In case you plan to begin a podcast, now’s the perfect time. With the rise of streaming companies like Spotify and Apple Music, podcasts—as soon as a distinct segment leisure class with a small viewers—are actually one of many streaming trade’s cornerstones.
Based on a 2023 survey, greater than 40% of Individuals have listened to a podcast inside the final month—3 times greater than in 2013.
Podcasts have taken over the world, and the trade exhibits no signal of decline. However how will you, as a podcast host, profit from this reputation and monetize your podcast? The reply is straightforward. Create merchandise.
Promoting trending products like custom t-shirts or custom hoodies will make it easier to earn more cash out of your podcast. In case you’d wish to promote merch to your listeners however aren’t fairly positive the best way to begin creating your personal podcast swag, don’t fear.
On this article, we’ll clarify the best way to monetize your podcast and begin promoting merch. We’ll additionally discover 9 enjoyable merch ideas that will help you with merchandising.
So what are we ready for? Let’s get into it.
Tips on how to begin promoting podcast merchandise
In case you’re contemplating promoting podcast merchandise, you may surprise the place to begin. How do you open a merch retailer?
You have got two choices: You are able to do all the things in-house, which suggests caring for stock, manufacturing, packing, and delivery your self, or you’ll be able to outsource the work to a printing supplier like Printful.
In case you resolve to print and pack all the things your self, promoting podcast merchandise gained’t be straightforward. It’ll be time-consuming and can demand a major upfront funding. However, for those who go together with a printing supplier, beginning your podcast swag retailer doesn’t essentially should imply an enormous funding of money and time.
With a dependable print-on-demand associate like Printful, you’ll have entry to a catalog of over 300 merchandise. By means of our integrations, you’ll be able to simply sell merch on Spotify with Shopify.
All that with out worrying about product manufacturing, packing, and delivery. However how does it work? Effectively, it’s easy!
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9 podcast merch concepts to your retailer
We’ve researched and gathered among the greatest gadgets to promote as branded merch to your podcast. Listed below are 9 enjoyable podcast merch concepts your viewers will love.
T-shirts
Probably the most standard and timeless merch concepts is the standard t-shirt. T-shirts are the traditional go-to for anybody planning to begin promoting merch, and for good cause. They’re comfy, versatile, sensible, and, most significantly, they promote effectively.
The statistics present that the worldwide t-shirt market is predicted to succeed in $51.72B in income by 2028. Whereas the ever-growing demand for t-shirts presents loads of alternatives, the competitors shall be powerful. So, for those who’re planning to create customized t-shirts as merch, there are two issues to remember.
First, make sure that to know the newest design developments. This may make it easier to create t-shirt design concepts that really feel present and up-to-date. In case you’re undecided the place to begin, check out this text detailing the most well-liked t-shirt design ideas in 2024.
Second, ensure that your designs replicate your podcast’s theme. For instance, for those who’re operating a comedy podcast, you need to incorporate humor into your merch designs.
You possibly can draw inspiration from different creators, like comic Brittany Broski. Her merch is referential, absurd, and irreverent—similar to Brittany’s podcast, the Broski Report.
Hoodies & sweatshirts
One other must-have class to your on-line retailer is hoodies and sweatshirts. Like t-shirts, hoodies and sweatshirts are comfy and versatile clothes gadgets, match for on a regular basis use.
Right here’s an excellent instance of a enjoyable customized hoodie from influencer and content material creator Emma Chamberlain’s merch retailer. On the entrance, the hoodie has a easy, small brand design of Emma’s podcast, Something Goes.
The again of the hoodie reveals an illustration of Emma and her podcast’s brand once more however in a a lot bigger measurement. This exhibits how you need to use your branded merch as a free, strolling promo to your podcast.
If you wish to supply your followers a premium expertise together with your hoodies, you’ll be able to mess around with several types of customization methods. For instance, if everybody else is promoting printed hoodies, why not attempt embroidery?
Embroidery will give your merchandise a extra luxurious really feel. You possibly can at all times take the subsequent step and check out our unlimited color embroidery approach. Common embroidery has a number of limitations—you’ll be able to solely use a restricted variety of colours and might’t create shade gradients.
