Promotional stickers have been around in some shape or form since the 1800s, so it’s definitely an old-school type of advertising, especially when compared to digital, TV and other channels available today. But that doesn’t mean they don’t work. In fact, stickers are more effective than ever. Read on to find out why stickers are such a powerful marketing tool.
Stickers Help Brands Stand Out
Online marketing is highly effective, without a doubt, but it’s a pretty crowded space and is slowly becoming overly saturated to the point where people are developing ad blindness.
The advantage with promotional stickers is that they help you stand out from the crowd. While everyone is running to grab people’s attention online, you can take advantage of the now less crowded offline space.
People Like Stickers
People just like stickers. There are a multitude of reasons. Some of us like to let our inner child out to play, and promotional stickers are the adult version of My Little Pony, Transformers or those always coveted gold star stickers. Some of us want to support causes or make a statement, while others want to let the world know what they’re into.
Regardless of the reasons, the fact is that people really like stickers, and if your stickers are creative and attractive enough, and mesh with what your prospects and customers want, then they’ll be sticking them on anything and everything they own, especially since they have a high perceived value.
Stickers Are Like a Personal Recommendation
When someone applies a promotional sticker on something they own, they are, essentially, endorsing that brand. In other words, anyone who sees the sticker will see it as a personal recommendation, turning the sticker into a form of word-of-mouth marketing.
Considering that, according to Nielsen, 82% of Americans rely on recommendations when making a purchase, while the Keller Fay Group reveals that 90% of word-of-mouth takes place offline, you can see why stickers are so powerful.
Stickers Make Life Easier for Your Advocates
Those loyal customers who are more than happy to recommend your brand to their friends and family are worth their weight in gold. However, many people don’t go out of their way to “promote” your brand, which is understandable. If someone asks them, they will recommend you, but won’t necessarily be proactive about it.
Stickers, on the other hand, make it much easier for your loyal customers to advocate your brand proactively. All they have to do is apply the sticker onto something they own, and you have a walking, talking advertisement in the shape of word-of-mouth marketing, which is even more powerful.
And the best thing? No one will feel as if they are acting as an advertisement for you, because, as we previously said, people just like stickers.
Stickers Have Evolved
If you’ve been living under a rock, you might not know that stickers have come a long way since the days of those large, white rectangles applied to bumpers that encouraged you to vote for some politician or other.
Nowadays, you can get them in a wide range of shapes and sizes, and they can be applied to pretty much anything, from windows, walls and floors to buses, phones and even people. Want a sticker to cover an entire shop window? Not a problem. Whatever your mind can dream up, it can be made.
The great thing about this is that it’s easier than ever to come up with a memorable and fun sticker design, which people will remember.
Stickers Allow for a Lot of Creativity
There aren’t many other mediums that allow for the level of creativity stickers do. It’s so easy nowadays to come up with a design that attracts people’s attention like moths to a flame.
For example, UNICEF created stickers that looked like landmines on the bottom, while the top was self-adhesive and mimicked the floor they were placed on, making them invisible until someone stepped on one. When removing the sticker from their shoe, people found the picture of the landmine with a message explaining that in some countries, they would have ended up really hurt.
Another interesting example comes from Pedigree. They put down stickers on the floor around pet stores and supermarkets that looked exactly like dog food bowls filled with kibble. These stickers had been sprayed with an essence of the food, which meant that every dog ended up licking the sticker, attracting their owner’s attention to the brand.
Stickers Are Cost-Effective
Compared to many other promotional mediums, stickers are highly cost-effective. Not only is the investment itself reasonable compared to other advertising tools, but the way they are perceived by customers and prospects makes them even more valuable.
When given a sticker, people see them more as a gift than a promotional tool, which helps to lower their defenses. So, instead of being irritated because they feel they are being sold to aggressively, the psychology changes to wondering where they can apply the sticker, or who they could make happy by passing it on as a gift. It certainly acts as a great reminder of your brand and most people will make a mental note to interact with your business in the near future.
Stickers Increase the Effectiveness of Other Marketing Campaigns
Stickers significantly increase the effectiveness of other marketing campaigns. For example, if you want to build an online subscriber list, offer people free stickers for their email addresses. Want to increase the open rate of your direct mail? Include a sticker (and let people know about it beforehand, of course.) Add QR codes to your stickers to increase awareness of online campaigns and improve conversion rates for your online store. These are just some of the ways you can use stickers to enhance your other marketing efforts. With a little creativity, you can do so much more.
Stickers continue to be a powerful marketing tool that brings together more traditional advertising methods with highly effective word-of-mouth marketing, all while being non-intrusive. Due to the general perception that stickers are something fun rather than an ad or sales tool, they promote a high level of engagement while minimizing the automatic defenses that go up in customers when faced with a more traditional advertisement. Combined with their cost-effectiveness, stickers are a powerful promotional tool every business should be taking advantage of.
