Printed stickers or social media - which is better for marketing?

The practice of marketing with printed stickers has existed a lot longer than you may think. Many established brands love to make use of them as a tool to build their brand awareness. You will even have seen politicians use them to help get elected. They are long-lasting, and the costs involved with having them printed are low, yet 21st-century marketers are still not giving them the attention they truly deserve. Here are some reasons why printed stickers may just be an even more powerful marketing option than social media.

They are a retro social media

Custom stickers used for promotional purposes behave much like physical, offline versions of social media. In the digital world, people use the internet to Pin, Tag and Like things they see in order to get people's attention or portray a message. Stickers have been doing that job since long before the internet even existed as a concept! With the appropriate design and distribution, stickers can generate brand and message exposure at a low cost, and leverage the incomparable power of word-of-mouth marketing.

Technological improvements

Gone are the days of stickers being merely a gimmick for your car bumper. Custom labels and stickers no longer need to be rectangular, oversized and white in colour; the modern promotional stickers can be supplied in a wide range of shapes, sizes, colours, and materials. Need water-resistant labels or die-cut paper stickers? There's a solution to meet your needs, and they can be stuck on windows, laptops, water bottles, signs, equipment, phones and even on a person!

Complementing other marketing work

With a little creativity, cheap sticker printing can go beyond simply branding and building brand awareness. They can be applied to strengthen your broader marketing campaigns. You can trade free stickers for email addresses, or print stickers with opinions and conversational topics that encourage the viewer to engage with your social media. Stickers can help strengthen communities among your audience or build awareness of particular messages. By coordinating your stickers with wider marketing campaigns, you can reduce costs and boost distribution - the PR generated can be a great thing for your ROI.

Word of mouth is king

If you think offline marketing is not as effective as social media in building word-of-mouth marketing, think again. A word-of-mouth recommendation from someone you know in the real world is far more effective than one that comes from someone on Twitter. Stickers are a great way to encourage real-world conversation, but many SMEs make the mistake of overlooking them in their marketing efforts.

Placing and promoting

Promotional custom stickers don't always have to be a giveaway item. They can be used to brand your products, packaging, equipment, and signage without ever stretching your budget. They may not facilitate you acknowledging customers who use them to spread your message or your brand, but you can always do so yourself whenever the opportunity comes up.

Effective marketing revolves around communication and relationships. You need to express what makes you unique and valuable to those who will benefit from what you have to offer. Cheap sticker printing can be used in so many different, creative ways to strengthen this process between you and your customers, encouraging them to spread the word to their family and friends. Sticker marketing is one of the lowest cost, highest exposure marketing tools available in the modern world. As for how it compares to social media, well: a tweet will last no more than a few seconds on someone's feed, but a sticker will stay in place for much longer. Contact us or have a browse through our products to see what sticker marketing could do for you.