# Preferred Marketing Method



## RUCK (Jul 1, 2012)

Hi all, I have read a few of the tips people have given about marketing their company but I was just wondering, instead of general methods used by all is there a specific method used by someone that has really delivered great results? Or something different than the normal methods etc?

Thanks a lot

RUCK Ruck Clothing - Welcome


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## Riderz Ready (Sep 18, 2008)

Two simple things - get rid of your web sit landing page. Serves no purpose other than to aggrevate potential customers. Second your thumbnails are so small no one could tell what they are buying. Right now the last thing you want is to people to visit your site.


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## a123bonnie (Sep 1, 2008)

I agree completely.....work on your web site with larger pics and no landing page. It always takes some fine tuning and you have a start going. 
One way to get the word out is by direct mailing in the area where you do business. You could run a special to get going. shows have never been a money maker or customer creator for me unless you are doing, for instance, dog related shirts for a dog show, Horse related shirts for Rodeo but to set up at craft shows or similar places.....I wouldn't waste the rent money. The best thing that I do is to make a free sample for a group or company that I would like to work with. Always leave as much literature as you can and call back in a week or so. 
Good Luck!
Bonnie


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

yeah, i'm not going to beat your around the head and shoulders about the web site. i'm guessing you know it needs work, eh? 

what i wasn't really grasping was what your lifestyle brand represents, i.e. who is going to purchase your shirt. for really good marketing, you really have to know your market. makes sense, right? maybe you do, but i'm not quite sure who they are. i mean, if it was a skate brand, someone might suggest having fun slapping stickers all around the joint. i don't know what your market is doing right now. i'm assuming sitting around having tea and crumpets with the queen while listening to old radio reruns of 'winston churchill meets the three stooges.' but, i could be wrong about that. 

so, right now, at 10:30 a.m. on a sunday morning, what is your market doing? what are they going to do today? will they be online, shopping, plotting against ireland, or what they *should* be doing, which is actively petitioning for a 'red dwarf' reboot? 

here's the thing, imo: you don't need to be clever or off-beat in your marketing because all you're trying to do is let the people who are your customers know that you exist. sure, if you have some high concept, i guess that would be one thing... and that one thing would probably be expensive, lol. my point is that there're already methods in place for marketing, and they may seem boring b/c they're 'mainstream' (they're mainstream because they work the best in general, no?), but i think that's a good place to start and ignoring them would probably be more detrimental than not. 

do you have any connections? any money to spend? if you want crazy ideas, i'm your man, but you'd need plenty of money to see it happen. other than that, from what i see there aren't any outside thinking marketing schemes that's been wildly successful that i can think of off-hand as far as hawking tee shirts are concerned, none that are practical anyway. you can't look at, say, johnny cupcakes and believe that's even a remotely comparable example of what the average person can do, even if we discounted the brilliant concept. 

i've seen some youtube commercials for brands, but they invariably are embarrassing to watch, they're so poorly made. in that vein, however, if you're into it and have the time, if you have an interesting niche, you can always do a documentary on the lifestyle of your market (just be sure to get a couple of them to wear your shirt, lol), and in the segment about what your market wears be sure to include your shirts along with the others. just an idea that's virtually free and perhaps interesting. 

dunno. the problem here is almost always a lack of money to toss about. most people have a brand that's not particularly different or mindboggling, yet hope that somehow, by some miracle, it's going to take off like a rocket. then they can't even cover the expense of regular marketing, so they look to alternative (i.e. cheap, or better yet free) methods, which have always been done, too, with typically little effect. for example, getting a band to wear the shirts. okay, so that doesn't blow the windows out sales-wise (unless you have a famous band maybe, not some bar band), and your facebook ads bring a lot of 'likes', but 'likes' aren't sales. at some point you need to spend the money, imo, barring some kind of concept that demands attention or just wild luck. i mean, if you had a shirt that said 'safety first' then pinned a safety pin on it, with enough money that leads to exposure you could get people to wear that, right? 

so, the question is how do you get exposure *without* selling the farm? if we knew that, it would probably be mentioned in every single marketing post, lol. as it is, we're rather relegated to citing examples that really aren't relevant to anyone else as there is usually some special set of circumstances involved in a celebrated brand (johhny cupcakes, for example, was in a band touring nationally. he wore his shirts in front of thousands of captive audience members that was his direct market. not exactly something everyone is capable of).

i think your first order of business is defining who your market is. maybe you have done that, but i'm unclear what the ruck lifestyle is all about (mostly because i'm not slogging through thumbnails for half an hour). ppl buy art, not tee-shirts, so add/drop designs that scream what the lifestyle is, eh? then, as mentioned, a new website is needed, again something that screams ruck lifestyle. and don't forget your social media. before accomplishing these things, imo, you're putting the cart in front of the horse (which is a design in itself, isn't it? lol).


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## printingray (Apr 4, 2012)

Traditional ways are good then the new tricks. If you site is working as online shop then follow the social media as well SEO of your site. This is the best way to market your business.


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