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Marketing Materials - How to Dominate Business World. Ultimate Guide (2021).

Marketing Materials - How to Dominate Business World. Ultimate Guide (2021).

In today’s eye-opening guide, I am going to tell you why printed materials are important and how to use them for promotion.

Do you want to beat your competition?

Read the following chapters.

TABLE OF CONTENT:

  1. How to Extend Brand Awareness with Marketing Materials
  2. Brochures and Flyers - Get Your Message Across
  3. Business Cards - Promote Your Company Quickly and Effectively
  4. Posters and Signs - Make Your Customers Remember You
  5. How to Check if Your Marketing Materials Return the Investment
  6. Stay Ahead of the Game With Customization

Let’s start!

1. How to Extend Brand Awareness with Marketing Materials

So, you’ve started a business! You have a cool, unique service or product. Now, it’s time to get your audience familiar with your brand.

Do you want to find out how to expand your brand awareness?

Read the following chapter.

marketing strategy

 

Why is brand awareness crucial?

The answer is simple. It helps your audience to understand, get informed, and most importantly remember your brand. Once you build brand awareness among your target audiences you get customers, they are ready to buy your product!

If customers are familiar with your brand, they will more likely choose you than your competitor’s company.

When you develop brand awareness, that’s the first stage in creating marketing funnel.

It defines the journey of your customer from product and brand awareness to purchasing.

customer funnel

This helps you reach a wide audience and get potential customers.

With a marketing funnel, you track your leads, shorten the cycle of sales, and create a more straightforward and customized journey for your buyers. In the long run, you drive more sales, lift brand loyalty, and upgrade your marketing strategy.

So, how do you increase brand awareness?

With the help of marketing materials.

Why do marketing materials work for you here?

It’s simple.

Marketing materials are super effective, and they give you the highest rate of return on investment. The reason - they are the only way of promotion that reaches out to the audience and engages all five senses.

Think about it.

Take a simple but useful product and add a corporate message to it. Your brand’s information moves around in public and creates an impression on the user and on those who see it.

Generally, people love getting something for free, so when you offer them promotional products, you increase your brand’s awareness.

Moreover, consumers will remember your brand easily - marketing materials do a great job!

Use marketing materials effectively!

Start by selecting an object that is directly connected to your company so that you receive maximum benefits.

Lucky for you, you can customize almost any object - all depending on what services or products you offer.

For example, you can use:

Business Literature Covers

They are a super important segment when you want to display targeted information about your company. This copy material grabs the attention of the buyer, especially if your perfect customer relies on the printed word when looking for products or services.

They are easy to use, especially if you are at the trade shows and you want to give potential buyers something to take home.

When you decide to use this marketing material, you will need a display. A perfect fit for this is Clear Styrene Combo Ad Frame with Pocket. It is super elegant, with a three-fold brochure pocket, and a sign display.

Or, you might like White Slant Back Combination Easel. It is a multi-pocket frame that can hold your different-sized brochures and business cards. With this frame you save space and you save money!

Are you ready for thought-provoking promotion?

Read the following chapter.

2. Brochures and Flyers - Get Your Message Across

As I’ve already mentioned, printed materials are still an amazing way to connect to your target customers. Statistics show that a large number of people continue to check the print promotional materials before they decide to buy something.

Are you thinking about using brochures and flyers to promote your business?

Now is the time to do it.

Why do you still need a brochure?

Because it’s one of the oldest tricks when it comes to marketing materials.

Brochures aren’t out of the game, even though digital marketing trends are dominant.

Brochures are memorized easily, they are more persuasive and they engage readers to take action.

How do you design a super effective brochure?

Just follow these simple steps.

Always know who is your target audience.

target audience

Depending on your market segment, you should design your brochures with a specific customer segment in mind. You might segment your market by age, income, location, lifestyle choices or buying cycles so always remember who you are targeting.

The key is to have a clear focus. Your brochures will be successful if you focus on the needs of a particular segment of your market and if you promote a single action.

Design friendly, target messages for your marketing.

Write some quality copy for your brochures.

You should put a single clear message on the front page of your brochure.

It will grab the attention of your reader and invite them to turn the page.

In the middle, you will promote your product, or write an informational summary of your business.

Always put your brand in the center of attention and include a tagline (if you have it).

