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Remember in the first part of this book when I said "marketing is psychology". Novelty items are exhibit A. There is something deeply embedded in the human psyche which drives a need to proclaim one's individuality by actually conforming to a narrower group. As people go through their lives, they accumulate a stronger sense of identity drawn from the lifestyle choices they have made. It says "I'm different; you have to deal with me this way.", even to the point of proclaiming the clothing brand name on the clothing if nothing else is written on it.
"We're the Abercrombie & Fitch clique! If you want to talk to somebody wearing Tommy Hilfiger, you'll have to go to those people over there. We don't associate with their kind."
Is it some primal method of marking territory? A way to ingrain identity? A uniform to conform to a standard? It's all of these and more. Suffice it to say that the smaller the niche, the fiercer the loyalty. A fact which you can exploit by offering novelty merchandise with the tribal markings of the niche membership all over it, be it a wallet with a Guns 'n' Roses logo (yes, they're now a niche. A tiny one.), a bumper sticker that proclaims "I heart my hermit crab" to the world, a T-shirt with "Go away or I'll replace you with a shell script" (in bad-dude sysadmin black, of course!), or about two hundred other potential items.
CafePress, which I mentioned earlier, is just one of many sites offering a virtual store service. How it works is, you sign up for a free account, then decide which of the promotional items you want to brand with your design. You either draw the design yourself or of course hire a freelancer to do it (graphics work by the piece is very cheap this way). You upload the design, click to load the item into your "online store front", and set a price. You pay no money for this, and in fact nothing more happens until a buyer clicks the order button. Then CafePress prints it up and sends the price to you minus their cost, and sends the merchandise to the customer.
How easy is that?
Almost as easy as being in the ebook business...
- File Size:1,946 KB
- License: Master Resell Rights
- Category:Ebooks
- Tags:2007 Ebooks Master Resale Rights