Exploring Effective Marketing Techniques to Promote Print-on-Demand Products and Reach a Wider Customer Base in the UK

With the massive growth of eCommerce, given the digital revolution, the Print on Demand market is growing and thriving in all corners of the world. Given how easy and low-demanding the business model is, it is a great opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to design their very own custom products and sell them internationally. 

The United Kingdom has a thriving customer base that would love and adore your unique designs, be it on print on demand t-shirts or the cutest baby blankets. In this article, we’ll go over some key aspects of marketing and promoting your products to maximize your POD business potential in the UK market. 

Print-on-Demand Market in the UK

The British love online shopping more than anybody else in the world. In fact, the country’s e-commerce industry is booming. Check out the 2021 Internal Trade Administration data:

• In the United Kingdom, online sales surpassed $120 billion annually and made up 30% of the retail industry, 20% more from 2020. 
• In 2021, 82% of Brits made at least one internet purchase.

In 2022, Statista projected roughly 60 million people in the nation would utilize e-commerce platforms, leaving traditional shoppers as a minority. So, it’s obvious they’d be open to buying unique and customized goods online too.

So if you’re simply thinking of your own business, it’s time to read up more on how to start POD business and begin monetizing on this immense opportunity. And if you already have one, let’s get you started on developing a solid marketing strategy to appeal the UK consumers. 

Know Your Target Audience

Understanding your target market is a crucial first step to successfully marketing print-on-demand items no matter where your business is located. You can start with market research and define the following things about the audience you cater to: 

• Demographics,
• Preferences, 
• Interests,
• And pain points.

There are several ways to learn these things about your audience. Here are a few tips: 

• If you already have a website, find out customer trends in already gathered data with analytics.
• Talk directly to your potential customers by mailing them individually or creating survey forms. 
• Leverage social media listening tools to dig into existing conversations on specific pages and groups on different social media platforms.
• Find out what your audience is searching for on search engines with tools like BuzzSumo and Google Trends.
• Figure out what kind of products are selling hot in the UK market and how you can add to it, where’s the gap, and how to fill it.

Once you’ve figured out your target audience in and out, you’ll be able to understand what they need and how you can reach them. After that, you’re ready to move on to the next parts of creating a marketing plan that’ll cater to them. 

Think About Attractive Designs

Nothing beats good and attractive designs that your target audience will actually want in a print-on-demand business. Because good designs naturally attract more customers, and bad designs, even with a solid marketing plan, won’t sell enough. 

When you’ve figured out what’s in demand and where’s the gap in the market with market research, this part becomes a breeze. Make designs that customers will line up to buy with:

• Uniqueness to stand apart from the competition
• Following trends and preferences that will make your designs desirable
• Avoiding copycats and plagiarism
• Using tools and software that make putting designs on products easier

Try out Canva or Adobe Illustrator to create designs. Then use Printify’s mockup generator that allows you to easily upload designs on its products and get a 3D view to see how they’ll look in real life.

Create Social Media Marketing Plan

The British millennial generation has a reputation for constantly using social media to stay updated. Therefore, it is critical that you understand how to effectively establish:

• Brand’s image, 
• Its involvement and engagement, 
• And credibility across social media platforms.

This will help your business come across as a trustworthy and reputable brand among the UK’s youth.

Create a social media account for your business on different platforms and determine how each serves your goal of reaching your target audience. Certain platforms are notoriously used by brands for certain goals, such as:

• Facebook for brand awareness,
• Twitter for engagement,
• Long-format YouTube videos to educate the audience, and
• Instagram for promoting business.

If you’re looking to grow your presence even further, partnering with a content creator can provide the creative edge you need. Learn more about how a content creator can help produce engaging content for your business. Use these platforms to build strong relationships with your current and potential customers. Post regularly by maintaining a social media calendar and stay engaged by responding to the audience’s comments and queries.

Think About Content and Email Marketing

While social media is great for finding new customers and increasing brand awareness, email marketing will create a strong recall for existing customers. To maintain client interest and encourage repeat purchases, you should regularly send out targeted email campaigns displaying new items, discounts, and special deals.

