How can shops shake up their marketing efforts?

One of the most successful ways to change up your marketing is to stop talking about your products and start sharing stories that demonstrate how your products solve problems for your customers. These stories are more likely to resonate with people, providing your business with a much more effective approach to marketing.

It’s too easy to talk about what we do in the most obvious of terms. Share a story about another order and how great the X sales team looked as they headed to the airport.

If the only thing that the people in your community know about your business is that you are the cheapest apparel decorator in town, it is time to change the conversation. Begin talking about your wide selection of products when you talk about the business, and when you chat with customers.

Mention that you take great pride in always meeting order deadlines and have been known to work well past the normal hours in order to ensure the customer got their products. Share how you enjoy helping local restaurant owners select a variety of products to dress their staff, from the cashiers to the servers to the kitchen staff. Explain how each employee always looks good, no matter what combination of shirts the staff is wearing.

Move the conversation from being price-centered to how you are there to meet their needs, solve their challenges, and help grow their businesses. Present yourself as part of their marketing team. You are there to help them make their employees easy to identify on the sales floor, and provide shirts for the company-sponsored ball team, etc.

It can be easy to sell cheap shirts, but in the long run, becoming known as the person that helps customers is the far more effective marketing strategy. Effective marketing is worth the investment of your effort, consideration, time, and money.