A former marketing professional ditches his day job to start his own business—selling ad space on his chest.
You might be familiar with this human billboard, the “T-shirt guy’s” story. Jason Sadler founded www.iwearyourshirt.com in 2008, running around sporting companies’ logos to earn a buck. The back story isn’t important though. He’s booked solid through June 2010, and he makes 51K more than the average US adult doing it.
The key to success in Mr. Sadler’s business is not just his word-of-shirt approach to marketing; the main appeal, rather, is his strategic capitalization of social media tools. For each organization’s day of purchase, (in addition to the shirt) they receive: photos on his blog and Flickr, posts on his blog and company Twitter account, a place on his public calendar, and a video on YouTube and Ustream.tv. Naturally, Sadler wears the company tee during all visual social media exposure.
Talk about a savvy businessman! He was intelligent enough to realize the influence that lies in social media marketing, and he developed a strategy to harness this power for businesses. Social media cloaked in a cotton crew-neck; that’s the heart and soul of his business.
It’s no secret why organizations are leaping at the chance to book a day with the T-shirt guy—Sadler has marketed for the best of the best. Zappos.com, leaders in business, early-adopters and innovators in the social media space, has even put their faith in iwearyourshirt.com to represent their brand.
Businesses and other organizations that utilize social media clearly “get it.” Two words: brand exposure.
Iwearyourshirt’s Twitter account has almost 21,000 followers, its YouTube channel has had over 11,000 views, its Ustream.tv channel has had over 195,000 views, and its Flickr account has over 1,160 tagged photos.
Clearly some people are catching on to how social media can (and does) make waves for business. It bolsters all areas of brand-centered organizations: marketing, advertising, public relations, and customer service.
What is your next (or first!) move in stepping up your social media game?
[Photo from music2work2 on Flickr / CC BY 2.0]
