We’ve all seen ‘em, few have clicked ‘em, and even fewer have used ‘em. I’m talking about those little boxes on the right side of your browser whenever you’re stalking your friends, friends of friends, or that hot chick you saw at last night’s party. As a clothing company owner or blogger, you may think one of those ads could help generate some traffic or significantly add to your facebook fans, but you are unsure if it’s worth your money. Well, I am going to tell you right now, in my opinion “facebook ads suck.” Trust me, I have put these ads together at my desk job prior to owning Sugar Steak and have used them recently for companies I consulted for. There are much better ways to spend your advertising budget. I know what you’re thinking, “But there are over 500 million facebook users.” That doesn’t matter, how many times have you clicked on a facebook ad? Three maybe four times? I have clicked on “one” and it was only because it was an Arkaik ad and I was surprised to see them using one. Most likely just testing the waters, because I have never seen one since. If the previous few lines haven’t talked you out of it, then let me give you some tips below on how you can get the best bang for your buck with these crappy ads. Who knows, maybe you’re easier to please than I am and you will get exactly what you’re looking for.

USE A UNIQUE AND EYE-CATCHING IMAGE

People are more or less immune to facebook advertising. After years of seeing the same ads focusing on Mortgage Fraud, Coupons, Credit Scores, and FBI Recruiting, users have learned to ignore ads shown on the side of their screen. You all know the types of ads I’m talking about. You know, the ones with a stupid picture of a chick trying to eat a 40lb hamburger even though the ad is for some mortgage fraud website. Or a picture of a cop car on 44″ rims trying to recruit future FBI agents. The desperation of these ads should tell you right there, facebook ads DO NOT have good click-through-rates, or CTR if you want to abbreviate it and pretend you’re an SEO genius. The only way the creators of these ads can even get you to look at their ad is to show something so off-the-wall that it will actually catch your attention. I mean, seriously have you ever seen an FBI Agent rolling down your street on a set of dubs getting ready to bust your drug-dealing neighbor? And last time I was in a bank I didn’t see them handing out delicious pizza-size hamburgers next to the mortgage loan officer’s desk. So when you are selecting an image for your ad, I’m sorry but a cool mockup of your tees won’t cut it. You will need a unique cropped image from your look book, one of your logo (if it’s distinctive enough to stand out), or if all else fails… Get a hot girl to model one of your tees for you. The point is, with such a small space to work with, you HAVE to have an awesome image if your ad is even going to get noticed in the first place.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF TARGETED DEMOGRAPHICS AND INTERESTS

When creating your ad you will have the option to select the age group, country, and precise interests you wish to target your ad to. Take advantage of these! Why would you want to waste thousands of impressions on people like your parents who only use facebook to post pictures of their new herb garden or patio furniture. You have the opportunity to sort out who your ad appears to, so if you are targeting misguided and music-obsessed youth with your clothes or blog, select bands you know this demographic listens to and set them as “Precise Interests.” Sure this will limit the reach of your ad, but it will save you money and impressions because your ad will only target those who will have interest in your brand. Also, you might as well eliminate anyone over a certain age and target only the age bracket you know will desire what you’re offering. Don’t fool yourself and think, “But parents will see it and buy something for their kids.” Trust me, if kids want it and don’t have their own money, they will tell their parents about it.

