How to start a sticker business: A complete guide

I’m sure you’ve seen all sorts of fun stickers in stores, on lampposts, on your classmates’ binders, or coworkers’ laptops. These colorful, sticky pieces of art are more impressive than you think. Custom stickers are excellent tools for promoting your eCommerce business and trendy designs or advertising an event to a targeted audience without spending a ton of money.

This article will cover how to create stickers and sell them online, why branding is important, and why Print on Demand (POD) with Printify is the best business model for your online sticker store.

How to start a sticker business in 8 simple steps

Ready to learn how to start a sticker company? Building a thriving custom sticker-making business will require research, planning, and finding the perfect partners to deliver professional quality stickers and excellent service with every order. 

Here is how you can begin designing stickers, sell them online, or order in bulk to give out and promote your business.

1. Find your niche and target audience: The key to sticker success

Making money selling stickers hinges on attracting a specific group of customers who adore your designs. 

This involves understanding two base aspects:

• Niche down.
  • Product and theme: decide on your sticker format, like bumper stickers or funny planner stickers. Choose a theme you enjoy, such as floral, retro, or humorous stickers. You could even combine them for a more unique niche, like funny animal stickers.
  • Get specific: narrow down your focus for laser-sharp marketing. Aim for “koala-themed laptop stickers for nature lovers” instead of just “animal stickers.”
  • Evaluate demand: use tools like Google Trends to see search popularity for keywords related to your niche, like “koala laptop vinyl stickers,” to ensure there’s interest in your concept.
• Target your ideal customer.
  • Know your audience: who are you creating for? Imagine a specific person, like a vegan skateboarder who loves puns and might be interested in quirky animal stickers.
  • Get precise: don’t just target “coffee lovers.” Consider the specific coffee drinkers you want to reach, such as eco-conscious coffee enthusiasts who might prefer sustainable sticker sheets. 
  • Focus: avoid printing stickers for everyone at once. You can’t cater to teenagers, alligator lovers, and supermodels simultaneously.
  • Choose your sales channel wisely: will you sell through your online store or target businesses with custom logo stickers? Knowing your audience helps you tailor your marketing efforts and pick the right platforms to advertise and sell.

2. Brand your sticker printing business

Stickers are powerful mini-billboards for your brand. They can spark emotions, represent causes, and promote your business in a fun, eye-catching way. So, before starting a sticker business, follow these steps to build brand recognition:

1. Define your core values: what’s the heart of your brand? What message do you want your stickers to convey – fun, eco-friendly, artistic? What do your customers get when they buy stickers from you? Jot down these core values to guide your designs and customer interactions.
   
2. Craft a cohesive visual brand identity: develop a signature style with recognizable logos, colors, and design elements. This visual identity makes your brand instantly recognizable, just like seeing a swoosh signifies Nike.
   
3. Find your brand voice: how will you talk to your customers? Formal, friendly, or funny? Maintain a consistent and engaging tone across all communications, from social media to email newsletters.

3. Select a POD service for your sticker business

Whether you want to print promotional stickers for your online business or personal use or offer sticker designs to other small business owners, the best method is Print on Demand.

With POD, all stickers are made to order, which means you’ll never have unsold inventory. You won’t need a warehouse for stock, sticker paper, or a sticker printer since a third-party supplier prints and ships all your stickers for you. Your job is to create sticker designs and work on marketing and growing your business. The rest is up to your chosen Print Provider.

Why use Printify for your custom sticker printing? 

• Printify is free for everyone. Sign up, design stickers, get product mockups, and connect your store without start-up costs.
• We also offer Printify Premium, which saves you up to 20% on each item in the Catalog, along with other perks.
• The Printify Catalog is home to over 900 products, including a whole page dedicated to high-quality, cool stickers in different styles – bumper stickers, kiss-cut stickers, holographic, outdoor, die-cut stickers, sticker sheets, and wall decals. 

Make it happen today!

Start designing

4. Choose a platform or marketplace for your sticker business

If you’re asking yourself, “What do I need to start a sticker business?” that will depend largely on your business model and knowledge level. It’s very easy to start selling stickers on the most popular eCommerce platforms and marketplaces, thanks to Printify’s integrations.

1. Marketplaces (Etsy, eBay, Amazon):

• Pros: lower to no initial cost, large customer base already using the platform.
• Cons: fewer customization options, limited control over branding and promotions, several fees, and strict marketplace policies.

2. Specialized eCommerce platforms (Shopify, BigCommerce):

• Pros: extensive eCommerce features, tons of customization options for your store, full control over promotions and branding.
• Cons: subscription costs and fees can rack up a high bill, and more effort is required to attract customers through marketing.

3. All-in-one website builders (Wix, Squarespace):

• Pros: beginner-friendly editors with a drag-and-drop interface, blogging capabilities, and good built-in SEO options.
• Cons: ongoing subscription and app fees add up, and there’s no pre-existing customer traffic on the platform.

