No. Merch. Swag. Promotional products. Branded merchandise. You don't need to pass a vocabulary test before you can get something made! Take a look at a branded hoodie in three different situations: A — sold in a company shop to customers. B — given to speakers at an event. C — sent to new employees on their first day. Would you call all three “merch”? Would one feel more like swag? Would you call any of them promotional products? There is no official right answer. That's the point. The terminology is useful when it helps everyone understand the project. It should never be the thing stopping you from starting one. That is part of what I get into in Episode 002 of Merch Marketing for Entrepreneurs & Business Owners: Merch vs. Swag: Why I Call It Strategic Swag and how to create the product that makes sense for your business... and your budget. Follow and listen to EP 2: Merch vs. Swag: Why I Call It Strategic Swag Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcasts

I MADE THE MERCH PODCAST I COULDN’T FIND: Merch Marketing for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs is officially live. I would love your support in following the show. I made it for people who want to use merch more strategically—but don't want to deal with the backend stress (sourcing, production, shipping) and just want a great new marketing opportunity to build their business. (Not landfill.) When a business owner wants to make branded merchandise, most of the information available tends to start in one of two places: A product catalog. Or content written for people already inside the promotional-products industry. I wanted something from the buyer’s side. What is actually worth making? How does an idea become a real product? Where do quantity, budget and timing change what is possible? What happens between “I want to make this” and boxes showing up at the door? So I made it. The first 4 episodes cover the decisions that happen before, during and after choosing the product—including how to decide what to make and how expertise can become something physical people use. And because I couldn’t launch a merch podcast without making merch... I’m giving away a personalized, co-branded Stanley Quencher. TO ENTER: Follow the podcast wherever you listen: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0ISAOZsA6E4akvLNa8ohCK Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/merch-marketing-for-entrepreneurs-and-business-owners/id6817843867 And to enter to win merch, click here: https://barbarahobart.kit.com/a140c09da9 If you want to share it for those you think would find this podcast helpful, I would love it. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I really appreciate your support.

Same product. Or at least it looks like the same product. So what is going on? Usually, the answer is: you’re not actually comparing the same thing. One quote may include setup. The other may not. One may include better decoration. One may be quoting a different material. One may include packaging or freight. One may leave half of that for later. Which is why I never look at the unit price first. I want to know: What exactly is included? What is going to get added later? And what will this actually cost by the time it gets where it needs to go? Because the cheapest quote on paper is not always the cheapest project. Join my free community, Get your Merch Made if you want to open new marketing opportunities to build your business and never over spend.

𝗧𝗟𝗗𝗥 - I rebranded Grok for Creators to AI Video Motion because so much of my own work is AI video that the old name no longer matched what I do. - I moved the price from $𝟱 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 $𝟰𝟳 𝗼𝗻𝗲-𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀. Existing members keep what they joined on. - The reason is payback speed. Skool needs its money back quickly on Growth Boost traffic, and a one-off gets it back on day one instead of over months. - I plan to start running ads, because at $47 the ad spend comes back much faster. I'm following Dan Harrison's model, which I know works. - Growth Boost has real problems, but I'd rather learn from the owners making it work than complain, so I'm copying the parts that fit. - This is my personal pivot, and it suits my situation. I'll share the results as they come in, including the bad ones. I'd put it at the top of the post, directly under the title, so people who only read the first few lines still get the point. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This weekend I took my Grok for Creators community and started rebranding it to 𝗔𝗜 𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. New name, new images, new classroom. It's a pain, and there's still a lot to do, so this is a log rather than a result. 𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗜𝗩𝗢𝗧 I realised I'm doing so much video work with AI that I'm not concentrating on one platform any more. Grok was on the door, but it wasn't what I was actually doing every day. 𝗜𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸, 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲. 𝗪𝗛𝗬 $𝟰𝟳 𝗢𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗢𝗙 $𝟱 𝗔 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗛 The success I've had with YouTube for Skool and Growth Boost made me look at the money differently. When Skool sends you traffic, they need their money back quickly, and a $5 monthly payment takes a long time to get there. 𝗔 𝗼𝗻𝗲-𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗲. I didn't decide this lightly. I saw Dan Harrison do it with his community and thought it was genius. He's just crossed $100k MRR, so it's a model I know works and can follow. At this price, I also intend to start running ads, because 𝗜 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿.

If you’ve already made something, start with behavior before sending another survey. Look at: What ran out first, What people requested afterward, What they asked to buy, What they ignored, Which variations moved fastest, ... and anything they used differently than you expected. Those patterns can help you decide whether to reorder, modify, expand or retire an item. If you’ve never made merch, look for similar clues in your business: things customers repeatedly ask for, save, or want to take away. You are looking for behavior, not compliments. If you want help turning those clues into a physical product idea, bring them into Get Your Merch Made.