Thanks to Josh Ellsworth of Stahls’ CAD-CUT Direct for all your input on what will be happening this year for the heat printing specialist. Josh submitted several predictions that have to do with online marketing for your custom apparel business. Since there were so many, I decided to break it down in sections that will be appearing the rest of this week. He covers the topics of Articulating Your Message, Distributing Your Content and Realizing Sales. If you have a heat press, and have always wanted to have more of an online presence, be sure to read this. Keep in mind that not all your marketing efforts for 2012 have to revolve around the internet–there are many things you can do thatdon’t require the use of a computer or a video camera. But this is very sound advice for those of you looking to expand your internet marketing efforts.
- Josh Ellsworth is the industry’s leading educator on using heat transfer materials for custom apparel decoration.
Josh Ellsworth Predictions 2012 Part 1
2012 is a very exciting year for technology and a pivotal year for the small to mid sized decorator. More and more entrepreneurs or home based businesses are “popping up” and with the tools the internet provides, larger e-commerce decorators are getting more aggressive. It’s encouraging for our industry but can be challenging for each business to carve out their market space and grow profitable sales in this competitive environment. As always, the most innovative decorators survive and prosper. We can talk a lot about innovation and predictions as far as printing technology goes, but I think even more important than the innovation in print technology is the innovation in marketing and sales to bring business in through your door.
The first and most important thing for a local decorator is to capitalize by using online tools that allow them to succeed in their region. Folks search the web in all sorts of ways and most new buying decisions start there. A decorator has to have their services clearly articulated on the web and a plan to distribute the content to those searching and a way to realize the sales.
Articulating Your Message….
Prediction: Video, Video, Video
- Articulating your story, showing your products, engaging with potential customers, these are things a website should strive to do. Rich media such as video can play a large part in this strategy. Decorators who continue to leverage video to deliver a clearer message of what they can offer will outsell and out-convert those who leverage text and static images. This is true for web buying experiences and ad rendering experiences. Google bought YouTube a long time ago and this year they have integrated the two ad platforms. You’d do well to leverage them both and to do this you need to create video. Some ideas include, comparing the decorating services available for a specific item, showing the details of a garment, jacket etc. Video can be used as part of the buying experience on your e-commerce site, as well as a Facebook business page (I’ve added a link to Stahls’ Facebook) or even a YouTube channel.
Part II coming next: Distributing Your Content….
Also, if you don’t have a video or don’t want to make one, check out the unbranded video created by Stahls’ CAD-CUT Direct that you can upload and add to your website or using in an email campaign.