Impressions - Digital Decorator 2019 - 14

Darrell Maxwell with a
DTG design for a local
car club. Photo courtesy
of M&M Embroidery
& Digital Printing,
Douglasville, Ga.

BECOME
A NICHE
ExPERT
Understanding
potential
direct-to-garment
(DTG) markets.

BY TERRY COMBS,

Contributing Writer

he process of choosing the ideal market for your business is
twofold. First, you must determine the capabilities of your
equipment. Second, you must consider what areas of the
marketplace are best suited to that particular technology. In
this article, we will address part two of the process as we explore the
potential markets for direct-to-garment (DTG) printing.
Years ago, I heard a radio advertisement for a garmentdecorating business whose slogan was "We print anything!" Even
with my limited experience starting my business right out of college,
I found that business concept to be odd. It has always been my belief,
then and now many years later, that to be truly successful you should
find your one niche - or two or three - know everything there is to
know about that market and own it. You should be so knowledgeable
that others find it difficult to compete with you, creating an uneven
playing field because you are the undisputed expert in that arena.
This article is about the unique abilities of DTG printing, and
some of the markets that other DTG decorators have found to be
productive, lucrative and fun. The best use of the DTG printing
method is in short runs and full-color photographic reproduction.
This short-run capability gives the operator another selling opportunity in allowing for customization of each garment printed.
The point is not to pick out one of these ideas and run with it,
although you're more than welcome to do just that. The purpose
instead is to provide ideas, inspiration, motivation, and food for your
proverbial marketing thought, so you can turn these suggestions into
your own unique business opportunities.

THINK LIKE AN ENTREPRENEUR

In my seminars and classes I always tell my students that they should
constantly think in terms of "I should do shirts!" no matter what the
situation. With the immediacy of DTG decoration, this is doubly
true.
Taking the "think like an entrepreneur" concept to the extreme,
14 * Fall 2019

I call this next idea "Ice Cream and Whale Watching." I once met a
couple living on the Atlantic coast who owned an ice cream shop situated near the water where boats would take tourists out to watch the
whales. After returning to shore, these tourists would often wrap up
their adventure of a lifetime with an ice cream sundae. The owners
would watch their customers eat ice cream as they looked through all
the photos they had just taken on their cameras and smart phones of
whales breaching the water.
The entrepreneur spirit inside the owners said, "We should put
those pictures on T-shirts while our customers eat their ice cream!"
That's just what the couple did. They purchased a DTG printer,
created a template referring to the whale-watching experience, and
created a profitable add-on business.
"You know, if you pick out the best picture of the day, we can print
T-shirts while you enjoy that ice cream cone."
This is a very unique niche market, but it drives home the concept
of thinking like an entrepreneur in your business every day!

KNOW JUST ONE SECRET

By "owning your niche market" you know all the secrets of that market, which might not be the case for your competitors.
For example, when most people think of the Greek (fraternity/
sorority) market, they think of tackle-twill letters sewn onto hooded
sweat shirts. But the event end of this market spectrum - from parties, formals, homecoming, Big Sis/Lil Sis, annual events specific to
a national fraternity or sorority, Greek Week and more - provides
dozens of other opportunities for T-shirt businesses. And if you
don't know already, fraternity and sorority members buy enormous
amounts of T-shirts.
Here's how it all works. Each house has a social chairperson (or
similar elected officer) who will buy most of the T-shirts. It's a matter
of marketing to this one person to secure the business. These students are not professional buyers, so the best thing you can do is
deliver it right and deliver it on time, and you'll have a customer for
life - or at least until the next chapter election.
The secret to this market is to know when every fraternity and
sorority chapter within your chosen market region holds its elections.

Impressions - Digital Decorator 2019

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