So much of marketing these days is focused on SEO, content, online advertising, digital insertion, CRM, the funnel… But there’s still a place for good old fashioned marketing in the form of attractive flyers, custom stickers, calendars and other printed material.
One super affordable way to engage with your customers physically is through custom stickers. These are exactly what they sound like – a sticker that you create based on your brand identity and which tells part of your story. A good sticker will be visually appealing – remember, the goal is to have your customer use it in some way.
Custom stickers are a surprisingly innovative way to create a touch point with your potential customer base. And they can create opportunities to delight your customers, increase brand awareness, and build long term visibility.
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People like free things
If your company is at an event, you absolutely have to have stickers. Giving out free stuff is like candy to a baby. Why? People love free stuff. It’s like a drug. It doesn’t matter what it is or whether or not they need it. People will flock to your table just to see what free stuff you have on offer.
Don’t be that table with nobody around it. A big pile of custom stickers is an invitation for people to come over and take one – and that’s your opportunity to talk to them and connect.
The same is true if you’re walking around at an event or doing street marketing. Having something to hand out makes you more approachable, particularly if it’s something more than just an information flyer. Say loudly “you want a sticker?” with a big smile, and people will come to you.
One thing to keep in mind is that stickers are surprisingly human. That means that you might have less success if you just leave a pile in a public place and hope for the best. You should take the opportunity to tap into that human desire for free things. Handing out stickers should be a human to human interaction. When people take a sticker, they make contact with your brand, your company, and your people, and that will give them a feeling of delight.
Often, people will take a whole bunch of stickers. Don’t panic. Fortunately, stickers are relatively cheap, considering the value they provide. Even highly customised stickers with interesting shapes, colours or effects are relatively affordable.
They connect your brand with your customer
When is a sticker more than a sticker? When it’s your visual identity. By their very nature, stickers invite you to be creative. You can take the opportunity to be punny by including a joke that connects your brand to the idea of adhesiveness or the shape of the sticker.
If punning is not part of your brand identity, simply creating a beautiful, visually stunning or exciting design will encourage people to use the sticker. Depending on your design, they might stick it on their computer case, a notebook, office fridge or noticeboard. That usually equals at least a daily connection with your brand.
Even if a person has no need for your product in the near term, you are still developing a relationship with them. By the time they do have a need for your services, you are already well established in their mind as someone they can trust, simply by virtue of being in daily contact.
They stick around
Part of that brand ‘stickiness’ (if we may use a pun ourselves) comes from the most inherent property of a sticker – boy, do they stick around. A calendar gets tossed in a year, a flyer in a day. But a sticker will still be where it was placed weeks, months, or even years later. A sticker is still working for your brand long after you have paid the invoice for the printing.
For that reason, also be careful that your stickers don’t wind up anywhere they could be considered a nuisance. If you are at an event, check the walls and furnishings to make sure that nobody has stuck one of your stickers somewhere it’s not wanted. The goal is to be visually appealing but never a nuisance.
More than your brand
Finally, your custom stickers don’t have to just be about your brand. You can create something useful for your customer. For example, funky labels for their schoolbooks or reusable coffee cups will mean they definitely use your sticker, and you can let your branding be unobtrusive. If it’s placed on something they use every day, your sticker does not have to be loud – simply proud.
About Carson Derrow
