How To Promote With Waterless Tattoos.

Background
Before waterless tattoos came to market, the only type of temporary tattoo available required water to apply. The concern among parents and marketers is that children would, and still do, use their saliva to apply the water-type temporary tattoos when a clean water supply is  unavailable. Waterless Tattoos eliminate the mess associated with water and they eliminate the need for kids to use their germ and bacteria-infested saliva to apply temporary tattoos to themselves … and  their friends. 
 

In general, waterless tattoos are great for walk-a-thons, open houses, college/university spirit events, school fairs, church special events and more. But because effective promotional marketing is about specifics, we'll take a look at specific ways you can use waterless tattoos to your strategic  advantage.
 

Fun Things To Do With Waterless Tattoos
Kids love waterless tattoos. They are clean, fun and affordable. But there' a whole lot more you can do with waterless tattoos besides simply putting them on skin.
 

You can affix waterless tattoos to an egg ... right out of the fridge. In addition, waterless tattoos will adhere to paper, construction paper, cardboard, plastic, fiberglass and glass. This wide range of applications means waterless tattoos can play a good, clean role during indoor arts and crafts time.
 

Children can use waterless tattoos to make cards, letterhead, decorate signs and more. So having plenty of multiple designs on hand can give kids a lot of options — a great way to keep kids busy  for a longer time.
 

At the Jr. and Sr. high school levels we're finding waterless tattoos are a great way for the cheerleaders, athletic boosters and glee clubs to make money by selling the waterless tattoos at games. By selling 3  for $1, you can easily raise $300 to $500. Below are more great ideas for businesses and non-profits.
 

Reduce Costs with Waterless Tattoo Ad-Ons®
Underwrite the cost of Waterless Tattoos with Ad-Ons. For an additional  10% you can customize the back of a 2" x 2" Waterless Tattoo. Non-profits, businesses, organizations, associations, Jr. High, Middle School and high school booster clubs, cheerleaders and clubs can  effectively underwrite the cost of Waterless Tattoos by allowing a  sponsor to add on to the back of a 2" x 2" Waterless Tattoo.
 

Here's simple math:
• 2500  2" x 2" Waterless Tattoos cost $480 + freight.
 

• 2500 2" x 2" Waterless Tattoos with custom back cost $528. Just 10% more.
 

We imprint the instructions we normally print on a 1.5" x 1.5" onto the  2" x 2" leaving ample room to add-on a short promotional message, coupon wording or $-off offer. You sell that space to a sponsor for as little as $50  and your actual cost is $478 for 2500 2" x 2" Waterless Tattoos. The  sponsor buys exposure for as little as .02¢ per impression (based on  2500 tattoos at a sponsor rate of $50).
 

Call us at 517-589-0008 if you'd like us to help you develop effective waterless tattoos ideas to take to a sponsor. We're happy to discuss it with you absolutely free. Waterless Tattoo Ad-Ons are a great way for a business  to target a specific market with a specific message and effectively drive traffic to a website or retail location.
 

Drive Trade Show Traffic To Retail Location   
Waterless tattoos can be used to effectively drive local trade show  traffic to a retail location. They can be applied immediately with no mess. Scene: local trade show. You hand out waterless  tattoos to attendees. Tell them if they wear the waterless tattoo when they visit the retail location in the next 3 days they’ll receive (fill in  the blank). You can offer an in-store trade show special or allow the person to enter a promotional drawing. Getting people to  register for drawings is a fantastic way to establish or build a database. Remember, they can't register at the trade show, they must register at the retail location and only if they are wearing the waterless tattoo.
 

Smarter retailers use in-store signage before the trade show to let  customers know the benefit of getting their free waterless tattoo at the trade show and of the benefit of a post-show return visit. To get maximum leverage, plan to launch a new product, offering or service at the trade show and hype it with your in-store signs. This tactic helps  improve booth traffic at the trade show. Once people attend the booth they are introduced to the new product or service, given the waterless tattoos and told of the incentive to wear the tattoo into the retail store within the next three days.
 

Taken a step further, encourage trade show attendees to apply the waterless tattoo  (usually to the back of their hand) right away. Tell them that company representatives are wandering the trade show floor randomly awarding,  special prizes to those who are sporting the tattoo. These special  prizes can range from store gift certificates to store-related  promotional products. One approach is to award people with a large trade show bag. The bag is big enough that attendees put all their other stuff into your imprinted bag — giving you even more exposure. 
 

The combination of the waterless tattoo and the bag exposes your company  logo to everyone in attendance. When others see people being rewarded for having the waterless tattoo, it can further increase booth traffic  giving your company/business exposure to possible new customers. What you reward people with depends on your promotional budget, but can range from bags and t-shirts (that the recipient is encouraged to don right  away) to flashing lapel pins, flashing pendants, hats and bandannas.
 

