Connecting with customers through a variety of print collateral and digital marketing tactics is the basis for a strong marketing plan. While a digital approach like email messaging has become more popular in recent years, research confirms that consumers are more attracted to print collateral marketing and report a higher interest in purchasing items advertised through print collateral than those presented through digital channels. Businesses that utilize a strong combination of print collateral can take advantage of its impact on their business.
Your Business Relies on Print Collateral
What is print collateral? All the print pieces of marketing, branding, and communication a business uses to communicate are called print collateral. From postcards to brochures, print collateral is a catch-all description of print products that can be used for a variety of purposes to help a business grow. Businesses use this print collateral in just about any marketing strategy.
- Introduce the company in a new market or niche
- Teach consumers about their products or services
- Present critical aspects of the business to the customer
- Announce leadership or policy changes to the community
- Initiate branding campaigns to raise awareness or tweak brand impression
- Launch promotions or sales efforts
- Establish credibility within the market
7 Key Types of Print Collateral
The printed products a company uses play multiple roles in a marketing strategy. Not only do they aim to fulfill the intended product purpose, like advertising a specific upcoming sale or presenting educational content to the reader, but they also are pivotal in representing the company itself.
Professionally printed collateral is the best way for a company to ensure that its brand looks great and is consistent each time the name is in front of the customer or the community. Printing companies like Dazzle Printing can process all types of print collateral for any size of business, but these seven products are some of the most effective pieces that a company can use to market their products and services as well as promote themselves.
1. Booklets
These powerful little print products are highly versatile, making them one of the most popular collateral pieces a company can use. Booklets are typically constructed using saddle stitch binding that utilizes sturdy staples to secure the pages and self-cover the product.
Booklets constructed with this binding style can be created with as few as four and as many as 80 pages, making them perfect for small bites of information or longer, more in-depth content. However, booklets can also be printed with perfect, wire-o, or even plastic coil binding if those suit the booklet’s purpose better.
The size of a typical booklet varies by purpose, so businesses that use booklets to promote, educate, or sell products can tailor the sizes to their needs. Booklets can be created in standard sizes of 5.5 x 8.5, 6 x 9, 8.5 x 11 or 9 x 12 inches, but the dimensions of a booklet can be customized for a specific purpose to ensure they can be tucked into a larger folder or to make them highly portable.
2. Brochures
Another category of collateral that businesses utilize frequently is the brochure. These nifty printed marketing tools are most often folded, sometimes more than once, to show off a business, product, or service with beautiful graphics, eye-catching fonts, and bright colors. While brochures can be produced in any size, a basic paper size of 8.5 x 11 inches is one of the most common sizes used.
Brochures are prized for their low cost to produce while still being an attractive marketing tool. Printed with the intent to fold the brochure once, twice, or even three times or more, brochures conveniently take up a smaller display space, making them a marketing gem for not only their size but also for engaging the user in the unfolding process.
3. Business Cards
Even in today’s highly digitized world, business cards are a necessary piece of print collateral that every company needs. These little wonders can not only hold vital contact information for business employees, but they can also provide potential customers with branded content to act as a visual reminder of the business.
Modern additions like QR code links directly to the business website, special landing pages for new clients, or even retail links increase the impact of these small but mighty tools. Some businesses choose to create cards without a specific employee name, making them ideal for use by all staff while others customize each card with names, email addresses, or phone numbers for quick access to specific employees.
4. Direct Mailers
Long the favorite of businesses who want to increase their brand awareness with a specific demographic, direct mailers are highly customizable so they can help all types of businesses meet their marketing goals. A direct mailer is a term that describes any piece of promotional material that is mailed directly to potential customers.
Mailers are designed so they can be affixed or printed with an address label, and often direct mailers are constructed as a saddle stitched or folded brochure or as a perfect bound catalog. The appeal of direct mailers is that they usually provide plenty of space for detailed content making them ideal to promote sales, introduce a new business to the community, or launch new products.
Creating direct mailers at a low cost that also doesn’t blow the marketing budget lies in selecting the right type of mailer as well as choosing the best materials to use. Perfect bound catalogs offer plenty of pages for large volumes of content, but they might seem too costly for some marketing campaigns. Smart material selections like lightweight paper and glossy coating on the mailer cover can balance the potential expense of this popular collateral piece.
5. Flyers
Single-page flyers are a simple yet effective form of print collateral that just about every company can benefit from using. Bold graphics and text combine to catch a consumer’s attention, making flyers ideal for everything from sale announcements to product detail pages. Printed on one or both sides of the page, flyers can be printed in full color or even black and white, offering businesses plenty of room to make the most of this inexpensive marketing tool.
6. Postcards
Small but mighty, postcards are a perennial favorite marketing tool because they are an attractive, sturdy, and easy direct mailer option. Postcards can be printed in a variety of sizes on thicker cardstock, and adding a gloss or coating to the postcard can increase their durability.
This type of print collateral is perfect for announcing sales, promotions, and business news like a new website or an address change since the relatively small space lends itself to impactful text and graphics. Bold material or font color choices along with weighty graphics increase the effectiveness of a postcard, drawing attention to this relatively inexpensive marketing basic.
7. Posters
Using a promotional product like a poster means the opportunity to create a big impact on potential customers. The large scale of posters affords businesses a chance to combine memorable graphics with informational text that viewers can either take in at a glance or stop to read more detailed content.
Glossy or matte coatings create durability and add interest to a poster, and integrating elements like hot color schemes or pop culture references can increase this collateral’s effectiveness as a marketing tool. Additions like QR codes linking viewers directly to a company website can be used to increase sales while links to informational videos, detailed product content, or requests for more information can further extend the productivity of this simple but effective marketing tool.
Implementing the Most Effective Combination of Print Collateral
Developing a robust marketing strategy includes considering all types of print and digital products that can help a company meet its strategic goals. Once your business has decided on what the marketing strategy needs to accomplish, choose collateral pieces that will allow you to reach your target customer.
Partner with a trusted printer like Dazzle Printing to bring your promotional campaign to life. Dazzle Printing will produce your printed products with gorgeous materials, rich colors, and a fast turnaround so your company can get started meeting its marketing goals with memorable collateral products that you and your target customers will love.
