MARKETING YOUR SCREEN PRINTING BUSINESS

“Marketing” can be a tough term to wrap your head around if you’re not intimately familiar with it. Is it sales? Is it advertising? The answer is both, as well as public relations, networking and more. Marketing is essential to any business but especially relevant to independent ventures, like screen printing companies. So, how do you get started?

CREATING A STRATEGY

The best thing you can do for your business is to identify who you are and who you want to reach—your target market. Even screen printers can find their own niche, and identifying your specialization will help you “define your customer, understand what they want, how they buy, and how they consume information,” ScreenPrinting.com says. Once you’ve hammered out this information, you’ll be better positioned to develop a strategy that resonates with your key audience.

• Market segment
• Target audience
• Summary/description of your company
• Value proposition (what sets you apart?)
• Differentiation statements (statements that prove your value proposition)
• The products/services you offer
• Marketing channels (where are you advertising your business? This could be social media, billboards, radio, etc.)
• Sales channels (where are you selling your products and services?)
• Campaign support (marketing campaigns that reach your customers)

HOW TO FIND YOUR MARKET SEGMENT AND TARGET AUDIENCE

How would you describe your ideal customer? What are their age and gender? How about interests—what other stores do they shop at and what products do they buy? Once you identify who your customer is and the services you provide them, you’ll be well on your way to defining your value proposition and differentiation statements.

WHAT IS A VALUE PROPOSITION? WHAT ARE DIFFERENTIATION STATEMENTS?

A value proposition is a statement that helps set your business apart from the rest. What makes you special? What products or services do you provide that other businesses might not? Differentiation statements prove your value proposition. Use strong words like the first, the one, chosen by, won, voted best, most used, etc.

IDENTIFY WHICH ADVERTISING CHANNELS TO USE

Understanding your target market will help you determine which marketing channels to use to advertise your business. Small-town screen printers might opt for ads in local newspapers, while large-scale businesses may choose to advertise their products and services through web banner ads or Facebook ads. Zazzle and Society6 are great examples of this; they advertise a wide range of products in existing designs, allow their customers to upload special images, adjust text, and ultimately customize their end product. Their preferred advertising platforms are web banners and Facebook, which align with their target market.

SELL YOUR HEART OUT

In this day and age, there are plenty of places to sell your screen printed products. Whether you opt for a traditional brick-and-mortar storefront or a virtual storefront on a platform like Etsy, there’s something for businesses of every size. Invest in quality product photography and hire a graphic designer to create interesting, compelling ads that will draw in your customers. A little philanthropy and word of mouth go a long way, too—sponsor a local children’s soccer team and print their T-shirts for free. Your community is guaranteed to take notice.

CREATE COMPELLING CAMPAIGNS

Our final suggestion for successfully marketing your business is to create a marketing campaign. Campaigns are more than one-off ads—they’re a series of touchpoints to your audience that all have a similar theme. For example, you might celebrate your business’ anniversary and plan a campaign with special deals, events, and offers for a set period of time. The idea is to reach out to your customers in different ways, but with similar messaging.

Marketing plans are essential, whether you’re just launching your business or looking for a better way to reach your customers. The more you know your business, your customers and the way they want to be contacted, the better your profits will be!