Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

Be careful with what you'll allow people to upload to your site. There is scope here for copyright violations in which your company might be implicated.

If someone comes to your site with an image they've pulled from Google (an image to which they own no copyright), if the legal copyright owner of that image created and distributed through your site were to file a case against the person copying the image, your company could face stiff penalties if retribution is sought in any court case.

Good morning everyone even though I presume its not morning for you.

Thanks firstly for your replies and I will respond to you all in order withing this message.

Firstly I have more or less found a name that works and I will explain why I think that and then leave it up to critique.

T-shirt wearers with dynamic prints are usually from one or more of the many sub cultures that help form the basis of our society/world and I was thinking what do they all share in common that they all adhere to or strive for and there are many common denominators but I am not young enough nor experienced enough to put my finger on it and even if I could the chances of a com or co.uk address being available to support it is highly unlikely. Which brings me on to another point I was thinking about, why with the birth of the internet are we restricted or even self restricted to naming our businesses based on the availability to a dot whatever or such? How on earth has this happened as I remember before the internet if you wanted to call your business something, you could and all you had to check was that even if someone had the same name just so long as they were trading in a completely different market ie me sell shoes you sell beer everything was cool? Anyway above and beyond.

So I flipped between names that were irrelevent to t-shirts to ones including t-shirts and came across a .com and a co.uk available and seemingly fit for purpose, as follows..

subculturetshirts, what do you think? Does exactly what is says on the tin without any funny spelling or hiphons that can always hinder the route for some as everyone knows how to spellsubculturetshirts though not all of us can spell hiphon.

Now my replies to you all:

Moriarty, thank you for your suggestions including the funny ones it made me laugh. On the point about 'well worded backlinks' I don't have much idea about stuff like that but am on a learning curve here and using this website to get to grips with all the social marketing side of things and the seo and anything else I can pick up along the way. See I am in a good position as my friend the web developer is at the top of his field and I will show the site when its finished. He is part of the open source community and is nearly 60 and has been at this a very long time and is very talented but has trouble admitting it. Anyway he is building my site in lou or as we say in the UK on tick mate.
I am also setting this business up as a dropship business so I have no outlay having now sourced a good company in Romainia for 1 printed t-shirt print/packed and posted = £6.50 or $9.99 in old english money. Thanks again and any tips where to source good info on back links would be great.

Jay Hamilton-Roth, Thanks for your valid input. The illustrators out there today have some brilliant designs and as long as I offer a wide variety then I should cover all tastes. My website give the customer the ability to upload their own image personal to them or to write almost anything they wish. Art is a surprise and its surprising how each individual will express interest in an image because they like it and not because it belongs specifically to one genre like a biker club or skate board themed though they are on their shopping list also. So my demo graghic market is all sub cultures who love wearing printed designs both specific to 'their thing' Plus images they will buy because they found them striking, original and available on my website. You kind of asked the question why me and not my competition which is right especially when lots of other people are doing it? Well its simple he who shouts loudest attracts the most and if you have something to back it up with when they reach you that justifies all the noise you made then a sale should be a foregone conclusion. The plan is first to have the best website of all online t-shirt print business, attractive and user friendly and stocked with some kick arse images or just upload your own. Then once I have totally gotten to grips with the social marketing and seo and all is tickety boo I should have been able to prove my concept/product in that time as well as have sourced cheaper distributors based on my numbers and, heres the shouting loud bit - I'm then going to wack it on the telly as advertising because no one else has yet. That is also because a company called moonpig com who has a very similar model but for personal greeting cards ie you go online and personalise one and they dropship it to your intended. They have done very well. Thank you Jay.

Gary Bloomer, hi, the open source art studio that I am using has a built in disclaimer that covers your rightful concerns though I had given no thought to producing contracts for the illustrators. Good point but I won't be bothering with lawyers at this stage in the game. I intend to use a piece of software called i dev which is an affiliate thing they log in to and it keeps track of how many of their images have been sold by me and tallys up what I owe them. All I am offering them is £1 per t-shirt/image but insist that each image should display their name or handle so they are readily identifiable as will my branding on said t-shirts. So yes at this stage a written agreement I will introduce until such times I become hugely successful as the courts over here aren't that bad. If you can show intent even if it were an email and a clear agreement between both parties the it stands up in a county court. Obviously when there are big bucks flying around the all manner of tricks can be used by high flying lawyers etc but at this point I need not worry. Thanks for the heads up as I never thought of it.

fordwincher, we get cars stuck in Fords that need winching all the time and so do ford cars.. Anyway your suggestions are very good and simple and again does what it says on the tin. I have yet to purchase subculturetshirts com and co.uk as I am waiting for feed back but will certainly keep them in mind. Thank you.