With limitless shade embroidery, nevertheless, you may have countless alternatives to craft enjoyable hoodie design ideas your listeners will love.
Sweatpants & joggers
In case you’re providing hoodies as merch, why not supply sweatpants too? Take inspo from Alex Cooper, the host of Call Her Daddy, a comedy and recommendation podcast that places a up to date twist on feminism. Alex lately launched a merch assortment of matching hoodies and sweatpants, permitting followers to purchase an entire set.
Releasing merch collections with designs and gadgets that complement one another is a good way to extend gross sales and maintain prospects engaged. Bonus factors for those who market the merch items as restricted editions.
You may also bundle sweatpants and hoodies collectively in a package deal deal—that manner, you’ll give your podcast viewers incentive to purchase greater than only one merch merchandise out of your on-line retailer.
Mugs
Mugs are nice merchandise to have in your retailer. Mugs are sensible and infrequently far more inexpensive than bigger merch items like hoodies or sweatpants. This may be a wonderful lower-priced merchandise to your followers.
With Printful, you may have a number of choices to select from. In fact, there are the classics—the Black Glossy Mug, the White Glossy Mug, and the White Ceramic Mug for a splash of shade.
However, in case your weblog is geared extra towards nature lovers who go mountain climbing or tenting, you’ll be able to supply the sturdy Enamel Mug. To profit from latest developments, you’ll be able to soar on the Stanley Cup craze and supply your followers your model with our Travel Mug.
Mugs additionally make glorious presents, so you need to promote them closely proper earlier than the vacation season. There’s an opportunity that family and friends of your most loyal followers shall be searching your web site for presents.
Put together your merch retailer for the winter vacation season and amp up your advertising efforts proper earlier than the Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend spending rush.
In case you’ve by no means put collectively a vacation advertising marketing campaign, don’t fear. You possibly can draw inspiration from our article about the perfect social media holiday marketing trends of 2024.
Water bottles & tumblers
Mugs aren’t the one drinkware appropriate for podcast merch. If you need your podcast merchandise to face out, you’ll be able to supply one thing few different creators supply—water bottles and tumblers.
The marketplace for water bottles and reusable drinkware is on the upswing because of the rising demand for environmentally pleasant merchandise. Based on Fortune Enterprise Insights, the worldwide reusable bottle market was valued at $10.05 billion in 2023 and is predicted to develop to $15.61 billion by 2032.
Which means that now’s the perfect time for creating and selling reusable bottles in your merch retailer. This product class will doubtless work particularly effectively in case your podcast area of interest is said to environmental causes. If the followers who hearken to your podcast care concerning the planet, they’ll be extra doubtless to purchase reusable drinkware.
Alternatively, in the event that they’re athletic and into sports activities or, for instance, yoga— they will buy your bottle and use it of their every day exercise routine.
When considering of designs to your water bottles, we recommend conserving it easy. You don’t should reinvent the wheel—you’ll be able to simply add your podcast brand. This water bottle from the Cover 3 College Football Podcast is an effective instance.
The sturdy water bottle doesn’t have a wildly advanced design. It’s only a easy podcast brand—and it really works. You are able to do one thing comparable with our Sports Water Bottle.
However if you’d like one thing extra advanced, attempt the Stainless Steel Water Bottle. It has a big design space and can work nice for extra creative designs.
Stickers
While you’re on the lookout for podcast merch concepts, you’ll be able to’t go fallacious with stickers. They’re fast and straightforward to design and usually cheaper than different podcast swag, like hoodies, sweatpants, or shirts. So, similar to mugs, stickers could be standard with followers who can’t afford the pricier merchandise in your retailer.
Stickers offer you a whole lot of design freedom, so you may have virtually countless choices. Plus, a sticker is sort of a small model ambassador to your podcast. Right here’s a humorous bumper sticker from TMG, a comedy podcast hosted by Cody Ko and Noel Miller. It’s a joke, however it additionally promotes their podcast.
