Tees In A Pod: marketing tips

Showing posts with label marketing tips. Show all posts

Monday, August 9, 2010

Podcast 17: Change the World with Daniel From Skreened (Part 1)

The first part of a two part interview with Daniel Fox from Skreened, a POD provider that is truly different from the rest. In this podcast Daniel answers a variety of probing questions from us four podders about branding, marketing, his hopes for Skreened and aspirations to change the world..It was a philosophical, insiteful and enjoyable interview for us to do and we're sure you'll enjoy it...

We then have some great music from Californian band, Trouble in the Wind, with their track Rising...

And then, after the plucking prowess of Trouble in the Wind, we have the cliffhanger, which you have to listen to.."Come on!"...

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Can a Solo Artist Overcome Their Weaknesses?

In case you didn't know, all of us here at Tees In A Pod love getting your questions!

We dedicate time to Q&A's at the end of each weekly podcast. However, when discussing some questions, we realise there are those that warrant a little more time. A question by Peter Grigoriadis regarding MySpace spawned the blog post by Tim "Is MySpace Dead?", and the following is in response to another great question by From Diane Trujillo (@PandorazBox80 on twitter).

THE QUESTION:
"Tim spoke about focusing on your strengths when deciding how to divy up the workload. What would you suggest for a solo designer who needs to find someone who has the strengths which are your weaknesses in order to have a well-balanced business? Is it even necessary to have a partner to help? Specifically, how do you deal with your weaknesses, especially those that affect necessary aspects of a successful business. For someone who is just starting out with nothing but a vast imagination and a few concrete ideas but no business background or experience, how do you turn that into a successful venture?"

Going it alone is a choice everyone needs to make for themselves. The decision doesn't mean that you can't be successful, however it may mean there will be areas of the industry you'll need to learn about, as well as the need to make some tough choices. It is important to identify behaviour that may weaken your business and identify how you can turn weaknesses into strengths.

By collectively answering this question, our aim is to help anyone who chooses to go the solo path - discarding any and all outsourcing such as enlisting the help of a web developer/programmer or marketing expert.

*****

FROM A POD SHOP CUSTOMIZATION PERSPECTIVE - By Amanda
When I saw that Zazzle was offering store owners the opportunity to customize their stores through "Advanced Store Customization BETA", I wanted to try it, but didn't know how to do it or where to start. After a long process of finding articles, watching YOUtube videos and listening to tutorials about this very topic, I then tried it. Bit by bit I found myself learning how to use CSS and Html. At first I was a bit overwhelmed by it, for it's like another language, but as I took it slowly and made sure to back up my work, I felt more at ease when using it. It was a weakness that I had, but my determination and in not restricting myself, allowed me to grow in this area. It might of taken me longer, than if I had a team to work with, but diving into something with an open mind and in trying something new, eventually become a strength I never knew you had. Weaknesses might just be, undiscovered strengths. If you have the time, explore and try it, for you never know what you might uncover!

*****

FROM A PRODUCT DESIGN PERSPECTIVE - By Manz
Without having a team to collaborate with, there are a few traps one could fall into:

1. You may spend countless hours creating a fast selection of designs, yet you've neglected to make some choices which can result in a curve in the quality of what is available on your store. It's not uncommon to become attached to your work, however you should always try to take a step back and be objective - that could possibly mean purging designs that don't meet the standard of your best seller. While it may be upsetting to think that this work will live out its days on a back-up disk, it's better to accept that and keep what you present to your fans at the highest quality possible. I personally have more design work that's never been seen than what is online and under the scrutiny of the public eye. My philosophy, however, is that nothing is ever wasted - new processes can be learned and better ideas born.

2. While it's important to put you into your work, you must always still acknowledge the demographic you will be marketing to. Just because your favourite colour is pink doesn't mean that colour is appropriate for the design or the customer. Same applies with the use of fonts. Try to always make your decisions based on the relevance to the idea and not just your personal preferences.

3. Without the input of peers/collaborators, you may only develop your concept/design to 80% of its potential. My entire experience in graphic design has involved a development process which has always included feedback from others. By enlisting fresh eyes and a different point of view, you can push your ideas further. If you are a solo artist, a good idea is to use the many social media sites that are out there and ask for feedback. Post a graphic to your Facebook wall or load it up to twitpic. When it comes to obtaining feedback, be specific in what you ask. Do you love or hate the blue used in this design? Do you think the font is right for this design? Etcetera...You get the idea.

