Are you struggling to target your niche audience with concepts and messages that will motivate them to buy your designs?

From lawyers and engineers, to moms and teachers, there are endless audiences to target with tshirts. But how do you know what these audiences actually want on a tshirt?

In my experience, niche audiences want messages and concepts in their apparel that reflect what they also want in life.

What, for example, does a lawyer want at work? Lots and lots of billable hours (hours of work that can be charged to clients). This is practically a universal “want” across the global landscape of lawyers. Yet on Amazon.com right now, there are only a few designs (and creatively underwhelming at that) billable hours-focused designs for lawyers. 

How did I figure out that “billable hours” is a unique concept worth exploring in the lawyer niche? I asked Google “What makes lawyers happy?” The first page of results returned numerous articles about the goals and glories of attorney life. And there were multiple untapped messaging opportunities just staring back at me.

There is quality niche content — written by experts, backed by surveys, and inspired by real-life events — all over the web that can the answer questions you’re wracking your brains over. If you’re trying to figure out what your niche audience wants, have no fear. Somebody probably already procured that answer.

I pose very direct questions to Google and am never disappointed by the answers made apparent by search results. Consider, for example:

  • What do moms want more of?
  • What annoys restaurant servers?
  • What makes a nurse happy?
  • How do you compliment a Sagittarius?
  • How do you make a police officer laugh?
  • What frustrates engineers?

When I want to explore unique and under-utilized messaging concepts pertinent to a niche audience, I ask questions that simply can’t be answered through keyword research alone. You can take any title in the world — “dad,” “trucker,” “dancer,” “swimmer,” “Aries,” “retiree,” etc. — and search Google for what these individuals want or what makes them happy, sad, annoyed, laugh, cry, feel confident, etc.

Every spring, I’m asked by Merchers how they can make Mother’s Day tshirts based on unique themes pertinent to what many moms actually want more of. I often recommend a simple Google search: “What do Moms really want on Mother’s Day?” The first page of results provides numerous clues about how mom can be spoiled. Countless articles make the overarching point that nothing matters more on Mother’s Day than pampering mom (multiple studies show that moms want to be pampered on their special day). This tidbit is quite a revelation. You see, “Mom tshirt” returns 60,000 results on Amazon.com. “Mom pampered tshirt” returns just 154.

The Internet is teeming with informative, data-driven articles about the very niche audiences you’re attempting to target with tees. And even the simplest of questions posed to Google can often provide a degree of insight that keyword lists and research tools never could.

So if you can’t find the answer to what your niche audience wants to see on a tshirt, work your “ask” off.