# Marketing printing services to college clubs and organizations



## FlustardMal (Jul 11, 2011)

I know of some people who print shirts as a hobby. They're college students so I suggested they market their services to student clubs and organizations on their campus to make some money.

What's the best way to reach these people? Facebook or emailing the club leaders? I can't imagine flyers would be of much use.

Club sports and Greek life look like stable markets to pursue.

Suggestions?


----------



## tee09 (Oct 30, 2009)

FlustardMal said:


> What's the best way to reach these people? Facebook or emailing the club leaders? I can't imagine flyers would be of much use.


Reach these people directly (in person). Have samples of your work in hand.. Show them what you are capable of doing.

If out of state make a phone call, then email/facebook.


----------



## FlustardMal (Jul 11, 2011)

Are there any legal issues I should be aware of? I understand the gray-area of printing school logo's etc. but aside from that, are student organizations typically obliged to use school-mandated printers?


----------



## schoonover77 (Jul 4, 2010)

You must be liscensed to print any college logo. Check with Collegiate Licensing about the requirements for the school you are interested in. Generally have insurance requirements and royalties that must be paid back to the institution. Also, for fraternities and sororities, Greek Licensing, has fees and rules. Be careful with the greeks, it cost a lot of money and time to get licensed, and the have no loyalty to any one vendor. As the kids change each year, so does the shirt vendor.


----------



## FlustardMal (Jul 11, 2011)

You made some good points about Greek life that I was unaware of. I figured they'd be my core clientele, but the way you put it, it may be better just to stick to student clubs and organizations as they have more flexibility in how they market themselves etc.

In terms of getting Greek licensing, is it a per campus license or nationwide ie. every chapter within the same fraternity?


----------



## tee09 (Oct 30, 2009)

Chris is right. It is best to follow the rules.
Here is a link where you can get licensed

link


----------



## schoonover77 (Jul 4, 2010)

FlustardMal said:


> You made some good points about Greek life that I was unaware of. I figured they'd be my core clientele, but the way you put it, it may be better just to stick to student clubs and organizations as they have more flexibility in how they market themselves etc.
> 
> In terms of getting Greek licensing, is it a per campus license or nationwide ie. every chapter within the same fraternity?


It is a nationwide license. I by no means want to tell you what to do, but I would look at those other clubs on campus. I am based in a college town. There are three other screen printers. Everyone has competed fiercely for the 15 greek organizations. Five years ago when greek licensing became a real issue, I threw in the towel on the greeks and spent time on the 300 other student clubs that everyone else was ignoring.


----------



## FlustardMal (Jul 11, 2011)

Good points. It seems like its way too messy to get involved with the licensing requiring to print for Greek life. I suppose one could print their event shirts rather then their official shirts. Even still, clubs seem like the best place to start especially for those will limited printing capacity. Orders are likely pretty small.


----------



## gapipkin (May 29, 2011)

schoonover77 said:


> It is a nationwide license. I by no means want to tell you what to do, but I would look at those other clubs on campus. I am based in a college town. There are three other screen printers. Everyone has competed fiercely for the 15 greek organizations. Five years ago when greek licensing became a real issue, I threw in the towel on the greeks and spent time on the 300 other student clubs that everyone else was ignoring.


 
I graduated in 97' from EIU! Back then, there were only 2 printers.


----------



## BE Imprinted (May 26, 2011)

The other events and organizations will bring you way more money than the greek life and it will make it way worth it! The organizations are loyal to you if you are good at what you do!


----------



## FlustardMal (Jul 11, 2011)

@BE

Do you have experience working with college clubs and organizations? What kind of work did you do?


----------



## mtroup (Aug 15, 2008)

The Greek issue has been covered many times.. and it seems many printers are misinformed. As a member of a Greek organization you are authorized to use the logo on appropriate items. Remember, as a printer you are simply doing the job requested by a customer who already owns the rights to the logo, etc. The only reason you have to be Greek licensed is if you have a retail shop and stock items with Greek letters on them. If you simply want to print custom orders for Greek organizations you are in the clear and fully legal.


----------



## FlustardMal (Jul 11, 2011)

Thanks mtroup for clearing up the misconception. What you said makes a lot of sense. So would you say most Greek chapters are aware of logo legalities such that they would openly seek student printers for their print needs assuming high quality, quick turnover, and reasonable price were a given?


