# Christian Apparel Line...How to Market to the average consumer?



## GMWApparel

Hey guys how's it going?

New here and new to the apparel industry.

I was wondering how you would go about marketing a religious shirt to the average Joe. We have had excellent sales and interest from churches and various organizations.

We just launched Wednesday and have about 285 hits on the site but only a few sales. I figure we just need more traffic then it's just a #'s game.

Well here's the site/shirts and would love to see how some of you would go about marketing something like this. As I said we have had great response from church groups and camps which we believe will be our big sales

Home Page

Thanks for your help everyone

GMW Apparel


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## PositiveDave

Marketing Christian tshirts to non-Christians/non-committed?
Perhaps you should stick to your niche market


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## rawbhaze

Obviously your website is not at 100% but if it accurately reflects your current product then there's not much to market at this time.

The Wingman logo is very well done. It's simplistic and easy to recreate. The slogan is good in that it goes along with the idea of the logo. The problem with the design that is offered is that it relies on branding. You do not have an established brand. No one knows who you are. Why would anyone outside of friends and family pay $20+ for a t-shirt that featured nothing more than the logo and catchphrase of some unknown company? And if you are not relabeling then who or what is this company and why should I care about them?


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## TripleSevensCC

I was looking into the Christian shirt market too until deciding to go with somthing I knew better. What I found in my research is people buying Christian tees spend between $10 to $15 a shirt and many people I knew bought them from Christian bookstores. As far as promoting your line there are a number of options.
1. Pay per click on yahoo google to ensure people see your site when the search "Chirstian T shirts" in the search engine.
2. Go on Christian blogs or forums and become a member of that community
3. Create a blog or facebook fan page where people can follow your line
4. Send flyers or call churches asking to speak to the youth ministers about tshirts for the youth group.
5. Advertise in print magazines for Christians
6. Try to contact the purchaser from major book stores about carrying your line
That being said I think your shirts are too expensive for you market. Who are your customers going to be? Churches, youth groups, college and caraeer? Those are usually the ones that buy those kind of shirst and most of them don't have huge incomes.


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## Sport T

You really have only one shirt design in three colors. To be successful online you will have to expand your line. You ask about apealing to the average customer. There really isn't an average customer. Good luck with your brand.


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## tv23

What's your vision? What's is your mission statement? It also helps to give of yourself to others so that they can see your journey (About us is empty).


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## Louie2010

GMWApparel said:


> I was wondering how you would go about marketing a religious shirt to the average Joe. *We have had excellent sales and interest from churches and various organizations.*
> 
> We just launched Wednesday and have about 285 hits on the site *but only a few sales*. I figure we just need more traffic then it's just a #'s game.


 
I am not sure I understand completely. Have you been selling direct with great success and now just started online with little sales?

If you have been selling direct with "excellent" sales, I would concentrating on building and expanding on that formula. If it has proven successful don't abandon it. 

Develop a second shirt and e-mail a discount coupon to all those previous customers in order to introduce them to your new online store and second edition.


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## hazeremover

Sport T said:


> You really have only one shirt design in three colors. To be successful online you will have to expand your line.


More choices are always good. Also, just relying on online direct sales limits your customer base. For starters, a little footwork of visiting the local Christian book and trinket stores (there are plenty everywhere) and leaving them with a tee sample (or three) and poop sheet regarding what you do and how to order expands exposure. Even a direct mailing to the Christian stuff distributors can't hurt. Sure, it's going to take a little more investment and time but establishing your brand/line and building on that is a good way to start. You do need more designs though.


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## EnMartian

GMWApparel said:


> Hey guys how's it going?
> 
> We just launched Wednesday and have about 285 hits on the site but only a few sales. I figure we just need more traffic then it's just a #'s game.


It is a numbers game, but maybe not in the way you think. You do need numbers, but they need to be numbers of the right people, which would be people who are interested in what you have to sell. You can get tons of people coming to your site, but that won't matter if they don't want to buy your product. 

Second, you need to have a website that converts visitors into buyers, and I'm not sure you have that right now. You have one design, which is a nice design, but your site, on my monitor anyway, displays a huge logo and the shirts are hidden below the fold, which means I have to scroll down to even find out you have something to sell. You do have return and shipping policies, but they're hidden in with a bunch of other policies and not that easy to find. I'd take another look at your site and then look at the sites you shop with online. I think you'll see a difference. 

Merely having a product and a website isn't enough.


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## Acreation

yep. i agree wit most ppl in here. you gotta have a vision for a christian line jus like you would any other line most generally. 
might wanna try sum youth groups....if you or you know ppl who go to church on a regular then you can use their resources.....


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## gjwinston

here's an idea.. take it for whatever it's worth... what about marketing in bulk to the churches? it could be a good fundraiser for them. granted you'd have to lower your selling price (or give $X per shirt back to the church). But getting a buy in from churches would get you access to the congregations. instead of making $10 each time a shirt is sold, maybe you make $5, but you're selling them maybe 10 or 20 at a time. there are tons of churches out there. create a postcard (e.g. vistaprint) with your shirt on the front and some ad text on the back. they have great introductory offers where the custom postcards are basically free (100), so it's really inexpensive to try. also see if any of the churches have craft fairs or something during the holidays where you can set up a vendor table. i know i'm rambling, but i market religious shirts, too, so i get excited about it...


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## animarket

Not a bad site at all. But Free shipping til September 1012? Be sure and edit everything carefully on your website. Some spelling missteps or mistakes can easily make your professional looking website look amateurish.

Christian shirts is a huge niche, with much competition. But people are buying shirts online. They are also buying shirts in bookstores. As long as there is a good product at a good price, you can sell it. The difference is, that a Christian bookstore is visible and local. A website is, at first, invisible. And unknown. People come to your site, and they don't know who you are.

Without a bunch of startup money, or some killer social media marketing, it will be impossible to have a new brand take off. Especially if you have one design. 

Use your main design, but then grow from there. Create more designs. Start a Facebook business page. Start getting fans. Offer promotions, like a free shirt to your fans. Write a press release. Create a color, one page sales flyer, and send it to churches via mail. 

You can succeed online, but you need to really research out other top sites, and see what they are doing. Don't re-invent the wheel.


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## printingray

How much sales you get form these visits?? I would like to suggest you the social media and SEO for the promotion online. Target some keywords and optimize them in the Google to get high Rank, when you have high rank then you'll have good traffic.


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