Swag That Sticks: Custom Stickers for Your Trade Show Display

Trade shows are great opportunities to get your business and brand out there. They’re also a lot of work. Creating an eye-catching display is no easy task, and making sure your swag doesn’t end up in the trash at the end of the day should be a large part of your display goals. 

Once a trade show goer leaves your table, booth, or display, those freebies they take with them will be the only reminder they have of your brand. Trade shows are all about exposure and building your business. So the last thing you want is to create custom stickers that are bland, boring, or unaligned with your brand. 

Let’s take a look at how you can design custom stickers that people actually want to keep, ensuring your brand sticks in their minds for years to come.

What is Trade Show Swag?

Vendors at trade shows use swag - free stuff they hand out to people attending the show - to attract attention to their booths, and help people remember their business after the show has ended. And though there are many different kinds of swag, from pens to mugs, from stickers to keychains, they all share the same purpose: to promote the brands whose names and logos they carry.

The goal of swag marketing is to make your business memorable by creating swag people actually want to use or keep. After all, trade shows can be huge. Attendees will go from booth to booth, and soon enough each business will blend into the other. So while trade shows are great for networking and exposure, there is also the major obstacle of figuring out how to stick out and be remembered once the show is over. Enter, the art of the swag.

The Art of the Swag: Why Custom Stickers Work

Everybody loves freebies, of course, and you can offer several of them at your next trade show. But stickers are especially powerful from a marketing perspective, for many reasons:

• The “ooh, shiny” factor: Who can resist at least picking up a sticker to check it out? And when you tell them it’s free, that sticker slips so easily into a pocket or a bag with all the other trade show goodies. Which is exactly where you want it to go. Use eye-catching visuals for your stickers to help them stick out and grab that attention.
• “Cool, where can I put it?”: Getting the sticker in the bag is pretty easy. Getting someone to keep it, and use it somewhere? That’s a bit harder. But if your design is cool, if it strikes someone’s fancy, they’re immediately going to start figuring out where to put it. And a sticker stuck is a sticker seen, on an almost daily basis. 
• Nostalgia: Many adults associate stickers with happy childhood memories, which means not only will they grab up your freebie, and happily take their time deciding where to put it, they’ll also get a kick of dopamine every time they see it. And they’ll come to associate that feeling of pleasure with your brand.
• Easy to create and customize: The world of custom stickers is a bright and many-splendored thing. Stickers can be large or small, square or circular, clear or reflective, even smooth or textured. No matter what your brand represents, there are design options for you. And online design tools make both creating and ordering a breeze.
• Affordable, portable, durable: Stickers are incredibly affordable. In fact, they’re ridiculously affordable, when you factor in just how long they’ll be pulling their weight. Stickers last for years, they don’t cost a lot of money, and they’re light and easy to transport as part of your trade show display. That’s a whole lot of bang for your marketing buck.

How to Design Eye-Catching Stickers People Want to Keep

Sneaky marketing tools like stickers are useless if people don’t actually want to take them, keep them, stick them on their stuff. So how do you make sure your stickers get stuck and don’t suck? Follow these essential tips:

Stay True To Your Brand

It’s important to keep all your previous visual marketing in mind as you design your custom stickers. Your brand has to have the same vibe everywhere people encounter it, from the stickers to your website. While you don’t have to have the same look, text, or images across the board, following the vibe tonally and visually will keep you on the right track. If your brand incorporates the outdoors, draw natural elements into your sticker design. Represent who you are with strong visuals.

 Be Bold

Bold with a capital Bee: Honey yellow, honeycomb shapes, and the bee itself tell you what this company is about well before you even read the text.

Pair strong color schemes with sharp visual elements to grab people’s attention. If you’re not creatively inclined toward graphic design, hire a professional to help you create the biggest, boldest design possible. Any money you invest into making stickers that people love, and love to use, is money well spent.

Speak Loudly

No matter how big your sticker is, you still won’t have much room to work with. You have to incorporate words, names, slogans, and other information strategically. Make sure the text you do include packs a punch. Stickers don’t whisper, and they can’t be shy. After all, the goal is to get folks to actually use your stickers, and even show them off. Never underestimate the cool factor when working on your design. Boring stickers don’t get put on laptops or cell phone cases.

Take Shape  

Think of a sticker as a label for a product, and that product is your business and the brand you’ve been building around it. Every element of your sticker, from the size and shape to the materials, texture, and graphic design, need to work together every step of the way to look, sound and feel like your brand. Before you finalize your design ask yourself, Would it fit somewhere into my website, or on my business card? Take a look at the Starbucks sticker. From signs to cups to stickers and mugs, the Starbucks image is a powerful example not only of branding, but of how to use a round rather than square shape as well.

Go Old School With Cool Stickers From Stomp  

Stickers are more than just fun little freebies for trade show passersby. They’re powerful tools in your marketing toolbox. Sure, these days most business owners are focused on the digital world of advertising, with good reason. But the old school was a cool school for a reason as well – because it worked. 

Long before the internet had everyone making videos of themselves dancing, and businesses jockeying for position on social media feeds, those old school marketers were getting their businesses in front of their customers with simple paper and ink. 

Stickers were fun, and useful then, and they aren’t going out of style any time soon. Go old school with cool custom-designed stickers from Stomp. We’ve got a quick and easy design tool, an endless array of varieties, and stellar customer service to answer any and every single one of your custom sticker design questions. Get in touch with one of our printing experts today. 

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