Customer base
Customer base
Your first port of call is figuring out who your designs are for. Boys or girls and which age bracket they may fit in to. 12 and under, 13 - 24 and 25 and over.
This all depends on where your strengths lie and what opportunities you’ve discovered for yourself.
This all depends on where your strengths lie and what opportunities you’ve discovered for yourself.
Type of designer you are
Type of designer you are
And with that new comers to selling designs generally fall in to one of the following 3 types:
The artsy type, they want to draw what they want to draw and hope someone will find what they are doing interesting enough to buy.
The desperate type, they can’t necessarily draw or even care about designs, they just need money. These types tend to use public domain images in a chuck everything at the wall kind of fashion.
And then we have the adaptive type, these tend to track down what customers want and constantly change strategy, as they chase down the money.
If you stick around long enough you’ll learn you need the talent of the artsy type, the frequency of output like the desperate type and the focus on what customers want like the adaptive type.
The artsy type, they want to draw what they want to draw and hope someone will find what they are doing interesting enough to buy.
The desperate type, they can’t necessarily draw or even care about designs, they just need money. These types tend to use public domain images in a chuck everything at the wall kind of fashion.
And then we have the adaptive type, these tend to track down what customers want and constantly change strategy, as they chase down the money.
If you stick around long enough you’ll learn you need the talent of the artsy type, the frequency of output like the desperate type and the focus on what customers want like the adaptive type.
Swim in the market
Swim in the market
Whoever you have decided to target and whatever type of designer you are, will help refine what type of designs you sell. But I can’t over state this enough, swim in the market.
It’s only by knowing the subject as closely as the paying customer that you will save time, save money and of course make the most money.
To keep yourself balanced if you get lost ask yourself these 3 questions:
What purpose does the design have?
How would you describe the design?
What makes it unique from the competition?
If you answer to yourself honestly, you will tend to calibrate your designs to do well.
It’s only by knowing the subject as closely as the paying customer that you will save time, save money and of course make the most money.
To keep yourself balanced if you get lost ask yourself these 3 questions:
What purpose does the design have?
How would you describe the design?
What makes it unique from the competition?
If you answer to yourself honestly, you will tend to calibrate your designs to do well.
Keywords
Keywords
Keywords are used to find your designs in the first place and it’s why, as part of the designing process, you should answer how you would describe the design.
Again be honest and use your knowledge, don’t cheat thinking that a sudden surge from an unrelated keyword, will convert into paying customers because it wont. It will make people avoid you in the future, as they feel lied to or just generally annoyed at being sent to the wrong place - either case they wont feel like giving you money.
Again be honest and use your knowledge, don’t cheat thinking that a sudden surge from an unrelated keyword, will convert into paying customers because it wont. It will make people avoid you in the future, as they feel lied to or just generally annoyed at being sent to the wrong place - either case they wont feel like giving you money.
Print on demand
Print on demand
You have your customers targeted, you’ve done your designs, you have all the keywords your going to use in the title of the item, in the description and the search terms. Now to choose a store front.
There are lots of companies that offer a print on demand service, where you upload your design and if someone buys the shirt, they make and ship it and send you a percentage of the sale.
But largely there are only 3 who will give you anything close to a return on your time and effort.
Spreadshirt - The smallest of the 3 and has a set amount they permit you to earn for your design. They’ve started advertising on Amazon in an attempt to not disappear.
Because of the earning limit and other factors I wont go into to save time, I would only recommend you try them if you’re desperate.
Redbubble has more products on offer than the other two shops I’ll mention and has the added bonus of letting you decide how much you earn for your designs.
Amazon merch is difficult to get into and has restrictions on how many designs you can upload, which are only uplifted if an Amazon staff member takes a shine to your designs. You also have 90 days before a design that hasn’t sold will be removed - if it sells however it will stick around. Even with all those restrictions, you can set your own profit margin and you have access to the biggest collection of customers.
Any of these 3 will see you potentially making money without having to invest a penny. And avoid the headaches the next option brings.
There are lots of companies that offer a print on demand service, where you upload your design and if someone buys the shirt, they make and ship it and send you a percentage of the sale.
But largely there are only 3 who will give you anything close to a return on your time and effort.
Spreadshirt - The smallest of the 3 and has a set amount they permit you to earn for your design. They’ve started advertising on Amazon in an attempt to not disappear.
Because of the earning limit and other factors I wont go into to save time, I would only recommend you try them if you’re desperate.
Redbubble has more products on offer than the other two shops I’ll mention and has the added bonus of letting you decide how much you earn for your designs.
Amazon merch is difficult to get into and has restrictions on how many designs you can upload, which are only uplifted if an Amazon staff member takes a shine to your designs. You also have 90 days before a design that hasn’t sold will be removed - if it sells however it will stick around. Even with all those restrictions, you can set your own profit margin and you have access to the biggest collection of customers.
Any of these 3 will see you potentially making money without having to invest a penny. And avoid the headaches the next option brings.
Drop shipping
Drop shipping
Drop shipping is like the previously mentioned print on demand, except the payment is convoluted. Every time a customer places an order, you pay the cost to have the shirt printed and sent to them. You collect money from the customer.
Now the customer is non the wiser as they would make their way to your store and make a purchase, then receive the shirt as normal.
The reason for doing things this way is it makes YOU the customer and there by the person responsible for dealing with returns or lost/damaged items. This to me is underhand and these drop shippers tend to be more expensive, but that’s the cost you have to bear if you want this arrangement.
The upside is you don’t have the negativity that may surround print on demand sites and you can brand the shirts and packaging with your own logos.
This option is for those who can sell high value designs and want more control.
Now the customer is non the wiser as they would make their way to your store and make a purchase, then receive the shirt as normal.
The reason for doing things this way is it makes YOU the customer and there by the person responsible for dealing with returns or lost/damaged items. This to me is underhand and these drop shippers tend to be more expensive, but that’s the cost you have to bear if you want this arrangement.
The upside is you don’t have the negativity that may surround print on demand sites and you can brand the shirts and packaging with your own logos.
This option is for those who can sell high value designs and want more control.
Consistency
Consistency
Whether you choose drop shipping or print on demand consistency is vital.
Make sure your designs are consistently aimed at the audience you’ve chosen.
Make sure you answer the 3 designs questions honestly, consistently.
Make sure you are consistently updating your knowledge in the area you’ve chosen.
Make sure your store front is consistent with the designs you sell. No point in having your motor bike shirt buying customers have to dig through your random addition of unicorn stickers.
Add new designs consistently and treat others the way you would like to be treated and with that I’d ask you to place a like on the video and subscribe if you haven’t already.
Make sure your designs are consistently aimed at the audience you’ve chosen.
Make sure you answer the 3 designs questions honestly, consistently.
Make sure you are consistently updating your knowledge in the area you’ve chosen.
Make sure your store front is consistent with the designs you sell. No point in having your motor bike shirt buying customers have to dig through your random addition of unicorn stickers.
Add new designs consistently and treat others the way you would like to be treated and with that I’d ask you to place a like on the video and subscribe if you haven’t already.
By Roley
03/03/2022
03/03/2022