Impressions - October/November 2024 - 35

She emphasizes the importance of consistently
adding new subscribers and prospects
to your list. In a similar vein, for Lawrence,
a regular e-newsletter serves as the primary
driver for retaining and keeping current
subscribers interested in his many product
offerings.
* Build different touch points. To maximize
her outreach efforts, Williams uses
live video on Facebook, YouTube and other
platforms, along with promotional texting.
She also does events with live box reveals.
* Ask for testimonials. Money asks all her
club members to submit reviews on their
experiences and encourages them to refer
new members. There's nothing having happy
customers vouch for your products to bring
in yet more sales! she says.
* Market yourself and your " why. " Williams
knows that even though her subscribers like
her T-shirts, they also want to know how
she chooses the designs she decides to go
with each month. They're also interested in
the backstory on how and why she decided
on starting her club in the first place. " Never
underestimate this kind of connection
marketing, especially during a launch week, "
she says. " Talk about your offerings, but
don't forget to also talk about you. You're
the influencer of your business, so let them
get to know you. "
Profitability
and Growth
By its nature, a T-shirt-of-the-month club is
a recurring revenue stream-that's a win right
there. However, you still need to keep a sharp
eye on costs. " Yes, having subscriptions does
provide guaranteed cash flow, " Kimsey says.
" But like any business, you need to watch the
bottom line, use the best resources for garments
and supplies, and find the best way to
ship economically. "
When you're starting out, Williams recommends
looking at other T-shirt subscription
models to get an idea what to charge. " Set your
pricing in the middle since you don't want to be
the cheapest or the most expensive, " she says.
As you're doing so, keep your profit margin
in mind as you're sourcing products, discovering
new vendors and considering your options.
" Make sure your profit margin is at least
30 percent and ideally closer to 50 percent,
[though] at the beginning, you'll go through
some trial and error, " Williams says. " You'll
have time to increase your profits as you perfect
this process. All your costs for one box-the
price of all the items, packaging and shipping-
shouldn't be more than 70 percent of the price
a subscriber pays. "
Williams notes when she first started her
monthly club business, she struggled to be
profitable because she kept adding " one more
thing " to each box. " Wanting to delight your
subscribers is a great thing, but those onemore-things
ate into my profits, " she says. " At
a certain point, I had to draw a line, and you'll
need to do so too. "
Money says she also focuses on keeping
costs low where she can. For example, using
design techniques that give the appearance of
a multicolored graphic while using the shirt
as one of the colors has helped tremendously
with printing costs. " To balance that, make
sure your members know exactly what they're
getting, " she says. " They know what type of
shirt they'll receive, with always encouraging
and on-trend graphics, and they know exactly
when it will arrive each month. "
That said, Lawrence warns those looking
to start a club to not put all their eggs in one
basket. " While our shirt of the month is truly
a unique vertical for us, it's not sustainable
on its own, " he says. " Custom screen printing,
embroidery and promo products will continue
to reign as our most profitable verticals. " 
Nicole Rollender is an award-winning writer and
heads up the copywriting and content-creation firm
strandwritingservices.com. For more information
or to comment on this article, email Nicole at
nicolerollender@strandwritingservices.com.
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