Are you looking for a promotional marketing medium that breaks through the clutter of todays competitive market place, is hard to ignore or throw away, is viewed by the public as a “product” not an advertisement, and costs just pennies? It may sound too good to be true, but the fact is promotional stickers are working in this capacity for an increasing number of companies looking for creative, cost-effective ways to reach customers and prospects.
Do you attend trade shows? Do you sponsor events? Do you use direct mail? Do you have sales reps? If you are in business to make money you should not ignore the power and incredible value of this often overlooked and under-utilized promotional marketing product. “Stickers” are not just for kids anymore – they are powerful sales tools that need to be a part of your marketing program.
Here are 10 Tips for designing a more effective promotional sticker:
1) Leave Enough Time to design and order. Frequently design suffers and money is wasted due to people putting off the sticker design until “I need them now”. Production generally takes 5-12 working days but you also need time to go over ideas, consider manufacturer recommendations, and properly prepare the artwork.
2) Think About Your Purpose in producing promotional stickers. What’s your goal.. building identity.. advertising a specific event or product.. pointing people to your web site? Where do you ideally see the promotional stickers being applied.. to cars.. to helmets.. to computers? How will you be distributing the stickers.. in the mail.. hand out at trade shows.. co-op with another company?
Your answers will effect the size and design of your stickers – be as specific as possible. You don’t want to have finished stickers before you realize “oh no, it won’t fit in the envelope” or “oh no, the adhesive isn’t holding the stickers on our equipment”, etc.
3) Look Around / Research. What are other people in your industry using for promotional stickers? What isn’t being done that may be effective? What stickers do you see out on the highway.. why are they there.. why do they work? How can you do something powerful and unique while still effectively tying in with your other marketing efforts?
4) Keep It Simple! A sticker needs to convey a message quickly, clearly, and often from a distance. Beware of small details, intricate graphics, more than three colors, and more than one simple message/image. Stickers are not newspaper ads. View them as very small billboards – stick with a clear logo or a “headline”.
5) Bigger Isn’t Always Better. The bigger the sticker, the easier to see… right? True… but a promotional sticker won’t be seen by anyone if it is never applied. Put big stickers on your company vehicles.. but give the public a sticker that they are willing and apt to display somewhere.
6) Consider Die Cutting. A sticker’s visual appeal and impact increases when graphics are complimented by a shape other than rectangular. Circles often have no added cost, and any custom shape is possible with the use of a die. A die is usually well worth the one-time production fee.
7) Think In Reverse. Just because you are printing on white vinyl doesn’t mean the background of the sticker needs to be white. For a one-color sticker use a printed color as the background and leave the copy white for a more effective and appealing image.
Consider Back copy. If you are creating a promotional sticker, don’t waste the white space on the back of the sticker. Use it for advertising, coupons, news, postcard copy, coop ads.. any information you want to get into the hands of your prospects and/or customers.
9) Make It Clear? If you are designing a sticker on clear material for application to windows, it needs white ink! White reflects light (more visible) while darker colors are translucent and blend with the dark window background. White vinyl is more visually effective than clear polyester in 90% of the cases.
10) How Sticky Do You Want It? Depending on your purposes, stickers can come with ultra-removable adhesive on up to a super aggressive adhesive. Static decals have no adhesive – although for the added price, and limited applications, these are seldom necessary. I also do not recommend stickers with adhesive “on the face” for inside window applications. These have more limited applications, are harder to apply, and usually not necessary for the added price.
Conclusion: These are just a few general tips and considerations for better marketing with promotional stickers. Review your goals and target market. Have a plan for distributing the stickers. And get design and layout assistance to best maximize sticker popularity before and after application. Then print as many as possible within your budget and spread your word(s)!
Jeff Nicholson is the Owner and Marketing Director of Websticker and Freely Creative, Inc. The company specializes in marketing and promoting businesses, groups, bands, people and ideas with custom printed stickers, decals and labels. http://www.websticker.com
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