sales and more reviews. After this, you can start doing website campaigns. Post these reviews on the website to build trust. I directly post the screenshots next to my product photos. Even if i make a single sale, i generate profit to even out the cost of the campaign.

You can apply these similar concepts to facebook ads I think.

 

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[woken]

1. many likes on instagram for a mockup
2. I seen many small, unknown brands that were doing nothing special and people bought it

1 is not market validation
2. they could be literally selling shit packed with their name on it. Check Supreme and in a week you’ll start thinking about making bricks and pens with your logo on them.


As @Johnny boy said, you need real market validation. That means sales. Or preorders.

Almost anything clothing related can be made into a mock up / rendered.

Assuming you just slapped some designs on some garments, that could’ve been done in Photoshop in two minutes.

I spent £50k on launching a clothing brand.
I had swarovski rhinestones, fine leathers, suede, fur, the lot. So, just like you, I tried to provide value. My costs were barely covering my expenses.

The broad message I got was :

Why would I buy from you when I can spend a little more and buy from Dior, Versace, etc?

And I had real market validation through sales. But at £250/ hoodie I would’ve needed £1 mil in ads to make it work.

Lesson learnt. Now every time I feel like it, I dress like a drug dealing millionaire.

I am repurposing the designs and everything I have into another venture, so it’s not all bad.

If it’s just print, you can make 50 good mockups/ day.

Might seem weird, coming from a guy charging £250 per sweatshirt/hoodie, but $70 is expensive for just print.

 

[LiveEntrepreneur]

I've run Facebook ads for a few years now and this is going to be ridiculously difficult to figure out what the problem is because business unfortunately isn't so cut and dry as to what the problem is. It's not like for example a car that is leaking coolant and you can replace hose and it fixes the problem, it's much more complex. Also you're in a absolutely brutal market.

Anyways, like mentioned by others above, the price could be an issue and since you're already losing money you could change the price and make it $40 for example to see if people buy it and run a conversion campaign for a week but to be honest it probably won't work. I've tested this theory many times of reducing the price and it never worked. But it's a quick change so see how you go.

As has been mentioned in this forum previously the best way of validating your product is when people take their wallets out and pay you for your product, I agree with this. Those people in real life that you said are interested but won't buy it are either being friendly and are really not interested or they are not your target market, or both.

lastly, Facebook ads is pure trash imo even though it's what I do, lol. CPC's, CPM's, etc are crazy expensive at over $100 CPM's, and anywhere from $3- $15 CPC so it may as well be impossible to become successful on it and also Facebook just sucks at finding customers.

If I could go back in time I'd focus on Google shopping ads, just makes so much more sense as people are actually searching for your product where Facebook there isn't much buying intent or it's much less, maybe you could test your product there? I get the feeling that you will run into the same issue (no sales or little sales)

Good luck man hope you figure things out!

 

[ZCP]

80stees.com
@Kung Fu Steve has bought $xk of shirts. target him.

sell your shirts in the streets, dude. get some INSTANT feedback. talk up your story. build a following.
read Daymond John

 

[originalMJT]

I haven't even read Rat Race Escape and I know who that is, but you have the badge and you don't?

Sorry I only just clicked on HA ha ha he brought a shit load of T shirts

 

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[Kung Fu Steve]

Thank you for for advices. I know that I should specify but in EU you can't specify interest if you're targeting people under 18.

Ah, right.

So just do everyone in Poland for $5 a day and see what happens.

Change the copy, imagery, and everything to dial it in.

Without any conversion ads, you're not telling FB what you want.

You got all the reach you were asking for... but reach, engagement, and conversions are very different goals

 

[Vadim26]

Gee, tough crowd here. Cut the young fella some slack.

Pick the right objective for Facebook ads and keep testing.
You don't have enough data to call it quits yet.

 

[BlackMagician]

If you seriously need help, I can spare 30min call with you and help you.

But let me help you get a better clarity on why you are not getting sales.
1) Product-Market Fit: You said people are buying the similar low quality product in your local but not yours which is made from "scratch" and have higher quality.
So, did you validate that they are looking for something that is made from scratch and of higher quality? As MJ mentioned, in this niche, top branding & marketing is the killer.

2) You thought now you have products, you have added storyline, you pushed ads, you will get sales.
But multiple factors comes into play.
Not getting sales can be because of many reasons and if you dont fix all of them (most of them atleast), you won't get sales.

Lets take audiences as example: You are targeting teens. Do you really know that they are the potential audience?
In Education space, many brands sell to kids. But parents are the real potential buyer and decision maker.

So knowing who your exact audience is crucial.

