Entrepreneur Idea: Be Creative and Brand with Stickers. A Review.

Stickers – one way to brand

We start our business and start marketing. Then we start thinking of additional creative ways to market. I am in the middle of rebranding and I just saw a company market with stickers. So, I thought: let’s learn to brand with stickers?

Creating and ordering stickers ended up being a little more frustrating than I thought it would be. If you are from a large company that has purchased stickers, then you are familiar with the lingo and choices to think about. For those of us who are new to the game, there’s some info to learn.

So if you are an entrepreneur, here’s some basic lingo and tips. In this post and the next one, I also share my experience with popular sticker websites … sharing both the good and the struggles and what I learned along the way. This should make your path much easier.

Brand with stickers – Lingo to know

It’s pretty easy to begin: google “business stickers” and we’re off and running. But then the vocabulary kicks in.

I first landed on StickerYou. Some of theses terms may be specifically for their website, but most of the concepts will help even if you choose another website. Here are a few terms and concept choices we need to understand in order to create a sticker.

How do we want our Logo cut?

Standard die-cut. Our logo is put on a sticker that is cut in a shape like a square or circle.
Custom die-cut. Our sticker is cut around the shape of our logo.

Do we care if there is a white line around our Logo?

If we choose Removable White Vinyl we will get a white border around our logo.
If we choose Removable Clear Vinyl then the vinyl will be transparent and we won’t see a white border. But since the vinyl will be transparent, we’ll need to think about the color of the item we are attaching the sticker to.

What image formats can we use?

Each website is specific. This is important because if we have our logo created by a graphics artist, we’ll need to ask them for a specific type of file.
This site will take a PNG, GIF, or JPG.

Small print that we may need to know

I thought: “I will check out some websites, choose a website, make a few clicks, and order stickers.” Then I noticed some websites have options different from other websites. Some of the options, in fact, are important to me. Here are some things to think about.

Are the stickers removable or permanent?

I was all set to go with one company until I burrowed down in the FAQ section. It stated that the stickers I was ready to order were permanent. I wondered: “Even if I put the sticker on my laptop, will I want it there permanently?”

StickerYou stated the stickers were “removable without residue” and “Not only can you make the stickers on the cover of your laptop, you can also make them to stick on the keyboard area so you can admire your stickers while you work.” But, they also have permanent stickers; so, be careful and choose the type you want.

Are the stickers microwave safe?

Some sticker descriptions state they are microwave safe. If we are thinking of putting stickers on mugs, this may be something we want to look for.

Start the order

Now the review of StickerYou begins.

It didn’t start well. I chatted with a rep via their website and asked a few questions. Most of the rep’s answers referred me to the website — but I was already on the website, that is how I got to chat and how I determined my questions. So far, I was not getting any help.

But the stickers appeared to have the qualities that I wanted, so I continued with the order. The website was filled with information, but I was confused where to start. I clicked the Menu Shop and then Stickers. But then I didn’t know what to choose. There were so many choices. Should I choose Business Stickers/Laptop Stickers –or– Business Stickers/Vinyl Logo Stickers –or– Business Stickers/Die-Cut Stickers?

Thoughts …

The good:

This site has stickers that state great qualities like writable, removable, waterproof, microwave safe, dishwasher safe.

The cons:

I didn’t receive the stickers by the promised date and ultimately cancelled the order.
The website had many twists and turns and at times was too complex.
I chose shipping and was to receive the stickers in 7-8 business days.
- By day 12, I still had not received the order.
- Note: Another popular site has 4 day free shipping on a starter sticker set.
Customer service was frustrating
- I reached out to them on Facebook, telling them the experience was not good, that I was writing a post and even hoped for a happy ending. They said they couldn’t help, told me to contact them another way, and thanked me for my patience.
- I went back to the website and filled out a form to cancel my order. I received an email from them: they apologized for the delay in my order and stated that sometimes events are out of their hands. Note: I am not sure what event happened that caused them not to ship the order for arrival date as promised.
- I am left wondering if this took so much effort to try to get one page of 8 stickers, what would happen if I placed a larger order?
For (1) page starter stickers there is $3.99 shipping. Another popular site has free shipping.

Check out the next blog as I continue to brand with stickers and review another sticker website store.

Marketing Journey

Entrepreneur Idea: Brand with Stickers. A Review.