You may also create sticker collections to your listeners, like this sticker pack from one other profitable podcast, the Zack and Wahlid Present.
With Printful, you’ll be able to simply create varied stickers—standalones together with your podcast brand, packs with extra designs, and even particular holographic ones. Take a look at our beginner’s guide on selling stickers to study extra about designing, pricing, and advertising your stickers.
Tote luggage
Tote luggage will work as glorious promo merch to your podcast—much more so than stickers. Give it some thought. When individuals purchase tote luggage, they take them in all places of their every day routine. In case you promote a tote bag, you get free word-of-mouth advertising.
On your tote luggage, you need to create a witty, eye-catching design that may resonate together with your audience and pique their mates’ curiosity. Give your followers an opportunity to advertise and discuss your podcast to their family and friends.
A enjoyable instance of tote bag merch design is that this bag from YouTuber and podcaster Kurtis Conner’s merchandise retailer. It contains a humorous quote and considered one of Kurtis’ model parts, Kurtistown.
With Printful, you may have loads of luggage to select from. There’s the environmentally-friendly Eco Tote Bag, the spacious Large Eco Tote Bag, the enjoyable All-Over Print Tote, and extra.
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Caps & beanies
Caps and beanies are wonderful podcast merch concepts. They’re sensible, on a regular basis gadgets that almost all of us put on. Each are seasonal gadgets, so for those who promote beanies and caps, promote them on the proper time.
Caps ought to get extra consideration proper earlier than summer season—when the solar is popping out, and your listeners are on the lookout for cool summer season hats to put on. Beanies, nevertheless, ought to get extra consideration in your advertising plans on the finish of summer season, particularly within the run-up to the vacation season.
When fascinated with podcast merch designs for hats, keep in mind that caps and beanies have a a lot smaller design space than different customized merch gadgets. So, you need to concentrate on easy designs. You possibly can add your podcast brand or a brief phrase or joke you understand your followers love.
Right here’s one other instance from Kurtis Conner—this can be a joke his followers love, so why not reuse it for a number of merch gadgets? If a design is promoting effectively, don’t be afraid to make use of it once more. Promote it on posters, telephone circumstances, laptop computer sleeves, and extra.
Posters
Final however definitely not least, now we have posters. Folks tend to purchase posters in the event that they discover them visually interesting or in the event that they idolize whoever is on the poster (for instance, a musician or an actor).
So, for those who resolve to promote posters, concentrate on the design and make it pop. You possibly can go for a particular aesthetic. For instance, the aforementioned TMG podcast has this nice poster of their merchandise retailer that options the TMG podcast brand and illustrations with a comic-book aesthetic.
One other nice instance comes from Kurtis Conner’s retailer. This one mimics the fashion of a Nineteen Seventies disco aesthetic with a little bit of an ironic twist.
If you understand your model and what your podcast is all about, incorporate that into your posters and, in actual fact, in your entire podcast merch designs.
Be taught extra about podcast branding
Beginning your personal podcast is one factor.
Studying to efficiently model your self and monetize your podcast is one thing else fully. In case you really feel like you might use some assist, you’ve come to the proper place—we’ve received a ton of studying assets.
Check out our Printful Academy course on the best way to construct a model. This course will take you thru the method in a easy, easy-to-understand manner. You’ll begin with studying the fundamentals, and go on to extra superior subjects, like the best way to conduct market analysis and the best way to establish and categorical your personal model.
For extra podcast merch concepts and information on enterprise, advertising, and design developments, subscribe to our blog and our YouTube channel.
We frequently publish insights and recommendations on upcoming developments, however we’re additionally at all times on the lookout for trade information and information that might be invaluable to enterprise house owners such as you.
Able to begin promoting podcast merch?
Keep in mind—merchandise is all about branding. You need to discover the essence of what makes your podcast particular and concentrate on that when working in your merch concepts.
In case you maintain your merchandise genuine and true to your model and character, your most loyal followers will love the merch you set out.
OK, that’s all from us! Good luck, and don’t neglect—in case you have any questions on beginning your podcast merchandise retailer, simply tell us within the feedback, and we’ll gladly make it easier to.
