"Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business." - Steve Forbes
August June Desserts Branded Materials
So, you have a small business. How can you easily and quickly promote your business? - By using branded items!
Let's step back for a second and define branding. Branding is the process of creating a distinct identity for a business in the mind of your target audience and consumers you want customers and potential customers to know that when they see your logo or business name, that it equates quality.
Branded items/products ensure that your business stands out, is easily recognized, and remembered. Think Nike, Starbucks, and other popular and easily recognized brands.
Below are a few branded items that I use to promote August June Desserts. Whenever customers see this logo, they know to expect delicious and beautiful custom cupcakes and gourmet cupcakes.
August June Desserts Business Cards
Business Cards
Business cards are the ultimate promotional item. Even though we are in the digital age, they still hold a place for promoting your business. They are quick and easy to use and lets the customer/person you are networking with who you are, the name of your business and how to reach you if they need your products or services. My business cards have a clean and elegant look and contain the cake from the business logo and our brand colors to make a bold statement. The cards are also printed on quality cardstock.
Logo Stickers by All Sticker Printing
Labels & Stickers
Always brand your product with your logo. It helps the customer know who you are and what service you are providing. The label/sticker can also contain your contact information. I choose to keep it simple, and just have my website on logo. It provides the clean look that I like to use for the brand style. I use labels on my cake and boxes so that people know who baked the products, and how to contact me if they want to place an order. I also use labels in my cake tasting boxes to identify the cake and frosting flavors being sampled.
I recently had the opportunity to use stickers from All Sticker Printing. I was sent 100 Gloss Paper Stickers with my business logo in exchange for a blog post about their product.
The company representatives were very pleasant and wonderful to work with. After the information to create the stickers was provided, they arrived in the mail nicely packaged, along with various styles of stickers & business cards samples they offer.
Packaged Cupcake Orders with All Sticker Printing Stickers
The stickers were printed on individual squares, which was a bit different for me, as I am used to using labels on a roll. They were high quality, smooth, glossy, and full of vibrant color. They were also easy to peel from the backing, which made it very easy for a quick peel and stick.
I tested the stickers on the boxes that I utilized for baby shower and birthday cupcake orders from this past weekend. The stickers were the perfect size for my cupcake boxes, looked impressive, and provided a simple, yet elegant look for my box branding,
Overall I was very pleased with the stickers and would definitely try other products by All Sticker Printing. You can view their Instagram page to learn more about what they offer and see how other businesses are using the stickers to brand/promote their products.
Flyers/Postcards
Flyers or postcards can make a statement with a visual reminder of the services or products that you provide, promoting events, or for informational purposes.
My promotional postcards (in the photo above) show a photo of a wedding cake on one side and the other side has a bit of information about the business and contact information. The postcards, along with a business card, and cake instructions are attached to the dessert delivery box.
I also use branded postcards for cake care instructions/cake cutting guide. These postcards are provided to customers to show them how to care for and cut the cake that they ordered. These guides are for sale via PDF download on the Digital Products page of the website.
Acrylic Social Sign designed by Mainley Cupcakes
Promotional Items/Marketing
It’s always a plus to have a branded item with your logo on it. T-Shirts, pens, magnets, or products specifically related to your business.
I sometimes wear business branded aprons or t-shirts in behind the scenes reels on Instagram to promote my brand. A number of bakers use small cake charms affixed to their cake drums to promote their brand or sell baking related products such as sprinkles or kitchen tools.
Acrylic Social signs with QR codes readers (as shown in the above photo) are also a great way to promote your business, especially given the current environment due to COVID. With the "no touch option", customers can use their phone to scan the QR code to access your website, social media pages, or even make payments. Mainley Cupcakes designed our gorgeous acrylic social sign. Visit their website for this and other custom acrylic items such as cake toppers, and cake charms.
How do you brand your business products?
Comment below and let us know!