Development options

4. Printify API, open-source platforms, CMS, and plugins (WordPress and WooCommerce, PrestaShop):

• Pros: complete customization and control over your own online store design and functionality, and the annual costs are relatively low compared to dedicated platforms for hosting, domain names, and plugins.
• Cons: requires technical skills to set up and maintain and there’s a steeper learning curve for managing the platform.

5. Printify Pop-Up store

• Pros: free and easy to set up and lets you launch your store in minutes without developer assistance.
• Cons: fewer customization options compared to other platforms and may not be ideal for long-term growth.

5. Develop a marketing strategy

The success of your own sticker business depends on the quality of your marketing plan. It’s how you’ll get your products in front of your target customers.

Digital marketing will be the key to promoting your small business and winning over customers with your sticker designs. 

Social media marketing.

• Free and targeted reach: create business profiles on platforms your target customers often use, like TikTok and Instagram for younger demographics and Facebook for broader reach.
• Compelling content is key: focus on creating engaging content that showcases your brand personality – not just promotions.
• Amp up reach with paid ads: consider allocating a budget for paid social media advertising to jumpstart brand awareness while organic reach grows.

SEO for organic traffic.

• Keyword research: use tools like Google Trends or Semrush to identify keywords related to your stickers and target audience.
• Content optimization: integrate those keywords naturally throughout your online store’s product descriptions, alt texts, hashtags, and blog posts.

6. Design your stickers

Next, on our quest to learn how to start a sticker shop, we’ve arrived at the most exciting step – sticker design creation!

Unleash your inner artist with design software. 

• Don’t have the software? No worries! Printify offers a free Product Creator (formerly called the Mockup Generator) where you can upload and edit images and text to create your masterpieces.
• We also have a neat Shutterstock integration with access to millions of photos, most for less than a dollar per image. 
• Alternatively, if you prefer a helping hand, hire a freelance graphic designer on a platform like Fiverr to bring your sticker vision to life. Prices start as low as $5.

Remember – copyright is king. Ensure any images you use are royalty-free to avoid any printing issues. You’ll also find some articles about copyright and how it works on our blog.

Make it happen today!

Start designing

7. Sell, analyze and re-adjust

The beauty of Print on Demand is that when you sell and ship stickers, you’re free of all the physical work. No need to purchase a vinyl cutter or inkjet printer. No need to package orders and drop them off at the post office. When using POD, your only tasks are creating designs, focusing on sticker marketing, and analyzing the sales results.

If you notice that some products sell better than others, determine what sets them apart. Is it the price? Maybe your descriptions need more specific keywords? Or maybe you’re not using the right sales channel for the product?

Browse some custom stickers from competitors that sell well and are the most similar to your own stickers, and create a spreadsheet. Note their differences in product descriptions, photos, and pricing. 

• Do they offer free shipping or bundle deals? 
• Do they sell only single stickers or themed sticker sheets? 
• Are they making their own sticker designs or buying licensing to use art made by others?

Adjust your listings accordingly – add more designs, tweak descriptions, and maybe even remodel your own online shop with eye-catching banners and icons according to your visual identity to bring in more shoppers.

8. Time to expand

Selling stickers can be fun for a while, but ultimately, offering only a single type of product and not updating product designs can result in a bit of a plateau.That’s when it’s time to broaden your horizons.

• Sell sticker designs as digital assets. For example, list your designs on an Etsy shop and sell the design files instead of tangible products to people who want to use your artwork on their items.
• Start offering more products, like magnets, notebooks, water bottles, and even t-shirts that would look great decorated with your designs. Remember – Printify has over 900 custom products in its Catalog, which means almost endless expansion options.

Set up a standalone eCommerce store if you feel you’ve outgrown Etsy or other online marketplaces and your goods sell like hotcakes. Get a custom domain name and open a custom online store to sell vinyl stickers and other products independently.

Starting a sticker business with Printify

Opening a sticker business with Printify is as easy as pie!

1. Sign up for a free Printify profile.
2. Choose your sales channel from our integrations list and connect it with your Printify account.
3. Browse the product Catalog and choose a sticker to design.
4. Upload your own sticker design or create a new one from scratch in the Product Creator.
5. Save and publish your sticker to your online store.
6. Market your sticker business, and when orders roll in, our Print Providers will take care of production and shipping. 

FAQ

To summarize

We just explored how to start your own sticker business step-by-step. 

Here are some key points to remember:

• Starting a sticker business and making money online is possible with low initial costs since Printify is free and there are many free design tools available.
• The key to a successful sticker business lies in awesome designs and a clever marketing strategy.

Now it’s your turn to follow these sticker business steps and put this knowledge to good use. Sell stickers with your designs, make your dream of financial freedom come true without enormous upfront investments, and watch your sticker business soar to success in no time!