Month: March 2023

Categories
Creator success Design tips

Introducing Affordable Design on Demand Services for Spring Creators

We are thrilled to announce our new partnership with AffinityX! Creators are always asking us for design services and we’re finally able to say—we got you! By partnering with AffinityX, a top-tier agency, we’re able to offer professional design services exclusively for our creators! We’re talking merch graphics, storefront banners and social media promo visuals. 

If you want to stand out, look more professional and sell more merch, you’ll want a custom design. Read on to learn about the design services we offer or jump straight to our design services page here. 

Store Hero Banner 

You want to make a good first impression, right? Nothing does that better than a custom-designed banner image that showcases your unique brand. Welcome your fans with your unique design at the top of your store page. This service includes:

  • 1 high-resolution static banner graphic (non-editable jpg or png) 
  • Delivery by email in a zip file
  • 100% ownership of design
  • $17

How it works:

  • After purchase, you will be emailed a creative brief for your design specifications
  • You get 1 revision request after you receive the design
  • 3 business day turnaround after the design is approved

Learn more about the Store Hero Banner and place your custom order here: https://affinityx.creator-spring.com/products/spring-digital-storefront-banner

Promo Image Design 

It’s always a good idea to drive traffic to your store from your social platforms, preferably with a personalized visual that shows off your brand and merch. With this service, you’ll get a personalized visual advertising your brand to share on socials. Design includes:

  • 1 high-resolution static promo image (non-editable jpg or png) for the platform of your choice: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Display or Personal Profile Image 
  • Delivery by email as a zip file (image size dependent on selected platform)
  • 100% ownership of design
  • $17

How it works:

  • After purchase, you will be emailed a creative brief for your design specifications
  • You get 1 revision request after you receive the design
  • 3 business day turnaround after the design is approved

Learn more about the Promo Image Design and place your custom order here: https://affinityx.creator-spring.com/products/promo-image-design

Custom Merch Graphic Design 

Another great idea and must-have for your brand is a personalized logo or design that you can use on your merch. Our professional designers can deliver on your vision. Give us your inspiration, and they will create a high-quality design that you can use on any print-on-demand merch (including t-shirts & sweatshirts). This service includes:

  • 1 high-resolution graphic design (non-editable jpg or png, sized to product specs)
  • Delivery by email as a zip file
  • 100% ownership of design
  • $17

How it works:

  • After purchase, you will be emailed a creative brief for your design specifications
  • You get 1 revision request after you receive the design
  • 3 business day turnaround after the design is approved

Learn more about the Custom Merch Graphic Design and place your custom order here: https://affinityx.creator-spring.com/products/custom-merch-design-graphic

Bundle these three and save! 

Build out your brand with all three services for one great price! From your socials, to your storefront, to your merch, you’ll have a professional, cohesive brand. Bundle includes:

  • 1 Store Hero Banner image (non-editable jpg or png)
  • 1 Store Promo Visual graphic (non-editable jpg or png)
  • 1 Custom Merch Design (non-editable jpg or png)
  • All delivered by email as a zip file
  • 100% ownership of all designs
  • $50

How it works:

  • Complete only 1 creative brief for all services 
  • 1 design revision for each service 
  • 3 business day turnaround after you approve all designs

Learn more about the Premium Bundle and place your custom order here: https://affinityx.creator-spring.com/products/bundle-merch-graphic-promo-image-hero-banner

We couldn’t be more excited about our new partnership with AffinityX, truly the best of the best when it comes to visualizing a brand. Let’s get started on your custom brand design! 

Check out all of our design services here.

And as always, hit us with questions anytime at creatorhelp@spri.ng.

Categories
Creator success

Design & Sell Warm-Weather Merch For Spring

Spring puns are happening again. Why? Because Spring has sprung and it’s time to spring into Spring–merch that is. Ok we’re done. For now. Spring means the onset of warmer weather, so take advantage of seasonal sales by offering products like tanks and tees. 

We have a Spring collection ready to customize in just a few minutes. Here are some fan favorites:

The only thing missing is your designs! So let’s get to it. 

