Spoiler Alert: Email deliver-ability rates continue to decline and page views keep getting throttled down on your favorite social media platforms. Tech companies have systemically been social distancing you from your audience well before the global pandemic.
Plus there’s so much noise competing for your prospect’s attention online that it’s making it harder for you to cut through the clutter and reach your audience online.
Sometimes the best way to win is by not playing the game. Which is why now more than ever, there’s so much value to off-line marketing. And I’m talking about a very specific kind of off-line marketing to make your message stick.
This particular type of off-line marketing has:
- No spam filters
- No shadow banning
- No throttling down of page views forcing you to “boost the post”
- 100% deliverability rate
- Search engine optimization not required
- No need for key words
- Never been at the mercy of algorithms
I’m talking about using a simple but powerful method to become a welcome guest not an annoying pest in your customers and prospects world.
And that method?
Stickers.
Take a look at those bullets again… Sticker are impervious to those issues.
It’s why in the print newsletter, books, handwritten notes, cards and merch I send to my customers I always include one thing… logo stickers.
Why? Because long after the newsletter, book, or card has been read the sticker sticks around. Literally.
And what exactly is that sticker really?
It’s a brand impression and when it’s well done, it’s a powerful long lasting brand impression. Same with a t-shirt, magnet or button for that matter. The latter are walking billboards, the tried and true sticker is a stationary one.
What once was old is new again.
People have been posting, liking, sharing, commenting and making decals go viral well before the internet was ever invented.
(Ask your grandfather about his “I Like Ike” bumper sticker.)
They’re not just for bumpers you know. Take a look at the world around you, you’ll see peoples favorite brand logos adorning their laptops, refrigerators, cell phones, windows, guitar cases and just about anywhere else you can plaster a logo.
It’s a means of creating low cost brand impressions and creates exposure that lasts long after an Instagram or Snapchat story has disappeared. And unlike the 8-track tape, it’s withstood the test of time.
In my case I give out decals that have the image from the cover of one of my books on it. I also own a lifestyle apparel brand, Chin Up Chest Out, and it’s logo decals get included in every order.
Send free stickers with customer orders and you’re basically getting paid to have someone else do your marketing for you.
They’re also conversation starters.
And if there’s one thing more powerful than any other marketing force on the planet it’s word of mouth. A thought provoking, intriguing, maybe even downright controversial logo sticker can be used to create and amplify word of mouth marketing for your brand. If you’re overlooking this simple but powerful strategy, you’re leaving money on the table.
Covert not overt advertising.
Stickers are seen more as an endorsement than an overt advertisement. It demonstrates that the user supports a particular brand and is a fan. Think of all the stickers of people’s favorite sports teams you see. It’s a covert, almost subliminal ad for the organization that’s viewed as more of a personal endorsement.
Look no further than awareness ribbon stickers for different causes like the pink ribbon decals promoting the Susan Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer and yellow ribbon decals in support of troops deployed overseas.
The subtle and perhaps most powerful aspect of this off line marketing tool is the fact that people view stickers as a gift not a promotion. Trust in business is at an all time low today, so giving something that is viewed as a gift yet has great promotional value serves to really lower peoples defenses and earn their trust. Plus it creates fabulous top of mind awareness with staying power.
Reddit.com built it’s empire on a marketing budget of just $500. that consisted of one thing… Stickers.
What are you waiting for? You could be next.
Full Disclosure: I’m a happy and loyal Sticker Mule customer. I mention them by name in this post because after decades of ordering stickers from a variety of companies none of them even come close to the level of quality and value Sticker Mule provides. I give them my highest recommendation and suggest you give them yourself, by ordering some custom stickers here:
https://www.stickermule.com/uses/logo-stickers
P.S. Try their hot sauce too, you can thank me later.