The Print-On-Demand Custom T-shirt market is expected to exceed 10 billion dollars by 2025. And with your own print-on-demand website, there’s no limits on your earnings. When done right, you can make $500 per month, $10k per month, or even more.
If you’re looking for a place to build a brand and sell your merch to your loyal fans, the print-on-demand business is a low-cost business opportunity.
Everybody has a favorite T-shirt with a design, name, picture, quote, symbol, saying, or graphic on it. Hoodies, crewnecks, and golf shirts are just a few common types of apparel that can be customized for your niche/brand.
However, like any good business model, it does require some homework. Take some time to build a brand strategy and put in the effort to develop a solid marketing strategy. Understand your product or service offering, who your potential customers are, and what print-on-demand platform is best for your business.
Lets get started!
#1 Pick Your Niche
To succeed in print-on-demand longterm, it’s important to have a niche. Think about what you are passionate about, do some research to see if there’s a market for your niche. Ideally, you should pick a niche that’s sustainable and is more than a fading trend.
One piece of advice veteran Spreadconnect seller Sean Ali gave to us in a recent interview was that new sellers should always try to find what sells when they first start. Focus on being specific and you will see greater success instead of trying to do multiple things. This simple piece of advice has led him to operating 3 shops (soon to be 4!).
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t just dismiss trends, though. Moment merch is a profitable opportunity to use micro-trends as a monetizing opportunity for your brand.
#2 Determine What You Want to Sell
T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, backpacks, notepads, keychains – there’s so many product choices when it comes to print-on-demand merch! What are you interested in selling? What are the products that people in your niche would be more likely to purchase?
Use your niche to your advantage! If you’re all about exploring the outdoors and nature, cinch backpacks and reusable water bottles are perfect merch offerings.
Ultimately, you don’t want to offer products that your audience isn’t going to be interested in. Having too many products can also be overwhelming for people – you need to provide a curated experience. Organize your shop with topics to highlight seasonal products and holiday designs for easy access.
#3 Make a Design
One of our favorite design tools is Canva. It’s easy to use and is great for people who don’t have any design experience. You can make a T-shirt design in just 5 minutes using Canva. With just a few clicks, you can create a design that’s uniquely yours.
Tweak templates and add design elements to create fun graphics and text-based designs. You can even upload your brand colors to make sure your merch feels authentic to your brand.
There’s a lot of great design apps out there that don’t have a huge learning curve. Here’s some other suggestions:
– Lunacy
– Pixlr
– GIMP
– PlaceIt
Need more design help? Check out our ranking of the 10 best design tools for e-commerce designers.
#4 Use an E-commerce Platform
When you use our merch integration platform Spreadconnect, you can easily integrate with Shopify and other top marketplaces, like:
Or do a custom integration with the our Spreadconnect API. Set up the basic pages, and you can add more as you grow. Include a Homepage, Contact Us page, About Us page, Payment details page, and whatever else may be important to your site.
This step can take time, but make sure to think it through the eyes of your user and do it properly. Test the site on different browsers and make sure it’s optimized for mobile. This really is one of the most essential steps in the success of your print-on-demand business.
If you don’t want to deal with other integrations or aren’t expecting a lot of orders, Spreadshop is a great place to start. It’s FREE to use and easy to personalize your shop. Upload your designs and pick what products you want to offer. We handle everything on the production side, you just have to get creative.
#6 Promote Your Site and Sell, Sell, Sell!
At the end of the day, your goal is to get noticed and make sales! You want customers to come to your print-on-demand website and be motivated to make a purchase. With a developed marketing strategy be sure to tell your brand story. People love to hear about your why!
Share your business with friends and family and ask them to share it too. Create and maintain a presence with your target audience by consistently creating new content that will engage your users. Be sure to interact with other accounts related to yours and always leave positive comments and feedback on other accounts. Learn more about how to create a successful social media strategy.
Creating content is a great way to build trust and become an expert in your field. Regularly publish blogs, product reviews, unboxing videos, tips, tricks, and hacks. These are all great ways to interact and share with your target market.
While video is more of a marketing tool than strategy, using video has become the best way to show authenticity and build trust. Let your customers know who you are, what you’re about, and why you’re doing what you’re doing. When creating content, think how it can be done in video form.
Plan Ahead
Take the time to think your POD business through. Do the research and speak with those who have been successful in creating a POD business. You can watch YouTube videos and read blogs. Researching the information that is key to your success. Make note of what has worked for others and what hasn’t worked so that you don’t make the same mistakes. Success truly does leave clues!
Create a business plan like you would with any other business and map things out. If you need help there are FREE resources out there that you can take full advantage of to help you get started. The more planning and research you do the better the overall outcome will be.
Don’t be afraid of failure or making mistakes. Remember, it only takes years of hard work, mistakes, and failure to become an overnight success.
Ready to join the print-on-demand market? Sign up for Spreadshop or Spreadconnect today. Find the print-on-demand platform that work for you.
Starting in print on demand can be a great way to dive into e-commerce with minimal upfront costs. You’ll need to focus on creating unique designs and finding a reliable print partner. If balancing this with studies seems overwhelming, consider options like “Take my online nursing class for me” to manage your time effectively.
Customized printed shirts are cool! I had a business of printed T shirts, I created a website for that but unfortunately this idea wasn’t good for me. Then I started helping students by making their assignments now I own a website online class help for the students who are struggling to manage their academics along with their jobs.
Solid advice on choosing products aligned with your niche. Canva is a fantastic tool I have used it myself for quick designs. Thanks for highlighting the importance of a cohesive brand experience through design and offerings.
Grill Restoration in Scottsdale AZ
Couldn’t agree more! Canva is a great tool to help you make your merch designs, spruce up your shop layout, and market your merch across all your socials!