How To Make Merch For YouTube

The most successful YouTube creators diversify their income and profit from their popularity by selling products and official branded merchandise. Custom merchandise is a fantastic way to do it if you’ve amassed a sizable fanbase interested in interacting with your business offline. You can consider it an investment of sorts, one that you fully expect to yield profits and help you earn more.

Learn the most efficient and effective methods for creating and selling products on YouTube with us today. It’s ideal for established content creators who have never before tried selling custom clothing that promotes their content creation endeavors. 

YouTube Merch: Why It Is Important

Selling custom YouTube merch can be the foundation of effective marketing, and it’s also a fantastic method to make money on the side. Popular YouTubers like PewDiePie rake in more than $6 million monthly, and Dude Perfect earns almost $3 million by selling custom merch. 

If selling merchandise is something you’ve been considering, consider these three things to understand its importance to your main business – content creation: 

Boost exposure and visibility

When subscribers buy and wear your customized merchandise, they become a walking billboard for your brand. It will generate more interest in your company and bring regular visitors to your channel.

Build a community

Your existing fans will experience a stronger sense of connection, loyalty, and trust in you when they wear or fashion custom merch that they bought directly from your company.

Let fans support you

If you can believe it, the vast majority of fans want to and are more than happy to show their support for their favorite creators by buying the things that they make.

Now that you understand the importance of selling custom merch for your YouTube channel let’s get you started on making it. For your ease, we’ve divided the process into five steps. 

Do Research and Create Designs

The key to providing your followers with the very finest YouTuber merch possible is first to understand what types of products they are most interested in acquiring. This will require you to do research and know your audience.

In general, there are some customized merchandise that have been shown to be particularly popular among purchasers. These include:

1. T-shirts
2. Sweatshirts
3. Hats 
4. Hoodies
5. Mugs and other drinkware
6. Stickers
7. Phone cases
8. Enamel Pins

You may sell specialized goods that are relevant to your channel’s subject matter. If you have a YouTube channel about cooking, for instance, you may sell bespoke kitchen appliances or aprons.

Ask your YouTube channel’s viewers what they want to see more in merchandise via polls and surveys. The content of your YouTube channel may provide some useful hints on its own.

Once you’ve researched what kind of products to sell, it’s time to create some unique designs. Because your products represent your YouTube brand, it’s important that they look and feel like an extension of your brand identity. When thinking of designs, you can include your channel’s:

• Logo,  
• Slogan, 
• Pictures of the host,  
• Other identifying catchphrases or illustrations. 

This will not only make your products more noticeable, but it will also foster a feeling of belonging and exclusivity within your customer base. 

If you are a skilled designer yourself, you may create your own merchandise. You can also use free Merch Maker for YouTubers to turn your ideas into a real product easily. If you’re not into designing, you can discover artists willing to do custom graphics for you just about everywhere for a small fee. Check out freelancer platforms, such as:

• Fiverr
• Upwork
• Dribbble

Pick a Platform to Sell On

Select a powerful platform developed for online stores while getting ready to open your e-commerce business to sell YouTube merch. You may expand your company and provide better customer service if you choose a platform that delivers a smooth user experience (UX). Common online marketplaces include:

• Shopify,
• Wix,
• Etsy,
• Squarespace,
• WooCommerce,
• BigCommerce,

Once you’ve decided on the platform to sell products, consider teaming up with a print-on-demand (POD) provider.

Work with a print-on-demand service, and you basically have a free platform to create YouTube merch and sell it. There will be no need for initial payments; you’ll just give them the designs, and they’ll manufacture it and ship it to the customer directly. They’ll keep the manufacturing and service costs, and you can keep the profit yourself.

You must work with a reliable print-on-demand service if you want satisfied consumers. Things to think about while choosing a print-on-demand partner are:

1. The cost
2. Size of catalog
3. Product Quality
4. Customization options
5. ETA for shipping
6. Support
7. Ease of integration with the chosen online storefront

Set Up Your Store With High-Quality Products

Once you’ve decided on a platform to sell your products, it’s time to set up your store. Build a storefront that is:

• Attractive to look at
• Easy-to-use
• Rich with up-and-coming features

Choose the design of your store that shares a theme that matches your identity as a YouTuber. 

