Stickers have been used as promotional tools for more than 50 years, and even when digital marketing is in full swing, people still love them. After all, stickers are much more tactile and personal than a social media promotion, they don’t cost much to mass-produce, and they last even longer than other print materials.
The magic of stickers is that customers see these as a gift, not an advertisement. Once customers receive their sticker, it’s up to them what they do with it. They can put it on their laptop, notebook, car bumper, or even tumbler—the possibilities are endless. It’s a win-win because they get to use the sticker as a fun decoration while subtly promoting your brand and making it more visible to other people. It’s a bonus if they share some of the stickers with friends and family!
Stickers are great for all ages. There’s the traditional square or circle format, but you can make custom stickers for your brand in any size and shape. Whatever design you use for your custom sticker, it has to be fun and visually appealing while adhering to your branding. Many businesses simply turn their logos into stickers and put in contact details at the back, such as their website or phone number. A logo is a sketch, image, emblem that reflects what the company is about, i.e., its brand image.
Promoting Your Business with Creative Stickers
Outdoors
An effective way to boost your brand visibility is to place your stickers outdoors. Areas with high traffic, whether from passersby or cars, work best. You can put your stickers on poles, signs, and bulletin boards, and if you have a physical store, try coming up with arrow stickers that’ll lead people to your door.
With outdoor stickers, you do have to exercise a bit of caution. Ask for permission if you’re posting somewhere that isn’t your property and check city regulations first. The stickers should be easily removable so that they won’t leave marks behind.
For collaborations, hop over to local businesses that you’re friendly with and ask them if they’d be willing to post your stickers inside their stores. You can do this for a small fee, gift them with free products, or even propose an exchange, where you’ll also have their stickers inside your store.
Giveaways
You don’t have to give your stickers only to new customers. Another effective way to use stickers is to give them to your existing customers as a reward. If you’re sending regular packages to your customers, such as a monthly magazine or annual Christmas gifts, your customers will be delighted to find some extra stickers thrown in. Alternatively, you can send sticker sets to your best customers along with a thank you card. Aside from feeling appreciated and valued, they’ll be even more loyal to your brand.
Sending out stickers to your existing customers isn’t costly, either, and while you may pay a small price for them, the returns you get in terms of customer happiness will be huge. Brands run the risk of feeling impersonal, and reaching out like this will help you establish a better connection with your customers.
Events
Events such as conferences as well as trade shows, and expos are the perfect venue for handing out stickers to attendees. You can model these stickers after your overall brand, a product, or even the event itself, with taglines such as “Happy to attend [event name]!” One way to hand these out is from your stall, or if you’re more interactive, you can go around and talk to passersby while handing out stickers as freebies.
By putting your contact details at the back of a sticker or even codewords for sales, the stickers end up acting like a more interesting version of business cards. Although business cards are classic for networking, they can come off as too serious, formal, and bland, so attendees are more likely to forget them. Got a higher budget for your promotions? Put together goodie bags and toss in a few stickers—that’ll make a good impression.
Packaging
Packaging is always important because it heavily influences what customers think about your product and brand. In fact, terrible packaging—such as a dented box or a stained label—can ruin a customer’s experience, regardless of how high-quality the product inside is. eCommerce businesses are especially mindful of packaging, since it’s their customers’ first physical interaction with the brand.
Styled packaging can be expensive, so one way to cut down on costs without resorting to generic packaging is to use stickers. You can simply order one batch of custom stickers then put them on all of the packaging items to represent your brand. Independent brands are fond of this promotion technique, and their stickers are usually well-designed, too.
These are only some of the uses of creative stickers for your business promotion. For example, you can have customers collect stickers so they can win prizes. Coffee shops like Starbucks have pulled off this strategy successfully. Another way is to put stickers on your own windows to draw attention to sales. People are guaranteed to see a huge, blaring “40% off” sign on your windows.
Whatever your business, custom stickers are essential, affordable marketing tools that give you a tactile presence in your customer’s world. Your brand will be on their mind more than ever!
Video – Marketing Tools
Using creative stickers are just one of many marketing tools we can use to improve our company’s brand image and increase sales. This Market Business News video shows us some other examples of marketing tools.