*****

FROM A SEO PERSPECTIVE - By Rob

SEO is important to everyone who is selling online. "If you build it, they won't come." or so we said in one of our podcasts. You need to do your best to optimise the traffic to your site. And you need about it from the get go.

When you start building your online presence factor in google into all that you do: - When putting up blog posts link using anchor text
- Make sure your on-site SEO game is in shape
- Actively seek back links to your site from reputable website
- Put out quality SEO friendly content. Content that if it spreads it will benefit your online presence
- Get your robots.txt file in order
- Use social networks to amplify your reach and gain more backlinks.
- Read up on google to try better understand how it "works" (not that anyone fully understands it)..by understanding it (or parts of it) your entire SEO effort will become more coordinated and make sense.

If this area is where you find you're weak, use the resources that are available online - tiap recently started a SEO corner where we hope to draw your attention to the small things that you can do to help your chances of success. If you find the language is still greek to you, directly ask the author for help/clarification. These authors are writing up these post to help those who are interested, so ask, they'll be happy to hear from you and help.

*****

FROM A NETWORKING PERSPECTIVE - By Manz

As a solo artist/sole trader, you won't have the same luxury of time that competing businesses enjoy. It would be unwise however to think that you don't need to use any of the social media sites available to you for FREE. Having to micro-manage your time may mean that you need to once again make some hard decisions; perhaps choosing ONE social media site that you can pour all of your free time into. Try dating each social media site first and read the TIAP blog post by Amanda, Before You Divorce Social Media, You Need To Be "Engaged".

*****

FROM A MARKETING/BRANDING PERSPECTIVE - By Tim

When going it alone as a solo artist one important avenue that is overlooked is branding. To build your business from the ground up it is important to even start with a strong name that either defines your products or contains a powerful keyword relating to your products. Knowing which keywords to target and the buying phrases your customers are looking for can really jump start your business or have your business looking at no hits/sales if you choose poorly. An example of targeting buying phrases is instead of targeting the keyword artistic t shirts go after the phrase buy artistic t shirts as if you can get ranked for this you will be looking at a pool of those looking to buy and not browse artistic t shirts.

Another thing to keep in mind is to be as specific as possible. As a solo owner you should specialize in one style or type of shirt or merchandise. Being a jack of all trades and trying to vary your designs from cute to offensive is probably going to be too exhausting for one person to pull off. Instead find a niche that you have an interest in and that others have an interest in buying t shirts or merchandise in and own it. By dominating your niche you should be perceived as one of the only places to go in town for products in that niche and the sales will follow. To dominate in your niche you may want to join forums related to the products you are selling. Make sure to actually participate in the forums with good solid posts and not just push your products. Forum users can easily see through those who are just there to spam versus those that are giving back something to the community while promoting their products.

*****

We hope that helps you Diane and anyone opting to go it alone.

Do you have a question for Tees In A Pod?

Ask us today on the Tees In A Pod Facebook fanpage, or right here in the comments area!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

May - Tips Of The Day

Tees In A Pod strives to provide you with many resources in helping you reach your goals with all of your online ventures. Another way we provide such support, besides our weekly podcast, is by sharing with you a "Tip Of The Day" on our Facebook Fan Page. Below, we have created a list of all the Fan Page tips we sent out as status updates for the month of MAY! Stay tuned... for every month a new list will be posted...

Please leave a comment and share with us any tips you have! We'll use them as a "Tip Of The Day" to share with others on our Facebook Fan Page, as well as list it here, plus we will give you credit for your awesome tip! Enjoy!!

MAY: Tips Of The Day!

Tip Of The Day For Zazzlers: Did you know if you use the asterisk (*) after your store's URL, it is known as a referral and you can earn extra cash in doing it ? ex: http://www.zazzle.com/creaturecreations* Try it with yours!
Did you know that your Facebook Fan Page Insights has a new addition called "Interactions Per Post"... Check out the drop down in the first graph where you will discover this most recent "Insight" :)
When creating tabs with apps on your Facebook Fan Page be sure and try many different and FREE sites that offer easy and professional ones, such as "Involver" so add a tab for Twitter, YouTube, etc. and "Maximize Your Facebook Pages!" :)
Did you know you could change the name of a link you share on Facebook? You sure can... just type in a URL like this: http://www.teesinapod.blogspot.com (Use your own Url too) and when the drop down appears click on the "Title" and change it to what you want others to see!! Change it up!
Shared Tip Alert! Comes to you from one of our Awesome Fans! If you add a link to your status update on Facebook, you can change the description from the drop down too!! Great to know and thank you so much Amy for your wonderful tip!
Use hashtags on Twitter and Facebook too! hashtags are: when you use a word related to your post/tweet beginning with the symbol "#" this spreads the news faster, categorizes it, and can build your company's sense of community! #hashtag it up!
Be sure to include the "@" symbol when wanting to mention someone on Facebook. Ex: Tees In A Pod (put "@" symbol, start typing choose from drop down.) This way, what you are saying will show up on their FB page too! The only way you can do this, is if you are friends or likers of ones page. Let them know you are talkin' about them :)
Ever wish you could download your FB photo albums to your computer? Now you can with this Firefox Add On: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8442/

