The benefits of employees and fans wearing your merch are so huge that 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 💰𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞💰 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡.

This is radical because most people’s first thought with branded merchandise is cost and whether they’ll see any profit.

Let’s flip this around; here are two of the more obvious reasons why:

✅ Team building: Are you paying for team building efforts? Merch is an easy — and fast — way for teams to feel connected.

✅ Advertising: This is the most obvious benefit, but if you’d pay for an ad on public transportation (for 5-6 figure fees) why not instead have human billboards instead for a fraction of the cost? 

And now two of the less obvious reasons:

✅ Onboarding: What’s the cost of having someone feel welcome and a sense of belonging in their new workspace? When you’re spending tremendous time and money to hire someone new, you want them to fit in immediately. What better way than giving them the team branded goodies?

✅ Social proof & IRL user-generated content: better than advertising, when real people are wearing your brand it’s a vote for you.

𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬.

Have you ever had an onboarding gift that made you feel instantly welcome at a new company? Or have you ever seen someone on public transportation wearing a branded item that made you feel curious?