For centuries, branded merchandise has been a way to promote various businesses, proliferate brand identity, and engage with customers. From t-shirts with soft drink logos to pens given out at conferences to the global movement that was the Barbie movie merchandising, we are constantly encouraged to wear the brands that we support. But how can companies in the blockchain space do the same with crypto merch?
Chances are that your business is considering or has already started putting out merchandise and in the following ways, you can boost their effectiveness:
Watch Your Crypto Merch Visuals
Creating good crypto merch ultimately comes down to striking a balance between being visually appealing and being effective. On the one hand, everyone loves merch that is appealing to look at and use but the last thing you want is your merchandise being used by people who don’t bother to look into your business, much less make a purchase. So, you need to make sure that the merch is attractive to everyone while also promoting your business effectively.
It goes without saying but have your brand name, website, and logo front and centre so people see more than just pretty things.
Ensure Quality
Lurk around in influencer or celebrity fandoms and you’re likely to see a similar complaint; merchandise that is low quality and essentially a cash grab. But while a popstar or influencer can survive having low-quality merchandise, it has bigger implications for a crypto business. Investors are always on the lookout for shitcoins and scams, so how does it make you look when tour merchandise is low quality? You don’t want to be branded a low-effort project to take your time in ensuring that your merchandise is top-notch. If need be, release lower quantities of merchandise or so so periodically. Either way, less merchandise is better than bad merchandise.
Ensure Functionality
While there is certainly a market for merchandise that is purely for fun and has no practical use (see the Barbie convertible popcorn container), a crypto company will likely benefit from creating merch that has high functionality. You could, for example, release face caps or mini crypto wallets as merch. Which do you think will be more widely used by consumers? Which offers them more value? The more value and use that a customer gets from your merch, the more they will be reminded of your business and the more benefits you get as a result. And if the merch can be aesthetically pleasing as well as functional, it is a double win.
Consider Collaborations
If you followed the marketing case study that was the Barbie movie’s marketing, or even the more recent efforts for the Wicked movie, you’ll know that businesses love to collaborate with other brands for cross-promotional benefits. If you’re trying to put out more effective crypto merch, this is something you might want to try. If your token has a mascot, for example, you could collaborate with a toy brand to make a collectable version of it. You could collaborate with consumer brands, other tokens, gaming platforms, and so on. This exposes you to their audience and vice versa, while also helping to achieve your branding goals.
Decide Where/How to Distribute
Where you sell/distribute your crypto merch is almost as important as how you go about designing it as there are pros and cons to each approach. If you give the merch away at conventions and the like, you get it circulated faster and to more people. However, the downside is that many might not care about your business but simply take whatever free products they can. If you choose to sell them they might move slowly but will be in the hands of those who are really passionate about your business. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to this and it is up to you to decide which pays you more.
Embrace Innovation
While it might be easy to put out pens and t-shirts and call it a day, you’ll probably draw more attention if you do something unusual and innovative. Think of how memorable the Dune 2 popcorn buckets and McDonalds handbags were and how they are some of the most iconic pieces of merchandise ever. If you have the resources to do so, look at the type of merch everyone else is doing and try to come up with something different. It could be a funny tagline on a mug, a collaboration with a brand that is a little left of the field, and so on. Crypto merch is a chance to let your creativity shine so take it.
Give to the Right People
Your crypto merch in the hands of one person could lead to a single customer conversion. But in the hands of the right person, it could lead to dozens of other people learning about your merch. As such, you need to include distribution to key influential figures as part of your strategy. A good idea would be to send your merch to crypto influencers to review and unbox. You can also make sure that your executives wear them at important events to get them even more traction.
Respond to Feedback
When it comes to your crypto merch, as with any other aspect of your business, you have to be very open to feedback from your audience. Customers might like the look of your merch or might want you to change a few things. They might not think your collaborations are on-brand or might disagree with the price. Whatever feedback you get, positive or negative, make sure to take it onboard and make your crypto merch better.
Conclusion
Crypto Merch can be many things; a way to engage with customers, a means of advertising, and even a branding effort. No matter what goals your business wants to achieve with it, you have to engage in careful planning and have a lot of creativity. Many brands have gotten ahead with merch and you can do the same.