Once you’ve figured out the basics of design, it’s time to put your products on display. Link your POD provider with your eCommerce platform. This will make it easy to sync and export the products that you design and publish. It will automatically update your:

• Product Title
• Product Description
• Product images
• Product price
• Shipping price
• Designs
• Availability

Once you’ve connected your POD provider and your storefront, you’re ready to start selling. But before you make some noise in the retail sector, you need to prepare for success by creating a solid marketing and pricing plan. 

Create a Marketing and Pricing Plan

A business runs on marketing. E-commerce needs distinct strategies to attract customers, unlike physical establishments, which profit from passersby.  Here are a few things you’ll have to outline in a marketing plan:

1. Define target audience and market (including competitors)
2. Define channels of marketing (YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) 
3. Determine your budget for marketing and financial forecast (Paid Ads/Collaboration/Employing Marketing and Content creation staff)
4. Use SWOT analysis and define your USP (you’ll market this)
5. Define SMART marketing goals and channels 
6. Define key performance indicators and metrics to gauge success
7. Create a social media posting calendar and determine how often you’ll post

Once you have a marketing plan in place, it’s time to determine all your costs and decide how your products will cover that cost with the right pricing plan. While there is no foolproof method to price an item perfectly, think about: 

• How much do you want to make (Price you will sell – Cost of a product)
  • The cost of the product should include – design cost, production + shipping cost + marketing cost
• How the market functions (research the average price at which competitors are selling)
• What’s the value of your brand name? 

There are several pricing strategies out there, but here are three strategies that work best for eCommerce:

1. Establishing three price points: Depending on the time frame and future goals of your company, you may choose from three different price points using this method.
   1. Best Price: the price that could look slightly more than what you’ll provide but won’t put off your consumers. 
   2. Logical Price: the reasonable cost for your industry and customer base.
   3. Lowest Price: the price after you provide discounts without reducing your margin earnings. 
2. Dynamic pricing: It’s a pricing strategy that requires your business to create flexible rates depending on what the market is currently demanding. Periodically, prices will vary depending on the season and the top-selling goods on the market.
3. Cost + pricing: Just as the name suggests, this pricing strategy adds up the cost and adds a desired target profit you’d like to make. Here, it’s important to understand the value of your brand name to determine an attainable profit margin.

Monitor Sales While Adapting Your Strategy

Once you’ve set product prices and put your marketing plan into action, it’s time to monitor your sales. If the product price approach you choose doesn’t work out at first, don’t worry about it. Try it once again with a different one.  There are no hard and fast rules to make and sell merch on YouTube. Till the outcomes are wholly satisfactory to you, make the necessary changes. Remember to do the following:

• Examine your seasonal items, 
• Keep up with market trends, 
• Assess your pricing on a regular basis, 
• Keep an eye on your competitor’s activities, and 
• Never forget to keep your target market in mind. 

Advertise The Merchandise For Your YouTube Channel

Let’s talk about social media advertising before we wrap up since it’s the first and most apparent marketing strategy to use when trying to sell your YouTube merchandise. You must have a strong internet presence and generate interest in your products if you want to generate sales. Sticking to your current platforms or wherever your audience is located is generally a good idea. Any of the channels listed below are excellent for advertising your merchandise:

• Instagram to make reels, stories, posts, or to shop.
• Facebook for producing Live videos, Facebook Groups, Pages, and Posts.
• TikTok for short videos and to go live, and 
• Of course, YouTube is for making long-form videos and live interactions. Don’t forget to showcase your products on a YouTube merch shelf behind you or anywhere visible on camera. 

Conclusion

That’s it! Now, you’re ready to monetize your YouTube fame and sell your custom YouTube merch. Providing your YouTube followers with an option to invest in merchandise is a fantastic way to build rapport with your audiences and make a profit. Using a company like Printify or another print-on-demand service, you can offer your subscribers apparel and other items that are really representative of your brand’s identity.