The relevance of labels, a question that might arise every time you consider different marketing techniques. In a world where almost everything is digital, how relevant are sticker labels? What difference does it make to use stickies to promote my products when I want to sell them online? Stickers are still a very relevant marketing tool even in today’s world and these are the reasons why.

Labels – Building Brand Awareness

Using labels to build brand awareness is a key part to any successful business. Whether it’s product labeling or using funky stickers to send a quirky message. Everything you do as a business defines you as a brand and that doesn’t exclude what you do offline. When a customer comes into your venue, shop or practice they expect a certain level of professionalism but also a level of friendliness. Using stickies gives you that freedom of expressing the fun and entertaining side of your business. It also says you’re about spreading the word. Give customers stickers with your logo on it and they’ll put it on just about anything. People put stickers on everything from laptop computers to phone cases and book covers.

You want a fair balance of online and offline promotion material to build your brand awareness. Using custom made stickers is great and effectively labelling your product does just that. When labelling products you want to take into consideration that customers want to see your branding as well as information on the product they are looking for.

Labels – Valuable information

Not only are they important for building brand awareness but also for putting across valuable information. In most corners of the world there are legal regulations about what you need to tell customers when selling them a product. A lot of this information can be placed on a label. In the EU and Great Britain, some of the information that is required is an ingredients list. On this list ingredients that might be considered allergens are to be highlighted in bold.

Information is key to selling a product. If I were to pick up a bottle in a pharmacy and it were to have a creamy colored substance, I might just assume it’s conditioner, but if it didn’t have a label, I’d never know what it was. It helps store owners categories their stock and customers understand what they’re buying. If you’re not sure what should go on your label, check the UK guidelines here.

Labels – Product Recognition

People tend to stick with what they know. Your product can go one of two ways as mentioned in previous articles. You could follow the crowd or go your own way. If you choose to go your own way when labelling your products, it’s important to know the steps to take. Read our previous blog post on Sticker Shapes to learn more. If you’re going to follow the crowd, e.g. use similar branding to successful companies then you want to follow some simple guidelines.

The first guideline is understanding copyright laws. Ensure that you are not infringing on the copyrights of other companies and brands. This can land you in a deep puddle of trouble and can be an expensive one to get yourself out of. The next step is to consider what successful brands are doing right and replicate it. Step three is produce a label that looks close enough to the real thing but differentiates your brand from another. The last thing you want is brand confusion.

The relevance

As you have read the three subsections above, the relevance of using labels in our ever-changing digital world is still high. Usage of labels can be great for everything from identifying products to short and sweet campaigns to gain more return customers. In fact you can even use labels and stickers to enhance your online presence. Using a sticker with your website, Facebook page, twitter and Instagram links are all great ways to add to your following.

Other aspects of using labels and stickers is to follow legal guidelines about product information and how freely it is required to be available to consumers. As previously stated the legal requirements can become quite complex, but they are there for a reason. Although digital products become more popular the human body still needs certain things such as nourishment, healthcare and beauty cosmetic products. These all require labels to convey important product information.