Custom Labels and Stickers – Business Tip #22

Preach to the Choir. As business owners we spend a lot of time trying to get ‘the heathens’, those that don’t know us and don’t know what we do, to do business with us. If you really want to grow your business, preach to the choir instead. Profile your best customers (the choir): who are they, how did they find you, why do they love doing business with you, why do you love having them as customers? Once you’ve done this, find more just like them! Don’t forget, this group is your choir- they love you. Start by asking them for referrals to folks just like them. They want to help you, you just need to ask, and make it easy for them.

Cusom Labels and Stickers- Business Tip #23 next time!

Custom Labels and Stickers- Design Tip #25

Use different fonts to capture the attention of you audience. For example, a larger bolder font will bring attention to the highlights and benefits of your product, where a common font maybe used for the nutritional facts or directions. These few changes will make your custom designed labels even more eye catching while expressing the key facts or selling points that you would like your clients to see first and remember.

Custom labels and stickers

Custom Labels and Stickers- Design Tip #26 next time!

Custom Labels and Stickers- Design Tip #24

Shake it up every once in awhile! I love the days when Google changes up their logo based on a holiday, person’s birthday (Seuss was fun!) or important date in history. They shake it up now and again, and it always gets my attention. Think about doing the same with your custom labels. Change the color or the shape for a holiday release or just to get folks attention.

Custom labels and stickers can take the shake! You probably have a loyal customer base who will enjoy the change. When you make a change to your custom labels, people will do a double take as well. When Pepsi recently changed their logo design, people were talking about it. Yes, talking about a logo for a soda. Maybe you’re not big enough for people to talk about when you change your custom labels, but your die-hard fans will definitely notice and think twice about you and your product. That’s a good thing!

Custom labels and stickers – design tip #25 next time!

Custom Labels and Stickers- Design Tip #23

Use a ’spot’ of color for high impact. If you really want to draw the eye toward a specific place on your custom labels, think about going minimalist with your use of colors. Imagine a white or clear background with only a small splash of color on your custom stickers. It really makes for a beautiful custom label, and has a very clean, crisp feel to it. 

Custom labels and stickers that use colors sparingly work very well for beverages and skin care products. They give a sense that the products are refreshing and pure. Go ahead, get splashy with your custom label color!

Custom Labels and Stickers – Design Tip #24 next time!

Custom Labels and Stickers – Design Tip #22

Talk to your printer early. You’re cranking along on your custom label design and call your printer to place your order. You happily send off your artwork and are expecting to kick back and let the good times roll while waiting for them to work their label printing magic. Then (insert scary, horror flick soundtrack here) you get the dreaded phone call. Your artwork won’t work. You didn’t know you needed bleeds, margins and your fonts created into outlines! What’s all this? 

Custom labels and stickers can be really, really easy to design, or a huge pain in the butt to fix if you’ve forgotten critical elements needed by your printer. Make it easy on everyone, and call your printer early to find out what their specs are for custom stickers. Most of us have it outlined on our websites as well, though I always like to talk to someone ‘live’ just to be sure we’re on the same page. Most printers will also have helpful hints, and can help you design your custom labels to meet print specifications as well. Remember, we’re friendly folk, we printer-types. We’re here to help you with your custom label printing; just don’t wait until it’s too late!

Custom Labels and Stickers- Design tip #23 next time!

Custom labels and stickers- design tip #21

Just about anything can be a custom sticker! We have a lot of fun around here with our business cards, which are, of course, custom stickers. It’s amazing how people’s eyes light up when you hand them one of our custom label cards because they are so unique. They are memorable, we can change them the time because of the small quantities we can print, and they are sure to garner attention.

Custom labels and stickers really can be used in many ways. Think through your marketing materials, your packaging materials, your address labels- they can all be custom stickers. Use a bit of creativity and turn some everyday materials into custom labels ands watch the bang for the buck you get.

Custom labels and stickers – design tip #22 next time!

Custom Labels and Stickers- Design Tip #20

Check out what’s working in the marketplace. Do a little ad hoc market research on what’s working and what trends are in the marketplace for custom stickers. Grab something you can record notes in and spend a few days really paying attention to custom labels. What colors, shapes, and fonts are hot? For example, lime green, orange and brown weren’t on the radar a few years ago, and now they’re all over the place. Are you seeing different uses for custom labels and stickers than before? What catches your eye?

Custom labels and stickers go through trends with the marketplace. With the surge in custom everything (tee shirts, for example), custom labels have seen an upsurge. You want to make sure your custom stickers don’t look like you pulled them out of the attic, unless you’re going for the retro look. Hmm… Maybe they should look like you pulled them out of the attic given how hip it is to be retro in the marketplace right now. Spending a bit of time could pay big dividends for your custom labels.

Custom labels and stickers- Design Tip #21 next time!

Custom Labels and Stickers – Design Tip #19

Test your options. Don’t feel locked in on the design of your current custom labels. Change some things up and test whether your buyers like the new look. We recently printed some new custom labels for Horsetooth Hot Sauce, (www.horsetoothhotsause.com) where they are testing out using a matte laminate. They have a great custom label design to begin with, but they aren’t afraid to test out a new look to see if they can make it even better.

Custom labels and stickers are made to be just that – custom. Keep trying new things with your custom stickers, in small quantities, to see if you can make your design more effective, more fun, more appealing. Give your buyers a choice and see which custom label option they prefer. If you have the opportunity, ask them why; what did they like and dislike about each option. Change it up!

Custom labels and stickers- Design Tip #20 next time!

Custom Labels and Stickers- Design Tip #18

Make me laugh.Yesterday we printed tiny moose stickers for Clean Air Compost ( check out  www.cleanaircompost.com to see the moose). They were so darned cute they made me laugh, not just once but every time I looked at them. I’m thinking of sticking one on my car’s dashboard so I have something to make me smile when I’m stuck in traffic. When our teen-aged daughter saw one she immediately stuck the tiny custom sticker on her cell phone because she liked them so much. Now that’s a powerful custom label!

Custom labels and stickers that can evoke an emotion like happiness are worth their weight in gold. We both wanted to take action and put the label where we would see it frequently. That’s a powerful reminder of your brand and product if you can get your custom labels to have the same effect. What emotions, if any, do your custom stickers evoke when people see them? Laughter and happiness are always a good goal!

Custom Labels and Stickers – Design Tip #19 next time!

Custom Labels and Stickers – Design Tip #17

Go with a theme- part 2! I had to pass these  3 finds along, because they are a fantastic examples of using a theme in custom labels. Killibinbin winery uses a vintage movie poster theme for their custom labels. Think B horror movie posters and you’ll get the idea.  Mash winery uses a comics theme, in the old Superman style. And locally, we just heard about Grimm Brothers Brewing.  I’m sure you can guess what their custom labels theme will be… And we must say, we’re quite excited that Northern Colorado is adding yet another  craft brewery!

Custom labels and stickers are a great way to have some fun, and using a theme only adds to silliness. We can think of so many options it’s mind boggling. I tend to think in themes and catch phrases, Todd’s a bit more literal, but is incredibly goofy (yes, that’s possible), and Casey and Jeff are all about irony and pop culture. Give us a call if you want some thoughts!

Custom Labels and Stickers – Design tip #18 next time!