Personalized Goods And Services
PEOPLE LOVE GOODS that make them feel unique, special and important. Goods customized for a particular person are much more likely to be purchased than their generic versions. By offering a service on demand to certain people you can offer a unique product, and charge for it accordingly.
There is an unlimited number of goods that could be personalized, customized and tailor-made. If you have a particular skill, hobby or interest you could use it to create and sell personalized goods and services on demand to particular people. Here are 20 of the best and most profitable possibilities:
- Everyday household objects
It is possible to personalize all kinds of household objects, if you have the right equipment.
It is possible to print onto certain items, but a better idea is to use print transfers to emboss text only goods. For example, you can add initials, names, addresses or other text onto goods such as pens, brief cases, suitcases, diaries, notebooks gold and snooker cues, or practically anything else. If you are able to sew you can do the same for clothes, towels, handkerchiefs or any material.
You could also offer a service to businesses, clubs, or any organization, embroidering logos, initials, names and insignia onto items such as ties, napkins and handkerchiefs. Produce a catalogue of products and advertise your service in upmarket publications, perhaps offering a free gift as an incentive.
- Pet products
People love their pets and you can take advantage of this by selling personalized pet products. For example, pet names could be added to identify tags, collars, feeding bowls, baskets and blankets.
Again, produce a catalogue of products and advertise in shop windows, local newspaper and specialized pet magazines.
- Christmas cards
An excellent idea is to sell packs for Christmas cards with text printed on the front saying, for example: ‘The Bloggs family wish you a very Happy Christmas.’ You can modify ready-manufactured cards or create your own, combining the text with a picture.
Contact customers by picking surnames from the telephone directory and selling it by direct mail.
- Pictures of houses
If you have the ability to paint well a lucrative idea is to paint portraits of people’s houses.
It may take time and you may require various sittings, but you can charge well for this service. It is best to concentrate your efforts on more affluent areas, and it is best to offer a framing service too.
- Portraits and caricatures
Another idea requiring artistic ability is to draw personal portraits, sketches or humorous caricatures, depending on your style and talent. You could call on households showing examples of your work, although you will be more likely to generate business by setting up a stall in a busy shopping centre, thoroughfare or tourist attraction.
If you can’t draw, team up with an artist. You do the marketing, they do the artwork.
- Poems
Composing poems to order will make a memorable and unique gift for any special occasion, such as birthday, weddings, engagements, anniversaries, births and so on.
It is possible to write just one poem and insert different names, or other personal details. This is particularly easy if you have a computer and printer, although if you have calligraphy skill you can have the poem hand-written, mounted and framed.
Advertise your service in newspapers and magazines and send the poems out by direct mail. Alternatively, set up a stall in a shopping centre, fail or tourist attraction and compose poems on the spot.
- T-shirts
Personalized t-shirts are likely to popular items, particularly in the summer months. It is possible to purchase fabric paints and sprays very cheaply, or you can offer a screen-printing service. By creating stencils of letters you can print out text very easily, or if you have artistic ability you could create pictures and logos too.
This is a business you can run from home by mail order and advertise accordingly. You could also set up a stall in a market or fair and offer a ‘while-you-wait’ service.
- Forms and certificates
Businesses, clubs and other organizations are always in need of forms, whether standard invoices, petty cash receipts or time sheets, or more personalized forms and certificates.
A service offering both standard business forms, including things like the company address, ore more personal paperwork, is ideal if you have artistic ability and / or computer graphics and word processing software. You can even expand your service to include producing company logos, menus and advertisements. Produce a catalogue and advertise your service in various publications.
- Signs
People often require signs, whether for house names, personal names for affixing to bedroom doors, or various business-related signs such as office name-plates, factory areas, shop names and vacancy / no vacancy signs.
You can offer a ‘while-you-wait’ sign-making service for personal customers at crafts fairs, markets and tourists attractions. You could also lease part of a shop to make your signs, creating a catalogue in order to market your signs to businesses.
- Ghost writing
If you have writing and editing ability you can run a ghost writing business, rewriting CV and job applications. Or rewriting stories and articles the original write wishes to sell under their own name.
An extension of this could be to write or ghost write biographies, which could make and imaginative birthday, retirement or anniversary gift.
- Advertising space
By leasing a prominent wall space in a town or city you can charge people for the creation and display of their own personal message. People may wish to give birthday or anniversary congratulations, or even messages of love or marriage proposal.
