Don’t get stuck on “What do I say?”.
One of the side benefits of having a Print on Demand business, is that you can make personalized gifts for your friends and family. When someone opens a Christmas gift or Birthday gift that has their picture and/or their name on it, they automatically know that you cared enough to personalize the gift. Gifts like this just can’t be found on aisle three at Walmart.
You can even go further and make personalized products in other situations like:
- Prizes for a contest
- Rewards in a Facebook Group
- Special gifts for club members
- A sales campaign for everyone in a club, fraternity or sorority.
You can customize at the club or group level or spend a little more time and put create one for each person with their name on it.
Once you identify a situation where you want to create a personalized product, the next question is “What do I say?”
WHAT DO I SAY ON A PERSONALIZED GIFT?
In this case I’m going to assume that you want to create a personalized gift for a friend or family member. I’m going to share a technique that has been taught for years for creating article headlines and it works equally well for creating customized gifts. This helps you get past the “What do I Say?” road block.
PICKING THE PERFECT SAYING
There are six simple rules for this technique.
- Allow yourself some time and write down special sayings that the person often says or things that people often say about the person.
- Research a little. Do a Google search for “Granddaughter” or “Best Friend”. Click the images tab and write down anything that strikes you. Add the word “Shirt” to your search (e.g. Best friend shirt) and look some more. You can also add words like “Cool” or “Best” You can do the same kind of searches on Pinterest or Amazon.
- When you are ready take out a yellow pad and start writing down your ideas. Just write as fast as you can. Do NOT modify an existing line, create a new line with the modification. You should be able to come up with dozens of ideas
- Leave your list.
- Come back after a day or so and read through the list, marking those that really strike you.
- Pick one of the sayings.
Resources –
Images Resource– Sometimes you want to add an image to your personalized gift. This ebook gives you sources for images you can use legally for products you want to sell. They work just as well for personalized family gifts.
Fonts Resources – You can use tools like Word or Google Slides (their version of PowerPoint) to create designs. Sometimes you would like special fonts like ones with fire on the letters or ice dripping off the letters. This eBook gives you overs 100 free fonts you can use on products you sell. They work just was well for personalized products.
Cool Design Creator – WordSwag is an app you can put on your smart phone for less than $5. It will give you hundreds of versions of any text you enter. You choose the one(s) you like and save them.
Gearbubble – One of the Print on Demand companies I work with is Gearbubble. Here is an overview of uploading a design image to Gearbubble so that you have a product.
EXAMPLE LIST OF IDEAS
Here is part of a list I created for my granddaughter.
Gift Ideas for Nelita
Grandma’s heart melts when she hears Nelita say “I luv you Nana”
Nelita – Grandma’s little bumblebee.
Nelita – the World’s Coolest Granddaughter
Nelita – the World’s Okayest Granddaughter
Nelita – the World’s Bestest Granddaughter
Nelita – the World’s Coolest Granddaughter, Love Robyn & Hale
Nelita – the World’s Okayest Granddaughter, Love Robyn & Hale
Nelita – the World’s Bestest Granddaughter, Love Robyn & Hale
Nelita Pringle – One Cool Granddaughter
Nelita Pringle – My Favorite Granddaughter
How is it possible that out of all the little girls in the world, Nelita is the best one?
Nelita – My Favorite Hello and my Hardest Goodbye _ Robyn & Hale
I Can’t Keep CALM! Nelita is my granddaughter!
Nelita stole my heart when she called my Grandma!
Nelita – a Humdinger (n.) A remarkable person, place or thing
Nelita is just an angel who hasn’t spread her wings yet.
Nelita is Grandma’s Girl
The love between Nelita and Grandpa and Grandma is forever!
There is nothing like Nelita in my arms to put a smile on my face, a lump in my throat and a warm feeling in my heart.
Nelita – You are my happy!
Nelita – I love you to the moon and back!
SUMMARY
- Collect Special Sayings
- Research
- Brainstorm a list of ideas
- Wait a day and then pick one
Simple, but it works.
Until next time: Have a Great Day! Oh Hale Yes!
I love this approach. I think I need to add some customized listings to my Etsy shop. I’ve been on Merch by Amazon for quite some time but I’ve decided over the last few months to really double down and add some more platforms like possible Zazzle and maybe even Spreadshirt.
Do you think other platforms provide a better opportunity than Amazon Merch at this point?
I’ve never made Merch work. I use sites like Gearbubble and Facebook Ads. It is not easy, but the big money guys seem to be there.