Posts Tagged ‘marketing’
Here’s some free marketing info compliments of Bizcommunity.com . It relates to the ticket sales for the Fifa World Cup 2010 – anyway, that’s what I’m focussing on. What’s more important, is that the ratio of predicted ticket sales per country is listed and this gives us an idea of which countries to target when selling our world cup merchandise.
2010: Our Cup runneth over
Good news from FIFA: not only has two million tickets been sold to date, a recent poll reveals that South Africans are ‘overwhelmingly positive’ about hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The third ticketing sales phase, which will conclude with a random draw for oversubscribed matches on 1 February, saw 1 206 865 applications received from 192 countries. Six matches are currently oversubscribed (in all categories), among them the semi-finals and the final. In total, 55 matches are oversubscribed in at least one category.
This means that after three of five ticketing sales phases, two-thirds of the available tickets have been sold.
P.S. If you’re not interested in all of this marketing mumbo jumbo and don’t want the fuss of planning ratios of t shirts / caps per country for optimum sales and blah,blah, blah……… just put on some “klopse” garb and sell proudly South African on the parade.
I’m an avid reader of t-shirtforms.com. This cauldron-esque hub of t shirt chatter is where I keep up to date with the latest garment printing tech and t shirt info- plus it’s a great interactive area for picking the brains of the both experienced and newbies.
So, yesterday I was reading about the “tips of starting a clothing brand” and there was some good advice given. I found the following comment by Mike from Imahottee to be the “tip of the thread” because this, from my experience with t shirt start-ups, is the key ingredient to being a successful t shirt brand:
You should have something that makes you different, and should be able to describe it in a single sentence. In addition to running my shop, my day job is reading scripts for movie studios. In Hollywood, they call that something different “the unique attractor,” or The Hook. “Ghostbusters” has a great hook, for example; so did “Back to the Future” and “Jaws.”
So if you take a look at the different huge tee companies out there – Busted Tees, T-Shirt Hell – they’ve both got easy one-sentence pitches. Whether or not you like their stuff, it’s hard to deny the power such a resource has for marketing and branding purposes. I always knew I wanted to have a humor tee company, for example, so I decided to do only clean humor to set myself apart. The company’s called I’m a Hot Tee, and our slogan’s “Hot Tees You Can Take Home to Mom!” So it’s a pun and it’s memorable – two other things that can really go a long way.
What it means is understand your concept; stick to it and build your whole brand around it, even especially if it’s controversial.
Check out these great sites and see if you can regognise their excellent concepts:
Fifa is very strict about their registered trademarks and they have basically gagged local producers by preventing association of products with the upcoming event, unless they have granted permission . However, everyone can reap the benefits of selling clothing products at the Fifa 2010 world cup.Yes, a t shirt/cap from the 2010 world cup with all the Fifa branding is a great momento to have but it’s not the only kind of product that our international visitors will be looking for.
Here are a few tips on what to do, but I leave the creativity up to you:
Produce local
The key to making loads of cash is to be 100% local. Any locally produced products that have some kind of branding stating that its from SA, Cape Town, Jo’burg or wherever are great gifts to take back. Do not use imported products because the label will say made in China/India – and what’s the use of that?
Produce quality
Make sure that the goods are well constructed or manufactured and that the printing or embroidering is well done. It is a fact that our goods are cheap when compared to Britain,Europe and America. What we may perceive to be expensive is not when converted to Pounds, Dollars and Euros. Get the right suppliers and service providers that are reliable and quality conscious.
Package nicely.
Even if you are selling from a flea market, put your goods in a nice drawstring bag/ brown bag or even in a pizza box (with your branding of course). It all gives the perception of value for money. If your product is packaged well and you have your web address on it, you may reap the benefits long after the world cup.
Cater for all ages
Even though the majority of visitors will fall in a certain age bracket, you must cater for all ages because there are relatives all over the globe that are going to expect something from Mamma Africa.
I’ll end off by saying, be original and create an identifiable brand with a local flavour.
As a small business you may find yourself working according a slim budget and it’s advisable to to a have a few promotional options that are cost effective. Below are some promotional ideas that are easy to execute and which will help you stretch your budget.
- Blogging: Blogging is a great way of promoting yourself because it conveys your knowledge and your personality to prospective clients. It shows them that you know your stuff (supposing you do) and can instill a sense of confidence in them, making the possibility of a business relationship more likely.(Amendment)
- Fliers: Exchange fliers with other noncompetitive businesses who will display them at their location. Also find locations where you can post a flier or bulletin.
- Free Samples: Find a location where you are bound to reach some of your target market and hand out some samples. If you provide a service, give potential clients some useful gifts such as stationery with your company information branded on it.
- Contests: Find a prize of interest to your target audience and hold a contest.
- Vehicles: Brand your business vehicles and even put a sign on your car or in the car window.
- Newsletters: Email newsletters or print newsletters are an effective and inexpensive means of promoting your business.
- Activities: Sponsor a soccer team or enter some employees into an event that will give your company some exposure, like the annual Jive Big Walk.
- Printed Matter: Promote yourself on all of your printed matter.
- Contacts and Networking: Hand out your business cards to as many people as possible and network regularly to make new contacts.
- In Store or Online Values: Offer special discounts for second purchases or free downloads online.
- Attend Meetings and Events to make contacts: Watch out for events like trade shows or other gatherings where you may make valuable contacts.
- Directories: Make sure to list your company in all appropriate free directories such as Biz-Community.com.