As far as why you should design and launch products for Spring, here are some points to keep in mind:

  • Warm-weather apparel is back in season.
  • You can stay relevant with new products since Spring is all about new beginnings.
  • You can link to holidays. This doesn’t mean put all your eggs in one basket for certain holidays (told you we weren’t quite done with the puns). There are other opportunities like Memorial Day. 
  • New products will increase traffic and increase sales!

Finally, here are suggestions on how to best promote your new Spring products:

The season is here. Spring into action with your new Spring merch on Spring and enjoy a season of sales! (And NOW….we’re done with the puns). 

Have questions? Reach out to creatorhelp@spri.ng anytime!

Categories
Uncategorized

How to Make and Sell Custom Merch in 2023

If you’re a content creator, a big priority of yours should be to create and sell merch. Products extend your brand voice. There’s nothing more fulfilling than seeing your fans show you love by eating up your designs and products. Why? Because creating and selling your merch is a way of connecting with them. And in turn, buying your merch is their way to connect with you. They’re not just buying things, they’re buying you. So really search your soul for what you want to put out into the world. With that said, let’s get to it. 

Where to start? How do you create merch and how do you sell it? The first step is your Spring store (it’ll be integral to your success). But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s start with your audience.

Find out who your audience is and what they like

You need to learn how fans interact with you and your brand. What social platforms are they active on? For example, you can guess your fanbase is mainly Gen Z & Millennials if most of your engagement is on TikTok. So then you take that information, and based on their shopping habits, create and design merch for that audience. You can also interact with fans directly in polls on Facebook groups, email, Instagram Stories, etc. There’s another advantage to asking for feedback from your audience – it makes them feel like they helped create the merch that they are going to eventually buy. 

Brainstorm merch ideas

Okay. Now you know your audience. Next step. Design the merch you know will appeal to their taste. How do you do that? Maybe there’s something you did (Ex: a running joke) that got the most engagement? The most comments? This is where your creative ability comes in. Identify what’s resonating and design around it, maybe a catchphrase or something you wore. Or try the reverse: pick a product your fans will like and then think what types of designs will stand out. Need inspiration? Here are some recent bestsellers that might get your creative juices flowing: 

  • Notebooks: Awesome for both professionals and creatives
  • Die cut stickers: Fans can show their support everywhere
  • Tank tops: Great for the warm seasons
  • Coffee mugs: Your fans start the day with your brand in mind 
  • Phone cases: Everywhere their phone goes, your brand goes!

Start doing mock ups and designing!

This is the fun part! You just figured out what your fans will love. Now it’s time to execute. Check out websites for inspiration and ideas. If you’re having “designer’s block,” you can find a designer to create for you. For top-quality designs that are affordable, check out the professional design services being offered exclusively to Spring creators.[link] 

Here are some tips when working with a designer:

  • Explain what you want in a clear way and provide as many details as possible (such as your aesthetic, preferred font style, color scheme, etc).
  • If you want designs that are relevant to your brand, share your user profiles and information on your audience so the design captures what you’re about. 
  • Create a mood board—this is a board filled with inspiration, examples, and references that will give a head start to your designer. 

Once you have your design, you might even ask your fans for feedback. Again, this makes your fans feel they are helping you create the merch, when in fact…they are! 

Use Spring as your print-on-demand partner

Once your designs are finalized, you’ll need to place them on products! You’ll need a print-on-demand service so that you only pay for the products that are being ordered. This is where Spring comes in. We are your go-to print-on-demand partner. Also, you’ll want to order samples on your dashboard (which is easy) because sometimes images and typography can look one way on a computer screen, and another way in real life. By ordering a sample, you can see the product the way your customers will and then you can use that sample to promote your merch to your fans. 

Ok, now your merch is done, how do you sell it? 