Thursday, May 6, 2010

How To Use Twitter To Build Your Brand

Twitter is a great way to get exposure for your online brand or store and the best thing about it is all the great connections that can be made for free. When using twitter it is important that you come across as a real person and not just someone that wants to sell a product. This is easy if you enjoy people and enjoy having fun conversations on twitter. The three most important strategies to use for building your brand are using twitter search, starting the conversation to develop strong personal relationships, and be proud of your products.

When marketing on twitter you need to use twitter search. Why? By using twitter search you can find people that are interested in keywords that relate to your online store, thus giving you a targeted list of followers. For example, if you have a Zazzle shop that sells funny t shirts you may want to search for Zazzle, tshirts, funny tshirts etc. Make sure to search for similar stores that sell products similar to yours as well. If you sell graphic tshirts you may want to follow those who are fans of Redbubble or Threadless as an example. When you follow those that are interested in your products or services you need to remember it is a numbers game. Some people are not going to follow you back or will take longer to follow you back. Make sure to give someone a week to return your follow and if it takes longer than that, probably better to unfollow. You can unfollow 200 people in a day, but is not recommend, for that is too many people to unfollow at once in one day.

Secondly, if someone does follow your brand acknowledge them and introduce yourself. It can really go a long way if you @reply someone and thank them for following you. If they reply back, start a conversation about their interests. You should be able to comment on their bio or something on their blog to show them that you took the time to check out their profile. This helps in two ways. First, for those that respond you are likely to make a new friend. People like people who are interested in them. If you expand your conversation you can make a very strong friend or ally. You can develop great friendships and networking relationships with people on twitter that can open new doors even if you never sell them anything from your online store. Making connections with people on twitter is the most valuable thing you can do. Remember, that when marketing on twitter, people buy from those that they know and those that they like. Your number one goal should be coming across as a likable person so being a social butterfly and keeping things light works great on twitter. If your fellow tweeps are thinking of you as a person you are doing it right, if they think of you as a brand you are doing it wrong.

The third thing you need to do on twitter to build your brand is to be proud of your products or merchandise that you are selling. If you make a sale share it with the world and provide hashtags with it so that others who have interests in your product can find it. If someone on twitter buys from you personally @reply them and thank them for buying from you. Follow up with them later to make sure that they are still thrilled with your product and services, to let them know that you care about their opinion. Following up on a sale can lead to that person being a delighted returning customer who brags about your online store or shop to all their friends. The 90/10 rule on twitter is a great way to remember how much to tweet about your own products on twitter. 90 percent of the time you should be engaging with your twitter friends about conversations that have nothing to do with your online store. Talk about movies, sports, or any other common interests you and your new twitter friends have. 10 percent of the time brag about your store, cause hey there is nothing wrong with being proud of all the hard work you did to put the store together and create the products. If you have made friends on twitter they are going to want to share your great news by sometimes even retweeting your accomplishments. The possibilities on twitter are really endless when you can engage your followers and treat them as people and not customers.

Twitter is one of the best ways to market if you learn how to use it effectively and the best thing is, it's free! If you know what to search for on twitter, who to befriend and network with, and what time is appropriate to brag about your products or services, it is almost a guarantee you will succeed on twitter. You can make connections and friendships that are way more important than selling someone an item. Twitter really is all about connections and if you are a light hearted social butterfly who treats people as friends and not customers their really is no limit as to what you can accomplish.

