Ink Press Threads

Navigating the wild ride of small business ownership? Welcome to the club where multitasking is the norm, and marketing is the beast you need to tame. Strapped for time and cash? Buckle up, because we're diving headfirst into the world of marketing and merchandising.

In the past our CEO, Jeremy Conder, has covered the top 5 reasons why your business should have a branded merchandise program. Make sure to check that post out if you haven't already, but today we're going to cover merchandise as a marketing tool. Here's the latest on why brand merchandising isn't just cool; it's one of the best marketing tools for small business owners that makes it possible to promote your business for free and make a profit while you're at it!

I sat down with Erik Olson, a Business Development executive for Huge Brands. Erik is a beer and nightlife fanatic. His passion for breweries has enabled him to optimize brewery merch for more than 20 breweries across the country.  

In this post, you will learn how:

• Breweries can create custom offerings that incorporate branded merchandise.

• The kinds of merchandise that breweries should offer.

• What success looks like for custom brewery merchandise.
• Why Branded Merchandise is one of the Best Marketing Tools for Small Business Owners
• And More!

Let’s jump in! 

In part 1 of this series, we discussed the elements of a successful brand merchandise program and covered the differences between cheap swag and free giveaways, contrasting it with the value of branded merchandise and promotional merchandise programs. 

Now that you understand some of the nuances and distinction between cheap swag and branded merchandise, it's time to show you how to build a branded merchandise program for your business. 

In this guide to building a branded merchandise program you'll learn about:

• Why it's a good idea to create a branded merchandise program
• How to leverage the power of your brand to create a branded merchandise with an intentional strategy that resonates with your customers
• How to implement the elements of a branded merchandise strategy to build a successful branded merchandise program that performs well and is successful (generates revenue and delights your customers).

Remember the game Mad Libs?

When I was growing up, my family would always buy a book of Mad Libs from Barnes and Noble and take it with us on a road trip. We would amuse ourselves as we drove through the Sonora Desert on our way to California, filling in the blanks of the Mad Lib, coming up with many random words that resulted in a crazy story when we finished the page. 

Mad Libs might be a fun game, but playing Mad Libs is not an effective brand merch strategy. 

When you think of custom branded apparel or merch, what comes to your mind? If you're like most people, you probably think of T-Shirts, hoodies, or tank tops. 

While this merch is a good starting point, your retail program doesn't have to fit inside such a small box. A robust merch program won't just appeal to some of your customers, it should offer attractive items to all of your customers.

Fans would describe Snoopy as witty, clever, sarcastic, adventurous, creative, mischievous, and ambitious. 

He's a baseball player that came close to breaking Babe Ruth's home run record, a World War II pilot, a tennis player, a lawyer, and an ambitious, award-winning writer. 

Snoopy is many things, but he's first and foremost an icon:

In our divided society, one of the few things that people can agree on is the love they share for dogs. The bond that humans have with dogs can be traced back to 30,000 BCE when hunters rewarded wolves that hung around their camps with scraps of food. In turn, these wolves helped humans hunt. As the symbiotic relationship between humans and dogs developed, dogs became the first domesticated animal, evolving into the lovable pets they are today. 

You'll often hear the phrases "merch" or "swag items" casually thrown around to describe promotional items that companies give out at events or conferences. The cost of these swag items is typically very cheap and they are often poorly made. A customer might wear merch like this while mowing the lawn or use their tote bag when they have nothing else to carry their gym equipment, but it is quickly discarded. 

On the other hand, building a branded merch program is all about producing retail-quality, well-designed, apparel and products that your customers wear for years and rave about.

Dive into this article to learn about the top five reasons your business should have a branded merch program. 

Do you have a branded merch program that isn't working out how you envisioned?

• Maybe you have recently decided that it makes sense for you to implement a branded merch program, but you are not quite sure where to start.
• Unless you have a branded merch program that is up and running perfectly, this post is for you!
  
  You only need two key things to ensure you have the best possible branded merch program. Keep reading to learn what they are!

Have you ever had a little voice in your head whispering to you that you might have outgrown your current branded merchandise provider? Were you so busy doing other things that you pushed it to the back of your mind, promising yourself you would give it more serious thought just as soon as things slowed down?

Did you justify it by telling yourself that things were going “fine”, while thinking the following:

• That the vendor you were working with was doing a “decent” job of delivering on what was promised?
• Were you still unable to completely dismiss the fact that maybe your brand merch program was a bit stale?
• Did it feel like there were advances you should have been able to make in your brand promotion strategy, but you were not quite sure what they were?