Stanley Has Merch?!

The Stanley 1913 brand — famous for their indestructible, trendy mugs — just launched a line of merch and 👏 it’s 👏 freakin’ 👏 fabulous.

I want to hate it because of how egregiously obsessed people are with the mugs, but 𝐈’𝐦 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡 5 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐧𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬 😮

The new line has lot of big logos — 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢 𝘯𝘰 𝘯𝘰 — but they’ve styled them in cool & trendy ways. They’re focusing on their bear more than “STANLEY”, which elevates the look. The marketing team at Stanley is definitely reading the room.

My favorite item is the “Quencher Love” t-shirt with two Stanley mugs linked arm-in-arm style. It’s cute, clever, cheeky and very IYKYK.

They’re calling it “Bear Wear.” Hats off (or on?), Stanley 1913 — you crushed this. (𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘶𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥!)

What do you guys think of this new line? Would you wear it?

No More Trash Swag

“You get what you get and you don’t get upset.” – 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘸𝘢𝘨

When you’re printing many copies of the same gift for a team — even if it’s high quality — at least half of the people aren’t getting a gift at all. They’re getting something they’ll give away, donate, shove in the back of a closet, or trash.

Let’s run through an easy example: you have an upcoming in-person company-wide meeting and all 50 attendees are gifted a tote bag with your logo.

Here’s my best guess of what happens to those totes:

😍 8 will use them daily and LOVE them for years
💨 12 will use them a few times and then lose them
⚫️ 17 will shove them into a bag of bags & never see it again
🚮 23 will give them away, donate or trash them

𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝, 8 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 42 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐡.

Let’s change the top phrase to: “𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭!”

Instead of handing everyone the same gift, create a store full of options and let people chose what (𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘧) they want something branded from you. You can create a store with chic and stylish options people will actually want to own.

Where do gifted tote bags go to die in your house? For me it’s in a bag stuffed full of other tote bags.

Let’s End UGLY MERCH.

👊 LET’S END UGLY MERCH 👊

Close your eyes and imagine the ugliest piece of merch you’ve ever seen. For me, it’s a reusable soft lunch box with a big-🍑 pharma logo in bright white letters.

Now imagine that there are — literally — THOUSANDS of that item being “gifted” to people at a company or at a trade show.

Picture the guilt your recipients feel when they reluctantly put that item in the trash (or try to donate it only to discover that Goodwill doesn’t want it either).

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐬.

You know the expression if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all? Let’s apply it to merch: if you don’t have anything good to print, don’t print anything at all! Zero swag is better than junky, ugly swag.

If you’re feeling frustrated reading this because you’re feeling like there are no good options, let me disabuse you of that idea: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐠 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞.

There are two big keys to arriving at non-ugly merch:
1) Keep your logo subtle; focus on the *values* of your company instead
2) Offer choice of merch whenever possible

I’d love to hear what you pictured when I said ugly merch! Please comment with what you’ve seen 👇

Brand Recognition or Lead Generation?

A friend called me yesterday to bemoan that her client wants to print 1500 stress balls for an upcoming conference 🚫👎🙈

She knew it was a bad idea but didn’t know what to suggest instead. Because a lot of people face this problem, let’s talk about what I recommend!

How to Choose Affordable Trade Show Giveaways for Large Events

If you have a trade show or conference and want to hand out something to everyone there, but can’t afford to buy something nice for hundreds or thousands of people, what do you do?

The first step is to ask whether you’re looking for 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 or 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

If you’re looking for 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 and want to hand something to everyone, keep it simple: mints, pens, sticky notes, and other useful small items that people *might* stick in their bag for future use. You’re not going to build a relationship or get leads this way, but there will be eyeballs on your brand name. 

I’m not a fan of this route because it’s usually expensive and environmentally wasteful, but if a company insists on printing hundreds or thousands of something, this is the way to go. (𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 😖)

Steps to Follow for Lead Generation

If you’re looking for 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, here are your steps:

1) Create a print-on-demand shop with all your cute, fun, trendy branded items. Make it cool, creative, and chic. (Need help? Hire us at Go To Market – Custom Print-On-Demand Branded Merchandise!)

2) Print a postcard with a QR code to your shop and offer a gift code for a FREE hat / t-shirt / tote (you pick). Have people in your booth wearing your merch.

3) At checkout, ask customers to opt-in to your mailing list.

Why this works

1) A small percentage of people will take you up on this, but the people who do are 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒. These are the people who want to engage with your business.

2) It’s a 𝐇𝐔𝐆𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔 when people are wearing your brand out in the world. It’s like handing out those 1500 mints except that there’s social proof involved.

3) It’s environmentally sustainable, which is often aligned with your customers’ values.

If you can’t get a print-on-demand store up and running, offer something else that’s high value — a free course, consultation, interview, etc — that gets people to your website.

Pens and stress balls don’t make sales. But people who opt-in for your merch are solid leads!

If you HAD to get a piece of low-cost merch, what would you pick? I’m going for the mints.

What is Print-On-Demand?

