# My on the cheap marketing genius :)



## OneTrickPony (Oct 16, 2013)

Good day I thought I would share my marketing plan that just kicked in.

I cannot really take all the credit, since with a 8 month old baby that is teething in the house, it came to me in a sleep deprived moment.

Background

I live on the coast in the major tourist destination belt around 400km of beach and resorts, now in my little town, we have about 12 bars and restaurants I then sold advertising space on the back of t-shirts, before I had one t-shirt printed, I admit I did play one up against the other. (lack of sleep made me do it your honor).

I then went to backpackers and food vendors on the beaches and sold them the idea of ordering t-shirts ( made them pay cash, no consignment deals).

So how does this make me a genius ...

will use local currency to explain

T-shirts cost me R27
The "sponsors" R 1 000 each covers all inks and 350 t-shirts

I have not put any of my own money into this yet, then I sell the t-shirts to the backpackers and vendors at R80 each with them all selling them at R140 - so they all make a nice profit as incentive to flog more shirts.

The free drinks from the bars = more than the cost of the t-shirt so basically buy a t-shirt and have a fun evening out 

I make profit without having to invest one cent into this

I have attached the simple document i left with the venues and then I went back the next day and started signing them up.

I do have some teething problems 
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/water-based-ink-screen-printing/t290306.html#post1643962

But hopefully this will help somebody else think of ideas etc.

Regards
Robert


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## Chromechild (Jan 16, 2014)

Theres not detailed enough information for the information to stick
Like what kind of deal do you make with bar owners?
Do they sell their own shirts for drinks or do you sell them?
Whats on the front of the shirt to make them want their advertisement on the back?

and where do you live? the money conversion is strange


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

Under his name is the country he is from. 
As for deals what he does may not work in your area so you come up with your own deals. 
There is a link to a pdf file. Download it. Explains more kinda.


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## elcielo (Jan 20, 2012)

Sounds like you should be renting a conference room in a hotel and doing seminars!


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## OneTrickPony (Oct 16, 2013)

Lol

I got vendors on the beaches to sell the t-shirts they made cash and used the freebies as the selling tool.

On the front I did 4 designs over December but they where tourist orientated.

The bars did not sell themselves since they did not want to advertise opposition silly but workable.

Obviously you must see what could work in your area but it was a huge success and I made good cash and picked up work from the bars to do own shirts.

I am in south Africa our exchange rate is around 1 us dollar is 10 south Africa Rand.

I found that one clothing chain store was selling t-shirts at the same price as supplier but you get store rewards on purchases so bought all blanks from them and with the rewards got the wife a new food processor as a gift

In the good books and also cost nothing 

attached is the fronts nothing fancy yet they are can sell on their own merits, tourists seem to love the place names and dates.


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

Nice. Lets see the back too.


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## OneTrickPony (Oct 16, 2013)

freebird1963 said:


> Nice. Lets see the back too.


attached is back of one I am continuing for the next 2 months due to the resort had good feedback on it, the boxes get ticked with a permanent marker.

I am so cheap I create in illustrator then save as .pdf email it to our nearby quickprint offices they print onto film ( only a4 so I join the artwork together then burn - this is cheaper than buying film and ink myself)

I will look for the back of the ones used over dec but it was a list of 10 places with address email and contact numbers - nothing fancy or to in your face.

But this excersise has shown me that there are more businesses who can do 10-20 t-shirt runs than ones that can do 100+ , and I am going to be concentrating this year on the smaller guys like backpackers, bed & breakfasts , small restaurants and pubs etc.

If you approach them the main selling point is that they can sell the items to the clients as keepsakes and make their money back.

And also that I must stop advertising in print media, since I ended up sitting back and waiting for the clients to come running to me ... but nobody did untill I went and knocked on doors.

Nobody ever tried to sell screen printing to the smaller businesses so this is a huge market for short runs - the happy with 1 or 2 colors easy 

I am going sunday to a nearby strawberry farm who hold children bday parties all the time with the idea of branded coloring in t-shirts that the kids can paint on.
lets see where that goes 

Enjoy your weekend 
Robert


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

very cool.
Thanks


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## OneTrickPony (Oct 16, 2013)

My Pleasure

Hopefully somebody can make use of my adventure


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## Sunjoa (Oct 25, 2011)

Robert, Thanks for sharing for idea! Best of luck to you in regards to the teething.

Dane


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## joey1320 (Feb 21, 2012)

I think I'm gonna give this a try, I'll post about it if I do. Thanks!!! 

Sent from my HTC One X using T-Shirt Forums


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## OneTrickPony (Oct 16, 2013)

Good luck and look around there is loads of work under our noses if we think about it.

Robert


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## OneTrickPony (Oct 16, 2013)

Quick follow up post

I used the t-shirts i printed here to walk into shops and they all keen, I have seen that if you name drop a few local businesses that you printed for when you approach businesses it makes you seem legit, also know your product and the lingo so you speak with knowledge and confidence" to the businesses.

I have figured out that the best places to go is places that get one off clients like in my area there are plenty skydiver and paintball type businesses I convince them to take a few single color designs on low cost t-shirts to give away to the clients since they are building a army of billboards for a low cost.

get the cost to advertise in print for a week vs a t-shirt campaign that lasts for years

I walked into a curio shop last week and saw that hey have no whale designs ... that was my way in since we are known for whale watching...

got a 50 shirt initial order, I have made profit from every t-shirt i have printed and my outlay has been nothing.

I am not a expert but am sharing what works for me, the smaller businesses are easiest to approach and once you have a few of them done use them to get larger clients.

Attached are the prints nice and simple but it has whales and the place name tourists love them and client will order more, and my cheap as can be press made from scrap, the mess next to the press is from my little boy who decided to play drums on the containers lol


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## MAXDesign (Sep 24, 2013)

Inspirational stuff! Well done for sticking your neck out and seeing what happens. Great story and good luck in your next endeavour! 👍


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## gotshirts2ink (Nov 12, 2009)

I think I understand what you are trying to do and if I am thinking right it is already dont here in the US
I Wear Your Shirt.com
and several others as well


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## OneTrickPony (Oct 16, 2013)

MAXDesign said:


> Inspirational stuff! Well done for sticking your neck out and seeing what happens. Great story and good luck in your next endeavour! 👍


Thanks MAXDesign

I am thinking of clearing a room and installing a line table and start going after bigger fish, I have only been printing since December so I have been taking it slow.

I wanted to first get clients before I spend on equipment, but I love printing as a freelance web designer I usually never see my clients, this way it is more interactive.


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## tshirtjunkie22 (May 24, 2014)

Awesome, glad to hear this is working out for you!


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## OneTrickPony (Oct 16, 2013)

tshirtjunkie22 said:


> Awesome, glad to hear this is working out for you!


indeed my newest plan is capatilising on the world cup I have gotten a bunch of girls selling a custom t-shirt pre-orders are coming in - this way i can purchase blanks without using my own cash ( no risk) I sell to them at x amount and then they put a markup and sell it to friends etc, they flooding Facebook with my design and again no risk in it for me 

2 colour design water based on 180g 100% cotton t-shirt.


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