Buying Your Custom Labels Online Leaves Much To Be Desired

matrix — Sat, 21 Mar 2015 17:51:35 +0000

Choosing From The Many Online Label Vendors Might Not Be Your Best Option

As a craft beer brewer, you have so many options to quickly and easily order custom beer bottle labels online from big national printing companies that it can make you dizzy, as if you drank too much of your own product. Over-indulgence is rarely the best way to do anything – and choosing from so many faceless virtual beer label vendors is no different.

Yes, after spending many hours sifting through all of those online offers, you may save a couple of pennies, but that time-consuming effort will cost you immediately, because your time is valuable, and in the long run, because you probably will end up with an inferior label that does not serve the best interest of your customers or your brand.

Reasons to Shop Locally for Custom Beer Labels

There are many logical and gastronomic reasons to drink a locally produced craft beer rather than a mass-produced beer, from the quality of the recipe to the freshness of the ingredients to supporting your local economy. Likewise, many reasons exist for having your custom beer label created close to home by a smaller specialty printer. A few of those reasons are:

When you purchase a custom beer label from an virtual vendor, they are most likely more interested in making the sale and moving on to the next one rather than in creating the best possible label to elevate your brand and your sales. They will probably refer to their inventory of existing generic labels and slightly modify one rather than starting with a clean slate and no preconceived ideas.
The business model of large online printing vendors is all about making the most amount of money by doing the least amount of work. Their employees are generally entry-level and they do not specialize in labels for craft beer, so you will probably receive a label that is an out-of-the-box shape and size and is not highly creative.
Your label will have no customization, so it will basically look like many other beer labels, without that special something that communicates the true qualities and pleasure of your unique and delicious product.
Your virtual customer service rep will not have first-hand knowledge about your company, your process or the painstaking effort that went into brewing your craft beer. It is also likely your rep will have never worked for a anyone in your industry and therefore won’t have any appreciation for what it is you do or what you are trying accomplish.
An online vendor will have no interest in your bottom line, so they will have no incentive to consider or present new ideas about how to save money and bring greater value to your label or your brand.

A Better Solution for a Better Beer Label

To obtain the absolute top-quality results you want and need for your label design project, you should seriously consider partnering with a specialty printing company that offers better options and better custom beer labels. When you choose a local printer that specializes in labels and has experience designing them for the craft beer industry, you will have many more resources at your disposal, such as:

An account manager who shares your concerns and has experience overseeing similar projects – and who is readily available to take care of all of your needs with timelness and your bottom line in mind.
The value engineering capabilities that are an inherent part of the people, equipment and facilities of a focused specialty print shop.
The additional services available from a specialized full-service local vendor, from inventory management to just-in-time delivery to superior design capabilities.
Custom solutions that are based on what is the best way to maximize the quality of the end product while minimizing your cost. A local printer will go the extra mile on your behalf, whereas an online vendor is likely to not even cover the first mile sufficiently.

A Label Worthy of All You’ve Invested

If you want to create the best possible custom label for the craft beer you have given your blood, sweat and tears to create, you will probably be much better off finding a printing partner that offers a more personal relationship and a history of experience and excellence within your industry.

To learn more about how Matrix Label Systems can help you create an awesome custom label that is truly worthy of your craft beer, just contact us to begin the conversation.

Custom Beer Labels: Advice from an Experienced Printer

matrix — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 18:13:53 +0000

If you are a craft beer brewer, you’ve probably honed your craft for years to get the taste just right. Then you picked the perfect bottle and created your label to evoke the care and flavor of the delicious brew inside. But your problem now is that you never realized just how much thought needed to go into the process of designing and printing the label, right?

That’s okay, because that’s not your primary job. At this point in the process of bringing your product to market, your job becomes establishing a relationship with an experienced printer who already understands the important aspects of creating an effective custom beer label.

Large and Small Breweries Share the Same Concerns

Creating the best possible label for your beer is a common problem for big and small beer brewers alike, including behemoths like Anheuser-Busch. The Bud Light brand just introduced a new “airtight” clear label, so their customers cannot peel it off of the bottle and eliminate their branding efforts.

Because your custom beer label is the public face of your branding, it needs to be the proper shape and the correct size. It also needs to be in line with what your competitors in the industry are doing, so your brand is not out of step with current market preferences. Consumers can be fickle, so it is very important to understand and reflect the latest graphic design trends.

As a craft brewer focused on producing a great beer, you may not being paying close attention to the latest styles in label design. But a professional beer label designer will be keenly aware of industry standards and consumer preferences and take those important aspects into consideration when developing your label. That’s their job, not yours.

Do you know what makes a beer label great?

Here are some things your label designer will consider:

The bottle shape and label applicator need to be taken into consideration when designing the label. How the label is applied is a critical aspect of the process.
The paper selection needs to be thought through, to ensure you select the right paper to combat condensation moisture and cold temperatures in refrigerators, coolers or ice buckets.
The style of the label on the outside of your bottle needs to align with the style of beer on the inside, without being too busy. The label style needs to say everything there is to say to reflect your product and it also needs to stand out on a shelf full of other beer bottle labels vying for the attention of consumers.
Understanding the latest and most-popular design style trends is the label designer’s responsibility, such as mimicking screen printing with clear on clear or knowing that light colors don’t work well.

I’m a Brewer, So How Do I Do All of This?

If you are a craft beer brewer, you might be wondering what you can do to fix your label design problem. However, the real problem is not how to create the right label, the real problem is how to create the right relationship with a talented and knowledgeable label designer.

When it comes to creating the best possible custom beer labels for your craft beer, you can and should find a partner with enough beer industry insight and experience that allows them to worry about what goes on your bottle while you worry about what goes in your bottle.

Matrix Label Systems has the focus, knowledge and beer industry experience to design a great label for your craft beer. To learn more about how we can make your label as great as your beer, contact us.

Beer Bottle – Matrix Label