Making Merchandise for Your YouTube Channel First of all
Chapter 5
Tips to Promote Merchandise on Your
YouTube Channel
How YouTubers Can Make Good Merchandise For
Their Channel?
You probably already know that selling cool branded merchandise is one of the most
popular ways to make money with your YouTube channel, right? It’s not only a great way to
bring in some revenue, but it’s also a great way to increase brand recognition and grow
your overall reach.
When people see their friends wearing fun t-shirts with your logo on them, they’re going to
wonder what your brand is all about, and you’re going to get more recognition. Of course,
to make this strategy work, you have to create products that really stands out, so let’s talk
about a few tips on how to make merchandise for your YouTube channel that will rock.
Making Merchandise for Your YouTube Channel
First of all, you don’t have to be super crafty or a professional graphic designer to make
YouTube merch. If you have a cool logo and brand colors, you really have the essential
components to get started, and you don’t even have to worry about physical inventory or
shipping and handling, either.
Making your merchandise can actually be as simple as a few swipes and clicks. Just find a
print on demand (PoD) site that you like, such as Spreadshirt or District Lines, upload your
designs, experiment with additional design options (wording, photo art, etc.), and choose
your merchandise. Then you can set up your online store, embed it in your website, and/or
link to it from YouTube. It’s really that simple.
Get Your YouTube Channel’s Viewers Involved
Of course, you’ll want to make merchandise for your YouTube channel that viewers will
want to buy, but that’s actually pretty simple, too. Just ask them. In your videos, blog posts,
and social media posts, ask your viewers for feedback about the kinds of merchandise
they’d like to see from you. Poll them on which designs they like best. You could even run a
design contest with your viewers, too.
Make Merchandise That Interest People
As you decide which items to sell and which designs to use, keep in mind that you want to
create merchandise that your viewers will really want to wear and use. Create really
attractive designs, and use engaging wording that is relatable, funny and/or insightful, and
make sure that it’s in line with your brand voice and the persona that you present on
YouTube.
Use Your YouTube Channel’s Brand Colors
Unless it really goes with your channel’s branding, you don’t just have to go with a simple
black print of your design on a white t-shirt or a white mug. Why? Because it can seem too
generic and doesn’t really have that “stand out” factor.
As you make merchandise for your YouTube channel, it’s important to remember that you
want to increase your brand recognition. Using your channel’s brand colors can do that
while making your merchandise more attractive and fun.
Go for High Quality When Creating Clothing
We cannot emphasize this enough. When choosing the materials for your YouTube
channel’s merch, you’ll be given some options. Do not go with the cheapest t-shirts that you
can find. They’ll be thin, weirdly sized, and they won’t make a good impression on your
viewers. You want them to fall in love with the way your merchandise fits so that they want
to buy more just because they love wearing it.
Order Samples Before Promoting the Final Product
If you’re not sure about a t-shirt, mug, or other piece of merch, just order one for yourself
before you start promoting it on your YouTube channel and on social media. This is an
inexpensive way to make sure that you’ve made the right choice for your products, and it’s
a great way to start promoting them, too.
When you get the products in, if you love them, you can start wearing or using them in your
YouTube videos. If not, you can make the changes you need to make to ensure that you’ve
chosen the right products to promote.
Most Print-on-Demand sites don’t have minimum orders, so you can get just one item to
make sure you’re on the right track and to test out the customer experience on the site
you’ve chosen, too. After all, you don’t want to go with a site that’s difficult to work with or
your viewers won’t buy your merchandise, no matter how cool it is.
Aim for Marketing Success with Your YouTube Merch
In the beginning stages, you want to think of your branded merchandise as more of a
marketing effort than a revenue builder. This is an opportunity to get your merch in more
people’s hands, so set a really reasonable price that your viewers won’t mind paying when
you make your YouTube merch. It’s important to remember that in order to get people to
buy something, you must give them great pricing and value.
How Vloggers Can Promote and Sell YouTube Channel
Merchandise?
So you’ve decided to make and sell merchandise for your YouTube channel. You have some
really cool designs that feature your channel’s name, your logo, and/or a phrase you use a
lot. You’ve chosen quality products that your community of viewers want to buy and will
love using. Now how do you get the word out about your merch as a YouTuber?
Check out these tips for promoting your YouTube channel merch and see how much more
you can sell.
• Show Viewers Merchandise in Your YouTube Videos
First of all, the easiest way to let people know that you have cool merch is to display it in
your YouTube videos. Order one of each of your items, and then wear or use them during
your videos.
Wear that cool hoodie, hat, or t-shirt that you’re selling online, or put them up in the
background. Place a branded coffee mug or water bottle next to you on your desk or table
when you’re filming. Hang a branded poster behind you. There’s so many things you can
do!
Then, at the end of your video when you get to your call to action, be sure to mention the
YouTube channel merch you have made available for sale that is shown on screen. For
example, you could say something like, “And if you like this shirt I’m wearing, check out the
link in the description to get your own!” Or you could add an annotation link in the video
itself that takes your viewers to your online store.
• Link to Merch Store in Your Descriptions and About Page
Whether or not you mention the YouTube channel merch you wear or use in your video, be
sure to include a link to your online store in your video description. If you want to make
sure that your viewers see it (and, of course, you do), you’ll want to put it in the first three
lines of the description so that it appears before the “Show More” link.
In addition to putting a link in your video descriptions, you should also include a link to
your online store in the “about” sections and pages of all of your online presences. Link to
your store on your channel’s about page, Facebook page, Twitter bio, and more. Wherever
you can, make sure that people get a direct link to your online store so that buying your
YouTube channel’s merch is easy.
• Showcase Products in Your Social Media Posts
Speaking of social media, you also want to post pictures and links to your products on all of
your social media pages. Take photos wearing your new hat, t-shirt, or hoodie, and post it
on social media with a link to where fans can buy theirs.
Feature new products that have
just become available. Repost and share pictures of your fans when they post photos of
themselves wearing or using your YouTube channel’s merch.
The more you do this, the more recognition you’ll create.
You can even create your own
branded hashtag for people to use when they wear and use your merch and clothing. Then
you can go through the pictures and posts that have that hashtag to find great images and
links to repost to your own account.
• Use YouTube Cards to Promote Your Channel’s Merch
YouTube cards are basically a way to take annotations to the next level. A card could be a
link to a specific URL, a customized image, or a call to action.
When a card is added to a video, a teaser will appear in the video, and then after the teaser
disappears, the viewer can access the card just by hitting the “i” button in the top right
corner of the video for more information. Then they can scroll through the cards you’ve
added to the video and click on them to go to your online store, check out a specific product
page, etc.
Conclusion:
There you go – six things to consider when you make merchandise for your YouTube
channel so that you can effectively get your channel’s brand out there and make some
money while you do it. Have fun with your designs. Don’t be afraid to get creative. And
don’t forget to promote your cool new merch in your YouTube videos and on social media!
Keep these tips in mind to get more people to see your store and buy your YouTube
channel merch.