Holiday Tshirt Design Tip… On The ‘House’

Let’s say you have a gorgeous gingerbread house graphic that should be selling like crazy on Merch By Amazon… but it isn’t.

Could it be because there are already too many Christmas designs with gingerbread houses on it? That’s the safe bet. After all, you can’t stand out when you blend in.

So how can you bust out of the shadows in even a massively competitive niche like this one?

By achieving niche audience relatability.

Here’s how I do it in a hugely crowded niche like Christmas with a ubiquitous graphic like a gingerbread house.

I start by looking at my best performing niches and make gingerbread house designs for the same target audiences. In this case, for example, we’re looking at real estate agents, police officers, union laborers, teachers, and firefighters, to name a few.

Real estate agent tshirts sell year-round. How many of these designs are seasonal and feature gingerbread house-related images and humor for Christmas-themed real estate tshirts? Not many.

Police officers and firefighters protect our houses. What about gingerbread houses? There’s so much pun/quote potential here! Merchers have missed an obvious opportunity.

This has been the biggest year in history for homeschooling. How many gingerbread houses are used in holiday homeschooling Merch designs? I can’t find any.

Our houses wouldn’t be possible without electricians, carpenters, and other construction professionals. Why have these individuals been mostly overlooked in the Christmas niche with gingerbread house designs? Beats me!

The gingerbread house example is just one of many holiday elements — snowmen, reindeer, elves, etc. — that can and should be turned into designs that are singularly relatable to specific niche audiences.

After five long years on Merch By Amazon, I remain stunned and staggered by the number of Merchers who still primarily make generalized holiday tshirts that don’t target clearly identified subniche audiences. That’s quickly becoming a sure-fire way to not catch any seasonal sales momentum. But when you give niche audiences something relatable and unique, it doesn’t matter how competitive the niche at hand is. You will stand out. And I believe your chances for sales success will improve dramatically as a result.