T-Shirt Marketing: A Simple (But Complete) Guide to Offline Marketing

Did you know the commercial printing market worth could reach $317 billion by 2022?

Are you wondering what you should do for your offline marketing?

Not to worry! In this article, we’ll go over different offline strategies.

Want to learn more? Keep reading to find out!

Offline Marketing Guide

Making a face to face connection with folks is valuable when networking. People enjoy meeting a business owner or employee behind the product. Let’s look at popular offline strategies that can support your brand and business growth.

Network and Make Connections 

Putting a face to a name helps make your business seem more approachable now in these days of online shopping or business networks.

Write it down in your marketing plan to go to national conferences and trade events to meet people in your industry to tell them about your business and products.

Seek out associations where your target audience belongs to and has connections to business networks.

If you live in the US you can also make connections at your local Chamber of Commerce.

Here you can meet with other business people that can help you with referrals and connect you with advisors that specialize in taxes, marketing, law, web development, and other business specialties.

When we signed up to our local chamber of commerce we got connected to business advisors and professionals that helped us get started with our website, social media and online marketing plan.

The Paramount Chamber of Commerce also held several networking events throughout the year that led to our first customers. 

Attend Trade Shows

A unique offline opportunity to check out are trade shows.

Here you can see the latest innovative products that are hitting your industry to stay on top of your game and let your current customers know about it.

You can also network with fellow industry leaders and potential buyers who are looking for your products and services.

This is a great opportunity to bring your printed, branded materials and small tokens to hand out to people at the tradeshows.

If you want to present and showcase your business at a tradeshow event and want to save money, we offer affordable tradeshow setups that will get your brand out and seen by tradeshow attendees.

You can brand and use standing banners, advertising flags, custom tablecloths, quality t-shirts with your logo printed to get your business and brand seen by tradeshow attendees.

Book Speaking Engagements

Get in front of an audience and establish your leadership and business credibility.

Folks in the audience have come to the engagement with a particular interest or need. You can make a lot of new leads there.

Don’t worry if it takes some time to get a prime speaking engagement opportunity. If you’re a newcomer, approach smaller conferences, chambers of commerce, and local workshops.

Consider throwing out some t-shirts for fun to the crowd as a prize.

I recently was contacted by a WordPress community organizer in Long Beach to be a guest speaker on the topic of SEO.

You can also find local Meetups in your industry that you can reach out to and ask to be a guest speaker on a subject you practice every day that can help businesses in some way.

You can also create an Industry Meetup where you or a representative of your company can host an educational/consulting month on Meetup.com.

By setting up a Meetup you can meet potential customers and build your industry authority, presentation, and speaking skills that will qualify you as the industry expert and perhaps get leads.

Call People on the Phone

Calling potential customers can benefit your business.

It’s a lot more personal compared to an email.

You can gain an instant response from a potential customer than you can through email or text message. 

This type of offline marketing is called warm calling. Unlike cold calls that yield lower results, warm calls deliver better results.

A warm prospect is someone who knows about your business and your services. This person may have commented on your social media platforms or replied to emails.

With a phone call, you can answer any questions that the potential customer may have and avoid emailing back a forth on the details of your product and service.

Some customers prefer to have a call rather than an email exchange, so make sure your contact information is available for potential customers.

Offer a Live Demo

Live demos are another great form of offline marketing, they offer a direct connection between a seller and a buyer. 

A prospect can experience your product in real-time with a live demonstration of how your product or services work for the prospect.

Potential buyers may have learned about your product through blog posts and emails.

However, a live demo can be recorded and repurposed to be posted on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, and your website and can be sent to prospects at any time via email.

A live demo can provide the buyer with extra details and close up’s on the product to instill confidence in the product or service you are selling.

A live demo can also help make the sales process a lot smoother. With a live demo, your prospects may become more inclined to buy from you when presented with a visual demonstration.

A live demo also helps you when reviewing and comparing your product against the one your competitor makes.

You can video record a demo without having to talk to the camera if you’re introverted. You can hire a voice actor on Fivver that specializes in voice acting to do the talking, all you would need is the script for him or her to read.

However, you do your product demonstration, be honest and authentic and present it with good energy. 

Walking Advertisements

Giving out t-shirts is a great way to promote your business.

Once you’ve handed out your shirt, someone will end up wearing it and advertising for free throughout the year or lifetime of the t-shirt.

If you print your logo on a decent-quality shirt, people will wear the top often.

It would make sense to want to save and print on a cheap t-shirt, however, don’t print your logo/ brand on a cheap shirt that someone will end up throwing out.

Try and make your t-shirt stylish and use good material quality for long-lasting use. The most popular t-shirt and apparel colors are black and white with athletic grey and navy blue coming in as third and fourth place.

Consider how your logo will work with these colors.

Does Your Industry Have a Trade Publication?

Most industries have a trade publication that you can contact to possibly get your business guide or sales letter published with your industry expertise.

This is a bit harder to do if you do not have direct contact or know someone that can make it easy for you, however, it’s worth the try if you can get published in a major trade magazine.

If you can create a helpful guide or if you have industry insider information that can help your potential customers, you can send this article out to those publications.

If the trade publication finds your article or information helpful to their readers and is not in direct competition with the magazine, your article or post has a higher chance of being published.

Sometimes they’ll include stories about new businesses and entrepreneurs in the industry.

Research and see if you can get featured. 

Pass Out Flyers

You can create attractive and informative flyers, coupons, and handouts with your company’s information special offers, and contact details.

Pass these out at your business or places where potential customers visit often.

Use these flyers as an icebreaker to meet other business owners and network with people that may be interested in your product or service.

Flyers are perfect offline marketing tools that you can pass out as business cards whenever you can locally.

Have a handful ready to pin on public bulletin boards.

Donate to a Charity 

Is a local charity hosting an auction in town?

Consider donating a prize for this event as a sponsor. 

You can establish a personal connection with the public and support a good cause. The winners will learn more about your business, and you might gain referrals from them.

You can also donate money to a charity. Most businesses make charitable donations. 

Host a Business Celebration

If you are celebrating a recent success, hold a party for your customers.

Reach out to your local press and ask them to spread the word. This is your opportunity to thank your team and encourage future success.

This celebration will catch the eye of your target audience. You could secure future business from this event.

Sponsor a Local Event

If you’re able to afford this, sponsor a community event. You can promote your name to your local area by taking the lead.

When you’re hosting an event, you get to handle the merchandise.

You can hand out branded items like t-shirts, pens, and coupons.

This builds a positive brand image.

People will appreciate and take note of your business.

Put Up Signs

Grab folk’s attention with bold and funny signs. Most people will take note of an eye-catching sign. Use contrasting colors, so it pops.

Place your sign where it will have high visibility. You could put it near a place that has a lot of traffic. Try and find a busy intersection, these banner signs are great for offline marketing.

While there’s a red light, people will look around and take note of your sign. Add your website to it so customers can go right to your site.

Contact Us Today

We hope you found this article on offline marketing insightful. Consider teaming up with a charity to host an event and hand out promotional items.

Want to learn more? Contact us today! We would love to chat with you.