Currently browsing: Beginners Guide To Merch by Amazon

Niches Get Stitches – T-Shirt Trends Recent And Future For Your Merch Business

For those of you who are new (Hi!) or have a short memory (we meet on Tuesday nights at the local rec center – there’s coffee), you may not be aware of the wealth of information hidden in the digital recesses of the Merch Informer blog. I recently remarked to the gentleman who created MerchInformer (along with BookBolt and Sale Samurai) that there is enough content in the blog section that it could be compiled and sold as a how-to manual. Turns out he’s too generous and insisted that it all remain free. However, he did agree that we should dig into the archives and showcase many of the substantive and helpful pieces sure to act as primers for the […]

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Basic Color Theory for T-shirt Graphics

Not everyone can be clever enough to come up with a single phrase that is original, clever or compelling enough to stand alone on a t-shirt and sell by the truckload. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just push a button and churn out hundreds of black t-shirts with brilliant catchphrases in white type (I’m looking at you, social media scammers selling get-rich-quick AI schemes)? For the rest of us, we have to rely on, oh, good design skills. Notice I didn’t say talent. Skills can be taught. So don’t think that if you’re not a born designer or never went to design school, you can’t create attractive, saleable designs. In fact, with just the knowledge in this piece, […]

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A.I.: Don’t Burn Your Fingers On The Hottest New Trend

No matter how successful your existing Merch By Amazon business is, you know it takes a lot of work. Coming up with ideas, designing them, hating them and doing them over again, refining them until you know they’re gonna sell… Wouldn’t it be great if there was something that could do all the work for you? If you believe the hucksters crying out from the postage-stamp-sized ads in the Facebook margins, A.I. will do it all for you! Well, to quote the late Harry Dean Stanton, Photo from “Alien” ©Twentieth Century Fox. Watch it here. I can say from experience that A.I. is not smart enough to create designs that will resonate with your customer base with a simple push […]

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Branding Module Pt. 2: Maximizing Your Brand Impact on Merch by Amazon Listing and Brand Pages

In our previous essay, we talked about your product as the brand. While this ultimately helps identify your product as yours when seen by itself, the container should complement, if not match, the contents. You could make the best damn baked beans in the world, but if the can is a generic white with the word “BEANS” printed in blue Helvetica, all it will do is force the customer to reach over for that can of Heinz’s. Your containers are a) your brand page and b) your product listings. How you design and write them is as much a part of your brand as the products they promote. THINKING INSIDE THE BOX “The enemy of art is the absence of […]

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Branding Module Pt. 1: Leveraging Your Merch by Amazon Products for Effective Branding

In the sprawling marketplace of Merch by Amazon (MBA), your brand needs to shout louder than a New Yorker hailing a cab in rush hour. So, buckle up! We’re about to take a deep dive into the art of using your own MBA product to brand itself, from strategic logo placement to creating a style so distinct, it’s recognizable from a mile away. We’re not just slapping designs on products; we’re building a brand empire. STRATEGIC LOGO/BRAND PLACEMENT ON MBA PRODUCTS The apparel and fashion worlds are full of examples where the designer’s name or the company’s brand are incorporated into the product’s design. Since the days of Calvin Klein jeans, designers no longer hide behind their work, but feature […]

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Branding Module Pt. 3: Building Your Merch by Amazon Brand on Social Media: A Complete Strategy

Social media. The blessing and curse of marketers. Back in the day, your promotion went in one direction: toward the customer. The only way the customer talked back was through the wallet. If they bought, they liked you. If they didn’t, then they didn’t. Now, the customer talks back. And boy howdy do they. Your brand on social media is a complex mixture of planning, content generation and babysitting, um, I mean, customer service. Like everything else you do as an independent entrepreneur, you’re going to need to juggle many elements to successfully tailor your social media to represent your brand. VISUAL BRANDING ON SOCIAL MEDIA It’s the first thing potential customers see. Think of your social media as window […]

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Marketing Module Pt. 1: Mastering Marketing Strategies for Your Merch by Amazon Store

After three weeks focusing on branding, now we’re going to focus on marketing. And it important to make the distinction between the two. Branding is like your window display, and marketing is like handing out flyers on the corner directing people to your store. They’re different, but they are intrinsically linked. Your branding may be spectacular, but unless your marketing is successful, no-one will see it; if your marketing is successful but your branding sucks, don’t count on a return visit. The good thing about being an MBA entrepreneur is the many built-in advantages Amazon offers. So, even if you have no capital or man-hours to devote to conventional marketing, learn how to take advantage of all the opportunities Amazon […]

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Marketing Module Pt. 2: Effective Use of Social Media for Marketing Your MBA Business

If this article seems familiar at first glance, it’s because we only just discussed social media for branding your MBA business a few weeks ago. Branding and marketing are two completely difference disciplines, of course. We’re going to assume that by now you’ve optimized your social media branding and are ready to go out and get eyeballs. You can do this, of course, but like all the other elements of this endeavor, the devil is in the details. And the speed and volume of social media activity and platforms necessitate attention to every detail. CREATING ENGAGING PRODUCT IMAGERY AND VIDEO FOR SOCIAL MEDIA Again, we drove the need for compelling social media visuals in the branding article. Now you need […]

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Merch seasonality: From spring to winter, what are the most popular merch types per season?

As the wheel of seasons turns, so does the canvas of possibilities on Amazon Merch on Demand. From the bloom of spring to the frosty embrace of winter, each season brings its unique tapestry of merch trends. In this article, we take you on a journey through the seasons. We unravel the mysteries of the most popular merch types and offer insights to help you craft the ultimate sale strategy. How to identify the most popular merch types per season? Before we jump to the essential findings, it’s key to describe our research process. Discovering the top merch types throughout different seasons is a challenging endeavor. It requires access to reliable analytics tools and a creative approach. To detect the […]

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The art of storytelling through merch: How to create a narrative with your t-shirt design

the art of storytelling

The beauty of creating merch designs on Amazon Merch on Demand is that it goes beyond style and trends. The platform provides sellers with an opportunity for storytelling through art. T-shirts, in particular, offer a unique canvas to convey messages, stories, and emotions. In this article, we’ll explore exactly that – the use of text and imagery in the creation of compelling narratives. The power of visual storytelling Before we dive into the “how to”, it’s essential to explain why storytelling through visualization is a lucrative option to explore. One of the most valuable characteristics of a story is its purpose – to evoke emotions. But most importantly – stories are meant to be shared. T-shirt designs offer individuals an […]

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