thread's not dead - doITlab

4 Tips to a Successful Sponsorship
1. Find bands and celebrities who will rep your gear for free. Until you can afford
to pay cash AND tees, this is your best bet. Lots of bands will be happy just to
get free clothes. Find celebrities, athletes, or other public figures who share a
similar audience as your brand and reach out to them.
2. Make sure you get photos of the band members rocking your gear. You want
to use these photos for your website or social media profiles to add credibility to
your brand. They could be posed press shots or live photos. It doesn’t matter if
they’re professional or not. You just need proof they are supporting your brand.
3. Pick bands that match your aesthetic. If your shirts feature zombies and gore,
find bands that are into that stuff too. If your shirts are simple and cute and targeted
toward tweens, look for an up and coming pop star. If they’re true fans of
your brand, they won’t just wear your tees, they’ll love talking about them.
4. Find Video Bloggers to rep your brand. They’re in front of the camera a lot and
often have a large viewership. If you’ve found someone with a popular YouTube
channel, it couldn’t hurt to toss them some free gear in exchange for exposure. I
remember in 2006 when Stride Gum sponsored Dancing Matt’s Youtube videos.
Sponsoring events, such as Weapons of Mass Creation Fest, is a great way to get your brand
out there in front of your target audience.
THREAD’S NOT DEAD • Jeff Finley
Sponsoring Events
There’s a major punk rock music festival down in Gainesville, Florida every year
simply called The Fest. As of this writing it’s finishing up its 9th year. Go Media
has been a sponsor since 2007. I’ve done a t-shirt design for them the past
three years in exchange for logo/link placement on all their materials and free
tickets for me and my friends. Honestly, I sponsor them because I love what
they’re doing and I want to be a part of it. It’s cool that I can associate my brand
with something I like. It’s also cool that other people who like The Fest are going
to see the connection as well.
You could find events that cater to the
type of crowd you’re looking to attract.
Send them some free gear or do something
good for them in exchange. Most
events have sponsorship rates that you
could pay as well. I know for my event
Weapons of Mass Creation Fest, we are
looking for cool sponsors to help fund the
event and to make the experience better
for our attendees. I know firsthand how
badly events need sponsors, so don’t forget
about this avenue for promoting your
brand.
10 Secrets to Driving Traffic to your Website
Events are perfect places to
get brand exposure. From
sponsorships to give-aways,
you’re guaranteed to find
new customers.
In my 6 years of experience working as a freelance designer and at Go Media, I
have used a combination of all sorts of things to drive traffic to our websites. If
there’s one thing I seem to have a knack for it’s this.
1. Track your stats. I use Google Analytics and Clicky real-time stats. It’s critical
to track your traffic and find out where your visitors are coming from. It’s the only
way you’ll know what the heck is going on behind the scenes. You could also
track your e-commerce stats and conversion rates. Are you getting thousands of
visitors but hardly any sales? Maybe they’re the wrong type of visitors or there
could be a problem with your ordering process. Who knows, but any good marketer
keeps a good eye on his or her stats.
2. Ego Searching or Brand Monitoring. I use Google Alerts to track mentions of
my name/brand on the web. And SocialOomph for mentions on twitter. If some-
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