Big Frog Custom T-Shirts & More
Direct-To-Garment Custom T-Shirt & Clothing Printer | St. Louis Missouri
A “business-in-a-box”. That’s the lure of buying a franchise. Just open the door and start generating income, right? If only it were that easy.
But what happens when the franchise you buy is not a well-known brand with a nationwide footprint or an on-going marketing campaign to build awareness and entice customers? That’s a problem. It’s especially a problem, when your core product is low-margin custom printed T-shirts and franchise rules dictate the prices, as well as, require a retail store location and mandate you have a graphic artist (or two) on-staff to provide free design services. Plus, you are also supposed to pay for your own advertising too?
After hearing all of this and interviewing a few of the company’s franchisees, we confirmed our hypothesis that you can’t survive by only selling custom printed T-shirts one at a time for $15.99 each. T-shirt printing is a volume business and competition is fierce.
With a very limited budget, we immediately went about developing a hand-picked list of all private school administrators, key faculty, athletic directors, coaches, cheerleaders, clubs, boosters, and more. Then designed two direct-mail campaigns in order to get these key decision-makers familiar with our client’s store, outstanding service, quick turnaround, and all-new school pricing program. The first mailing even included a certificate for a free t-shirt.
Other initiatives included energizing the client's social media marketing, reaching out to the chamber of commerce, and some carefully-targeted print advertising. We also advised the client on interior merchandising, inventory reduction strategies, the need for outside sales, and some overlooked grass-roots marketing opportunities.
But what happens when the franchise you buy is not a well-known brand with a nationwide footprint or an on-going marketing campaign to build awareness and entice customers? That’s a problem. It’s especially a problem, when your core product is low-margin custom printed T-shirts and franchise rules dictate the prices, as well as, require a retail store location and mandate you have a graphic artist (or two) on-staff to provide free design services. Plus, you are also supposed to pay for your own advertising too?
After hearing all of this and interviewing a few of the company’s franchisees, we confirmed our hypothesis that you can’t survive by only selling custom printed T-shirts one at a time for $15.99 each. T-shirt printing is a volume business and competition is fierce.
With a very limited budget, we immediately went about developing a hand-picked list of all private school administrators, key faculty, athletic directors, coaches, cheerleaders, clubs, boosters, and more. Then designed two direct-mail campaigns in order to get these key decision-makers familiar with our client’s store, outstanding service, quick turnaround, and all-new school pricing program. The first mailing even included a certificate for a free t-shirt.
Other initiatives included energizing the client's social media marketing, reaching out to the chamber of commerce, and some carefully-targeted print advertising. We also advised the client on interior merchandising, inventory reduction strategies, the need for outside sales, and some overlooked grass-roots marketing opportunities.