Lightning Labels Blog

Handmade soap and related beauty products have found serious demand in recent years. These artisanal items are appealing for consumers who are interested in going beyond the standard offerings created by the major brands. For individuals who create soap, there is a new opportunity arising: For people who find their audience, making soap can go from a hobby to a source of income.

When a handmade soap brand makes the leap to professional status, it's time to focus on labeling. Marketing artisanal soap means competing against other small brands, as well as the corporate operations that have mass production and advertising budgets on their side.

Brewers, start your engines - it's almost time for Oktoberfest, the age-old celebration best enjoyed with plenty of beer. Rather than just continuing through the fall months with no changes to your visual strategy, this could be a great time to embrace new and exciting custom craft beer labels. Whether you package your brew in bottles or cans, there's a great label out there for you.

Time to Update Your Branding

October redesigns can take a few different forms: You can commit to seasonal beer labels that specifically mention Oktoberfest or create a new look that will be seen year-round. If your brand offers a brew meant to be enjoyed in the fall, you should be sure to make sure the label communicates its limited-time nature and contains autumn imagery.

September is Fruits and Veggies: More Matters Month. This makes it an excellent time to try out new labels for your fruit or vegetable brand, whether you sell vegetables straight from the farm, fruit preserves or anything in between.

There are a few different ways to create labels that celebrate the wholesome goodness of fruits and veggies. You can either explicitly mention the special month or create more general designs that work all year long.

The following are five custom food labeling tactics that you can employ to see better results from buyers:

1. Offer a Recipe

Especially if your brand sells vegetables or fruits consumers may not be immediately familiar with, a recipe can help encourage these shoppers to take a chance

Candles make great gift items: They add light and warmth to people's homes, and during the chilly winter months, they are a wonderful to have around the house. If you make these products, however, you have to be aware of the need for warning labels. Due to their open flames, candles being used improperly put people at risk. Candle warning labels help you keep your customers safe.

Don't Just Go With Any Label

Labeling candles as though they were an average household product is a mistake. These products get hot, and labels that aren't designed to resist heat, or even open flames, aren't acceptable.

Visibility of products is an important part of running an efficient company today, and it's not just a practice for large organizations. Anyone with inventory on hand can benefit from improving those products' traceability. This process can be helped along by the addition of consecutive numbered labels. These are an easy way to tell identical items apart, and help business owners take inventory or track batches of goods as they move along the supply chain.

Visibility Means Efficiency

"Companies at any link of the supply chain can reduce logistics headaches."

Time-consuming tasks involving the supply chain are great candidates for simplification.

August is the gateway to a new school year, and if you work for a school district or serve on a parents' committee, you may be looking for exciting ways to stoke school spirit. This is one possible use for custom stickers: Bumper stickers or window decals bearing a colors, name and logo can look great on cars, local business windows, or just about any other flat surface.

Putting a School's Best Foot Forward

There are plenty of specific teams and clubs within schools that may benefit from having their own back to school stickers. Fall sports are starting up, and players and parents are no doubt looking for ways to show their excitement and support.

Vineyards Can Give Their Products a Special Look

Wine brands are judged on sight by consumers looking for interesting new vintages to try. Now, with the season for harvesting grapes for wine production approaching, it's time to think about how to label the bottles and ensure that audiences get a good idea of the vineyard's unique appeal.

Every vintner is looking to project a slightly different appearance for consumers. Some brands are best served by classic, old-fashioned appearances. Others are more suited to sleek, modern designs. In all cases, the material and finish chosen for these custom paper labels can play into perceptions and help determine how consumers feel about certain vintages.

In an increasingly hostile marijuana environment championed by Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, tracking of marijuana from “seed to sale” is more critical than ever. All other threats aside, if you can’t document it, you’re in trouble.

And, that’s not just at a federal level. In an effort to document total compliance and control of this rapidly-growing industry, states have taken it upon themselves to require comprehensive due diligence from all cannabis purveyors.

Forbes magazine addresses this in a recent article entitled, “Tracking America’s Cannabis Industry Through Big Data.” Citing Colorado, the article states in part, “This harnessing of an information technology to track the cannabis market is key to Colorado’s forceful march towards creating a thriving legal marijuana

Craft Brewers Can Count on Cans

The craft beer industry has historically been associated with bottles. But are these the best choice for your brewery? Consider the humble beer can, which can present an economical and convenient approach to production and labeling, helping you get your brew out to the masses. Add some custom beer can labels and aluminum cans become a perfect vessel for a beer brand. In fact, the preference for bottling may be behind the times - many breweries have been choosing canning.

Preferences Evolving

A recent News Journal article about craft breweries offering cans for their flagship products highlighted the perception changes that have led to aluminum's resurgence.

Show Support Through Design

Alliances between charitable causes and companies of all sizes are becoming common and mutually beneficial. If your organization has the right promotional products, you can easily draw a connection between your brand and a charitable effort that is near to your heart. With consumers valuing organizations that show their commitment to doing good in the community, your reputation may benefit from the use of charity labels and other signs of allegiance.

Many Causes to Care About

Perhaps the most popular example of alignment between brands and charities is the wave of pink products that roll out every year during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.