----------



## mtroup (Aug 15, 2008)

I would say it is common knowledge within the groups that they can use anyone they want to print their shirts, etc. However, in most groups a T-Shirt Chair is elected on a semester or yearly basis and as mentioned above they may not be informed who was doing the printing before, or may have a friend or family member so they might use someone else. If you want consistent business from a group you need to stay in touch with the president and find out the election schedules so that you can get the contact information for the new T-Shirt Chair each time a new one is elected. It is a bit of a pain, but it can be consistent business as most groups buy various shirts year round. Someone above spoke of them having no loyalty but I think most of the time the new chair just doesn't get passed along the contact information of who has been printing the shirts, etc. So it may take more effort on your part but most members are going to be with the group 3-5 years so it's very possible to make a few connections that will last and ensure that you keep getting the business.


----------



## SnapGraphics (Dec 21, 2010)

mtroup said:


> The Greek issue has been covered many times.. and it seems many printers are misinformed. As a member of a Greek organization you are authorized to use the logo on appropriate items. Remember, as a printer you are simply doing the job requested by a customer who already owns the rights to the logo, etc. The only reason you have to be Greek licensed is if you have a retail shop and stock items with Greek letters on them. If you simply want to print custom orders for Greek organizations you are in the clear and fully legal.


That is not necessarily true. Each Greek letter organization has their name, their Greek letter designation and their badges/pins and many other items representing their Fraternities trademarked. You may be able to print Greek letter merchandise but you can not specifically market to schools using Greek letter combinations that are trademarked. 

I have gone round and round with my fraternity about this very issue. As a member I should be able to promote and sell my fraternity Greek letter merchandise however because of the contracts my fraternity has with GreekLicensing they can not allow such printing.

Keep in mind that Greek letter organizations are businesses and will treat their respective trademarks as such. Think of them in the same light as you would a professional sports team, etc...


----------



## mtroup (Aug 15, 2008)

Maybe the rules are different for each Fraternity, but as a Kappa Sigma member, we are authorized to use our symbols in any way we want as long as they are appropriate.. I do not see how as a commercial printer you could be limited to print something because it is trademarked. All NCAA schools are also trademarked but if the school calls you directly to print something for them and sends you the artwork/logos it is completely legal to print, the same as such with all corporations unless the members are bound to using approved vendors, which many are not. I think the confusion comes from stock designs and retail outlets, remember as a printer, you are only printing what is requested. The rules are completely different if you are wanting to create stock designs and market them to specific groups, for that you must be licensed.


----------



## SnapGraphics (Dec 21, 2010)

mtroup said:


> Maybe the rules are different for each Fraternity, but as a Kappa Sigma member, we are authorized to use our symbols in any way we want as long as they are appropriate.. I do not see how as a commercial printer you could be limited to print something because it is trademarked. All NCAA schools are also trademarked but if the school calls you directly to print something for them and sends you the artwork/logos it is completely legal to print, the same as such with all corporations unless the members are bound to using approved vendors, which many are not. I think the confusion comes from stock designs and retail outlets, remember as a printer, you are only printing what is requested. The rules are completely different if you are wanting to create stock designs and market them to specific groups, for that you must be licensed.


It is a fine line and trust me I agree with you. After being a dues paying member for 4 years and making numerous donations as an alumnus I believe I should be able to print anything requested by my fraternity but that isn't the way trademarks work. They may allow you to print it but trust me GreekLicensing does not approve and wants their cut of the sale, I have spoke with GreekLicensing 3 different sororities and 6 or 7 different fraternities and all of their responses were the same. You must be licensed to use our trademarked images, wording or insignia.


----------



## FlustardMal (Jul 11, 2011)

Interesting points, especially on those dealing with Greek organizations.

At least for me, the direction I was headed was simply doing print jobs for Greek organizations, not marketing to them ie. they give me a design, I print. The legalities would/should be much different in this application, correct?


----------



## SnapGraphics (Dec 21, 2010)

FlustardMal said:


> Interesting points, especially on those dealing with Greek organizations.
> 
> At least for me, the direction I was headed was simply doing print jobs for Greek organizations, not marketing to them ie. they give me a design, I print. The legalities would/should be much different in this application, correct?


Like I said: It's a fine line.


----------



## mtroup (Aug 15, 2008)

FlustardMal said:


> Interesting points, especially on those dealing with Greek organizations.
> 
> At least for me, the direction I was headed was simply doing print jobs for Greek organizations, not marketing to them ie. they give me a design, I print. The legalities would/should be much different in this application, correct?



I believe so, and have been operating like this since I started business. In my opinion I believe this is completely legal but others may not. However, from my experience I have yet to have a problem doing business with groups this way. I'm not here to provide any legal advice so you may take it for what it's worth as simply my opinion, although I have yet to read anything definitive on the subject to suggest a different policy is needed. I treat them like any of my corporate customers, when they send me a logo, I print it.


----------

