New Tag Swag

I was at my local laser tag arena over the weekend and I noticed something new behind the counter. New t-shirts and hoodies for sale or, as I affectionately call them, "tag swag".

This was exciting for two reasons. First, I just love new merch. "Take my money" I said to Beanz before checking out the sizes and styles of the shirts he brought out. Second, I think that cool promotional items should be a MUST for any site looking to brand itself as a destination.

Offering t-shirts for sale is smart business. You are essentially getting customers to pay you so that they can wear your name and logo as free advertising for your site. Who knows where that shirt will be seen? I often wear my tag shirts while visiting other laser tag locations and a lot of times I get people asking about them. But even just sporting your site's logo on a keychain or water bottle might put your business name in front of a new potential customer...or at least raise some curiosity. In any case, I see no down side to it, even if you only break even on the merchandise sales.

Every time I travel to a new tag site I ask if they have any t-shirts or logo merchandise for sale. It's nice to have a souvenir of a good experience, whether it's from a trip I've taken or from a local spot just down the road. However, if I had to guesstimate how many of the places I've been to have had tag swag available I'd imagine that it's way less than half of them. So, to the sites that offer something like this for their customers I say "good going, let me wear your shirt". And to the others I would strongly encourage you talk with a local print shop or look for one of the many businesses out there that create custom merchandise, either in bulk or on demand. I know the "tag swag" page on my website hasn't been updated in awhile, but I promise to work on that soon. And if I've ended up with some swag from your tag location then you will get an extra bit of free advertising as a result. :) Good all the way around!

And speaking of the website (as I do maintain this blog in two locations)...

A friend recently brought it to my attention that when he did a Google search for the words 'laser tag blog' (without quotations) he discovered that my blog currently comes up on Google in the top 5 listings (and maybe higher now that I've just used "Google" three times in a sentence). I was so pleasantly shocked to learn this! I've also recently been learning that I have some international readers and have received several correspondences from overseas. This is so incredibly humbling because I started writing this just to document my own little adventures and I am so heartened that it has found an audience. I appreciate it every time I hear from someone who has found something of value in this blog and takes the time to let me know.

So since I do maintain this blog in two locations you might be reading this on my full website at www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com under the heading of Tiv Talks Tag or you might be finding it where it originally started at tiviachickloveslasertag.blogspot.com. If you are on the website, THANK YOU and hope you are enjoying all the extra content I have put together there including interviews, tour of the Laser Tag Museum, photos of laser tag collectibles and more. If you are reading it on the blogspot page, THANK YOU for helping to get the blog to that level of visibility online. I feel so fortunate that you have taken the time to read this and I hope you continue to follow my laser tag adventures. There's lots more still to come! :)

Comments or Questions?

Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com