Small Business Merch - Is It Beneficial?

Brandon Nilsson - Author

Brandon has worked in the marketing, software, and e-commerce industry since 2015 before founding OrderMerch. He has helped many companies improve or launch online and locally.

When you think about branded merchandise you probably think of the cheap pens, hats, or the stack of business cards you’ve collected over time. Many new companies struggle to make people aware of their brand and getting users on boarded - we help change that with small business merch. Creating your own merchandise doesn’t have to be so overwhelming and complicated.

Offering freebies to existing or potential customers ensures strong retention and engagement. It also has it’s perks for employees as they might spread the word of your brand to others. Here at OrderMerch we’ve created custom merch on demand for some amazing startups, such as Stacks, whose hats are one of our many favorites.

Normally when you’re wanting to get merch for your company you have to go through the process of finding a supplier, vetting the quality, determining costs, calling the company, sending your logo, making requested changes, and then ordering items in bulk. That sounds like a massive pain, right? We agree and that takes a lot of time away from your main business… That’s why merch is simpler now when done online with as service such as OrderMerch. We create your product, place it in our software and you can order merchandise on demand as needed. No phones calls, no unnecessary emails, just come on the dashboard, select your product, enter the quantity, make the payment and then wait for your merchandise to be shipped to you. Only want one item? Not a problem we support that too. This makes life so much easier for businesses of all sizes!

It doesn’t matter if you’re a small business that’s already bringing in revenue, or a startup that’s just about to launch, here are the key reasons you should consider merch for your business.

Brand Recognition

If you’re just getting started, increasing brand awareness, building clientele, and bringing in revenue is crucial to your business. Without these you’re unlikely to get far and there’s many ways to go about all of them. Maybe you’ll use Facebooks Ads, email marketing, or outbound sales but I’d like to remind you that creating merchandise with your logo is one of the easiest ways to get your message out there. For example, a t-shirt is a walking advertisement and the person wearing it is a brand ambassador. It peaks curiosity of anyone who sees it. If you have a target audience on who to give merch to, this will work even better!

It’s Affordable

Tons of people boast that the future of advertising is online, this is true but there is a downside. A lot of the algorithms are hard to work with, they can be a huge time and money sink if done improperly and take tons of resources to learn. Even if you’re a cutting edge new startup, merchandise is an extremely cost-effective way to build your brand awareness especially when done globally. Think of it like investing in a billboard or television advertisement, except you pay for it one time and it can be worn by someone hundreds of times! That’s a great ratio if you ask us.

Keeps People Happy

Who doesn’t love getting free stuff? You should be giving out merchandise to your employees, potential and existing customers. This has an impact on everyone and helps build loyalty and makes people feel good about your brand! You’re only strengthening that relationship further!

Recap

Finally, after reviewing all these key points do we think merch is beneficial for a small business? Absolutely, and I that merchandise can have a high ROI investment for a business in the long run. That’s why you’re starting to see more companies offer it to customers.

Want merch for your small business? OrderMerch offers fast turnaround without minimums on a wide range of products.