There are a few proven marketing strategies that can help your merch capture a fan’s interest:

  • Launch targeted ads. Have a little bit of money to play with? This will immediately help get your merch in front of an audience. Pick which platforms your followers use regularly and which ones have the fans you interact with most. Many times you don’t need to continue targeted ads because word-of-mouth and ongoing audience engagement takes over. Which brings us to…
  • Word of mouth. Now that you have a fanbase, even if you don’t have the money for targeted ads, your most effective tool for promoting is “word-of-mouth marketing.” One way is to encourage fans to showcase your merch in various ways – hold a contest on social media, for example, and ask fans to give feedback (and tag you) after trying your products. Return the favor by offering prizes that your fans would like, such as early access to products, free shipping, etc. They can even use your branded hashtag for their stories and images they upload with your merch. This makes it easier for you to track the results and involvement, helping you keep the activities in your contest in one place. 
  • Run a promotion using promo codes with incentives. Spring makes it easy to create promo codes, check out our post on how to run promo codes. Create urgency with the idea that supply and time is limited. This gives you an indicator of interest-level and immediate feedback. 
  • Free giveaways. A great way to build your audience and get sales. Everyone likes free merch. If they like your merch, they’ll buy more.
  • Partner with other brands and creators – especially for product drops. This drastically increases the views on your brand.
  • Make your products easy to find on your socials. Use Linktree integration (link) to display and sell your merch on your channels.
  • Schedule posts on different platforms and be consistent. For example, promote for a “limited time” before launch to build anticipation, then again halfway through the run to keep up excitement, and lastly near the end to encourage last-second sales. Always thank your fans for purchasing merch. 
  • Use your existing channels by utilizing Spring Social Integrations. Word of mouth is great, but by leveraging the existing channels you already have, the chances of making sales greatly improves. You can easily sell your merch on socials by integrating your Spring store directly with your social channels. Here are some places you can explore:
  • Instagram: Point your fans toward your IG Shop by tagging your merch in your Stories & posts.
  • YouTube: Put a call-to-action at the end of your video and share links to your merch in the video description or cards. 
  • TikTok: Partner with other TIkTok creators to get them to create content with your merch.
  • Buy button: You can embed your merch or collections if you have an outside website or blog, etc.

Marketplaces

Merch marketplaces are a great way to gain access to bigger audiences. It’s basically an ecommerce site that organizes products from different creators. Examples are Represent, Hello Merch, and MerchNow. Showcase your products at these or other merch marketplaces. They all have different commissions and guidelines so do your research. 

To sub-brand or not to sub-brand

As your business grows, you may want to have a sub-brand within your brand that doesn’t necessarily align with your main brand. It’s quite profitable for some creators. This approach could be advantageous if you’re trying to grow your audience beyond the reach of your current brand. Sales might be slow to begin with, but it’s a chance for your business in the long run to gain steam. Another nice by-product of sub-branding could be that your sub-brand is attractive to another creator who wants to partner on the sub-brand, but not your main brand. It opens more doors. 

Start selling!

Creating and selling merch is the key to creator success and with Spring, these steps are easy. Give your fans something to remember you by. When your brand lives in their head, they support you. They buy. They spread the word. They come back. They generate revenue for you. And Spring is here to help you achieve all of the above! 

Categories
Creator success

9 Ways to Promote Your Merch on Social Media

So you want to sell merch. Welcome to the world of e-commerce! Now, how do you sell it? To push sales, you’ll need to promote your merch–and the best place to do it is on social media. Luckily, there are lots of ways to approach promotion on socials. Check out our top 9 ways to promote your merch on social media below! 

1. Use Spring Social Integrations. 

Integrating your digital store with your social media page is now a must. In the old days, it was, “The early bird gets the worm.” Now it’s, “Social integration wins the sale.” No other tip on this list will be as important. You want to make it simple for your fans to bounce back and forth between your site and social platforms. And Spring makes it simple for you. 

Spring integrates with OnlyFans, PopUpShop, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, Linktree, Stream alerts, and Discord. Need a basic refresher on how? Click Here.

2. Build Awareness & Community Around Your Brand

Social media is as good as it gets when it comes to generating buzz and marketing. It’s also the perfect place to engage natively with your target audience. This is free promotion! Get people talking about what you do online! This means having conversations, reposting hot topics, and using relevant hashtags. Audiences respond to creators who are actively interacting with others online.

Building this interaction takes time. Here are some quick tips:

  • Showcase who you are and what you stand for. Authenticity is what fans respond to. Be yourself and put your passion out there, whether it be through humor or making people remember you by being….you guessed it…yourself. Don’t hold back but also still be respectful. 
  • Don’t stray from your messaging. You know what you’re about, what you want to say, and how you want to say it—that’s your brand. Keep your brand consistent in all of your posts and in your comments. This consistency is what will help fans feel like they know you. 
  • Engage with the right audience. Do your homework. Who regularly comments on your site? Who hits like? Who’s reposting your content? Know who is responding to your brand so you can further engage with them and others like them. 
  • When you receive feedback, respond. This is key to building your community, your brand, and in turn the awareness of it. Your audience will share your work and spread the word!

