How to Use Grassroots Marketing to Promote Clothing

Companies often use grassroots marketing to promote clothing that appeals to a certain audience. For example, hemp clothing and organic t-shirts are often advertised through grassroots campaigns to help reach consumers who may not pay attention to traditional forms of media and advertising.

Instructions

1. Look for representatives of the local community to help promote your clothing. You may want to post fliers for volunteers or send out a note to your email list. Consider offering a gift certificate or free t-shirt in exchange for promotional help.

2. Ask your volunteers to spend time passing out fliers downtown during a busy time of the day. Pay attention to when and where your grassroots promotion will be to get a high ratio between fliers passed out and time spent. Remember to have your volunteers wear your clothing while they work.

3. See if you can post small ads for your clothing in some other stores. For example, if you're marketing organic t-shirts, you should see if your local organic grocery store is interested in exchanging promotions between your businesses. You could even create a special run of organic t-shirts emblazoned with the logo of the grocery store.

4. Promote your gear with in-store deals to get customers to bring their friends in with them. You could offer a second item at a discount with purchase.

5. Associate your clothing with a political or social movement that is popular with your general customer base. By sponsoring events and movements, you will help lure in more customers while retaining others.

6. Time your sales for when your customers are doing the most shopping. If you cater to a younger market, the back-to-school season may be your biggest time of the year. If you are selling to mostly college students, consider having a sale at the beginning of each semester.

7. Ask your customers to help you get your clothing into other stores. Use signatures of support to show that there is an extensive interest in your product. Grassroots marketing can be effective in getting your items into large chains, but you need solid sales data and a show of support to back it up.

Tips & Warnings

• Giving out bumper stickers can be a cheap and effective way to use marketing techniques to reach a large audience. Remember to put your website's address on the bumper stickers.

• Grassroots promotional campaigns can take time to build a following for your clothing, and it may take several months to see the results of your efforts.