BE READY TO SPEND SOME MONEY

I know the next set of numbers will be debated as everyone has different sources, different factors, and different ways of interpreting click-through-rates. All I’m trying to point out is that facebook ads have a crappy CTR in comparison to banner ads on other websites, such as this one, IAMTHETREND. Anyway, the average click-through-rate (CTR) for facebook ads (based off my research) is between 0.050 and 0.051 of a percent. Put in a percentage that would be 0.0050 or 0.0051, yes that is less than one percent, no typos. In simple terms, about 5 clicks per 1,000 impressions. Any SEO dude will tell you a decent performing banner ad will have a CTR of about 0.09 – 0.10 or so, which means the CTR of facebook ads are about half of what a banner ad on a website should bring you. And that’s the average, you may have an ad that falls well below the curve. You can choose to try and counteract this in two ways. Pay for Clicks, and only be charged when someone actually clicks your ad, or Pay for Impressions, and hope your ad will be presented often enough to entice people to click the second or third time they see it. Personally, I would never pay for clicks as you can blow your entire day’s budget in a matter of hours that way. If you pay for impressions it will allow some fluctuation with your ads, one day you might get 200 clicks, one day you might only get 20, but either way more people will see it. Not to mention, every time your ad is presented you are creating “brand awareness” which any marketing course will push heavily as one of the most important aspects in business. The amount you will pay per 1,000 impressions will vary on the demographics you have chosen to target your ad towards and the estimated reach created by your selections. I suggest going with a budget of at least $20 a day for you ad, say at .50 per 1,000 impressions, that should bring you about 40,000 impressions per day and if you’re lucky 200 people will click your ad, but more realistically you might get 50 or so on average. Just prepare yourself ahead of time, don’t get all hyped up thinking thousands of people will click your ad each day, keep your expectations real. Whether you choose to pay for clicks or impressions is entirely up to you. Try running simultaneous ads and experiment to see what works best with your chosen ad and budget.

OFFER SOMETHING FOR FREE

You want more people to click your ad, “like” your page, or visit your site? Give away some free shit and publicize it in your ad. Something like “Like our page and you will be entered to win a free tee, one winner chosen each day this week.” We’ve all heard the phrase, “You’ve gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelet.” If you want to really step up the amount of clicks your ad gets, be willing to give out some free stuff in order to attract people who otherwise would have no interest in your brand and ad message. If you read the Arkaik interview a few weeks back on IATT, you remember Jordan talking about giving away 20-30 shirts a day on their facebook page and adding over 26,000 fans in a month. Now you definitely won’t get that many new fans, Arkaik is a powerhouse, but it just goes to show you Jordan understands giving away free product is one of the best ways to attract new fans and potential customers. Especially with his demographic being largely a teenage audience. After all, when I was a teenager free stuff was pretty much the greatest thing in the world since I wasn’t exactly swimming in dollar bills. However, regardless of age, everybody likes getting something for free.

Both indie clothing lines Cherry Sauce and Arkaik have teamed up with StuffBomb.com to release some pretty awesome sets of plugs! Each set of plugs will set you back $24.99 and can be purchased HERE

So let’s talk a little detail about the line. In case you missed it, a couple months back Arkaik actually merged forces with the darker more aggressive looking Of Rome brand to form Arkaik: Empire. My initial thoughts were that this was a hell of a merger and a great move on both brands part. Arkaik in the past has been known for their very bright colored in your face illustrated tee line but since the merger Arkaik has rolled out some more mature looking and darker designs, which I really dig.

Tees such as “Deer” and “Chief” are extremely solid, featuring some great illustration work and that more darker tone that I spoke of earlier. That being said I am a little concerned that Arkaik as a brand is going in a few too many directions. When comparing designs such as “Chief” and “Attack On The Sea” the style is night and day. Although I like both designs and it’s great to have some variety I think at some point Arkaik is going to have to pick a direction and travel down it, otherwise they run the risk of creating a confused customer base.

Overall the new line is extremely solid, yes there are some varying styles but variety is the spice of life. As I mentioned earlier I would really like to see them pick a direction and roll with it, but in the meantime this is another great step for the Arkaik brand.

Check out the entire line at: www.arkaikclothing.com

1. The Printed Mind
“The Kid” $14.99

2. The Printed Mind
“I Heart TPM” $14.99

3. Electric Zombie
“Takeover” $18

4. Arkaik
“Baseball Tee” $10

5. Pyknic
“Splatter Raglan”

Each one of these brands has made huge strides and improvements over the year and I just wanted to take a second to recognize them for their improvement! I truly cant wait to see what happens with these brands in the future!

