{"id":744,"date":"2015-06-29T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T14:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/?p=744"},"modified":"2015-06-30T12:16:27","modified_gmt":"2015-06-30T17:16:27","slug":"failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Failure #1: T-Shirts and Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marketing has never been my “thing,” and I suppose it still isn’t. And finding, understanding, and connecting with audiences is obviously a skill I will need to work on.<\/p>\n

\"#000000<\/a>
#000000 is the new black<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’ve always wanted this shirt<\/a>. It speaks to the geek in me as well as a little bit the designer, because it’s hard to go wrong with Helvetica Neue. So I spent about 30 minutes in Photoshop playing around with a design and layout for the tee, quickly put it on Teespring, ordered myself one and then put a quick link to it on my Facebook profile. And guess what, someone else picked one up as well! Woah, hold on now!<\/p>\n

The wheels in my head got to spinning, and I thought that if I wanted it, and somebody else wanted it enough to just pick one up like that, then maybe\u00a0other<\/em> people would want it as well. I mean, c’mon, it\u00a0is<\/em> a pretty cool shirt.<\/p>\n

A quick Google search revealed that many people find Facebook the best advertising platform for selling goods through Teespring, and though Facebook is definitely not my favorite place to hang around, I did see potential in doing some very targeted ads. A couple of<\/a> YouTube videos<\/a> and some easy Facebook Ad steps later and I was good to go with a campaign targeting developers and designers, age 21-33, who liked to purchase clothing. Boom, solid gold!<\/p>\n

I put the campaign up and of course obsessively checked the statistics over the next two hours. (Note: the Facebook Campaign Summary page is not live, just in case you thought it might be.) First one click, then two, then a few more! Awesome. This led to me obsessively refreshing the Teespring Campaign page as well. It looked like this:<\/p>\n

\"Teespring<\/p>\n

It’s been a couple days now, and\u00a0I had budgeted to spend $20\/day on the ad campaigns, figuring that if I could sell at least two shirts through it that I would break even. Thus far the ad has reached ~10,000 views, but clicks are at 84. That’s right, that is a 0.84% click through rate, not super awesome, though the CPC is around $0.50. So where does the Teespring campaign stand at now?<\/p>\n

\"Teespring<\/p>\n

That’s right, hasn’t budged a single shirt. That leaves me with a conversion rate of 0%. If I were to sell one shirt in the next minute, that shirt would have cost me $40 to sell. Uhoh, something is rotten in the state of my marketing efforts.<\/p>\n

I freaked out a bit and realized that perhaps I was using the audience feature of Facebook Ads incorrectly, and that perhaps I was casting too large a net. The niche pays, right? So I created a second ad set with a more targeted audience (down to about 1 million potentials instead of 7 million) and that ad set has performed slightly better. It has a higher click through rate (1.5%) and a lower cost per click ($0.40). And too bad likes aren’t worth anything: five or so people have liked the Page that backs the ad, but still aren’t buying the shirt.<\/p>\n

Next steps? I tried creating an even more targeted audience campaign, targeting just graphic designers in a small niche (about 260,000 people). That improved click through rates to above 1.5%, but conversion was still a big fat 0. I’m \u00a0pulling the plug on Facebook Ads and coming up with something better. I’ll have learned my lesson to not make something that I simply want, but to talk to people first, since I am definitely the odd duck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marketing has never been my “thing,” and I suppose it still isn’t. And finding, understanding, and connecting with audiences is obviously a skill I will need to work on. I’ve always wanted this shirt. It speaks to the geek in…<\/p>\n

Continue readingFailure #1: T-Shirts and Marketing<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[133,161],"tags":[349,21,62,103,351,352,350],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nFailure #1: T-Shirts and Marketing - Joshua Lyman.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Failure #1: T-Shirts and Marketing - Joshua Lyman.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Marketing has never been my “thing,” and I suppose it still isn’t. And finding, understanding, and connecting with audiences is obviously a skill I will need to work on. I’ve always wanted this shirt. It speaks to the geek in…Continue readingFailure #1: T-Shirts and Marketing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/0-New-Black.png?fit=1200%2C627&ssl=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jlyman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@jlyman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joshua\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joshua\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4679b2b5b142a2c904bb46f97a04bd9e\"},\"headline\":\"Failure #1: T-Shirts and Marketing\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-29T14:00:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-30T17:16:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/\"},\"wordCount\":595,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4679b2b5b142a2c904bb46f97a04bd9e\"},\"keywords\":[\"ads\",\"entrepreneurship\",\"facebook\",\"marketing\",\"sales\",\"selling\",\"t-shirt\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/\",\"name\":\"Failure #1: T-Shirts and Marketing - Joshua Lyman.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-29T14:00:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-30T17:16:27+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/\",\"name\":\"Joshua Lyman.com\",\"description\":\"Technologist, founder, and teacher\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4679b2b5b142a2c904bb46f97a04bd9e\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4679b2b5b142a2c904bb46f97a04bd9e\",\"name\":\"Joshua\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Headshot-2020-Square-Small.jpg?fit=1000%2C1000\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Headshot-2020-Square-Small.jpg?fit=1000%2C1000\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"Joshua\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jlyman\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/author\/jladmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Failure #1: T-Shirts and Marketing - Joshua Lyman.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Failure #1: T-Shirts and Marketing - Joshua Lyman.com","twitter_description":"Marketing has never been my “thing,” and I suppose it still isn’t. And finding, understanding, and connecting with audiences is obviously a skill I will need to work on. I’ve always wanted this shirt. It speaks to the geek in…Continue readingFailure #1: T-Shirts and Marketing","twitter_image":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/0-New-Black.png?fit=1200%2C627&ssl=1","twitter_creator":"@jlyman","twitter_site":"@jlyman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joshua","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/"},"author":{"name":"Joshua","@id":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4679b2b5b142a2c904bb46f97a04bd9e"},"headline":"Failure #1: T-Shirts and Marketing","datePublished":"2015-06-29T14:00:56+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-30T17:16:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/"},"wordCount":595,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4679b2b5b142a2c904bb46f97a04bd9e"},"keywords":["ads","entrepreneurship","facebook","marketing","sales","selling","t-shirt"],"articleSection":["Business","Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/","name":"Failure #1: T-Shirts and Marketing - Joshua Lyman.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-06-29T14:00:56+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-30T17:16:27+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/2015\/06\/failure-1-t-shirts-and-marketing\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/","name":"Joshua Lyman.com","description":"Technologist, founder, and teacher","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4679b2b5b142a2c904bb46f97a04bd9e"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4679b2b5b142a2c904bb46f97a04bd9e","name":"Joshua","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Headshot-2020-Square-Small.jpg?fit=1000%2C1000","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Headshot-2020-Square-Small.jpg?fit=1000%2C1000","width":1000,"height":1000,"caption":"Joshua"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com","https:\/\/twitter.com\/jlyman"],"url":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/author\/jladmin\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/0-New-Black.png?fit=1200%2C627&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7V8cO-c0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":753,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions\/753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshualyman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}