3. Advertise

While not free, there is no larger reach for your advertising than social media. Socials have a global audience that is rapidly growing. These audiences are so huge, in fact, you need tools for targeting and segmenting. Each social channel where you place an ad has tools to help you do this. Use these tools to make sure you:

  • Identify your audience and target market
  • Zero in on that audience by layering your targeting parameters
  • Set specific goals and KPIs (key performance indicators) for each channel
  • Pick ad types that align with those goals
  • Study how effective your conversion metrics are 

Your ad types, KPIs, conversion metrics, and the platforms you invest in will be determined by your goals for social media advertising. For instance, are you trying to drive awareness or just sales?

4. Provide Customer Support

Selling merch to fans brings you money, sure, but it also creates responsibility. When people spend their money, they become a customer, and customers expect customer service. To keep your base happy, you’ll need to provide it. So how does customer support help you promote? When it comes to social media, customer service usually happens in the comments for all to see. Customers will usually come to you to:

  • Search for more info
  • Inquire on products
  • Offer feedback
  • Engage with you or your content
  • Offer perspective on what they want

How you respond creates social proof and that’s what helps further promote you and your brand. When others see these interactions, sales go up. It shows the public how you handle complaints and builds confidence that there’s integrity behind your product.  

5. Social Listening

Wouldn’t you find it invaluable if you knew who was talking about you and your brand outside of your comments? That’s what social listening is. All the data in the world is available to you on social media. Social listening offers valuable insights, including:

  • Which products customers love most
  • Problems or issues that keep occurring 
  • The overall sentiment about your brand 

Armed with this info, you can jump on opportunities, hone your message to meet the demands of the market, and address any issues. There are many free social listening tools out there—here’s a list of some free ones.

6. Collaborate With Others

A few of the most popular social e-commerce marketing tactics are winning new followers, social proofing products, and expanding your reach. Collaboration has now become equally important. 

Social media is about community: those you follow and those who follow you. Partnering with brands who have similar audiences and engaging with influencers are just a couple of ways to expand your community while also profiting off of the collaboration. 

When you partner, create high-value giveaways or promos to your respective followers, which will multiply sales and validate your products & services to a much larger social media audience. 

7. Use Video!

Video is the landscape now. It just is. It’s the most influential. It’s the most popular. Put plainly, the most effective. It’s the reason many customers decide what to buy. It’s not an accident Instagram and TikTok are two of the biggest players in the social media game. It’s because paid and organic video content is the best way to engage users and those two platforms offer the best opportunity for that. 

Your video doesn’t need to be pricey. Don’t go for that Hollywood production value or special effects. All you need to do is speak to your audience, and show your personality as well as the value of your merch. 

8. Post User-Generated Content

One easy way to promote your merch on social media is to repost user-generated content. Examples include users (or fans) discussing the items they purchased, unboxing your products, and user reviews. 

This is why having other influencers purchase your merch is such a great asset because they help provide the social proof and positive reviews you need. 

Give your fans every opportunity to share your merch videos and pictures on social media. Encourage it. Cultivate it. Request them to tag you. Then reshare their post to your own profile. Now your content has been social-proofed! This will also make your customers feel more connected with your brand and show them you value and hear them. 

9. Post Often & Be Strategic About When

Post, post, post. Promoting on social media is all about being prolific. It helps you test what works, build that following, and gain the traction you’re going for. Have a consistent posting schedule (Hint: early morning weekdays are usually the best). Keep in mind it matters when. The best times for each platform are as follows:

  • Facebook: 8:00 am to 12:00 pm on Tuesday and Thursday
  • Instagram: 11:00 am on Wednesday
  • Twitter: 8:00 am on Monday and Thursday.
  • LinkedIn: 9:00 am on Tuesday and Wednesday
  • TikTok: 7:00 pm on Thursday

This schedule will help you stay consistent, and in turn, help you build your community. Now it’s time to get out there and promote your merch on social media!