Starting an Outreach Program for Steem #3 : Promotional Merchandise

in #steem4 years ago (edited)

For both the Steem Ambassadors and the Regional Leaders it will be very useful to have some promotional merchandise to give out at events.

For most blockchains and crypto projects it is common to have a range of promotional items such as T-shirts, baseball caps, pens, mugs etc.

There used to be a central Steem merchandise store some time ago, but that was closed due to lack of sales.



Current Providers

There are still some places to get a variety of Steem T-shirts etc such as Red Bubble and Spreadshirt...

While such sites are very useful for ad-hoc sales as they take care of size availability and shipping, they probably wouldn't fit the bill for providing shirts in any level of bulk for the Ambassadors and Regional Leaders to use at events.

For the Outreach Program it may be useful to explore other avenues for get shirts printed in bulk quantities. However this will require capital outlay and will present the issue of shipping around the world.

An alternate option would be to supply design files and funding for local production but that would have other complications.



How to progress this

The first decision is whether having promotional 'merch' like T-shirts etc is a priority for the Outreach Program.

If it is, the following issues will need to be addressed...

  1. What items should be produced? Just T-shirts or anything else - for example pens, mugs, baseball caps etc.

  2. How much stock should be produced, and what budget should be allocated to this?

  3. How and where should production be organised?

  4. How would the merchandise be allocated to different events, ambassadors and regional leaders?


It will be interesting to hear opinions on this particularly from anyone with experience of producing merchandise for Steem tribes or projects.

Also any designers or T-shirt printers who would like to get involved on the project please let me know in the comments below or via Discord (Pennsif#9921).



[ image from pixabay.com ]

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The down-side to 'merch' is that you can find yourself left with a whole lot of product that you just can't shift.

If there was a way to have it made on demand - sites like redbubble, for example - that can be better, although not necessarily cost-effective. And, as you say, you don't have it on hand for things like conferences.

For those kinds of events, it's better to have a small amount of very desirable merch that is 'limited' to that event, and given out rather than sold. That way, it can be targeted directly to the types of people turning up to the event, something cool and commemorative, that only they will have.

Those silver rounds that people are getting are pretty bloody cool, for instance!!

I've also been considering the idea of 'merch' for fund-raising and promoting the Natural Medicine Tribe... but unsure how to go about it. On one hand, those within the community may be interested in buying a T-shirt or a mug or something. T-shirts and wearables are a great way to promote, especially at events. But I'm just not sure people wanting to pay for something that is promotional (unless its a desirable brand, for example).

Promotional merch needs to also be functional to an extent. Pens tend to get around, so they can be good, and no one is ever going to knock back a free pen! Mugs maybe not so much. And I'm just not into hats/caps, but love T-shirts.

Agree on all points. This is going to be a difficult one to get right.

We need to have merch available - but it needs to the be right type, in the right quantities, in the right place at the right time. All without tying up too much money!

It's going to need some careful thought and careful planning - and probably a bit of trial and error to begin with.

I do a lot of this for @ClickTrackProfit and do giveaways during our weekly webinars now....It's an awesome game plan man.

I'm no designer, but TeeSpring has been awesome for me. Super simple to create and set up a store front.

I'm checking out these other shops and going to buy me some Steem merch tonight :)

Hi Jon, it would be great to have a chat about your experience so far with the merchandise.

Maybe we can catch up on Discord.

anytime man :)

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Customized T-shirts, pen, writing pad, face caps are good options for a place like Nigeria. Promotion needs to go that loud to capture people.

I think, local production is good to reduce logistics cost. A Design file be created and made accessible.

First come, first serve approach could be adopted in sharing to participants.

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It will be interesting to know productions costs in different countries.

Do you know what is a typical cost to get t-shirts printed in Nigeria?

I'll compile the cost for you. Meanwhile, what is the estimated quantity, because, our prices here are dependent on quantities...

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Thanks for share your opinion

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