Lightning Labels Blog

Display Your Involvement with Small Business Saturday with Custom Window Decals

If you operate a small retail business, Small Business Saturday is an important date on the retail calendar. The all-out shopping frenzies of Black Friday and Cyber Monday can end up dominated by the marketing muscle of the usual suspects - Amazon, Walmart and other commercial giants. Small Business Saturday, which falls on November 24 this year, is a day for you and your independent peers to show off your wares and win customers over.

But how will you make sure your company is visible this year? Your promotional muscles should be put to work on the dual purpose of reminding customers Small Business Saturday exists and indicating that your company will be a part of this retail holiday.

Amazon Storefronts vs. Etsy Stores - What Does this Mean for Your Small Business?

Is your small company based on selling limited-run or handmade merchandise? If so, you've just gained a possible new channel to reach your audience. Amazon has used its immense reach within the e-commerce world to launch Amazon Storefronts, a feature marketplace for a curated group of merchants. The service is still in its early days, which makes this a perfect time to determine whether it represents the right venue for your products.

Amazon Storefronts Launches

According to CNBC, Amazon Storefronts already grants access to over 20,000 companies' online offerings. This is an expansion of the relationship between Amazon and the third-party merchants that sell on its marketplace.

Following the Trend of Unique Craft Beer Labels

Winning customer attention in crowded beer aisles may come down to label design and branding. Customers eager to try a new brew have little information to go on and a limited time to make a selection. When your label looks like nothing else on the shelves, your brand of beer may stand out from both independent competitors and global macrobrews.

The craft beer industry has been based around these principles of originality and distinctiveness from its earliest stages. As more breweries have popped up around the world, each bringing their own exciting-looking offerings, the need for creative custom beer labels has only escalated.

How to Prepare Your Label Artwork for Printing

Preparing label artwork for printing is a relatively easy process, especially when your company works with an experienced third party such as Lightning Labels. There are a few quick steps involved in turning your product label art into the kind of compelling packaging that will catch customers' eyes. By following these tips, you can bring your designs from concept to physical label with no extra hassle.

Be Sure to Proofread

Before sending files in for printing on custom labels, you should make sure they're free of artwork problems or typos in the text. Once the pre-press process gets underway, there are extra charges associated with changing anything about the design.

5 Mistakes Your Vape Shop May Be Making With Your Current Vape Product Labels

Marketing vape products mean balancing distinctive branding with industry regulations, staying in compliance with relevant rules while getting ahead of competitors. As with any relatively young category of products, norms and best practices are evolving quickly. You may improve vape sales with the right visual strategy, but getting it wrong can be a liability. Keeping up means moving past branding mistakes such as the following:

1. Falling Out of Compliance with FDA Rules

Vaping liquid falls under Food an Drug Administration jurisdiction, which means brands have to deal with the latest dictates from the government agency.

Labeling CBD & Hemp Products Per FDA Requirements

Products made from hemp that contain CBD exist within a unique market niche. There is little information provided by the Food and Drug Administration about how these items should be packaged and labeled. This lack of specificity, however, doesn't mean companies should be careless or negligent when determining the appearance of their CBD products.

CBD Labels That Comply

Law firm McAllister Garfield, which specializes in cannabis related industries, recently noted that while there is little to no information about what to put on hemp labels, the FDA does at least have a list of elements that aren't allowed.

Small Business Organization Tips to Get More Done in Less Time

Small business leadership often comes down to one person's decisions. If you're the company founder, that one person is you. Dealing with the many responsibilities on your plate is challenging, and it may feel there aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish all the vital tasks piling up. Fortunately, there are a few common-sense time management strategies to get you though this common predicament. The following are a few of these valuable small business organization tips, ones you can put into action almost immediately.

1. Don't Be Afraid to Delegate

The Small Business Administration's recommended approach to time optimization involves breaking work down into five-day chunks, parceling important tasks out by day and ordering them by importance.

How Can A Cannabis Track and Trace System Impact the Cannabis Industry?

The relative novelty of the medical and recreational cannabis sectors has enabled regulators and companies within these spaces to harness new and effective product oversight and distribution strategies. States that have already legalized recreational sales have become great incubators for fresh thinking and concepts that could have applications not just around the country but beyond the cannabis industry altogether as well. One such development is the cannabis track-and-trace system used to follow plants from growth to distribution and sale. The ramifications of the system are vast, as better visibility into the supply chain could help in areas ranging from anti-contamination efforts to prevention of out-of-state sales.

Roll Labels vs. Sheet Labels…Which is Best For You?

The right labeling approach for your business will likely depend on the scale of your operations. Are you packaging a few products in-house, or has your operation adopted automation as it's increased in speed and scope? Custom sheet labels and roll labels are the two main types of production, and the difference is mainly important when it comes to applying the labels to products.

The good news is Lightning Labels offers both custom roll labels and sheet labels, depending on your preference. The default option are roll labels, wound around a three-inch core. This is a standard size that will make it easy to use an automatic applicator, whether you go with a simple hand-operated machine, a completely automated system or help from a third-party partner

Stay Ahead of the FDA's Nutrition Label Changes

If you operate a food or beverage brand, it's easy to sigh with relief due to the Food and Drug Administration's recent announcement that new Nutrition Facts rules won't come into force until 2020. While the compliance data has been pushed back, there's no need to toss out plans to debut new label designs. Pushing ahead with compliant food labels now is a way to get ahead of the curve, giving your products a fresh look.

2020 FDA Food Labels - in 2018

The FDA has made it clear that the new Nutrition Facts panel will be required on January 1, 2020 - one year later for smaller brands, ones that take in less than $10 million in food sales annually