1. Seventh Ink

Seventh.Ink is a company that approached me back in August and to be honest I checked over their site and wasn’t blown away with what they had to offer. The designs seemed pretty standard, mostly consisting of standard vector art and really nothing that tied the designs together to form a recognizable brand or identity for the brand. Since August this has completely changed. For me the change took place in October with the release of their “Night of the Living Bread” shirt. The concept behind the design was hilarious and the execution of the design was spot on. We even featured it in our top 13 tees for Halloween article At this point I was intrigued with what Seventh Ink had to offer and from that point they have released two more tees that have been knockout tees in my opinion. Seventh.Ink is really starting to form an identity and style for themselves with these last releases. If you can recognize a brand from the style of their shirts or designs you really know that the brand is headed in the right direction.

2. RANDR Tees

RANDR or Rise and Resist has continually improved their brand identity and the quality of their line throughout 09. While their original designs and releases were solid they really didn’t have anything that stood out and demanded attention. Well since their Fall 09 release these guys have really kicked their brand into overdrive. Everything about RANDR comes off completely professional. Their product photos, website design and most importantly Tee designs are all spectacular. I really see the Fall 09 release as marking the start to the new RANDR tees and the company establishing themselves as a true brand and identity in the tee world!

3. 410 BC

410 BC has been around now since the end of 2007, but for me this is the year that this brand has really started to take flight. With the introduction of cut and sew pieces and an extremely firm and established look to their line these guys have all the makings of the next company to go big time. When 410BC started they had a completely different look and image to their brand and it’s not that it was bad its just amazing to see them find their niche and flourish. This year along with cut and sew jackets, dress shirts and even skateboards, 410BC really upped the ante on their packaging introducing custom boxes complete with wax stamps, custom tissue paper and awesome extras in every package they send out. 410BC is a great example of a brand evolving to fit and build a niche, just take a look at their old designs compared to their new designs. It’s not that the old designs were bad at all, just a way different look than what they have become now. If your looking for a indie brand that truly has their act together look no further than these guys. I feel that 2010 is going to be a HUGE year for 410BC.

4. Arkaik Clothing

Arkaik Clotihng is a brand that almost did it make it out of its infancy. Early on when owner Jordan Abidor started the line, it was actually financially backed by his girlfriend, but when he and his girlfriend split up she pulled the plug leaving Jordan in a tough spot. It was at this point that Jordan had to decide to keep venturing further on his own or pull the plug on Arkaik. Fortunately Jordan decided to stay the course with Arkaik and in turn has really done a fantastic job re-branding and establishing his company as a player in the indie tee market. Even more recently Arkaik joined forces with Of Rome to form a new division called Arkaik : Empire which from the looks of what I have seen is going to be very solid. The only complaint that I have with Arkaik at this point is the brand has come out with a lot of really great designs but they are risking creating a confusing brand identity with the extreme difference in styles that they are offering. It’s great to have diversity in your line up but only when that diversity can be recognized as apart of your brand’s overall identity.

5. Miles to Go

Miles to Go is a brand that I immediately latched on to from the start. I loved the more mature and muted looked of the line as well as the amount of thought behind each design. Greg Kerr, the owner of MTG, has a vision for his line and has done a great job evolving and creating his brand. As I stated earlier I loved Miles to Go right out of the gate, but I really feel that over the course of 2009 they have done a great job expanding and evolving the line. With the addition of hoodies, yoga pants and even toddler clothes over the year Miles to Go is really pushing past the line of being just a t-shirt line and moving into being a full-fledged clothing line.

In Conclusion
Each one of these brands showed a lot of growth over 2009, whether it was defining their “style”, improving their packaging, creating better brand identity or expanding their brand beyond just tees, they all showed a different example of what it takes to run a successful brand. This list was one of the hardest lists I had to put together, because their are a ton of brands that have evolved over the year, but I really felt that each one of these brands showed a different side of what an indie clothing brand can improve upon to be successful. I hope you enjoyed the article, and make sure to check out all 5 of these brands now and in the upcoming new year!

Stay tuned for the next article: The Brands that are going to take off in 2010!