Promote Entertainment & Special Events   
In this scenario, you have a booth at the local county fair and you want  to promote an event that will take place in a couple months to which  you'll charge admission. As you hand out the waterless tattoos,  imprinted with the event name, date and ticket order #, let people know  that your representatives are walking the fairground. Those sporting the waterless tattoo will be registered to win free tickets to the event. Again, this  is an effective way to establish or build a database.
 

Another approach is to simply allow them to register at the booth once  they apply the waterless tattoo. In either case, you'll want to ensure that your waterless tattoo design is bright, bold and colorful and that your  booth sign matches the waterless tattoo. This will let people who see the tattoo on others, make an immediate connection when they approach your booth. I know of one case where a community art center is using this tactic to  promote … a Tattoo Exhibit. You can use this tactic whenever you get a  booth at a public event such as art fairs, festivals and mall kiosks.

Promote Event Contests  
This concept carries with it an inherent public relations component that is absolutely powerful. Because waterless tattoos are an inexpensive  adverting/promotion medium, they are perfect for design contests. Let’s say a school wants to launch a school pride or school spirit program. A  design contest is a great way to add excitement and interest.
 

Students are encouraged to enter their drawings for a “School Spirit” waterless tattoo. The winning design or designs are produced as waterless tattoos to be  worn during “Spirit Week”. This type of program is great because of the earned media component. It’s worth several press releases and can be a  great vehicle for a local business or several to gain sponsorship exposure. And of course the winning students will be thrilled to have  their name in the local media.
 

Cities, towns and villages can use this idea to create hype for such  events as  Down Home Days, Summer Fest, Do-Da Days and other local  festivals and events. County and state health departments can hold design contests addressing such topics as abstinence, anti-drug messages  and other health issues. Corporate HR departments can use this idea  as part of Founders Day or other corporate events.
 

Inserting Into Publications   
Waterless tattoos are custom manufactured to your specifications. That means they can be produced for insertion into magazines, periodicals and newsletters no matter if your publication is saddle stitched or case,  perfect, spiral or comb bound. Because they are light, they're perfect  for direct mail campaigns giving you the ability to target your  audience.
 

Retail Babysitter  
Retail sales is hard enough without having to fight your customer's or prospect's kids for the parents attention. As retail babysitters,  waterless tattoos are perfect. This tactic works well for everyone from  real estate professionals to car dealers.
 

First, produce a number of different custom designs. Next, when the  parents show up, give the kids a few waterless tattoos to play with after getting the parents permission. If after a while they get bored, give them a few of your alternative designs.
 

In most cases, this will keep the kids busy long enough for you to make  some headway with the parents. And because waterless tattoos don't  require water to apply, you have no mess. Perfect when showing a new  home, a new car or in a carpet showroom.
 

This is also a great tactic for the bank drive though. With the kids content in the back seat with a couple waterless tattoos, mom or dad can  concentrate on the transaction.
 

Design Considerations 
The  key is simple, colorful design and the ability to have an effective  distribution system, whether they are handed out, mailed or inserted  into publications.
 

When designing a waterless tattoo, be mindful of how your logo or design  will show up on dark skin. In most cases, the problem is solved by  laying down a white base, then overprinting the other colors.  In other  cases, a simple white outline will do the trick.
 

We've covered just a few of the many promotional and marketing applications of waterless tattoos. Because children love them, it's not  difficult to gain major exposure at local events by handing out  waterless tattoos to the children. In no time, you'll have hundreds of  little billboards running around promoting your logo, brand or message.
 

Tattoo Artists: Highlight Exceptional Work
Have  you done some exceptional work that you want to use to promote your  parlor? Turn that art into Waterless Tattoos. Use in-house or at trade shows to promote your artistry and skill.  Just give us a call and we'll  walk you through it.
 

Need Advice Or Creative Help?
With a little creative thought and a good idea of what you want to  accomplish, waterless tattoos can be an extremely effective promotional  tool. Sure, I'll admit many of the ideas I've outlined can be utilized  with regular temporary tattoos and stickers. However, kids sometimes put stickers where parents don't want them and regular tattoos still have  that water/saliva dogma to deal with. From a promotional marketing  standpoint, on comparison, you can't beat the good, clean fun of  waterless tattoos.
 

Waterless Tattoos are also great for use in arts and crafts activities  as they apply well to eggs, paper, construction paper, plastic as well  as skin. No mess and multiple uses makes waterless tattoos one of the  most versitlie promotional marketing products available today.
 

If you’d like to discuss how Waterless Temporary Tattoos can be effectively incorporated into your promotional marketing plans, please call us at 517-589-0008 or email us at hello@WaterlessTattoos.com.