How to Market Your Merch In-Store and Online

The customers most likely to buy your merch are the ones already in your shop and already following you online. So marketing merch for a local business is mostly about reminding the people who already like you that it exists: a QR code at the counter, staff wearing it, a link in your Instagram bio, a launch post, and a mention whenever you add something new. You don't need an ad budget.

Here's how to do each of those well, plus a few tactics that work especially well for merch.

Start with the people already in your shop

Your physical space is your best sales channel. Someone standing at your counter, enjoying your coffee or waiting for their order, is about as warm a prospect as exists.

Put a QR code where people wait

A small printed card with a QR code linking to your shop, placed where customers naturally pause:

• By the register or card reader
• On tables and the bar
• On the menu board or printed menu
• On takeout bags and boxes (a sticker or insert)
• In the restroom, on the mirror (seriously: it's where people look at their phones)

Keep the message short: "Love us? Wear us. Scan for merch." On The Merch Counter, Share in your dashboard prints a counter card in your shop's colors and a sheet of stickers for takeout bags, or gives you the code to download. More: Using a QR Code to Sell Merch in Your Store.

Have your staff wear it

It's one of the simplest things you can do, and it costs you a few shirts. When customers see staff wearing a good-looking shirt or hat, they ask about it.

On The Merch Counter you can order one of each product at cost as a test, which gets you your first samples for the team. For more, order through your own shop like a customer; part of what you pay comes back to you as your earnings on the sale.

Say it out loud

A line at the register works: "We just launched shirts — there's a QR code right there if you want one." Don't push. Just make sure people know.

Show the real thing

If you have a sample, display it: on a hanger behind the counter, on a shelf next to the register, on a hook by the door. People want to see the color and feel the fabric. One sample of each product does more than a poster.

Online: use the channels you already have

Instagram and TikTok

• Link in your bio. Add your shop link (Instagram's steps). If you use a link-in-bio tool, put merch near the top.
• A launch post. Photos of staff or regulars wearing the merch beat flat product shots. Real people, real place.
• Stories. Behind the scenes: unboxing the samples, choosing designs, a regular trying one on.
• Reposts. When customers post themselves in your merch, share it (with permission). That's social proof and a thank-you in one.
• Reminders. Post about merch again whenever you add a product, a season changes, or the holidays approach.

More: How to Sell Merch on Instagram.

Your Google Business Profile

When people search for your business on Google, your Business Profile is the first thing they see. Add your merch as products and post an update when you launch. More: Add Your Merch Shop to Your Google Business Profile.

Your website

If you have one, add a "Merch" or "Shop" item to the main menu, linking to your shop. Your shop on The Merch Counter has its own address (yourname.themerchcounter.com), so it's a single link.

Email and text lists

If you have a newsletter, loyalty program or text club, a short "We made shirts" message is likely to be one of your best-performing sends. Include a photo and the link. Send a reminder before the holidays.

Launches and drops

A launch gives people a reason to buy now. Without one, merch is something customers mean to get around to.

• Plan a launch week: tease it, reveal it, celebrate the first orders. See How to Launch Your Merch: A 2-Week Plan.
• Limited drops: a seasonal or anniversary design available for a set time. Scarcity has been studied: in a 2011 Journal of Advertising study, scarcity messages moved people's intention to buy, and "limited quantity" worked better than "limited time". See Merch Drops.
• Tie it to something: your anniversary, a local event, Small Business Saturday, the holidays.

Because print on demand has no stock, a limited drop costs nothing to run: you simply take the product down when the window closes.

Turn customers into your marketing

The best marketing for merch is other customers wearing it. People trust each other more than they trust ads: in Nielsen's 2021 study, 88% trusted recommendations from people they know more than any other channel.

• Ask customers to tag you when they post in your merch.
• Feature a "regular of the month" in your merch.
• Give a small thank-you (a free drink, a sticker) to anyone who shows you a photo of them in your shirt, and ask them to mention it in the post: the FTC expects rewards for posts to be disclosed.

More: How to Get Customers to Post Your Merch.

Partner with your neighbors

• Collaborate with a nearby business on a co-branded design and promote it to both audiences.
• Show up at local events — markets, street fairs, races — wearing your merch, with a QR code on your table.
• Work with a local artist on a limited design. They'll promote it to their followers too.

Measure what works

You don't need complicated analytics. Watch a few simple things:

• Visits and sales — your dashboard on The Merch Counter shows your shop's visits, orders, revenue and best sellers.
• Where people came from — Share in your dashboard shows how many visits came from your QR code (counter card and stickers counted separately), Instagram, Google, the marketplace and elsewhere. For anything else you share, add ?utm_source= and a name to the end of your link and it's counted under that name (the same UTM tagging Google Analytics uses).
• What sells — double down on the products and designs that work, and drop the ones that don't.

A simple monthly merch routine