Now lets take traffic - You can traffic ads, reach ads etc. You wont get any sales. I am not going to dive in deep on this but here is
PRO TIP: For ecommerce store, you run only conversion campaign for COLD audience.

Only conversion campaign will give facebook the right data to analyse.

--------------

There are multiple factors that causes you no results and if you are not going to share any details/numbers, no one can help you.

Truthfully, no one is going to STEAL your idea, niche, name because YOU haven't proven yourself that its successful.

_________

Best advice: Sell offline. Go to local market and sell there. I am sure it will sell if you tell the story. 25 piece is nothing. Don't blow $1k dollar on ads.

 

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[rymf]

Yeah reach ads for you will be useless.

I don't have all the factors. I'm worried about your site not being set up for conversions/capture/etc... simply because any idiot can get traffic and leads, it's what you DO with those leads that actually makes the difference.

What I'd suggest is run 10 conversion ads to 10 audiences with VERY little targeting.

Meaning: everybody in Poland, all ages, all genders who like __________________

The blank is under the detailed targeting for interests.

Figure out what your people MIGHT like (I'm totally bullshitting these answers so you'll have to figure this piece out yourself):

everybody in Poland, all ages, all genders who likes fashion
everybody in Poland, all ages, all genders who likes clothing
everybody in Poland, all ages, all genders who likes video games
everybody in Poland, all ages, all genders who likes food

The trick is to find audiences that would align with your stuff.

So if I were you:

Run 10 conversion ads for 10 audiences @ $5 per day (no more) for a week. So you're spending $50 per day.

At the end of the week, you take a look at which audiences are working, which ones aren't. Kill the ones that aren't and either take that $5 and add it into one that IS working or create a new test audience.

If $50/day is too much, run 5 ads for $5 a day.

Let the algorithm do the work -- let Facebook find the right people for you instead of trying to tell it what to target. That'll decrease your costs and increase your conversion.

But once again... any idiot can get leads and traffic... it's the site that's going to make the real difference.

NOTE: Make sure your ads are SUPER clear you're selling these types of shirts ( or whatever)

Thank you for for advices. I know that I should specify but in EU you can't specify interest if you're targeting people under 18.

 

[rymf]

You spent 6 MONTHS working on stuff with ZERO market validation and evidence that people would be buying from you?

LMFAO

Welcome to the painful world of learning business lessons.

Do NOT invest your time, energy or too much money into things that are not validated with real sales or a ton of interest.

You make a mockup, run some fake ads, test the conversion rate, then you make it real or kill the project. Rinse and repeat and you can test an idea every weekend.

Do NOT think that being busy is being productive. The customer does not know anything. They do not know if your ads are to a real product. They do not know if you spent 45 years hand stitching a single shirt or if you waved a magic wand and made it appear for one cent. Use that to your advantage instead of your disadvantage.

You should test an idea in a single weekend with a grand of ad spend or so.

No sales? Then no one gives a shit and you are free to move on.

Now you're stuck because you're so invested it HAS to work, which means you'll go crazy trying to swim upstream when you're in the wrong river.

Hard work is important. Smart work is important. In business you have to do both.

Of course I had some market validation.
I am 17 and didn't expect that selling 25 clothes would be so hard - in Poland there are many many brands like mine and they're just putting name of the brand on a hoodie and making sales (despite not being recognizable brands) so I thought it would be the same in my case.

 

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[originalMJT]

Jeff Trotman, is that you?

Who's Jeff Trotman ?

 

[biophase]

Of course I had some market validation.

what was your market validation?

 

[rymf]

2. they could be literally selling shit packed with their name on it. Check Supreme and in a week you’ll start thinking about making bricks and pens with your logo on them.

I mean small unknown brands make nothing special and people buy it, not supreme or something like that

 

[MTF]

Invest in the INSIDERS subscription, post there more details about your business, ideally a link to the website and maybe screenshots of your ads (posts on the inside aren't indexed by Google), and you'll learn what's wrong.

The alternative is to keep wasting money not knowing what to fix or if it can even be fixed.

 

[Fritz.dvl]

I've started a small clothing brand but I haven't got any sale yet.
I spent $1000 (it's a lot for me now) to create first products - everything is sewn locally etc - about 25 pieces.
(creating it took about 6 months, everything made out of scratch. My first real business ever)

I started selling few days ago and run Facebook ads - now they have 100k reach.
My website is visited by 100 people each day and I still haven't got any sale, my marketing budget is running up.

I don't know what is wrong - my product is good, unique and many people like it but no one buys it (1,5k likes on IG).
In Poland there are many small clothing brands and they're just putting big text with basic font with their name on a hoodie and people buy it.
My products are unique and feel premium. Description of my product is like a story telling, I try to connect with people and make my brand seem special. Price is about 70$ (with shipping) (other brands prices are much higher)
Does anyone have any advice on what should I do to get sales?
I really want to work hard on it but I don't know what should I do.