At this point I would like some feed back on my comments but am happy to share the 150 points equally if that is possibly?

One last thing, I forgot to address how I am going to deal with unsuitable images. In the first instance I will be doing the admin ie checking who bought what they bought and having a peek at the image then sending it through to the dropshippers. Its all automated really it take seconds to look then forward on. Yes when I am doing thousands then the dropshipping company will be responsible for that bit and if they end up printing a vile picture then in the natural course of print or packing it will get spotted and binned. I will have a polite notice on my site say that if any such images are uploaded then the customer will not receive their t-shirt and will forfeit any refund. That should be a deterrent.

Good morning Mark, and yes, I have 3/4 of an hour of it left this side of the Channel. I live near Utrecht. The birthday cake batter is mixed and the pretzels are nearly ready to dip and bake off.

Now - you have a good idea as to how to operate the business. There's one problem - and that is you need people to buy the things you make. All we've had so far is your side of things. You really need to concentrate on THEM.

Where are they, what do they like and why should they buy from you?

The point is that goods don't just sell themselves. For one thing there are ads everywhere for places that you can upload your own image and get your teeshirt for free - that's on the local bus shelter in a village nobody's ever heard of. How are you going to compete with that? Why would someone turn around and pay £6.50 (that's six quid to you and me) when they can whistle one up free and for nuffin?

I'm not saying you haven't a business - only you need to establish a market for it first. A friend of mine who is the cousin of the birthday boy has just lost his house. His brilliant idea was developed before he had a market for it. You have been warned. (He didn't listen to me, anyway who'd listen to a fifty something frump? It's like taking business advice from your spinster aunt! Which gives me the excuse to charge what I do. Only this maiden aunt was the kind who made love in Magdalen College gardens in broad daylight. Things aren't always as they seem).

Your web developer sounds like Mr Whittle. The gentleman who so considerately developed the jet engine for us.

Now: the oven's coming up to temperature so I have a few minutes. I'm going to get nasty.

Okay?

You have a customer type - yet you don't know how to communicate with them. For one thing these guys are internet savvy. They'll spot a greenhorn a mile off. That's fine, I've been there myself and I've got the scars and the stripes. That's how I can explain these things, I've waded in the mud at the bottom of the trenches along with the rest of the crew here. It's not fun, and there are better places to be - only you have to get there.

You are looking to sell to someone. The more targeted you are, the more effective you will be. If you don't know who they are, then imagine them - Howie Jacobson has a lot on this kind of thing (https://askhowie.com) he calls them 'Avatars' by the way. He suggests detailing this imaginary person down to their shoe size and the name of their children and pets. That means speaking to this Avatar means your advertisements speak to a character type. Which is where it gets a little complex, let's just say it works, okay? So every comment you make on someone's blog about surfing or skateboarding or growing your own weed - or whatever pursuits your Avatar likes - every comment speaks directly to - let's call him Dave. A good English name. That way your comments will be engaging and interesting. The site they lead to will be equally engaging because it is focussed on Dave's likes, dislikes and general way of doing things.

All your tweets and everything else - paid ads, the lot - will speak to Dave. And Dave alone. Yet the marketing magic is that this imaginary figure is you communicating to the people in the crowd who really like your style.

So spend ten minutes in the back garden (even tenth storey flats in England have back gardens, so there's no excuse, okay?) and stare at the sky and imagine everything that Dave is, does, likes and doesn't like. His address, the local pub and the registration plate of his Ford Cortina. Or whatever they call the things these days.

When you've done that we'll see if there are any great names that come from that.

Over to you!

Ok will do, so I take it you don't like my name.... I know Utrecht, not very well but I used to live in Vinkeveen. Done some great thinking in the Netherlands if I remember correctly..

I don't mind your name at all. Only you need to 'speak' to someone - there are several invented characters on my website, Andrew the couldn't sell icecream to a Sheikh salesman and Richard an over-worked engineer.

Remember that your name and your website don't need to speak to me and they don't need to speak to you. It needs to speak to your prospect. Since you're starting, your prospect has to live in your head. Until, that is, you can develop him (her) from the reactions you get from real, regular buyers.

As to thinking in the Netherlands, the most frustrating thing I find is that they make assumptions in the middle of a train of thought. Their conclusion leaves you wondering how they got there. This finds expression in street signage - most road diversions miss out one or two crucial junctions. No doubt because it's blindingly obvious which way you should go. Given the number of people I meet turning around their cars in dead-end streets, this is an assumption that even the Dutch find a little galling.

I presume your thoughts were aided by wied (en mijn bedoeling is niet van onkruid!). ;-) And yes, I do know Vinkeveen and sailed there several times - my boat is on the Loosdrechtse Plassen, quite nearby.

Now: your task for the afternoon is a really cool dude called Dave.