Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

Opinions Of Clients A Good Idea For Tshirt Slogan?

Posted by Anonymous on 3/23/2009 at 2:40 PM ET 300 Points
So after much help here, I am ready to move on the purchasing of tshirts to sell and give away(give to clients who refer someone,that kind of thing). I have a private Dog Training club and park and our members have been begging for tshirts. I can really only afford to print about 75 shirts to start. We will put just logo on front but want to put a tagline on the back. There are 4-5 taglines that we like but I was wondering if I should ask the members to vote for their favorite? Or is that a bad idea? We have a forum for the club and I could post a poll there which makes voting anonymous, not that we would care who votes for what.
Thanks all,
Annette
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by SteveByrneMarketing on 3/23/2009 at 2:50 PM Accepted
    Try a first step. Simply ask a few of your clients informally for their input and suggestions. After asking a half dozen or so, you will have more information to go on to step two.

    Steve
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 3/23/2009 at 3:28 PM Accepted
    By having the members vote you get additional publicity for your upcoming sale/give-away.

    What's the down-side to asking people for their opinion?
  • Posted on 3/23/2009 at 4:41 PM Accepted
    PhilGrisoliaMarketing makes a great point. Sizes are always trouble with t-shirts.

    How about using a marketing item like a frisbee? One size fits all and most dogs lovem!

    Car window stickers could work too. "Proud Parent of A Dog Training Program Honor Student".
  • Posted on 3/23/2009 at 9:30 PM Author
    OMG I just posted a response and it wiped it out I'll try again.

    I really appreciate everyone's time taken to help me out here. I get the issue with tshirts and sizing etc. I don't want to sound like I'm asking for advice and then arguing with it but here are my thoughts on this.
    Dog people really are kind of different in that they love to wear stuff that shows that they spend time with or money on their dogs, if they engage in a competitive sport, even more so. For example, yesterday I was at our Schutzhund (a sport/test for working breeds, originally German Shepherds but now any working breed) club's weekly practice and for fun I counted at least 8 people wearing tshirts with a dog product or event featured. One was for a brand of bite training equipment, one was for a training camp they'd attended,another for a very expensive diet supplement, I laughed when I noticed I was wearing a shirt from the World Show almost 10 years ago. They wear the shirts mostly to other dog events, don't know why, just do. If they get dirty or paw print stained then that's ok, we are working not trying to look cute. People want the shirts to wear out to the dog park(which is why I'm ordering brown and navy shirts) or to other dog related functions.
    My plan is to order mostly larges and a few mediums and xls. I'll give away some and keep the rest to give away for fun. Then I will put the design with the other designs on our Spreadshirt shop so people can order the logo shirt in whatever size and color they want and also I can put multiple slogans out there. Not a money maker, more a bragging rights kind of thing if that makes sense.
    I will probably also order caps since most of our clients wear them out to the club.
    Frisbees will be good for public giveaways, but we don't allow them on the property. The dogs we get here are mostly working dogs and shred them in seconds LOL.
    I'd love to do car stickers but I really want vinyl die cuts and everyone I've spoken to wants me to submit a finished design. I don't have the skills or the computer program to do it, I can draw what I want but have no idea how to translate that to something a printer can use, very frustrating to say the least.
    My original concern about asking opinions of clients is I wonder if they will not like the shirt if their first choice slogan wasn't the most popular, I'm probably worrying too much.
    Thanks all,
    Annette

  • Posted by Gene M on 3/24/2009 at 1:07 AM Accepted
    Hi Annette,

    I think it depends on who the t-shirts are being made for. I don't mean who you will give them to and who will wear them; I mean who the message is intended to reach.

    If the purpose of the t-shirts is to encourage loyalty amongst current clients, then go for it and tie it into some sort of promotion.

    If it's for prospective clients, casually ask a few current clients for their opinion then you decide.

    Using only the opinion of focus groups (which is essentially what you'll be doing) can be problematic. Alot of the general public/consumers will lean heavily towards ideas that they are already familiar with, which is usually your competitors or multi-nationals.

    While essentially this isn't bad, it won't make you stand out, and your modus operandi will probably be (and should be) different to your competitors.

    Hope this helps.



  • Posted on 3/27/2009 at 1:33 PM Author
    Thanks all for the advice. What I've done is ask a handful of members for their opinion. They are the core group of "founding" members and I feel like they have been around long enough to understand our intentions toward clients. Hopefully I'll get some email responses back over the next few days so I can move forward.
    Annette
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