Designing the shirts you will give out to people for free is not easy. The shirts might only be a small part of your marketing campaign, but they represent your brand. You need to ensure that the design is top quality and people receiving the shirts will feel motivated to wear them. Otherwise, the shirts will be left in the closet, and no one will see your company’s name and logo. It is a waste of opportunity and resources.
Ask the right people
You might have a vision of what you want the shirts to look like. You think about your brand and the target demographics. You also consider other factors that will help make the shirts trendy. To help you further, you need to ask your employees to provide ideas. They might have something to offer, but they might be hesitant because you have not solicited their opinions.
Employees know and understand your brand, especially if they have been with you for a long time. They know what message you want other people to know. Some will have seen the marketing campaigns you have put out over the years. They saw what strategies worked and what didn’t. Therefore, they can give input that is worth considering.
Brainstorm with them
You can have a brainstorming session with some of your employees. Tell them to feel free to share their ideas. It does not necessarily mean that you will follow their advice. You want them not to hesitate to share their thoughts, and you will still consider all suggestions for the final shirt design.
Let them vote
When you finish designing the shirts, you can ask the employees to vote on which of the designs they feel best represents the company. You can do secret voting to ensure that people can honestly give their opinions.
Show your appreciation
Some of your valued employees have been with you for a long time, but they might not feel that you appreciate them. Promotions and salary increases are not the only way to show appreciation to employees. Allowing them to participate in some decisions will make them see their value beyond their usual job.
Don’t worry if it takes time for you to finish the entire process. In between the brainstorming and final voting, it could take weeks before you ask the printing company to print the design on the shirts. The good thing is that you can partner with quick t-shirt printing companies. Even if you tell them about your plans today, they could still deliver the job the next day.
You can do the same process the next time if you have other ideas for promotional merchandise and advertising your company. It might be surprising to listen to the ideas of your employees since you usually rely on yourself and your marketing team to do the job. You forget that other employees also have something to say that can help boost the popularity of your business, if given a chance to speak their thoughts.