3 Reasons Why Custom, Printed T-Shirts Can Help You Build Your Business

When you're trying to find ways to promote your business, promotional products will almost certainly come up in the list of ways to get your brand name out there. You may be hesitant to spend money on items that you're going to give away for free, and it can be easy to opt for less expensive items like keychains or pens, rather than more expensive items like custom, screen-printed T-shirts. However, taking the chance on custom T-shirts can really pay off in a big way. One entrepreneur managed to turn a T-shirt giveaway into more than $500K in revenue. Take a look at a few of the reasons why promotional T-shirts are so effective at helping you boost your business.

T-Shirts Help Customers Remember Your Name

The whole point of promotional materials is to get your name out there. And the good news is that it works. As a matter of fact, it's more effective than television, print or web ads. One survey found that 76.1% of customers who received a promotional item in the past year could remember the name of the company they received it from. Compare that to only 53% who could remember a television or print ad, or 27% who remembered an online ad. That means that promotional items are better at creating name recognition than any of the advertising you could do.

But what kind of promotional item is most likely to make an impression? Keychains and pens are easily lost in a junk drawer or the bottom of a purse. While an extra keychain or pen is always handy to have when you need it, yours could end up sitting around unused for a really long time. However, if your t-shirts are comfortable and attractive, you can bet that they'll get worn – which means that every time your customer wears it or washes it, they're being reminded of you.

T-Shirts Encourage Reciprocation

Have you ever been given a gift by someone who you didn't expect to receive a gift from? Chances are, you felt an urge to reciprocate. If you didn't get them a gift for the occasion, you probably made a point of including them on your list the next time a gift-giving occasion came up. What's more, you probably tried to give them a gift that roughly matched the gift they gave you – for example, you may have tried to spend roughly the same amount of money that you think they spent on your gift. When someone gives you something, it's a natural human response to want to return the favor.

The same kind of thing happens when you give away a free promotional item. Your customers will feel inspired to return the favor, and what better way to do that than by doing business with your company? The more valuable they perceive the item to be, the stronger the urge will be to reciprocate. Therefore, you're better off with a T-shirt than with something that may be perceived as a throwaway item, like a button or a keychain.

T-Shirts Are Free Advertising

Still not convinced that T-shirts are a better bet than smaller, less expensive promotional items? Keep in mind that most people don't examine other people's keychains, and while a pen might get loaned out and used by multiple people, you can't count on it. But every time a customer wears your custom, screen-printed T-shirt, they're advertising your business to everyone who sees them that day.

The genius part of T-shirt advertising is that it gives you a low-risk way to reach out to customer groups that you might not otherwise target. Chances are that your promotional items will go to people who are already in your target customer base – people who visit your store, stop by your stand at a trade show, or that you've identified as potential customers in some other way. However, when that customer wears your shirt, it's being seen by all kinds of people, including people that you may never have thought to spend advertiser dollars targeting. T-shirts can be a good way to broaden your appeal to a larger group of customers without sinking a lot of extra money into advertising to them.

Coming up with a T-shirt that has a fun design or a catchy saying and includes your company's name or logo could be the best thing that you ever did for your business. Have the design screen-printed professionally onto a batch of T-shirts, and before you know it, you've created a memorable way to inspire your customers to do business with you and advertise your company to their friends for free.  

If you're looking to have custom T-shirts made, check out websites like http://www.absolutescreenprinting.com for more information.


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