You’ve heard of print-on-demand, but you may not understand what it is or how it works. That’s okay! I’m here to explain it in simple terms:

Print-on-demand means that the items you design 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 and 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥. There’s no warehouse with your printed items and there are no minimum order sizes.

For example, you can create a neon yellow I HATE BANANAS t-shirt digitally and if no one buys it, you have lost nothing and spent no money; better still, a stockpile of those shirts is not going to a landfill.

On the other hand, if Billie Eilish finds your shirt and wears it to an awards show, you can start selling tens of thousands of copies of the shirt. You’ll earn profit per shirt and still not have any inventory.

There are printers all over the world with the same blank inventory. All of them have the same technology to print your design.

𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭-𝐨𝐧-𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐳𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞.

So you can take chances with that neon shirt you’ve always dreamed of 🤣

Here are some things you can do with print-on-demand:

👚 Clothing: tees, tanks, hoodies, sweatshirts, socks, leggings, joggers, sportsbras, shorts
☕️ Drinkware: mugs, water bottles, glasses, wine tumblers, insulated mugs
📱 Tech: phone cases, laptop cases, bluetooth chargers, AirPods cases
👦🏻 Kids stuff: clothing, stuffed animals, PJs
👜 Accessories: bags, totes, patches, coasters

How did I do in explaining this? If you didn’t have a good understanding of print-on-demand before, do you now?

Overcoming the Swag Dilemma: 3 Solutions for Busy Professionals

Key Takeaways

Swag goes wrong when it lands on the desk of someone with no time, energy, or inclination to make it appealing. So this is a people problem more than a product problem. Fix who owns it: an outside team or a teammate who loves merch. If that person is you, one honest question and a quick colleague survey will do the job.

Why Company Swag Get the Least Attention

In the world of corporate responsibilities, there’s a line item that often gets neglected or hastily thrown together: company swag. Yes, that branded merchandise designed to promote team spirit, conferences, or act as thoughtful gifts tends to suffer from a lack of attention to detail. The primary reason? Those entrusted with the task simply lack the time, energy, or inclination to make it appealing.

Whether you’re a manager overseeing numerous responsibilities or an admin juggling a multitude of tasks, the overflow on your to-do list can be overwhelming. When the directive arrives to create merchandise, it often finds itself relegated to the bottom of the priorities list.

What You Can Do When “Order Swag” Lands on Your Agenda

If you find yourself staring at the daunting “order swag” item on your agenda, fear not. Here are three viable options to consider:

  1. Outsource it: Look for companies specializing in custom print-on-demand branded merchandise. These firms, such as Go To Market, handle everything from conception to printing. The added bonus? They can set up an evergreen print-on-demand shop, alleviating the hassle for the future.
  2. Delegate it: Pass the task to someone enthusiastic about working on merch. There are individuals out there (perhaps among your team members) who relish these projects and will gladly take charge.
  3. DIY with a purpose: If handling it yourself is inevitable, use a simple yet effective metric to guide your choices. Ask yourself, “Would I genuinely appreciate receiving this item? Will it be useful and enjoyable?” If the answer is no, conduct a quick survey among your colleagues to shape the offerings.

Have you encountered this challenge in your workplace? How did you manage it? Embracing one of these strategies can transform the swag ordeal into a seamless, well-received initiative within your company. Share your experiences and let’s navigate this together!

Vacation Merch: Yay or Nay?

For me, it’s a yay, yes, absolutely, never miss. This weekend we were in Killington VT for the women’s world cup ski racing (Mikaela Shiffrin fans, where you at 📣) which was both a delight – unforgettable for me and the kids – and also frigid 🥶.

I bought this fleece-lined gorgeous hat that says Killington Cup Vermont and reminds me of this incredible weekend watching Shiffrin crush as the GOAT of women’s skiing. My daughter and her friends got hoodies and my son got a baseball hat. (My husband plans on “borrowing” my son’s hat when he’s not using it.)

Every time we touch this merch we’ll be reminded of this beautiful weekend.

That’s the point of merch: it’s a tangible connection to something intangible. It’s a memory, a feeling, a sense of belonging, and an identifier.

Did you buy any merch this holiday weekend?

One Size Fits All is a Myth

One size fits all is a lie.

I mean this both for apparel AND for giving-everyone-the-same-gift.

For apparel, you and I both know those socks don’t fit all 🧦 👀 .

But more importantly, when you give everyone in your company the same thing, you must reduce-reduce-reduce until you’re buying generic garbage.

When you’re buying ONE ITEM for everyone, you:
👎 Can’t do apparel because you can’t guess sizes
👎 Can’t do food because of allergies and preferences
👎 Can’t do booze because of people who don’t drink
👎 Don’t want to pick something techie (like a charger) because not everyone has the same devices

So you’re going to end up with a tote bag (🥱) or a mug (🚮).

What’s the solution if you have a per-person budget?

It’s simple, folks: give choice. When you have a website with your swag, apparel people can choose apparel (in the size, shape, and color they want it), mug people can choose mugs, tech people can choose the right item for their devices. It is stupidly simple.

Tell me one item a company has bought en masse that everyone likes and I’ll eat my shoes. Can you think of one?