Let's start a thread of creative ideas for marketing and promoting your sites and shops. I have my own website that links to my cafepress shop.

I'm working on some fun ideas like getting a bunch of t-shirts and cutting them up into small rectangles, ironing on my website and handing them out. It's just something different to get attention and traffic to the site.

Any other ideas? Post them here! The more ideas out there, the more successful we will all be.

If we all have different products to offer we might not be competing against each other. Let's work together instead of against each other! I know that NOBODY has the shirts that I'm selling (except for maybe a couple of ideas that I got from others).

There are a lot of very bright people on here. Let's brainstorm some good advertising and marketing ideas!

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I'm working on some fun ideas like getting a bunch of t-shirts and cutting them up into small rectangles, ironing on my website and handing them out. It's just something different to get attention and traffic to the site.

That's an awesome idea! but I would probably put some type of design on it as well, that way it won't just be a throw-away for people.

Free tee giveaways would be nice to do, but with our checks being cut who could afford that?

Flyers are always an easy option, putting them on bulletin boards. I however stick to online advertising so I can better track whats going on and what efforts are worth it.

My arsenal:
Adwords
Adbrite
Blogads

I've yet to do any print advertising, but I would love to hear if anyone has had success with that!?

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Hello,
For me, setting up an affiliate program and then actively promote the program to blogs in my niche works pretty well. Many blogs do look for ways to monetize their traffic you know. The set up and the 20% cut is well worth it in my opinion.

Otherwise, being active in a forum (in your niche) is pretty good as well, especially if you have already been an active participant.

Stephanie

http://www.cafepress.com/babysaurus

Don't forget the benefits of social network marketing... such as on Facebook. If you're creative -- and remain interactive in what you share -- and you can definitely cultivate a strong following.

-Jon

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JonBaas,

Don't know if they're exactly "fresh and clever," but it's what I'm doing.

For my son's shops (listed in my sig) I got in contact with the Trichotillomania Learning Center, the main non-profit org. for his condition. They gave me permission to use their logo on the backs of my son's shirts. They also warmly requested that he write an article for their Oct. newsletter, telling about his shops and how he plans on raising money for research. His shop is also listed on their Resources page.

Next week we'll be at a major clinic that treats his disorder, hoping to get into a clinic trial, and he'll be wearing one of his main designs. Lastly, he'll be wearing his designs to support group meetings.

In other words, if your designs are for a cause, write to any organization that deals with it. Become a welcome part of their community and politely ask if your store could be listed with them. Wear your shirts or bring your unique travel mug to events, rallies, etc.

For the shops I created (listed in my profile, not sig.) I mention them on the homeschool board I'm co-moderator of and send emails to friends and relatives which have the same interests. One of these friends loved my political designs and asked if I would mind if he let his political connections know about them.

So far, I've only had one sale of 5 items, but the TLC newsletter isn't out yet and the other shops are REALLY new.

Just my 2 cents. Sorry if these are repeats.

~Heidi

I use twitter on my blog like commercials on tv.
here's a lens I did on it
http://www.squidoo.com/tweetcpcash

I'm not sure this qualifies as fresh, clever or even effective, but, thought I'd share: I'm trying a product giveaway. I bought an item during the last shopkeeper sale, so it didn't cost much. I'm going through someone who has an established blog w/many followers & many Twitter followers that are my target audience. This is my first one and should happen in the next few weeks. Thought I'd give it a try & see if I get any bang for my buck (but at least didn't spend many bucks). I think the catch is that in order to qualify for the giveaway, the entrant has to visit my site & tell about one product saw & liked (or something similar). I dunno. We'll see. Could be a big waste, but I was curious to see if the giveaway on social media did anything. Kind of a little experiment.

I dont dont know how effective this would be, but would involve a hobby known as geocaching. Basically, set up a t-shirt exchange: cache an extra-large T-shirt (packed in a waterproof container) from my shop at certain coordinates and post the location on a geocache site (shop URL prominently displayed, of course). Policy: take a shirt, leave a shirt, and see how long I can keep it going. Of course, fellow geocachers would get a good picture of the shirt I hide, with a corresponding link to the proper shop page if they want to buy it.
Geocaching is a small but growing hobby, and adds an element of fun, gives shop exposure, all while costing just one t-shirt. Less expensively, you could put stickers, magnets, or whatever into existing geocaches as items for trade.

Some really nice ideas here...