Tim Fox
Soge Shirts, Funny Tees

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Viral Marketing Battle: Facebook Fan Pages vs. Facebook Groups

In one corner, Facebook Fan Pages, the newbie; has a powerful right-hand hook in creating long

term relationships with the crowd. In the other corner, Facebook Groups, the elder one of the two; is well known and is quick on its feet when getting the crowd actively involved in different topics. The bell is about to ring, so take your places and let the battle of the two begin. Not sure at this point, in the viral marketing battle, as to which one is the most effective way to get noticed online? You are not alone. It can sometimes be daunting and confusing in figuring out which is the better choice when launching your brand on Facebook. First, lets take a look at the major differences between the two before diving into the hits and misses of each, to make a more informative decision that best suits what you are trying to accomplish. Let the battle begin...

The Major Differences

The Newbie: Facebook Fan Pages

Facebook Fan Pages were created for official representatives of a particular brand, company etc. They are to be used as the official profiles of businesses and other entities which allows a way of sharing information, like, the latest promotions, products, etc. through status updates. In doing this, it creates longer-lasting relationships between the business and their clients and a larger community based feel. Creators of fan pages, address their fans using bulk updates. This can be an effective way in sharing information with all of the fans, quickly and as a whole. There are no limitations as to how many can be sent or to whom they can be sent to. Status and bulk updates, are great ways to communicate with fans and to make the fan page more interactive and engaging. The creator is also able to appoint administrators to the page which gives them the ability to change and edit where regular members cannot.
Fan Pages are automatically set to "public," when first created, which lessens the control over who can or cannot participate. Since they are publicly visible; they can be indexed by search engines. From this, non-Facebook members are able to see the fan page, allowing more exposure.

The Elder: Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups were created for those who want to rally around a particular brand, company, etc. They are to be used more for discussions about particular topics, like, common interests, opinions, causes etc. Creators of groups have more control over who they want to join by choosing which network they want the group to belong to. For example: Public (access to everyone), Private (invites only), etc. this gives a more “Club” like feel. The creator can also appoint administrators, who can then add or remove members and edit the page. Officers can be appointed as well, but in becoming an officer, does not create more privileges then that of a regular member. It only changes the title and displays it on the groups page.
Groups can send their information to members using bulk emails. This is a great way to reach all members at the same time and can entice them to participate more within the group. There is a limit to this however, bulk emails can only be sent to 5000 members. After reaching 5000, the ability to send bulk emails is no longer an option which can be discouraging to those who do not want to limit themselves to only 5000 members. Groups are only visible to those on Facebook and thus cannot be seen by the public (outside of Facebook) nor can they be indexed by search engines which gives less exposure.

The easiest way to distinguish their differences is in using this example:
If you are a fan of a particular television show like, "The Office", you have the option of joining "The Office" Fan Page that was created by an official representative of that show and not by you (unless you are the official representative) OR you can create one like "The Office" Group to express your love of the show and in wanting to meet others who also enjoy "The Office".

Now let the battle continue...

Facebook Fan Pages vs. Facebook Groups: Hits and Misses

(Click Table For Larger View )

Both are well suited in gaining online presence and in connecting with others, but which one do you use or think is the better one of the two? In now seeing this battle play out, Do you think they are competitors? Or are they to be used for different reasons? If they are competitors, who do you think won the Viral Marketing Battle: Facebook Fan Pages or Facebook Groups?

Share your comments here or on Teesinapod Facebook Fan Page.

Written By: Amanda Ryan, Creature Creations, Personalized Photo Gifts

Friday, March 5, 2010

Tim Fox- Soge Shirts

Hey everyone I'm Tim from Soge shirts funny t shirt shop. My goal is to share with you some insights on how to get your online shop some major buzz once you have some nice products going. I love sharing tips on networking, marketing, and most important getting other people excited about your t shirts.

I remember first starting out in the t-shirt business being very excited, but really having no idea on what steps it would take to get our tshirts noticed. After months and months of running around like a chicken with its head cut off I began to find great tips online, began to learn from other successful online shops, and was able to start forging many mutual beneficial relationships with other shopkeepers.

They say its not what you know, but it is who you know. I'm here to answer the questions of networking that you might have to get the extra edge on your online shopping competition. Social media sites such as facebook and twitter can be key tools to getting your online shop where you want to go. I love social media so I am happy to answer any and all questions you have about it.

Thanks for checking out the blog and like the rest of our awesome gang I am happy to get to know you personally to ensure that your online shop is a success.

"You will never not work, if you learn how to network." -Tim Fox

Pages

Monday, August 9, 2010

Podcast 17: Change the World with Daniel From Skreened (Part 1)

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Can a Solo Artist Overcome Their Weaknesses?