Why should you sell merchandise - like t-shirts, hats, and stickers - for your radio station? For one, it's a way to make extra money to support your station. Another reason: it's a physical way for your listeners to spread the word about your show. Merch has the power to market your work, as well as allow people to bond over your creation. And wouldn't it be fun to drink from a coffee mug in the morning with your radio station's logo on it? A perfect way to start the day!
Selling merch is a big step towards giving your brand more legitimacy. But, selling merch takes some work. If you've been thinking about selling some merch for your radio station, keep reading this guide to learn how to get started!
Plan Your Merch
Brainstorm what kind of merch you'd like to put on the market. Do you want hoodies or cooking aprons? Stickers or plush toys? Mugs or shot glasses? Knowing the kind(s) of items you would like to sell off the bat saves you time and energy in the long run.
If you're stuck on what to sell, try asking your audience for suggestions. Use social media to see what your listeners would like to buy. You could either directly ask your audience for merch ideas or set up a poll to see what kinds of items would be most popular.
Above all, brainstorm merch that you would be proud to sell. The goal is to appease your current audience, but if you can make merch attractive to someone who knows nothing about your brand, that's even better.
Designing Merch
What would merch be without eye-catching designs and logos? In order to sell some products with aesthetic flair, you need a place where you can create images easily and effectively.
Obviously, you can always hire an artist fluent in graphic design to help you out, but there are a couple ways you can do it yourself, too. If you're not looking to learn and splurge on Photoshop, check out websites that will allow you to design nice-looking logos and images for free. Below are a few with templates and tools that we recommend:
If you don't already have a custom logo for your radio station to use for merch, check out our tips for designing a great station logo. Of course, you don't have to just use your logo for merch, although it's a good idea to sell some items with your logo to take advantage of the physical marketing. You can also design merch with quotes, memes, pretty artwork, or other things that relate to your audio show. Get creative and fun with it!
Selling Merch
After you've planned out and designed your merch, the next step is to open an online store. The website Spreadshop makes it so easy to slap your designs onto products and sell them to the public. In fact, you can open an online store with them for free and they handle payments, production, and shipping. From there, you set the price with the product cost in mind and you can get selling.
Aside from Spreadshop, it is possible to sell merch directly from your own personal website. Website building sites like Squarespace and Wix have features that allow for e-commerce. Check out this resource to see a full list of websites you can use to build an online store. If you're looking to build your own website for your radio station, check out our guide on the subject.
We hope you found this short how-to useful. Happy broadcasting, designing, and selling!
Ready to start your own station? Contact one of our Product Consultants or visit our website today.
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Article Image: White apparel hanging on a clothing rack in front of a black background. (Fallon Michael via Unsplash.)
