It should go without stating, but if your business is B2B, your marketing materials shouldn’t only be standard outbound advertisements. Getting a visitor’s attention is crucial, but what happens if all they can see when they arrive at your website is a price page and a list of your products?
Indeed there is more to it. You need to demonstrate that you can walk the talk. One material that might assist you in getting there is marketing collateral, which can be found in various forms and dimensions.
We’ll delve deeper into the topic and go over the essential marketing collateral you can use to boost your sales efforts and establish credibility in this part.
What is Marketing Collateral?
Marketing collateral is any written or digital material used to advertise or convey a company’s brand, goods, or services. The different types of marketing collateral include printed brochures, point-of-sale posters, movies, ebooks, newsletters, graphics, and more. Consider what you want the marketing content to accomplish when choosing the ideal format for your business.
Every business has its own impressive set of goals. On the other hand, most companies that create marketing content use it as a tool to assist sales. They use it to promote a product’s acceptance and increase exposure. They depend on it to produce brand-new, quality leads. They use it to assist existing clients, foster loyalty, and finally get repeat business.
That said, sales personnel aren’t the only ones benefiting from marketing materials. Many businesses also use it to accomplish objectives unrelated to income. Think of a company where there is low employee morale. They could use marketing materials to publicize new initiatives to strengthen workplace culture. Instead, a business going through a corporate rebranding may use marketing materials to promote the adoption of its new brand identity and guidelines. Anytime you know how to use marketing materials, you can use them to reach any audience and accomplish any goal.
Types of Marketing Collateral
Digital marketing collateral aids the development of valuable types of marketing collateral. Depending on your target demographic and objectives, you may decide which kind of marketing content to include in your content arsenal.
Blog Posts
Giving your target audience lasting value is often key to developing excellent marketing materials. A well-maintained business blog is one of the best platforms for continuously producing and distributing this content.
It helps you to strengthen your sales efforts with practical insight and audience participation, generating visits and leads with valuable guidance, educational content, and entertainment.
Ebooks
Ebooks should project industry authority via engagement, like blog posts, even if they are frequently more extended, more in-depth, and less snackable than typical blog material. This marketing content is more likely to be reacted to by potential customers with a strong interest in your industry.
Testimonials
In essence, testimonials are streamlined, bite-sized case studies. Most, if not all, potential customers lack the time and motivation to do a thorough case study. You must present them with direct information that they can passively skim if you want to get their attention. In this, testimonials can be helpful.
White papers
Legislators initially used white papers to explain or support a specific political solution. White papers continue to be primarily problem-solving tools, notwithstanding their expanded industrial applications. If you have a position to take, white papers are a great way to present comprehensive, knowledgeable, and compelling information and arguments (and the ability to back it up). Don’t be scared to add some images to the text to break it up; your audience will love it.
Infographics
Do you wish to provide information understandably? The solution could be infographics. Readers who need a break from the thick text might benefit significantly from infographics, visual representations of facts or data. They are great at narrating stories, defusing complex ideas, and holding the audience’s attention. Remember that your brand should still be recognisable no matter how creative you become.
How to make marketing collateral?
The time, money, and action needed to design and distribute marketing materials aren’t worth it if the main goal is to “have something.” It would be sufficient if you had a plan, goals, and competent staff to produce marketing collateral that is effective and looks professional. It’s true that it’s easier said than done, though. Of course, not always. You only need to know where to start.
Prioritize your audience
Although it might seem obvious, keep your target audience when creating marketing materials. To whom are you speaking? What are their concerns, weak points, driving forces, and loves and dislikes? Recognize the person you are conversing with and offer to help them decide, resolve a problem, or accomplish whatever goal they have. You won’t be able to fulfill your dreams till then.
Keep your brand’s continuity.
Regardless of how diverse each piece of marketing collateral is, your brand should remain constant. Whether you ensure designers utilize the same color throughout logos or your marketing team only uses stock photos with a particular style and feel, you need brand consistency. To combat misuse, brand guidelines must be established. Technology, like a digital asset management (DAM) platform, can also assist by ensuring that only authorized and on-brand marketing materials and design files are accessible to users.
Let statistics inform your decisions.
Even though you might produce marketing materials daily, it won’t be worthwhile until you can verify their efficacy. To make the most of your efforts, identify what is and is not working. While discussing the material customers want, don’t forget to look at the statistics. Excellent sources of usable, concrete data include programmes like Google Analytics, DAM Insights, and even analysis of unique identifiers like redemption codes.
Wrapping Up
Well-written marketing materials might provide you with an advantage over the competition. In addition to being an excellent lead generation tool, it may give your business a sense of legitimacy and authority, reassuring potential customers and increasing their willingness to do business with you. Consider experimenting with one of the forms above if your company does not create it.
