The Power of Stickers as a Promotional Tool!

Stickers are a wonderful promotional tool. A sticker's whole purpose is to permanently convey their message. They are relatively inexpensive for the amount of publicity they can produce. To leverage their power we need to understand sticker branding.

Your Name
Branding will make your stickers more effective. The number one item that goes on your stickers is your name. It needs to use your band's font. It should look exactly the same way you create it everywhere else. You need to ingrain in your viewer's mind the way your name is represented. You want them to recognize it instantly. You should try not to have your name displayed without your font and logo, but it is always not feasible.

Web Address
Don't stop with just your name. There is valuable real estate that we need to exploit. We need to give them a way for our viewers to find out more information. Throw on your web address. Your web site is your bands promotional portal. You need to have all promotional materials point to your web site. It should be nested in with your logo and name. Make it legible so your audience will not mistype your URL.

Dates
Do not put time sensitive information on a sticker. Dates make a sticker obsolete. You will have unusable stickers, that are basically trash, after that date or event passes. Keep your messages generic. Phrases like "new album" and "just released" will date your stickers and make them less effective. Save all of this information for your web site. You can change your web site easily. Changing stickers will be a big pain in the arse.

Printing
You will probably have to use a print shop to print your stickers. They will try to make your stickers the way you want them, but they do not have time to redesign your stickers. You should follow any guidelines they have to insure you get the results you desire. Common mistakes that can cause a headache for you and your printer are:

1. Send them the font files - Truetype (windows) or Postscript (mac)
2. Convert your fonts to paths - If you can't find that old font convert all the text to paths.
3. Do not send text or artwork that has thin lines - Hairline strokes will not print
4. Check your color in CMYK - Not all RGB colors can be printed. Convert your image to CMYK and print it. You would rather find out that your deep red prints orange before you get the stickers back.
5. If you are using a pixel based software (Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, or MS Paint) - Create the design at least 300dpi or larger

Always ask your printer for guidelines and tips to make the job easier for you and them. Printers will work with you. The more preparation on your part insures their quality standards.

Here are a list of places that make stickers. I have never used any of these printers, so shop around for the best fit for your needs.

iPrint.com
The Sticker Guy
Websticker.com
123stickers.com
Bro Prints

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Posted via web from TJ Chapman's Blog