[theforum] schwag, publicity, fundraising

[Martin Burns]

On 21 Dec 2008, at 05:44, Erika wrote:

> 'd like to be more proactive about schwag.  Some of the survey  
> feedback
> has come back saying that we don't market ourselves enough,  
> something I
> tend to agree with.

Yes

> I tried to order a t-shirt from cafepress a few months ago and had my
> credit card turned down for no known reason. No one else ordered
> anything from cafepress in 2008.

OK, CP sucks.

> Also, I don't think our profit margin is very big on cafepress gear.  
> We
> could likely double our profit margin by selling limited amounts of
> limited designs on our own.  When we sell out of one thing, we can  
> order
> something new.

3 problems:

1) Would need to build a storefront of some kind (or use ebay?), and  
I'd rather we focused on our own site
2) Holding and dispatching stock is *painful*
3) Upfront cost and therefore sunk money

I think the better option is to find an equivalent to Cafepress that  
sucks less.

I've used spreadshirt.net extensively both directly and as the backend  
to http://www.lafraise.com

> It would be nice to promote these in our donate block similar to how  
> ALA
> has promoted shirts in the past.

Yes

> I've received samples from stickerrobot and they offer an extra 500
> stickers for ordering in December.  I've ordered them as well.  5"x2"
> vinyl stickers.

Cost?

I think moo.com is a superb sticker option.
(plus we have contacts there)

> Here's my personal plan for stickers.  In Portland, there are several
> "techie hangouts" -- these are bars where people gather, certain
> coffeeshops, and places like cubespace where you can rent
> meeting/workspace for working or meeting with clients.  I want to  
> leave
> the stickers in these spots, and/or just give them out.
>
> In addition, if anyone orders a t-shirt, I'd throw a few stickers in,
> too.  It would also be nice to send stickers to donors as a "thank  
> you."

Yep yep and yep.

> It's unfortunate to have missed Christmas season for -shirts, but I  
> know
> that some folks in the US get tax returns in the spring and might have
> some cash to spend at that time.

Also, I think the buying season for shirts is as the weather gets  
warmer.

Cheers
Martin
--
 > Spammers: Send me email -> yumyum at easyweb.co.uk to train my filter
 > http://dspam.nuclearelephant.com/