Networking is a great way to get you name and designs out there, remember that the more venues you can cover online the more your designs are likely to be seen, found, go viral, etc.
Now when we talk about building networks we are not referring to creation of profiles like online markets, participating in forums, or a Facebook page. All of those very helpful to spread the word and covered in the “Build an Online Presence” section.
Here we are talking about actually building a bridge with other people that are in the same/similar/or compatible business with you brand and you could establish a beneficial for both relation with. Let me explain a little further.
Imagine that you have a lot of very cool designs about dogs, and next to you there is a veterinary doctor who is looking for a nice design to put in is web page under the “dog care” section. Well if your image is in the website with a link to your page, then a lot of this doctor’s customer might go to your store too (don’t think about how to get your image in the first place, we’ll get into that later). Like this are hundred of opportunities out there where people or business that are not in the t shirt sales market could benefits from your artwork and you from their traffic and final exposure for your product.
How to do it?
Offer some artwork for free: to schools, non profit organization, etc. In exchange for your info be visible, a link back to your store in the image and if possible posting some of your products in their site (sometimes is a good idea, sometimes is not), I have found this to work great since I expose my product to new markets (that were not my customer in the first place since they didn’t know I existed) and most of the times I end up making new sales. You might want to consult with an attorney if you wish to give permission to use your artwork for free without loosing all your rights over the image.
Contact other t shirt companies and try to do some freelancing: as long as they let you build a profile and post your info somewhere in the site or product (not of your store but your info as an artist) is like creating a resume and building experience, if you have many designs out there that people are seeing, they might be a different company but is still your name and that eventually could link back to your personal artwork and store.
The most positive thing about building networks is that not only help you cover more online ground but also help spread the word actively. That non profit organization that was so happy with your collaboration is going to most likely spread the word to other organization and so on, so the more networks you can develop the better.
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