I would rather not give away any details like name or website

Tiktok is the way to go. All the attention is there. It completely change the way I thought about marketing and sales. If your product is really unique and you're willing to stand up to talk about... Go there and take advantage of it

 

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[ZCP]

everytime i get on that site, my cart has $1500 in it ..... damn them

 

[jdh]

You got your fair share of what you could have done better next time, so i'm focusing on what you might still try now before calling it quits.

1. Get feedback from your target audience
1.2 Someone suggested selling on the street, i like that but make sure it's your audience. If you are trying to sell to grandparents instead of your joungsters that feedback will be worthless. Go where your audience is. This is important. Go where your audience is and get feedback.
1.3 You might also get it from your website (if you are sure your ads attract your target audience). Use an exit popup, a chat tool, put a phone number there, offer an amazon voucher if you can call them. Get creative: MAKE CONTACT. Your audience knows much better than any of us.
1.4. As a bonus, if you have multiple audience groups, chose the one you like most and would love to hang out with. Makes your life a lot easier.

2. Speaking of which, posting a stereotype persona of your audience and what your value skew for them is might get some people here smarter than me to come up with other ideas. You might even have them search for similar products and get feedback: IF someone here matches your audience.

3. Just a thought experiment. If i would run an ad saying "free trip to new york" your analytics could look the exact same. I know you are thinking haha i'm not doing that, but to some degree you probably are. People are clicking on your ad out of curiousity or intention and expect something. then either your website does not deliver or they were just curious, wrong point in time, wrong audience etc . What does your ad say and what do you deliver. Just something to consider.

4. You say other brands are selling. Like other's have said, don't forget that the brand matters. Gucci could probably sell plain sweaters with a G, you probably can not.

5. If other brands are selling indeed, they will leave traces on the internet. Use similarweb to see where their traffic comes from, adwords tools/google search to see what they are bidding on (and what their LPs look like), seo tools where they rank, check their instagram etc, use that tool that shows you exactly what facebook ads they are running (facebook ads library) or try talking to their customers. Not saying to copy their copy verbatim but getting a healthy dose of inspiration.

That was my brain dump, repeating some things others have said as well. Hope it helps and much success to you!

 

[John Y]

Another member suggested that you upload pictures of people wearing the clothes you are selling.
I agree.
And the easiest way to do it is through "place it" (www.placeit.net).
In a few minutes you will have professionally-looking pictures of people “wearing” your clothes
and simply you may unsubscribe the moment you finish, having paid only for one month
(instead of paying precious time (and money) for a professional photoshooting).

 

[Gary]

80stees.com
@Kung Fu Steve has bought $xk of shirts. target him.

sell your shirts in the streets, dude. get some INSTANT feedback. talk up your story. build a following.
read Daymond John

I'm with Zane. Two things will forever go together for teens: music & clothing. Put the time into making your presence at local concerts, festivals, street events. Get high-quality pics of them wearing them AT THE EVENTS. Offer them them a discount to put on the garment immediately and then snap the photos of them wearing it with the crowds in the background. Build upon that using a handful of events. In a short amount of time you should be able to tell the visual story of how mobs of young people can't get enough of your drippy clothing at the coolest events in town.

 

[rymf]

I've started a small clothing brand but I haven't got any sale yet.
I spent $1000 (it's a lot for me now) to create first products - everything is sewn locally etc - about 25 pieces.
(creating it took about 6 months, everything made out of scratch. My first real business ever)

I started selling few days ago and run Facebook ads - now they have 100k reach.
My website is visited by 100 people each day and I still haven't got any sale, my marketing budget is running up.

I don't know what is wrong - my product is good, unique and many people like it but no one buys it (1,5k likes on IG).
In Poland there are many small clothing brands and they're just putting big text with basic font with their name on a hoodie and people buy it.
My products are unique and feel premium. Description of my product is like a story telling, I try to connect with people and make my brand seem special. Price is about 70$ (with shipping) (other brands prices are much higher)
Does anyone have any advice on what should I do to get sales?
I really want to work hard on it but I don't know what should I do.

I would rather not give away any details like name or website

 

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[rymf]

Really tough to see what's wrong if we can't see what's wrong.

I'd also like to see a screenshot of your FB ad numbers. Costs, targeting, etc.

Thanks for interest
I cannot set specific target group when targeting people under 18, so It's just set to
Poland, all gender, 13-24

1 zł = 0,25 USD



Maybe should I remove reach ads and invest all money into conversion/traffic ads? If yes, which one - conversions or traffic?