Interview with Jason Sadler of iWearYourShirt.com
January 18, 2010 by Pablo Palatnik
In this interview series of the PalatnikFactor.com, we’re talking to Jason Sadler, Founder and head t-shirt wearer of iWearYourShirt.com. So, what does he do? The site sells you a day worth of Jason (and his business partner in this project Evan White on the west coast) wearing your companies t-shirt for one day for a fee. The concept is quite simple but like any other business, requires skills and creativity to get it going.
What we really want to focus on is the online marketing of iWearYourShirt.com and how Jason is making this venture such a success. iWearYourShirt has been featured on MSNBC, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and many more.
Q: Jason, thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Can you tell us a little about yourself and how the idea of iWearYourShirt.com came about?
A: I’ve been in marketing/design for over 10 years, when I graduated college I worked a 9-5 gig and hated it. I co-founded a web design company from my couch and saw some great success from that for 2 years before trying to make money wearing t-shirts . I knew that companies were cutting back on their advertising budgets and that lots of companies weren’t able to use social media (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc). I figured t-shirts were an easy enough item for companies to make and the majority of them were already doing so. I bought the domain for iwearyourshirt.com late in 2008, had a website up a month later and soon after that I was wearing t-shirts for money. When the last day in 2009 sold out this past August I knew I needed to focus on become a full-time shirt wearer to avoid being a “one hit wonder”. I also knew that I needed a new twist and added value to keep going in 2010 and that’s where adding a second t-shirt wearer (Evan White) came in.
Q: What is the most successful online marketing strategy you have implemented?
A: There have been many success stories that you can read and I’ve posted a handful on the Testimonials page of the new and improved iwearyourshirt.com. I’ve helped people increase sales up to 80%, I’ve increased people’s traffic by over 1000%, increased Twitter followers by the 100s and have a very loyal audience that will comment on a blog post at the drop of a hat. The absolute most successful part of iwearyourshirt.com is the audience of friends I’ve built and the fantastic companies I (now “we”) get to talk about everyday.
Q: What is the least successful online marketing strategy you have implemented?
A: One of the hard parts about promoting a new company everyday is that sometimes a company thinks they know what an audience wants. This hasn’t happened often with me because the companies trust me, but on occasion people ask for things that aren’t realistic. One thing I really don’t like to ask people to do is become a fan of someone on Facebook for no reason. If you want to offer a giveaway for becoming a fan, that’s one thing, but just becoming a fan for the sake of it means nothing. I don’t fan things on Facebook unless I am actually a fan and that’s how I think it should be.
Q: How do you think social media sites such as Facebook and social news sites such as Digg changed the marketing scope for up and coming companies?
A: One of the biggest mistakes I see in the social media space is people/companies forgetting about the first step in using social media. And that step is, being social. If you expect people to keep coming back to your website and you aren’t engaging in conversations with them, remember their names, knowing something about them, you’re doing it wrong. I try extremely hard to know every single person’s name and something about him or her each day because they take the time to do the same with me. I think Digg is going to go by the wayside once all the standard media outlets start implementing social features and listen/converse with their audiences. Facebook is a fantastic resource, but if you aren’t writing on people’s walls, commenting on their photos and engaging with them you won’t get the same thing in return. Twitter has been a tremendous help in the growth of iwearyourshirt.com and a must have for any business. If you aren’t using Twitter Search for your business, you’re missing a ton of costumers.
Q: What current trends do you see in 2010 and on in the online marketing sector?
A: I think we saw a big example of social media becoming a go-to in advertising for big companies with Pepsi pulling their ad spot from the Super Bowl. This is something that I’ve been preaching for a long time, that MILLIONS of dollars are spent on TV and print advertising that have no direct return or personal touch for brands. Everyone ignores commercials on TV and ads in print, why are companies still spending so much money on them? I think a lot of that money will be transferred to people with influence online. We’re already seeing this with some of the most followed users on Twitter and will continue to see create marketing campaigns using Facebook and individual micro-sites.
Q: How were you able to get so much press with your business and is PR a big strategy for your marketing strategy?
A: PR was not a strategy at all. I have no background in PR and didn’t hire an agency. I used the connections I’ve built over the years, asked them to share the idea and focused every day on created unique content for each company. I worked and continue to work 12-14 hours a day and I believe that’s been the key to great press. Hard work pays off right? I do have to admit, I am still shocked that Katie Couric told my story on the evening news!
Q: What would be your advice to someone looking to start an online based business?
A: Don’t do something because you think it might work, do something because you love doing it. I love being social and interacting with people; that’s the entire basis of iwearyourshirt.com. Don’t plan on overnight success because there is no such thing. Put in a lot of hours and if you love doing what you do, it won’t feel like “work”. What are you passionate about? What could you wake up everyday and enjoy doing? Do that and exploit all the awesome and FREE tools around the web. One last bit of advice: Don’t skimp on design. You get what you pay for and first impressions are priceless.
Q: Does IWYS implement any search engine marketing (i.e. paid search or SEO)? If not, do you plan on implementing any search engine marketing?
A: I don’t do it now and I don’t plan on it. Organic traffic is what has built my business and what I hope continues to build it. I’d rather have 100 hungry and dedicated users than 1,000 people who spend 5 seconds on the website a day. I do however know the importance of SEO and implement some simple practices when writing blog posts, using tags in photos and keywords on YouTube daily.
Q: Who is the perfect candidate for IWYS? How can a company sign up for you to wear their shirt and get instant exposure?
A: Companies can buy any of the remaining 60 days in 2010 by going to the calendar on iwearyourshirt.com and looking for available days. Evan skydives once a month on Saturdays and our traffic is pretty solid throughout the rest of the week. Our audience is very engaged and loves to meet new companies. Last year I wore shirts for Zappos.com, LifeLock.com, Bill Cosby, Turbo Tax and a whole slew of other great companies, but I also supported bloggers, startups and more. We’re all about having fun and delivering social media content for companies for a very affordable price.
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Comments (5)
Fun idea and a cheaper way to get your name out there! The only thing I’m not very sure about is (and excuse my ignorance) how can they REALLY track the sales their shirt wearing exposure made? I mean they can track traffic but how sure are they about the 80% sales increase he stated?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by iwearyourshirt, Jeff Scarpo. Jeff Scarpo said: Interview with Jason Sadler of iWearYourShirt.com | PalatnikFactor.com: One thing I really don't like to ask peopl… http://bit.ly/6boTCF [...]
I believe it is better to receive some help from an online marketing specialist for all your online marketing activities. They have all the skills and experience to significantly increase traffic to your site and build a brand. Especially now that the internet has become so vast and complex.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by iwearyourshirt: Did an interview over the weekend for PalatnikFactor.com, check it out http://bit.ly/4LZw2c...
Nice interview! Really enjoyed reading.