Gift packs for membership groups and course delegates

Merchandise for members

In this article we’ll look at:

• Reasons to offer merch to members

• Exploring the relationship between merch and communities

• How to offer and send merch to members

• Membership swag idea

• How to set up a merch shop

Whether you run a membership group on Circle, you have coaching cohorts running or new course programs to release, or you’ve set up a group face to face have you thought about a little surprise you can send to your sign-ups?

Why would you do that? Well here are a few ways in which merchandise can help you to build and strengthen your community:

1. Only paid-for members get the goods! 

You can only get the merch if you sign up, subscribe or commit to the community. This could be something as simple as a t-shirt or a mug which people can wear to online co-working sessions, events, the training meet-ups online, and post when they get theirs in the groups and on social media. Give the non-paying folk a sneak peek at the merch and make it one more thing they’re missing out on by not signing up. Use photos on socials and in email newsletters - FOMO is a very powerful tool!

2. Branded tools for members

If you are sending workbooks in the post, why not add in a branded pen or gratitude journal, water bottle or travel cup? Not only give your members and attendees the tools to do the job, but great tools that make them feel like they want to show up, they want to sign up to your next cohort and they will tell their friends (your potential audience) about their amazing class and goodies. Your members could be making notes with your branded pen, in your branded book, or drinking from your branded mug.

3. Add to your merch catalogue

People love to be part of something special - how often will you see someone in their Tough Mudder tee or a University t-shirt, or wearing a non-profit top from their marathon training? Add to your merch catalogue, this could be hoodies for the dog walk or watching TV, t-shirts or baseball caps, or even bobble hats. Add paid-for items to an online store, you could make them seasonal or limited edition - just like football shirts!

4. To be on brand!

Is your brand and your offering about fun? Is it about community and togetherness? Is it about taking care of the planet? Whatever your mission is, let your merch do the talking. You have onboarded these folks onto your membership program, your group or workshops, send them something that not only makes them feel special but solidifies your connection and purpose with them. If it’s about fun, send something fun. If it’s about saying thank you, send something meaningful and memorable.

5. Grow your audience

Merch giveaways can help to boost your reach and give you access to new potential members, you can even ask recipients to share the merch on their social channels, expanding your reach and brand awareness, perhaps with people who might otherwise have never come across your brand because we live in a very busy world where people just scroll past and skip ads!

Membership and merchandise

The two go hand in hand, right? Think band t-shirts, a great example of this is the Grateful Dead t-shirt which is in the Design Museum in London - the ‘Deadheads’ is a huge global community. And what about the Beyhive? We couldn’t find out exactly how many members there are in this community, they get first dibs on Beyonce’s tour ticket sales. A merch-pop-up shop was set up at Spur’s stadium for the 5-day tour in 2023. You can see the pop-up store and its contents all over TikTok (good news for the merch shop stock!). And where do you begin with sporting merch? Part of the club? Arsenal mugs for days in kitchen cupboards around the UK! Give your members what they want, and let them be part of your community.

Merch pack for members

Branded items with your logo can be added to a pack of goodies. Your hamper, wow box or package can be branded up, include literature, branded and non-branded gifts and shipped to your members.

Membership collection

We can support you to produce a redemption site, what’s that you ask? So, say you have different levels of membership, or you give rewards based on sign-up, 6-month commitment, one-year commitment, you can issue an individual code via email to your members, and their code allows them to select (or claim) a gift from a collection you have available on a redemption site. The code reflects the gifts you choose, these can all be branded and guess what? So can the site. What a great way to thank your members. They can input their own address and we ship the goods for you.

So to make sure that’s clear; we work with you to build a branded redemption website (webstore), you choose the merchandise you would like to feature your branding. We hold the stock and ship it as your members claim their items (make their order). The site can be completely secure, only your members can visit and you don’t have to store boxes of stuff or make trips to the post office. What’s not to love about that?