Everything to Know About Sticker Printing in Chicago

Person holding bag with sticker

Condense your brand identity, latest idea, or special message for an event into high quality custom stickers with Midwest Custom Print and see how far they will go.

Custom Sticker Printing For Small Business

According to several sources, the most common mistakes that small businesses tend to make are a lack of cohesive branding and overlooking certain marketing strategies. So, here’s a solution that serves as solutions to both –custom stickers. For starters, they are much more versatile than something like a business card ever could be. Stickers and decals are pieces of company branding that can be placed anywhere for increased brand awareness. Simply their presence is an advertisement for your small business.

Midwest Custom Print recognizes that these aren’t your childrens’ stickers, but custom printed tools and assets for various uses that your business needs to grow. With a variety of sticker materials, design formats, and label styles to navigate, our team of in-house designers in Chicago are ready to assist you with the best practices when it comes to small business sticker printing.

Custom business stickers for local business
Support your community with local printing

What Small Businesses Are Using Custom Stickers For

Whether it’s in day-to-day operations or for a special event or conference, custom stickers and decals go the distance for small businesses –literally. Once they are applied to something, they take the branding with them for people to see in an organic, non targeted way. Here are some way that small businesses take advantage of them:

  • Packaging and labels – Perhaps your business does a lot of moving or keeping track of inventory. Custom labels are a great way of keeping them all in order and maintaining a presence while doing so. If anything, your small business’ custom labels should serve as a seal of quality guaranteed for the goods or services you are providing. Custom label printing also helps your branding to be more cohesive.
  • Promotional giveaways – Stickers have always been highly collectable and are a go-to item when it comes to small business promotional swag. In a trade show or business conference setting, custom print stickers are handed out like business cards. Wherever they may be placed is marketing in itself and they can also help unify your tradeshow space with a matching table cover.
  • Window or signage decal – Outside the storefront or office, stickers and decals can be placed on windows. They don’t leave any marks on the glass and people passing by often look at the windows of a business first to see if they are open, so it will be one of the first things that catch their eyes.

Sticker Materials That Fit Your Small Business Needs

Custom printed stickers and labels don’t just come in different shapes and sizes that fit their application. It’s always smart to consider the type of material for your small business’ stickers and labels for the best stick –figuratively and literally. Here are the following materials to think about for your stickers:

  • Vinyl – Premium vinyl stickers are a popular option for small businesses for all purposes because of their durability and waterproofing. Appearance-wise, they are clean, glossy, and bold. These are the ones you may see on a laptop.
  • Gloss – Sticker paper with gloss delivers a photo-like finish to the design and is also heat resistant. Because of this, they make great for custom label rolls for mailings and packaging.
  • Matte – Every selection needs an economical option. For custom stickers, it’s matte. While not as durable and can fade overtime, the bold color palette does eye-catching custom designs justice.
  • Metallic – Available in a gold or silver variant (but still full color), metallic stickers aren’t as flexible as vinyl ones. However, they make excellent gift wrap compliments as custom labels meant to be used once.
  • Rainbow – Also known as holographic stickers, these are the most eye-catching of them all and shakes up any promotion. It’s best that these are used on special occasions only.
Quality seal sticker

Designing Stickers That Really Stick For Your Small Business

Creativity is a big part of the design process for custom printing in anything. It’s also about optimization. With custom stickers and labels for a small business, there are some smart ways to go about creating a sticker that truly sticks. Some of these guidelines are:

  • Keep it simple – There is such a thing as too much creativity. Designs in the business world should be simple without much complexity. Custom printed designs with too much thought can be eyesores and look more like an art piece than a professional identification.
  • Colors should be bold – Stickers, depending on the material, can fade. It helps to keep colors and segments bold and hardy. That’s why gloss and vinyl stickers are made the way they are. It also helps to increase legibility.
  • Files for print should be clear – A big mistake in custom printing overall is poor file quality of the custom design. The ideal custom sticker image is a PNG or JPEG file with at least 300 DPI (dots per inch).

Coming to Midwest Custom Print in Chicago For Your Sticker Printing

With these design and custom printing principals in mind, Midwest Custom Print is proud to be Chicago’s one-stop shop for custom sticker printing and so much more for local businesses. If your next marketing strategy or promotional event involves stickers and decals, start today with our in-house design team offering faster turnaround each business day with orders requests and hands-on support from planning until you’re satisfied enough to finally hit the order button.

As a local business in Chicago ourselves, we know the importance of brand identity and visibility in a competitive environment. Midwest Custom Print proudly supports local businesses and entrepreneurs by going above and beyond with our local accountability when it comes to any order. Start today on our custom label and sticker page with a free quote for your custom print order of sticker sheets or roll labels.

How Long do Stickers Last?

Stickers can last anywhere from months to years depending on the material. Vinyl stickers in Chicago have been found to last three to five years wherever they are placed. Meanwhile, metallic stickers can have a lifespan of one to three years. Paper-based stickers are the ones that can fade within months.

Can Stickers be Placed on Clothes?

Stickers are made with a fabric-friendly adhesive. For the best results, place the sticker on unwrinkled and clean clothing. Residue may be left behind if the sticker is kept on for a long time, but it will easily come off with a dab of water or in the laundry.

What is The Difference Between a Sticker And a Label?

While labels technically are stickers, “label” refers to the functionality rather than the identity. Custom sheet labels may be used in day-to-day operations in manufacturing or shipping, while stickers are used freely and can be placed anywhere. Still, stickers and labels are custom printed and made the same way. A label designer is just as good as a sticker one.

What is Die-Cut Sticker Printing?

Die cut is a style of stickers and not a material of print custom stickers. Here, the stickers’ shapes are also unique with them cut into a particular custom shape. Kiss cut stickers are another variation that is better for designs that would be harder to peel and apply.

Start shopping locally for your next order of custom printed products in Chicago with Midwest Custom Print today for a community driven and supported fulfillment. Request a Quote