You could use large display letters that are easily changed, or paint the messages on. Keep the messages clean, and charge a daily or weekly fee.
- Jewelry
Jewelry is a popular item, particularly for women, and whether bought by people for themselves or as a present for somebody else there is a big market for personalized jewelry.
There are no limits to what you could create if you have the skill and materials, but many items can be made easily and cheaply using wood, wire, and gold and silver platted jewelry attachment. Wooden jewelry is ideal, as it has become very popular, and can be carved very easily. You can create brooches with first names on, or earrings, bangles, bracelets and pendants of any design.
Set up a market stall and sell by mail order, advertising your products in women’s magazines, the local press and shop windows.
- Outfits
Putting together and designing outfits is a service likely to be popular with businesses and individuals alike. You can put together weird and wonderful costumes for special promotions, even providing the people to wear them if necessary.
Businesses often have corporate makeovers, so you can make money by designing outfits to suit. Alternatively you could design and make fashionable clothes, tailor-made to individual tastes.
You should advertise your service to advertising and public relations agencies and local theatre companies, as well as advertising in suitable publications and putting up stylish posters in shopping centres, cafes and venues.
- Confectionary
Novelty and personalized confectionery will make an unusual and exciting gift for both adults and children. You don’t necessarily need a thorough knowledge of confectionary manufacturing – there are a number of chocolate and icing-based products where all you will require is to be able to add icing to a product.
Another idea is to create your own moulds to make interesting and varied shapes. You could even sell rock with a name, or ‘I am X year old’, running through the centre.
- Jingles, music and sound-bites
Disc jockeys like to create their own personal sound and style, and one way they do this is through the use of their own memorable jingles.
If you have the necessary equipment you can easily create jingles to order, perhaps recording them yourself, or taking and re-recording sound bites from films, radio or the television (taking into account copyright restrictions). Creating audio cassettes and CDs containing jingles for all occasions and selling them to shops or by mail order is a good way of selling your products.
You can also produce specific jingles for particular customers. A related area is to produce musical backing track for films, business and educational videos, slide shows and exhibitions. Again, you can produce cassettes or CDs of music for all occasions, or produce music specific to one client. Advertise your service in audio-visual equipment and arts-related magazines.
- Novelty posters and certificates
These are fun products with a lot of sales potential. Novelty posters and certificates make excellent gifts for birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions, such as a work colleague leaving or getting a promotion.
If you have computer word-processing and / or desktop publishing software plus a printer these products will be very easy to manufacture. Use your imagination and you will be able to think of all kinds of products, but you could start with joke passport including a space to add a photo, a poster saying ‘(customer’s name) is wanted for crimes against humanity’, or ‘(name) is certified as being unfit to manage’.
Advertise and sell your products by mail order, or sell them in a joke, novelty and gift shops.
- Songs
Writing and recording personalized songs can be a money spinner if you have the talent and equipment. You could produce songs for all occasions, such as birthdays, engagements, weddings, births and anniversaries, which should include a name (or two) repeated within the song. It is possible to write and record one song for, for example, a birthday, rerecording the vocal part for different names. You can also record one-off songs for specific clients.
Sell by mail-order, using classified ads in local newspapers and the music press to attract orders, or produce cassettes and CDs for particular names to be sold in gift and toy shops.
- Cocktails
Specially devised cocktails and punches will make a unique gift and help pep up any party. The service should gift the help pep up any party. The service should offer a special personalized recipe card plus a certain amount of ready-made cocktails, or a big bowl of punch.
You can create and sell these to both individuals and businesses, naming the drink after the person nominated by the purchaser or sponsor. Advertise in the local press and party shops to build up your orders.
- Crests
In the past every respectable family had their own crest. Today there is a market for selling family, business or college crests, painted onto wooden plaques.
Research should enable you to discover source of reference for old family crests, and if this shows that certain family names do not have one you can even design them, there is also scope for selling to businesses, organizations and colleges.
Sell by mail order, finding potential customers by locating surnames and businesses in telephone book.
- Stickers
Personalized self-adhesive stickers for children to add to toys and books, address labels, or identity labels to attach suitcases, or even household goods, are all popular and necessary items.
You could design and produce a range of stickers containing children’s first names, or similar other items. These can then be sold in toy shops, gift and novelty shops, or by mail order.
