Did the last blog convince you to give live printing a try? (Hard to turn down the chance to build your clientele, right?) Now you're probably wondering, how do you get in at an event?
It's all about who you know. Your buddy helps out at an annual wine festival and needs shirts. A client hosts a softball tournament and wants tourney tees. The brewery down the street has a trivia night each week and thinks it'd be fun to have live printing to attract more people. You never know who may need shirts, so always network demonstrate the wide set of skills you have. You'll be the first person that'll come to their mind when they need shirts.
You can also make the connection yourself. Reach out the event manager at an upcoming festival or concert, the director of a sports tournament, the owner of a business down the street. Do some research and discover areas that are lacking shirts that could really benefit from having
When you pitch the idea of having live printing at the event, demonstrate how much value it'll add to attendee's experience as well as the administrators' experience. Many people have never seen a squeegee pulled. The excitement that bubbles over when you lift that screen, showing off the new print. It's magical. Convey the thrill live printing conjures, and how it'll make that event that much better.
To make it more enticing, you can also throw in the idea of printing artwork that'll only exist at the event. Printing artwork just for the weekend or day will motivate more people to purchase a shirt, and then you don't have to deal with people wanting more shirts after the event. Having limited availability for the artwork is another way to make their event more unique.
Live printing makes the lives of the administrators easier because they don't have to order a ton of shirts, hope that they sell them all, and set aside the headache of having boxes of unsold shirts taking up space.
Push to be the only shirt vendor at the event. You have to put in a lot of time and money to essentially bring a mini version of your shop to the event. Why bother all that work if you have to compete with another printer?
Another great question to ask is how many people will be going to the event. If it's less than 50, live printing may not be the best investment for you (offer to print the shirts as a regular order instead). This is your chance to show off your business to hundreds, if not thousands, of more people. Therefore, bigger events should be your priority.
Alright, now that you're convinced to live print and have an event in mind, the next step is figuring out finances and what to bring. Next week, we'll look into what equipment you'll need, how much shirts to bring, how many designs to offer, and the finances behind it all.
