Successful business collateral keeps communication between your brand and its audience clear. If same content becomes confusing to your customers and prospects then your carefully designed marketing collateral may actually be hurting your sales efforts.
Your business collateral should be helping you generate sales, not cost you prospects. Some companies spend a fortune on good sales content, but they may not be doing anything to address consistency and quality.
In this blog post, we’ll cover the essentials of business collateral to help you identify where your marketing strategy may be falling short.
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Branded business collateral materials
Your branded materials are the visual element that ties all of your collateral together, and is easily the most important.
Why?
Branded material leads to word-of-mouth marketing. Prospects and customers who wear or use your swag are actually promoting your brand for you, which means that consistency is crucial with this form of sales material.
Logos are a huge part of the marketing equation, as is any relevant contact info you print on your sales collateral (because your prospects won’t find you at an old address or phone number). Before you start circulating your latest wave of branded goodies, make sure that everything from the logo to your contact information is up to date. It doesn’t take much to frustrate or confuse prospects, and sending them to a dead web address or worse, an empty office building, is a surefire way to lose them.
Printed pieces
Like promotional gear, companies should be selective with their selection of printed sales collateral. Everything from posters, brochures, and flyers, to business cards and calendars are good options but you have to ask yourself: what works for me?
A calendar, for example, might not have the same impact for one company as it might for another. You have to consider your service or product, and your audience, to determine what printed collateral will net you the most leads.
Printed pieces are a great idea for companies that attend trade shows and conferences. If the collateral is really good then they may start associating your company with value (that is, the value your printed piece has provided them, so choose wisely)!
Overall, the route you go with printed sales collateral will go towards keeping your brand consistent. Each piece will act as a reminder to your sales reps, to ensure they hit all the focal talking points.
Print quality & materials
You could have a perfect lineup of sales collateral ready to go, but if it’s not done in a quality befitting the brand, well, then people probably won’t respond the way you hoped they might. On the other hand, you could be going way over budget on your printing costs.
Depending on your needs and budget you have the option of in-house printing and outsourcing the task. If you outsource, make sure you’re getting your money’s worth from an acclaimed provider.
Try finding a balance between quality and cost effectiveness to maximize your results. You don’t have to break the bank to wow prospects. Something as simple as a notepad, armed with your logo and contact info, could see tremendous use—but if the print job is of poor quality (or the contact info is incorrect) then you’ll be conveying a sense of cheapness and unprofessionalism.
And no one wants to be that company...
Your message
Words, words, words. We’ve all heard that whole ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ cliché, but in terms of business collateral, it’s the few words you choose that paints the picture others will have of you. And how many words you get depends on the marketing material.
It’s easy to get wrapped up in fancy promotional items but if your messaging isn’t on point, your prospects may be wondering ‘what is the point?’ Not only do you have to match the right printed material to your audience, but your message has to be tailored as well. The wrong message on the right item is a bust no matter how you look at it.
The message you put on your business collateral is the one your sales reps will be pushing. It will direct and influence how and with whom they interact; and really, your message should be what inspires the bulk of your marketing material—not left as an afterthought.
Your sales team
A smart company is always improving its sales collateral; but having the materials in-hand won’t necessarily give your sales reps everything they need to get the job done. You may need to do a little work to educate your marketing department so they know how to use all of that sales collateral and branded material you’ve worked so hard to perfect.
Do you want to make sure that pile of customized pens, business cards, and brochures amounts to more than just office clutter? Look for a solution that shows you how to select the right print marketing collateral to jump start your success. Starting at the beginning isn’t always a bad thing if it means strengthening how potent your messaging becomes when delivered via business collateral.
Talk to our Lancaster marketing agency if you'd like help boosting your sales with traditional marketing.
