# Is it worth going to the music festivals to sell T-shirts?



## Spicetag (Jun 7, 2011)

Hello All,
I have a selection of Music Festival T-shirts on my site, and I was wondering if it is worth Going to these festivals to sell the items. I know it would be a good way to get awareness to my site, but it would be quite a costly trip. Any thoughts on this would be great.
Thanks


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## veedub3 (Mar 29, 2007)

You are correct it can be quite costly but if it is the right festival it can be quite lucrative as well. I attend them yearly as a vendor and have been a regular since 2002. I have great success at multi-day events with huge crowds. The best advice I can give is to make sure that your designs tie in with the festival. I attended a jazz festival once and the booth next to me was selling throw back jersey's. He didn't do too well, and when I sold out, he came over and talked to me and I told him the same thing. _"Make sure what you are selling tie in with the festival"._

Good Luck!


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

Katrina is exactly right, it's about knowing those people who are in your market segment and finding the venues that cater to that segment. If you find the right festivals, you could probably do reasonably well. 

You should also take a minute and do some basic math. Look at the cost of renting space at the festival, getting there, setting up a display, creating shirts and all the rest, and then figure out how many shirts you'll have to sell to break even. Check with the festival organizers and see if they can give you demographic information or at least tell you how many people attended the festival in past years. That will give you some indication of your potential customer pool. 

Don't assume that going to a festival will automatically mean huge sales, but don't assume it won't bring any sales either. Do the math and figure out what it will cost and what you need to make and then you can make an informed judgment about whether or not this is an acceptable risk.


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## digidigits (Jul 17, 2011)

Nowadays people ignore ads and other traditional ways of advertising, so getting on the road and showing your product is the key. 

Music festivals are a great way of introducing yourself to the general public.At these events people come with money in mind to spend on cool things that find there. They are very open to try new things or buy items from unknown vendors. They will generally pay more for things at a festival market than they would for the same thing in a traditional storefront. 

Rather you'll break even or profit while being there I don't know, but in terms of "brand awareness" it can give you loads. All advertising iniatives are money losers at first but successful ones will lead to sales in the long run. Remember people only buy from people, or brands, they know. So its great to think of advertisment as process of your audience "getting to know you." 
Each advertisement or marketing your company does, should get them more familar with your brand and your product lines. The more familar they are with you the more likely they are to buy and become a loyal customer. 

If you do vend, try to do the biggest event you can afford. This way you'll make a few sales, get traffic driven to your website, and real world feedback. Try to:

Pick a festival that your demographics will be there in droves. Your stuff is great for a rock festival. So find the biggest one you can afford to travel too.

Make sure to put your website on your booth and bring handout materials with all your social network links.

Bring two people along with you. One to checkout customers, protect the cash box, and watch the patrons while they browse. And another to invite people to come to your booth or walk around the festival wearing your t-shirt. 

Have everybody in the booth wear their favorite t shirt your company makes. This way if someone ask them about the shirt, they'll be able to give an enthustic endorsement for your tees. 

Tell a story instead of do a sale pitch. Festival attendees love hearing stories from the owner. I've find that they will not only ask about your products but ask to speak to the owner. They want to know why you started a tshirt company and what your goal is. So don't be afraid to share. 

Use Craigslist, or its international equal, to find people who are going to the concert. If you are an active member a music site, ask there to if its okay by the forum. Ask them met up at your booth, the day of the event, to give them a free tshirt and some cards with your company info to give people you ask abou their shirt. Be sure to put a big message on the back of the shirt that says "Like this shirt. Ask Me and I'll tell you what festival vendor I got it from."

Tell the Craigslist t-shirt wearers if they can get "x" amount of people to comes to the booth and buy a tshirt. They'll receive the tee of their choice or a $20 itunes gift card. Whatever's most afforable for you. This gives them an incentive to to get people to your booth. So you can identify who bring who, have a space on the business cards for the craigslisters to write their email address. Email the winning people are the show and thank all for participating. 

Bring a winning attitude. Even if you don't sell as much you like, keep positive and try to make a good impressions on as many people as possible. People who visited your booth and didn't buy today. Could go and buy a shirt from you online.


Finally, nothing that a business person does to get people to buy their stuff isn't in vein. Be open to try anything that you can reasonably afford. Failures are what drives you closer and closer to success. The only true failure is giving up or never really trying.


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