Custom-made products are experiencing a massive surge in popularity, especially among millennials, and it’s easy to see why – they offer a personal touch that helps owners differentiate themselves from the masses and feel as if a product truly belongs to them and them only.
But don’t let that popularity fool you – while some businesses have managed to masterfully harness the immense potential of custom-made products, others have failed miserably. Product personalization alone is no guarantee for success, in fact, in many ways, it adds more variables to the equation which not everyone can handle, businesses and consumers alike.
This is why the success of custom-made products is tightly entwined with their promotion, which includes not just marketing, but the actual process of customization. Here are some ways to promote such commodities that can increase your chances of success.
Determine Level of Customization
This should be the first thing you do, the foundation of your business model, or at least of this particular niche. When it comes to customization, “the more the better” moto can be absolutely detrimental.
While people like to feel special and unique, they’re also lazy, especially in the capacity of consumers, and even more so in today’s day and age, dictated by a cult of instant gratification. Giving consumers too much freedom to customize a product means you’re also giving them work to do and an overwhelming amount of choices.
In fact, there’s a famous study that examined this somewhat paradoxical phenomenon within the settings of a grocery store where free samples of jam were given out. The researchers tried out two jam selections – a large and a small one. Not surprisingly, the large assortment attracted more attention – 60% of customers stopped at it, but only 3% of them actually bought a jar. Meanwhile, 40% of customers stopped at the smaller jam selection, but 30% of them actually went on to purchasing a jar, which is a marginally larger return.
The study “raised the hypothesis that the presence of choice might be appealing as a theory, but in reality, people might find more and more choice to actually be debilitating,” explains Professor Iyengar, the author of the study.
These findings are not only extremely telling, but also practically analogous with the issue of generating quality leads – the focus shouldn’t be so much on the amount of people visiting your website, but on the percentage of them that actually become customers.
In short, you need to find the happy medium between freedom of choice and structure, basically guiding your consumers through the customization process while leaving leeway for creativity and whimsies.
T-Shirt Printing
T-shirt printing is meant to attract attention and send a message by default, which is why custom-made T-shirts are a unique type of commodity, as they work both as a promotional tool and as the actual product itself. Whatever the case though, their power can truly unfold in person.
For example, custom-made T-shirts and trade shows are a match, made in Heaven. You get a tremendous amount of eyes in an extremely cheap and paradoxically subtle way, as you’re basically displaying something rather than selling it aggressively.
Attending other types of events with T-shirts, specifically made for the occasion, is another instance in which personalized T-shirts can truly shine.
Brand Story
People are creatures of emotion, and even though a lot of commodities are based on necessity, lot of products, especially custom-made ones, are meant to evoke a personal response.
This is where your brand story comes in, to provide context in which your product’s meaning and purpose can truly stand out and captivate people’s imaginations. A brand story is what gets consumers to envision that product as a key character in their own story.
SEO
SEO has become quite the buzzword, but amidst all the hype, it shouldn’t be mistaken for yet another fad or sham, born of the infamous idiosyncrasies of the Internet. The reason why SEO has become so widely popular is because it works, and for small-to-medium-sized businesses, it’s a true godsend that levels the playing field and helps them get noticed.
SEO is quite cost-efficient and can help you to not only attract quality leads to your website, but also identify specific products that people are looking for within your domain. For example, if you’re selling recycled jewelry, your keyword research might reveal that there’s a certain type of recycled jewelry that is of particular interest, like recycled bracelets, for example. Such insight can lead you to potentially huge sellers.
Promote in Person
The personal element is what makes a custom-made product unique, but it can hardly shine through on a small screen.
If you want to position your custom-made product in a retail store, for example, it’s best to present it to the one in charge in person, let him/her hold it and hear the passion, emanating from your words.
Email Marketing
This remains one of the most cost-efficient and personal marketing methods, and it’s certainly more than applicable to custom-made products. You can constantly engage your potential customers with stories and offers in a relatively automized way.
Social Media
Social media isn’t some magic wand, but when it comes to custom-made products, it can work like a charm since its central idea is to share personal things and achievements.
Your happy customers will be highly inclined to show off their customized possessions, especially if you encourage them with coupons or some other incentive, basically getting almost free advertisement.
Promoting custom-made products can certainly be challenging, but when done right, it can also be extremely rewarding. All these aforementioned methods are great ways to kick things off in an affordable and realistic fashion.
