Image by Saurov Kar Roy from Pixabay

By Henry Brown

When running a brand, it’s important to think of how everything you’re involved in can reflect back on that image. For instance, many firms have a social media policy in place, where staff should be careful about what they post online for fear of it coming back on the company – or at the very least, they should be careful about listing connections with the company online, outside of a professional setting liked LinkedIn.

Yet while this might seem like the area where bad discourse could have the biggest blowback for your firm, there are many other areas where this could have an effect. Your branding and graphic design, for one, is perhaps the most immediate example. But one element that many businesses fail to really, deeply consider is that of how their merchandise is structured. In this post, we’ll discuss what your business merchandise says about your brand, how to develop it in the healthiest sense, and what can be done from there. Without further ado, let’s get started:

Quality in quantities

One nice design well-developed is good, but it needs to offer quality in quantities that you can move, either through a business storefront, or in giving free goodies away during your business convention attendance. This kind of uniformity in quality will speak to the values of your firm. For this reason, it’s important to use excellent services that know their way around worthwhile screen printing and embroidery. It will make a massive difference in how these products are regarded, as even something as simple as a t-shirt can speak to your values in this way.

Confidence in your brand image

A neat, simple logo can work wonders, as can a simple motto or other identifying images. Some brands decide to go all out and plaster logos, text, and images all over their merchandise, but there’s something quite restrained and confident about keeping the design simple, about knowing how to promote your brand without having to plaster phone numbers or emails all over the lettering space. For instance, Tesla offers clean shirts featuring their recognizable logo, and brands like Ferrari make their merch into collector’s items thanks to an iconic, distinguishable yet understated style. Having confidence in this way can make a world of difference.

A willing promotional tool

We need to make sure that not only does our merchandise look and feel good, but that clients and customers are actually happy to wear it. Might it be the fact that wearing a hat with the brand of your company is more likely if it washes well, if it’s comfortable, and if it has an easily customizable sizing strap? Are the pens you create actually of good enough quality to be in the pocket of someone working for an entirely different company? This is how merch can speak to the qualities of your brand, but also spread your brand name in that packaging. This process can make a massive difference if you don’t take it for granted.

With this advice, you’ll find it easier to see how merchandise reflects on your brand.

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Henry Brown is an online marketing executive. When he isn’t talking shop, he’s roaming the streets of London, uncovering the extra-ordinary in the ordinary.