In this episode
We discuss running a brewery and marketing with stickers, and we are happy to have Ted Risk from Wibby Brewing on the show to talk about how Wibby got started as a new business in Longmont. We'll talk about the fine art of brewing and how they use stickers for promoting the brewery. We also welcome Saul, the World's Largest Sticker Ball, since he's currently in the 2018 Guinness Book of World Records that's in bookstores now.
Top of Mind
Hamish was proud to introduce our very own Saul The Sticker Ball Story. We founded
National Sticker Day on January 13th and broke a world record, and now the 2018 Guinness Book of World Records is out and Saul is on page 123 with other "Great Balls." While creating the Sticker Ball, we realized it was a quite possibly one of our best company team building exercises, and it's the gift that keeps on giving, as every visitor to StickerGiant sees Saul in our front lobby. Also, it's very fitting that for this episode we welcome Ted, since the official weigh in was done at Wibby Brewing on January 13th, 2016.
Andrew spoke about band stickers: We wrote up a post about
fan stickers ahead of last weekend's Phish shows here in Colorado, and this week, we profiled
Bread & Butter, a Seattle band that printed up custom logo stickers for their West Coast Fall Tour. Then we talked about stickers for Wibtoberfest and the STL Sticker Swap and their attempt at a Guinness Book World Record.
Saul will be featured at Wibtoberfest this Saturday in honor of their two-year anniversary, but more on that later when we bring Ted onto the show.
Interview with Ted Risk of Wibby Brewing
For those listeners not familiar with the Longmont Brewery scene, we got a quick introduction of how Wibby got started and how they’ve reached where they are today. Then he told us about his individual brewing story before meeting Ryan Wibby. We spoke about the German lagers that influenced them and made them want to adopt that style. We dug into where the name Wibby came from and how they went about designing their logo. We also wanted to know what is it about breweries and custom stickers, and why do so many brewers print stickers, plus how Wibby uses stickers to promote their business. We said goodbye and
auf wiedersehen to Ted, and then we turned to...
Listener Questions
We’d like to say a big thank you for all the questions that have been submitted along with those stories and we have a few that we answered.
Peter at makemade.com
Q: How do you battle time vs profit when you receive artwork that is not ready for print?
A: We’re all about fast here at StickerGiant but we also never sacrifice quality. We have a three person art team that touch every piece of artwork that's submitted.
Those guys touch between 1,500-2,000 pieces of artwork every week. Whether it's a quote request or someone checking us out, the art team ensures that every piece is ready for print.
Occasionally, we have artwork submitted that isn’t suitable, and in that case we have to ask the customer to re-submit something of higher quality.
Q: What is it like working with a wide variety of clientele?
A: This is especially cool for us as we work across all industries and get to see stickers and labels from a huge variety of brands and products. So yesterday we put this question to our customer service team as they manage all our orders and ensure our customers get what they want.
Pete at Panini Petes
Q: How has social media changed your business?
A: Social media is now a pay to play environment, with organic traffic making up about 2% of your posts reach. This means you must have a paid strategy to reach your audience effectively.
There’s two sides to this, Andrew who is our content creator, is focusing on telling the stories of our customers which we share through social media, these get shared on Facebook, LinkedIn Twitter, Google Plus and Medium. We’re also constantly snapping pictures of cool stickers which we share through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook Flickr and Pinterest. You'll need to add some boost budget to get these to your current audience and new audiences.
Hamish runs the paid side of things, which is specific advertising content and is predominantly focused on Facebook and Instagram with a little budget for Twitter and Pinterest. This can be coupon led or product focused and is designed to get customers onto our website to make a purchase.
Top tips: Tell stories and engage people with real content. Use paid social advertising and specifically target an action with a measurable ROI, don’t go chasing likes, and make sure to get meaningful conversions or purchases.
Erin at Wordnik
Q: Have you ever printed a sticker and had to call up the designer and ask "WHY?"
A: We’ve never called anyone up but we have certainly seen some curious stickers come through the shop with no obvious message or branding on them. A recent one that springs to mind was a 4x4 inch square sticker which appeared to just be a somewhat blurry image from a CCTV camera.
Next Time
We currently have a submission form up on our website at
stickergiant.com/podcast. If you’d like to come on the show to talk about your business we’d love to hear from you. Even if you aren't based nearby to Longmont, Colorado still get in touch as we can dial you in for the show.
The podcast will be available to download in all the usual spots: iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, SoundCloud and Radio Public.
Music & Art
Opening music: Cha Cappella - Jimmy Fontanez
Closing music: My Rollercoaster - Kimya Dawson
Art by Alan Peters, Jupiter Visual
