Rockford Art Deli Free Print Day: What Does It Mean For The Printer?

Mary Fedkovich, Client Manager in Multi-Programming Solutions  •  5 min read

Print on demand business enables entrepreneurs to stand out from the crowd by creating unique apparel from white-label products. Still, the difference lies not just in the finished product but also in the way the company can represent its brand.

We want to devote this article to one of the Illinois print shop's successful promotions, which may inspire your future achievements. So keep reading to find a proven method to generate sales and gain more revenue for a small POD business.

Table of Contents

What is Free Print Day and when it will take place?

Why Rockford Art Deli Free Print Day works?

How to prepare for RockfordArtDeli Free Print Day?

Increasing sales by real examples

Conclusion

What is Free Print Day and when it will take place?

Several times a year, Rockford Art Deli organizes a special event right in their shop hall, where thousands of buyers gather to get exclusive custom print on demand products free of charge. The only requirement is to bring a new cotton blank tee, and the RAD team will cover it with a unique design in a few minutes.  

Traditionally, events occur on Saturdays from 10 am to 6 pm before Valentine's or St. Patrick’s Day, Fourth of July, Halloween, and winter holidays. Rockford Art Deli also doesn’t stay apart from expected movie premiers and sports competitions, especially when it comes to the local baseball team. 

RAD posts a Free Print Day calendar schedule and designs on social media ahead of time. Usually, it’s a black image with a brand name and a dedicated theme. Those visitors who haven’t prepared a blank cloth may buy it right in the store for $10. Clients with no opportunities to join live events can make a pre-order and receive their customized Rockford Art Deli apparel for $20 (e.g., a t-shirt, a hoodie, or whatever they want to be printed). 

The RAD initiative is widely welcomed among customized stuff lovers - let’s learn the reason in the next chapter.

Why Rockford Art Deli Free Print Day works?

What is a sure way to boost sales? The Rockford printing service definitely knows the answer. When RAD first announced its special one-day free offers, it pressed around 100 t-shirts. Nowadays, their events attract more than 3000 people from downtown Rockford. The reason for the shop’s popularity is simple: they found a niche relative to local inhabitants and did their best to satisfy customers’ wishes on a Free Print Day and at any other time.

RAD team focused on several themes in their plastisol designs (a classic type of screen printing, where ink is set on the top of the fabric), widespread among the majority of the shop clients: legalized cannabis, Rockford Art Deli 815 (the town code), the rocking Peaches (women's baseball team), and even a brand mascot (a dog Pepper).

Free Print Days allows citizens to become a part of something special for the local community - a kind of celebration that brings positive emotions, smiles, and happy meetings. RAD has created an unprecedented event, which gathers a multi-thousand crowd. The customized design makes it easy to get family-look apparel for 4 persons. And an opportunity to receive a limited edition for free stimulates the interest to visit a store even more.

You may already wonder how it is possible to fulfill several thousands of orders per day. Let’s deal with this question in more detail.

How You Should Have Prepared Your Print-on-Demand Business for a Holiday Season

How to prepare for Rockford Art Deli Free Print Day?

The main reason RAD's special offer days run smoothly and productively is excellent teamwork and wise planning. Jarrod Hannis, the print on demand store owner, always announces the upcoming event and design examples on their official website, Rockford Art Deli on Etsy, and through social media. With a substantial promotion, RAD expects high attendance. That’s why Jarrod appoints the areas of responsibility for every employee in the shop hall to run the process without delays. And this is how he does it. It all starts with creating some kind of team structure:

• 2 workers for accepting orders;
• 2 more for operating printers;
• 1 to fold a finished product;
• 1 to sell ready-made stuff;
• 1 to manage the crowd;
• 2 for other kinds of support.

If you also want to organize a Free Print Day at your land-based store and improve sales statistics, then you can apply RAD best practices for your staff.

This smart strategy helps store workers to serve clients faster and avoid rushes and long queues. If you don’t know how to boost sales for a small business with just a couple of team members, you can hire on demand staff or call for volunteers’ help to organize free print days, as RAD sometimes does. 

To use your store area wisely, determine more retail space and locate screen or DTG printers in a remote place to minimize crowd gathering and accelerate the pressing process. Bright pointers and arrows will help visitors to navigate the shop.

Increasing sales by real examples

Free Print day is a working example of how to boost sales on Etsy or another online store, making a brand recognizable and generating more income. Let’s determine how it works in the Rockford Art Deli case:

• A good marketing campaign through multiple channels allows the company to catch users' attention and reach the target audience wherever it is. 
• Although printing Rockford Art Deli t-shirt pics for free requires some expenses from the store owner, the brand greatly benefits from improving customers’ experience, increasing retention, and converting leads into clients.
• Special day offerings provide an opportunity to ensure the quality of printed images and meet potential clients for future online print on demand wholesale.
• Customers, attracted by free designs, often make additional purchases right during the trade shows. So it’s better to prepare a retail zone with your stuff. Who knows, maybe a one-day event will bring you monthly revenue at once.

Jarrod encourages small store owners at least to try organizing their own Free Print Day and define how it affects their reputation and profitability. As one of the essential tips for efficient special offer events, shops may use only one design and a single ink color. That will help to maintain a seamless and productive process.

Top Profitable Holidays to Boost Print on Demand Business

Conclusion

Following RAD best practices, each POD store can consider performing its own days with free prints. They can be dedicated to a holiday eve, sport event, or another landmark occasion meaningful for local inhabitants. You can create well-thought online promotions and submit calendar schedules via social media and e-mail in advance. Showcase free designs your clients can get on special offer days and prepare a stock of blank clothes in case your visitors won’t bring any. Think of team responsibilities and wise internal space usage.

A free print day is a perfect opportunity to conquer customers' loyalty and devotion, introduce your brand value, and get ahead of the competitors. It’s one of the successful marketing steps each printer should try.