Eight Reasons to Consider Old School Sticker Marketing

For over 65 years, stickers have been a mainstay in marketing and advertising campaigns.  Whether helping politicians to get elected, building brand awareness around companies and brands, or advertising virtually anything!, stickers have served as both conversation starters and one of the most affordable ways to gain exposure for brands, products, beverages, people, and messages!

With the rise of digital marketing and more technologically savvy advertising and promotional campaigns, many mainstream advertisers shied away from old school sticker marketing.  Guerilla marketers and creatives, however, homed in on stickers’ low cost per impression and literal sticking power, to help promote their products and brands.

Here are eight reasons even the most astute businesses should not ignore the powerful, low-cost marketing medium that is stickers!

1. Stickers Go Beyond the Bumper

Gone are the days of big, white, rectangular bumper stickers being the only form of sticker marketing.  Promotional stickers are now available in all sorts of shapes and sizes for application on windows, water bottles, laptops, equipment, signs, phones, people…anywhere!

2. Stickers are the Old School Social Media

Promotional stickers are physical, off-line forms of social media and broadcasting. Long before the internet, people were ‘liking,’ posting, pinning, tagging, and starting conversations with stickers!  When designed and leveraged properly, stickers can be used to generate low-cost exposure and impressions and while encouraging word of mouth marketing.

3. The Power of Word-Of-Mouth

Despite the increasing popularity of online marketing, off-line marketing can be equally as effective as social media for word-of-mouth marketing!  Recent studies show that 90% of people trust word-of-mouth recommendations from people they know (Nielsen). Furthermore, 90% of word-of-mouth about brands is taking place off-line (Keller Fay Group).  Stickers may be used to encourage and amplify off-line (as well as online) word of mouth and serve as a an effective medium to help businesses, brands, bands, and people break through the online clutter and “banner blindness” to capture the attention of existing fans and prospective customers alike.

4. Effective for Anti-Advertising and Personal Endorsements

As both advertising and marketing have shifted to more permission and connection based models, ads that interrupt people are now viewed by many as annoying and too often go ignored as the overabundance of intrusive ads have created “banner blindness.”  As such, these ads are neither cost-effective nor effective at attracting new customers, especially for small businesses. The power of stickers lies in the fact that, when displayed they are rarely perceived as advertising at all!, but rather seen as personal endorsements, recommendations and/or displays of support for a message, product or organization.

5. The Perfect Affordable and Engaging “Gift”

Regardless of whether promotional stickers are displayed publicly, they still serve as an affordable, cost effective form of advertising.  Quality stickers have a higher perceived value than other promotional mediums (business cards, brochures, flyers, etc.), especially when given as a gift with purchase or included in a promotional mailer.  Rather than being viewed as a brand’s ad, consumers view free stickers as gifts!  And rather than being tossed aside like other forms of promotional products, stickers engage the recipient, triggering thoughts and questions….“Where could I stick this?” “Who could I give this to?” “I haven’t donated in a while.” “I need to stop in there.” “I love these guys!”

6. A Great Way to Place and Promote

In addition to being great giveaways, promotional stickers are also an inexpensive way to brand products, packaging, signage, and serviced equipment.  As you can’t rely entirely on others to become your brand advocate and help spread your message, you can certainly do so yourself, whenever and wherever possible, in tasteful and effective ways!

7. Stickers Complement and Enhance Other Marketing Efforts

In addition to branding and efforts to increase exposure, stickers can be leveraged in a variety of ways to enhance and strengthen marketing programs. Free stickers can be traded for email addresses, physical address, or enewsletter sign ups. Stickers can be used to encourage fans and customers to share their opinions and engage in conversations about brands on their social media platforms.  Valuable information or promotions can be delivered on the back of a sticker. Stickers giveaways can improve the open rates of direct mail campaigns. Stickers can strengthen communities and awareness of a particular message. Successful or interesting sticker campaigns can generate excellent PR. And, so much more! 

8. Stickers May be Sold as a Profitable Product

When done right, promotional stickers are also stand-alone, profitable products!   A brand name, slogan, or image can become a sticky product that’s not only high demand but also high margin.  With a little imagination and creativity, virtually any brand, band, business, or individual can design and deliver stickers that fans will pay for.  The opportunities are endless!

Marketing is all about building relationships and effectively communicating what it is that makes you and your brand unique!  Stickers can be used in a number of ways to strengthen your message, encourage that it is spread, and build stronger relationships with both existing and prospective customers and fans!  Old school sticker marketing is one of the lowest-cost, highest exposure marketing tools available to make and strengthen connections!

Ready to get started?

StickersAndPosters.com specializes in custom kiss-cut stickers and we serve as the printing partner for many of the largest online sticker resellers and licensors in the USA!  With our fully automated, on-demand printing process and minimum order quantity = ONE!, we can help you elevate your business and your brand.  As an industry leader and innovator in print technology and automation, we specialize in ONE-OFF printing of fully customizable sticker products! Thanks to our technology and cutting-edge printing processes, we seamlessly integrate with our partners’ platforms and deliver on demand printed products direct from their e-Commerce sites and online stores!

Want to learn more?  Ready to get started?  Contact us for a FREE consultation!