How to Use Print Marketing to Help Your Small Business Thrive

As the digital world continues to grow, many small and large businesses alike are finding a large customer base through various online platforms, from Instagram and Facebook to Etsy or your business’s own website. However, creating high-quality physical experiences for your customers is one way to stand out among other businesses. Below we go through the importance of print marketing for small businesses, and we provide 8 actionable ways to market your business with print materials through the use of embossers, seals, and stamps.

Why Print Marketing is Essential for Every Small Business

While having an online presence is important, cultivating a strong brand requires more than digital marketing — no matter what type of business you manage.

Businesses can generally be categorized into two types. On the one hand, some businesses primarily operate in an e-commerce fashion, selling their goods online or through social media. Alternatively, many businesses have a physical location, such as a coffee shop or clothing store. Most, however, have an assortment of both. For example, you may have both an online and physical store, or you may have an online platform but also regularly take part in events or craft fairs.

Either way, businesses have begun to utilize and rely on digital experiences more and more for marketing purposes. Additionally, more individuals have accessibility to resources and potential customers with the internet, creating more competition. As a result, small businesses will need to exercise tactics to set themselves apart.

Amplifying the physical experience of your brand is one such avenue to uniquely raise brand awareness and increase customer loyalty. While a digital presence is important, cultivating tangible interactions with your brand is memorable for all customers. One such way to engage with your customers in this way is through print marketing.

8 Small Business Print Marketing Ideas

Below we take you through 8 ways that you can use print marketing to enhance your business. We focus on ways that stamps can be utilized to market your business, increase loyalty, and maximize brand recognition in a less cost-prohibitive way than traditional print materials.

Clothing & Fabric Materials

Most businesses have associated imagery or potential to convert aspects of their business into imagery. The most common examples are your logo, personal artwork, or hand-made designs. However, you can get creative and include a visual depiction of your offerings, such as a line drawing of your baked goods.

Use these images to create a fabric stamp, and leave your personal mark on t-shirts, tote bags, or even a quilt patch. You can also customize a stamp with words or quotes. If there are certain sayings or phrases that resonate with your brand, consider creating a custom fabric stamp with fitting words to adorn clothing, bags, and more. Fabric stamps are a cost-effective way to create large quantities of items that convey your brand — and enable customers to proudly display (and advertise) your story to others.

Care Instructions

Rather than printing out “how-to-use” or “how-to-care-for” instructions for your clothing items, plants, ceramic mugs, and more, consider creating a customized stamp. Stamped words create an authentic, unique, and artistic touch that your customers will appreciate. If your product does not traditionally come with care instructions, consider adding a unique note to your products. If you offer chocolates, coffee, or other consumable goods, consider adding a note to “instruct” customers to enjoy and savor your products.

Certificates of Authenticity

If you’re in the field of selling original artwork, hand-made items, collectibles, or vintage brands, a certificate of authenticity adds a professional touch and in some cases is required by buyers. Creating a sleek, attractive certificate is one way to increase brand awareness and encourage your customers to view you and your offerings with as high quality and of value. One way to do this is with the use of an embosser. This type of stamp for marketing your business creates a raised impression directly onto documents, and you can enhance the look even more with foil or liquid to produce a high-end look. Certificates of authenticity can also serve as a receipt and record of sale for customers.

Stationery & Mail

Whether you’re sending invoices, thank-you letters, reports, or packages, having a customized stamp doesn’t only expedite the process — it is also another way to increase your business’s brand recognition. Stamps come in handy for various routine components of stationery and letter-sending. You can create a unique letterhead to include on all documents and thank-you notes, and you can also make an address stamp to include on envelopes or packages.

To sign off your letters or documents, you can develop a signature stamp to increase consistency across your materials and save valuable time. Another way to add a personalized touch is by sealing your letters with an embosser, creating a beautiful seal to finish off your envelopes, invitations, and more.

Packaging

Other than your return address or letterhead, you can intensify the branding on your packaging materials in several other ways. Consider utilizing rubber stamps on the packaging of your individual products, such as food labels or wrapping paper rather than ordering bulk runs of custom materials.

Social Handle Cards

Encourage passersby at events and customers who purchase your goods to follow you on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with a stamped card that includes your social media handles.

Opting to stamp rather than print cards provides a timeless look that customers and potential future patrons won’t forget. Additionally, you’ll always be able to make more on-hand if you happen to run out.

Custom Art

Whether you have a physical location or not, you can create art to be hung or sold that reflects your brand and story. If you sell craft beer, consider creating a poster with the different types of beer and using stamps as the labels for each. Beer lovers can purchase these to frame and hang, or you can hang them up at your own brewery. If you operate a cafe, you can create a series of images, incorporating your logo with a customized seal or rubber stamp, to display on your walls. If you sell products that are delivered through the mail to customers, consider including an artsy stamp print that creatively depicts what you sell, after which customers can hang as memorabilia or as artwork for their space rather than creating wholly unique pieces. For example, if you create jewelry, make a standard postcard size print of a hand displaying a bracelet with a quote or tagline, impressed with your logo or business name with a customized stamp.

Signage

Create labels that adhere to your products, whether directly on the packaging or as a label. You can also create a sign to display your wifi password or to label different areas of your store, eatery, or cafe with words such as “self-serve coffee” or “place dishes here” rather than ordering expensive signs.

You can even make hand-made table numbers as well. Another way to incorporate signage is by designing a unique price tag with a custom stamp that includes your logo and shop name as well as a blank space to write in the price.

With plenty of opportunities to get creative with print marketing, your small business can save on expensive print costs and can be well on its way to fostering more tangible experiences that will stay with customers. By surrounding your products with images that express your distinctive brand, you’ll be able to increase customer loyalty and brand recognition — setting your business apart from the rest.

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