Hats can make an impact that goes beyond that of a mere functional accessory. And that’s one of the many reasons why they are a fashion staple these days; the last piece of the puzzle to make a stylish statement. Observe the streets and runways for a while and you will likely spot quite a few varieties of hats including baseball caps, dad hats, floppy sun hats, and beanies. That’s why it’s a smart idea for apparel stores and boutiques to capitalize on hot hat trends. Because with hats, you get a lot more than you think.
Here are a few takeaways of investing in hats.
- Gives your marketing efforts a good boost
- Elevates names into brands and transforms brands into staples
- Attracts new customers and helps connect with existing ones better
Also consider the fact that 20% of consumers would be more likely to do business with a brand that gave them custom hats [Source: ASICentral].
Whether it’s a limited product drop or hat giveaway, customized caps or collaborations with influencers, hats allow you to play with your brand aesthetic and engage audiences outside your usual offerings. As hats gain traction across social media and pop culture, now is the perfect time to leverage hats to boost your brand’s profile. This article gives you a bunch of great ideas on using hats to give your business more momentum while also emphasizing important things to keep in mind.
Table of Contents
Commit to the Aesthetic
The return of hats to mainstream fashion provides a creative opportunity for brands to extend their style into accessible accessories. Hats complement existing product lines while allowing you to produce something fresh. Lean into your brand’s aesthetic – a minimalist retailer might design a simple cap in muted tones, while a boho boutique could craft a flower-adorned floppy hat. Purchase bulk caps from a reputed wholesaler to keep the whole strategy within your budget.
When designing branded hats, focus on your brand’s core visual identity. Use the same color palette, material textures, logos, and styling featured across your products. But this doesn’t work in every scenario. With diligence and some research, you can figure out what type of hat can work and how it can be customized to serve the strategy you have. Well-designed hats should capture your brand’s ethos in an instant. Partner with a vendor experienced in custom embroidery, printing, and shaping to bring your vision to life.
Make Them Limited Edition
Building hype and urgency around a product drop is a go-to marketing strategy. Apply this to hats by releasing a small run of branded caps or other limited edition designs. Promote the launch across social channels, send out emails teasing the release date, and encourage sign ups to a waiting list.
When stock sells out fast, it creates buzz and positions the hats as coveted items.
Limited products also encourage customers to buy directly from you instead of waiting to find the item elsewhere. Because hats are mobile, they will spark conversations wherever they go and your brand’s imprint will be noted along. Choose aesthetically appealing hat type and color for better brand recall.
Giveaways
Everyone loves freebies. For apparel brands, giving away merch is a clever way to spark interest and gain exposure. Design quality branded hats and distribute them at key events like new store openings, trade shows, pop ups, or brand activations.
Offering cool, complimentary hats at high-traffic occasions encourages people to share photos of your brand across social media. As it’s almost time for fall, why not invest in wholesale beanies which you can customize for giveaways?
You can send them as gifts to influencers for greater reach! Sending popular style bloggers or regional influencers free hats encourages them to showcase and recommend your products to their audiences.
According to a study by ASICentral, 56% of consumers would keep and wear custom hats for at least one year.
Brand Collaborations
Collaborations allow two brands to cross-promote to new audiences. Identify another brand whose style or customer base complements yours to team up on a limited hat release. A children’s boutique could partner with a candy shop to make playful caps. A retailer might design an embroidered hat with a floral nursery.
Co-designed pieces generate buzz with existing fans while introducing your brand to new groups. Split the production costs and promote the launch across both your marketing channels for expanded reach. Outline a clear process for split profits ahead of time so it’s a mutually beneficial endeavor.
Run Hat-Themed Contests or Activations
Contests and giveaways require entrants to follow and engage with your brand for a chance to win – incentivize participants with an attractive prize for amplified exposure. Announce the contest across your website and social platforms. Ask entrants to tag friends, share posts, and take branded hat selfies for entries.
You could also sponsor a custom hat pop up experience. Set up a booth at festivals, fairs, or events allowing people to customize a hat with embroidery or accessories. The interactive, share-worthy activation associating your brand with fun will spark organic interest. But make sure to put some thought into where you can set up the experience. It should preferably be at a place where people don’t mind sparing a few minutes for some fun.
Track What Resonates
Implement tracking links, codes, and UTM parameters to gauge which hat-based marketing drives the most traffic and sales. Use unique discount codes for hat giveaways or separate links for your collab launch to identify top performing initiatives. This helps you double down on what works and adjust what doesn’t. Analyzing how well the hats are contributing to uplifting a brand is something many small and medium-sized businesses surprisingly overlook. Executing a strategy blindly is how you miss your most successful marketing approaches.
Hats ultimately provide affordable branding that captivatingly conveys your brand’s values and style. But it has to be done right. Hopefully this article gives you enough pointers to go the right direction to stylishly boost your business with customized hats.