#+title: S02|LO1 - how to research and spy on winning print designs
#+HTML_HEAD: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../_share/media/css/ecomm.css" />
#+OPTIONS: H:6

* Links
#+attr_html: :class links
- [[../../toc.org][TOC - ecomm clubhouse]]
- [[../../_share/data/video/step_02/lesson_01.mp4][video]]
  [[https://teespy.com/][Teespy]]

* Notes

* Description
** intro
In this video lesson, you’re going to learn how to SPY on winning Print On Demand designs & products, and to then use them as inspiration for creating your own ones. And yes, we said inspiration. It is very important that you do not copy them pixel for pixel, as this would be infringing on their copyrights. But, we can still make our own updated, BETTER versions!

Print on demand is an awesome way to add products to your store without buying them in advance. There’s a downside to it however, unless you a naturally gifted artist or designer, how are you going to get images to place on your products. That’s what we are going to talk about in this video.

I will teach you how to find winning designs and find a freelancer in Fiver.com. You can create your own versions of the winning the designs that we are going to find.

You can create lots of products with just one design. You can put in a pair of shoes, hoodie towel, etc. You can also mix match products from other sources other than print-on-demand providers.

** mugdom
Sourcing products from different sources is called a flex store. Here’s an example of flex store – Mugdom.

#+caption: mugdom store
#+attr_html: :width 1000px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex01.png]]

As you can see, they’re selling products from print-on-demand services but they also have mugs from Aliexpress.

** etsy


*** intro
So let’s start spying winning products that you can create your own version of.

The first site that I love to use is Etsy. What we want to do is to take our niche is see what products are selling in it. All you have to do is to type your niche in the search bar and do a search. I’m going to be using coffee as this is what I’ve been using on my tutorial videos as a sample store as well the previous videos in this course.

#+caption: etsy store coffee search
#+name: fig:blah
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex02a.png]]

*** look for "bestseller" in the description
One thing to note, when you are looking for products on Etsy is to ignore the products with the word Ad on it because people have paid Etsy for their products to appear there. What you want to do is to come to the products after the ads. Etsy’s algorithm is that every time a product makes a sale, it will jump in the search results.

Something that you should also be looking for in Etsy is the best seller badge. This is very pretty rare and not much products get this. So this indicate that this is hot product that is regularly selling.

#+caption: product with the bestseller ad
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex02b.png]]

It’s most likely that if you create your own version of this poster that people will like it as well. Printify offers posters and canvasses so it you have a store in the coffee niche, this would be a great product to get inspiration from and to add toy your store because we know that there is a market for coffee posters.

*** checking reviews

Now, let’s check this shirt that’s joking about needing coffee in the morning.

#+caption: tshirt about needing coffee in the morning
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex02c.png]]

Then scroll down to the reviews section to see if the product has a recent review for the product in the last month. Even just one review is a fantastic sign. You can definitely take this design and make your own version.

*** searching for a popular phrase
If you will do a search in Etsy of the But First Coffee shirt, you can see that there are a lot of listings for it. It’s a popular phrase so that means that there is a lot of mass appeal for that.

#+caption: searchign for "but first coffee"
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex02d.png]]

Another example is this shirt – it’s combining multiple niches together. Dogs and Coffee.  Now, I’m a big believer in combining multiple niches together to create a custom product to appeal to specific individual.

#+caption: searchign for "but first coffee"
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex02e.png]]

For this particular design, I was not sure if there would be enough people that this would appeal to. So what I did was to check the reviews to check whether or not this is an occasional seller. And there were not many reviews for this at all and the reviews were not within the last month. For me, this is an indicator that there is not a huge amount of demand for this. Perhaps, crossing three niches together is just a little bit too specific.

*** searching for two niches

Now, let’s take a look at an example with two niches together. Not everyone may appreciate this T-shirt message, but I think we can all appreciate the play on words. When I saw this, I was certain that this sort of design is going to be selling well. And I wasn’t wrong, when I checked the reviews and it has a lot of reviews within the last six months. This is a great sign that this T-shirt has an ongoing regular sale.

#+caption: crossing coffee and weed
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex02f.png]]

If you can create a visually appealing, interesting looking design targeting one passionate niche, you can be very successful.

#+caption: girl with "dog mom" tshirt
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex02g.png]]

** instagram
*** intro

The next place were going to go to research ideas is Instagram. All you have to do is come in to Instagram then type in your niche plus the word meme.

#+caption: instagram "#coffeememes"
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex03a.png]]

*** look for funny posts
#+caption: funny post
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex03b.png]]

You would want to find pages that are dedicated to posting these quotes. You want to find pages that are dedicated to pages like coffee and funny pictures works really well in Facebook. When browsing images in Instagram, you have to pay attention which ones did better. One way is to check the number of likes, of course the more the likes are only means that the image is popular.

The first posts you’re going to see are the top posts. These are the posts that have performed best. You will see some funny quotes in there. Like this one over here.

** pinterest

*** intro
Next place we are going to look at is Pinterest. It’s a great place to get inspiration for simple, great looking illustrations and artworks. What you want to do is to type in your niche plus stickers and do a search.

#+caption: pinterest - search for coffee sticker
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex04a.png]]

Sticker arts are simple and clean and performs really well. This is one is a good example, targeting coffee lovers and bunnies.

#+caption: looking at a design
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex04b.png]]

You can find a very good illustrator and have this image revised and replace the bunny slippers with cat slippers or maybe add a hooded blanket with cat ears. Now, you’ve got a unique, original design that you can advertise with a targeted audience that are passionate cat lovers and coffee lovers.

*** using filters

You also want to pay attention to the number of times an illustration has been pinned.

You can also try and look for coffee mugs design. Pinterest has filter option on the top which makes it easy to check which ones are the popular quotes. All you have to do is to click on the filter that you want to see the results.

#+caption: filtering
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex04c.png]]

** facebook

Another place that we can go to find designs is, of course, Facebook. All you’ve got to do is to come to Facebook and type in your niche plus a call to action like free shipping and do a search. And you want to see the search results within the past 6 months so click on 2019. Then on the Post from, you want to choose Public.

You can find a very good illustrator and have this image revised and replace the bunny slippers with cat slippers or maybe add a hooded blanket with cat ears. Now, you’ve got a unique, original design that you can advertise with a targeted audience that are passionate cat lovers and coffee lovers.

#+caption: search "coffee free shipping"
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex05a.png]]

Scroll through and look for print on demand products. This one over here is good as it has no copyright and no trademark. It’s quite clever, looks good and meets our criteria of having more than 25 comments and 30 shares.

#+caption: example
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex05b.png]]

** teespy
One more tool that I recommend to find designs is Tee Spy. You can spy on some of the top selling products for T-shirts and Hoodies. You can make research based on sales numbers rather than having to guess based on social media.

#+caption: teespy filter
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex06a.png]]

What you want to do is to sort the designs based on sales in descending order. So scroll through and look for designs that relates to your niche. This one over here can work. “I’m an Engineer, I don’t fix stupid!”. It has 242 sales and 245 engagements. This one is good to use as an inspiration.

#+caption: coffee mug
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_01/ex06b.png]]

Don’t get too hang up on finding perfect designs, the best way is for you to put your designs out there and let the market decide. So go on and find some designs that you can use as inspiration for your own products!

You can also try searching for other niche like nurses. You can look for top performing designs for nurses. So you just have to look for designs for your own niche. You can find 5 top designs and create your own versions of these designs.