Additionally, when it comes to recruiting new consumers and increasing your brand’s credibility, content marketing is a crucial part of digital marketing. It will also help you gain search engine visibility by helping you rank on top. Some of the great ways to generate content are:

• Make keyword-optimized blog entries, 
• Create videos about your products and their use, 
• Start podcasts that are interesting and instructive for your target audience.

If you really want to drive traffic to your store, make sure to adhere to the best practices of SEO in your content. 

Use Possibilities of Paid Media

While organic exposure is priceless, investing in paid methods of promotion may do wonders for your print-on-demand business’s profile in the UK. Let’s take a look at some of the many advertising options at your disposal over the Internet:

• Native ads

Native ads appear as recommendations below blog posts on websites or as “in-feed” advertisements in your social media or news stream. Taboola and Outbrain are some of the most popular native ad platforms to use.

• Search engine marketing (SEM)

SEM consists of cost-per-thousand (CPM) or pay-per-click (PPC) ads where search engines bring your website to the top of search engine result pages (SERPs). For the former, you pay for 1,000 impressions each, and for the latter, you bid for a keyword and get charged when someone clicks the ad. Find out which of the two serves your purpose the best and use Google Shopping Campaigns or Google Responsive Search Ads for SEM.

• Display ads

Display advertising is the most common kind of online marketing. It can be in any format, including videos, pop-ups, floating banners, wallpapers, text ads, and static image ads. Google AdSense for PC display ads and Apple Advertising for mobile ads are two of the most popular options for such ads.

• Social Media ads

Create ads on social media or boosts your post to reach more audience over social media platforms. You can target a specific group of people and even reach those who don’t follow you. You just need your business social media account to start advertising on various platforms. 

• Retargeting

You may increase your conversion rate by targeting clients who considered making a purchase but ultimately decided against it. SharpSptring ads or AdRoll are great tools to create retargeting ads.

Don’t Forget Influencers and Affiliate Marketing

The use of influencers in product promotion has recently increased in popularity. According to Statista, the market for influencer advertising in the UK is expected to grow to a value of $1.03 billion by 2023. By 2027, the market is forecast to be worth US$1.52bn, representing a CAGR of 10.28% from 2023 to 2027.

By finding and working with influencers in your market, you may promote your print-on-demand items via sponsored content, contests, and reviews. It will help you:

• Strengthen your social media presence, 
• Bring more traffic, and 
• Convert them into paying customers. 

Influencer marketing can be a bit on the expensive end for small business owners, especially when you look at the prices of top influencers. You may still leverage its power through micro-influencers or niche influencers through an affiliate marketing program. In affiliate marketing, you share commissions of sales from promoted products by social media creators. 

It’s important to determine a budget for paid media and influencer marketing beforehand. This will help you determine how much you can afford to spend on these efforts. Define S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) goals and track your progress to keep an eye on your return on investment (ROI). This brings us to the last point of our article.

Analyze Data and Results

We think it’s a must that your approach is result-driven and analyzing data and keeping tabs on important metrics can help gauge the efficacy of your marketing activities. You’ll be able to make more informed judgments and fine-tune your marketing efforts according to the insights provided by the information, such as:

• Website traffic, 
• Conversion rates, 
• Reach and engagement on social media, 
• And overall sales.

How do you get this data? You can use analytics tools like Google Analytics or social media insights often available to business accounts. If you want to know what works best to reach your audience, you need to constantly test new marketing channels and messaging strategies, evaluate designs, and adjust pricing.

Conclusion

If you’re an entrepreneur hoping to cash in on the rising demand for customized products in the UK, you might want to consider getting into the print-on-demand business. Use these effective marketing techniques that will become essential for promoting your business and expanding your consumer base. Always keep in mind that with marketing, you need perseverance and flexibility. Keep abreast of industry trends and updated knowledge of your client’s tastes to achieve success.