Okay, so what should you do if you want to try your hand at dropshipping, but aren’t sure what to sell?
You can start dropshipping by selling print-on-demand t-shirts. All you need is great design concepts and an effective marketing strategy. After all, people will always need t-shirts, right?
But there’s so much competition out there. How can you stand out? You need to go the extra mile with your t-shirt designs. Here’s how…
Photo by Ian Dooley on Unsplash
#1 Understand Your Target Audience
Okay, so your first impulse is probably to sell t-shirts that appeal to everyone, because you don’t really want to exclude people.
What you have to understand, though, is that trying to appeal to everyone usually leads to appealing to no one, and you don’t want that.
So decide who you want to sell to. What is their age, gender, hobbies, etc.? It might feel exclusionary, but it’s necessary!
This might seem like something minor, but it is actually one of the most important decisions you will make in your business, and it will affect everything from your creative process to your marketing strategy.
So please do take this seriously. You have to be crystal clear on who your target audience is!
Photo by Rachael Gorjestani on Unsplash
#2 Work Hard on Your T-shirt Concepts
You might think that creating t-shirt concepts is a breeze. After all, you have the artistic talent, so what would be the problem? I have bad news for you, though. Creating a t-shirt concept that sells well is much, much harder than you think.
Think about it. People work hard for their money and they do not part with it easily. Would you pay $25+ for a mediocre t-shirt? Probably not. So why would you expect your potential customers to do it? It’s not going to happen!
So start taking your t-shirt concepts seriously. Sit down and brainstorm as many ideas as you can. Then, go through the list, and narrow it down to the best ones. Then, do quick sketches, and look for the ways to improve your concepts. Go through as many iterations as you need to in order to get to a concept that really works. Push yourself to do your best work!
Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash
#3 Get Feedback on Your T-shirt Concepts
Now, once you have created some great t-shirt concepts, you might think that you are done, but not so fast!
At the moment, you think your t-shirt concepts will sell well, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are right. How can you find out if your potential customers like what you have come up with?
Go and ask them! Yes, you read that right, go where your potential customers hang out, show them your t-shirt concepts, and ask for feedback. What do they like? What do they not like? What can you do to make them even better?
Getting feedback from your potential customers can be really intimidating. What if they don’t like what you do at all? Well, then it’s better to know it as soon as possible so that you could go back to the drawing board. Don’t skip this step!
What’s next?
Okay, so now you defined your target audience, created some great t-shirt concepts, and got feedback from your potential customers. What should you do next?
- Open a Shopify store.
- Sign up with a fulfillment company.
- Start marketing your products!
Quick note: the fulfillment company has to be reliable, otherwise you will risk upsetting your customers with low-quality products, which can cripple your business. I recommend you to use Printify print on demand drop shipping!
Conclusion
Selling print-on-demand t-shirts can change your life. It might sound pompous, but really, think about it. You could work from home and set your own hours all the while making decent money. Moreover, if you ever get tired of it, you can always sell your online store for 20x – 30x the monthly revenue. That’s a lot of money!
So take your business seriously. Put in the time and effort needed to get it off the ground. Yes, it’s going to be hard, especially if you already have a full-time job. But just think about all the freedom you will have once it takes off!
