Lesson 3 of 8
Apparel, events and brand partnerships
Learning objectives
- Decide if physical product genuinely fits your brand
- Use events as a high-margin trust accelerator
- Pick brand partnerships that compound (and refuse ones that don't)
- Treat merch as marketing, not a profit centre
Apparel is marketing first
Treat merch as a marketing asset the client pays you to wear. Small drops, on-demand printing, no stockholding until demand is proven. The goal is 50 clients in your tee at a local park run, not a warehouse.
Events compress trust
A single in-person workshop, charity workout or open session can do more for retention and referrals than three months of content. Price it to break even on costs and account for the lifetime value of every attendee you keep.
Partnerships that compound
Good partnerships share an audience but not a service (e.g. PT + physio, PT + nutritionist, PT + local employer). Bad ones are pure cross-promo with no real fit. Say no fast — the wrong partnership costs months.
Founder insight — Derrick Twum
Coaches in MEM who run one quarterly community event consistently outperform those who post three times a week. In-person work compounds.
Key takeaway
Merch = marketing, events = trust accelerator, partnerships = audience access. None of them replace the coaching engine.
Reflection questions
- 1Would 50 clients actually wear your tee?
- 2What one event could you run this quarter?
- 3Which partner shares your audience but not your service?
- 4Which current partnership should you politely end?
Action task
Choose one of merch / event / partnership and sketch the smallest version of it you could ship in 30 days.
Worksheet
Work through these prompts. Answers save to this device.
Answers are saved to this device only. Cloud sync coming soon.
Related MEM tools
- AI Marketer
- Live Studio