If you’ve been thinking about launching your brand online, you’re in luck because today we are going to take you through the basic steps to launching your clothing line. These days setting up an online store has never been easier, and if you’re an influencer or an artist or someone with a big following already, merch like men’s hoodies and women’s t-shirts are a great and easy way to expand your brand. In this post we will dive into the details using an easy website service which integrates with 3rd party fulfillment centers around the world.
10 Steps To Launch Your Brand Online
In this guest post, Jon Santos, who not only has his own brand but helps other brands get started, is going to walk through the 10 steps it takes to launch your brand online.
Step 1 – Create a Shopify Account and Domain Name
Shopify is the platform to use if you have no technical background or time to learn how to code. Start your 14 day Free Trial HERE and follow along. It’s also great because it allows you to plug into 3rd party APIs such as a fulfillment partner.
Step 2: Choose a Theme To Showcase Your Brand
In the world of eCommerce a theme is essentially the “Storefront” to your brand. The look and feel of your clothing brand will be highlighted and showcased to the world using a pre-designed and specially formatted theme. You can quickly launch your brand by using a free theme provided in the Shopify Marketplace or you can purchase a more robust theme which will give you greater customization. Regardless of what option you choose, you will be able to easily make adjustments.
Step 3: Connect Your Bank Account To Get Paid
Receiving and processing payments is crucial to launching your clothing line. You’ll want to establish a bank account for your business, so you can easily track sales and expenses for your company. Once you obtain a dedicated checking account, you can enter in your company details through the Shopify Dashboard.
Step 4: Connect Your Store To Social Media
Connecting your online store allows you to sell directly from platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and many others. This means customers can shop directly on those platforms without having to go to your website.
Step 5 – Prepare Your Artwork
BELLA+CANVAS makes it easy to prepare mock-ups which can be used to market your brand online. To accomplish this:
- Go to images.bellacanvas.com and download an image from the image gallery
- Pull the image up in photoshop/illustrator and place your artwork on the blank T-shirt image
- Save the mockup
- Create skus
- Upload images to your website
- Just make sure to review the copyright disclaimer on the image gallery and stick to non-model images to be safe
Step 6- Complete Your Brand Profile
Now that you have all the basics completed and designs ready to market. It will be important to enhance your brands imagery on your website. Fill the page with lifestyle imagery and information about what you stand for.
Step 7 – Find a Fulfillment Partner
To launch a product, you no longer need to physically make it and ship it yourself. A fulfillment company can help you make and distribute your products without you having to hold any physical inventory. This means you can focus on making new designs and marketing your brand online and the fulfillment company will take care of the rest.
Step 8 – Sell With No Money Down
If you already have an established following, you can set up a pre-sale with promised delivery dates to raise the money you will need to create the collection. This works great for any custom products, screen printed products or perhaps a unique collection you want to launch.
Step 9 – Start Selling!
If you followed these steps you are now ready to launch your clothing line. It’s that easy and in the video recently released on YouTube you can see how it all works.
Step 10- Continue To Market The Brand
Continue to create new designs and market your products. Make sure you shout out your customers that support you in order to spread word of mouth. Consider cross promoting throughout your social media channels such as YouTube and other platforms to ensure everyone knows about your merchandise. The key here is to keep awareness on your offering so you can continue to expand your clothing line.
For additional tips on starting your clothing line–from the ground up checkout my YouTube Channel and Website at: http://johnxsantos.com/. Feel free to send me any questions on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnxsantos/
1 Comments
Leo
How can I link my Shopify store to Bella canvas