Extra tip: include in your design some charts and graphs if possible.

Charts and graphs visually represent the connection between data, and when you use them people will easily remember and understand all your info.

With charts and graphs, you can represent trends, patterns, and relationships between data.

If you, for example, use a line that represents your success in a previous year, and that is constantly going up, this will definitely attract the attention of new potential clients.

The back of the brochure should include more details, for example, contact info. Also, don’t forget - include a call to action!

Make a killer design of your brochure.

It’s time to get creative.

Now, that you have finished with the copy, you need to choose images to bring your brochure to life.

Focus on:

one image or icon for the product you’re offering, a featured image, illustration, or icon for your first page, and a few extras for your description and contact part.

The key tip: Be consistent!

Now, you further design your brochure with colors. Use solid colors and background images to bring definition to each part. Try not to use more than three colors, stick to the known fact - less is more!

Once you have followed all these steps, it’s time to get a perfect brochure holder. Consider Slant Back/Wall Mount Tri-Fold Brochure Holder With Hanger to perfectly fit your needs.

Or, if you’re thinking about something more extravagant for your brochure holders, try Acrylic 3-Pocket Rotary Counter Display. It is super easy to use, and it will fit perfectly on your countertop.

Now that you’ve finished your brochure, let’s get down to business and promote it!

How to effectively use brochures as marketing material?

The best part about the brochures is that they are tangible - people can take them home.

So, do you want to be perceived as a serious businessman? Include brochures in your marketing materials.

First of all, brochures show credibility. They add a personal touch and people want to have printed sales literature if they consider some company to be serious and for real.

A good brochure sells, but only if you know what your readers want. Always write your brochures from the readers’ point of view.

Design your brochure so that it answers all the readers’ questions.

How will you motivate your reader to open the brochure?

Well, with benefit-rich and thought-provoking statements on the front page. Make them curious to see what’s in it for them when they open it.

Make your brochure a keeper.

Include helpful info that will encourage readers to keep it, read it again, or pass it on to others.

Also, make it personal. Talk to the reader as he is the only person in the world. Direct words really help to connect with your readers and increase the response.

Choose the shape of your brochure according to the product’s shape - be creative!

Using your imagination here can really produce awesome results.

Design your brochure as tall and slim, or square - the list of shapes is endless.

Always, always, always include a call-to-action part! Include a phone number of your company, your website, a reply card, or any other response system.

Boost your selling with awesome and effective brochures.

Now, let’s turn to another awesome marketing material - flyers.

Why are print flyers a super-effective promotional tool?

Well, it all boils down to this.

In the virtual world, the attention span of users is getting shorter and shorter. In the vast mishmash of different promotions you read online, you can get lost, or lose the website where you noticed something interesting to buy.

Well, this can’t happen with a printed flyer! Also, a large number of people report that they understand information about the company more easily when they read it on paper, but most importantly they remember it!

There’s your answer! Having a printed flyer as marketing material will definitely raise awareness of your brand, and attract new customers.

How to use flyers in marketing promotion?

As with any other marketing materials, you need to use flyers properly in order to benefit from them. Read the following tips to plan the distribution of your flyers in the right way.

Understand the reason why you are using flyers.

Don’t use them just to copy others. Have a clear purpose in your mind like increasing the sales, driving more traffic to your website, increasing leads… With a clear purpose, you will benefit the most from this marketing material.

Keep a clear focus.

Always concentrate on two things - your target audience and your message.

Think about who will be interested in your marketing message and target your flyers directly to them.

Your message should include one or two key points - avoid boring your readers with too much information.

For example, say that your company wants to announce a special event with flyers, like a huge sale. In this case, include the basic information - the time, date, the location, and most importantly how people will benefit from it (e.g. total clearance of winter clothes).

Hit the creativity button.

It’s all about first impressions. Usually, flyers are the first introduction to your business so don’t overlook creativity. Use bold colors, large inviting headlines, precise and quality copy, unique design - the list is endless.

With a creative design, this marketing material will definitely grab the readers’ attention and invite them to check your business in more detail.

Have a powerful CTA - call to action.

 

That’s your fuel! That will ensure you a comeback on your investment! A flyer is useless if it doesn't tell people what to do. So, include for example - attend the special event, visit our website, buy or product, etc. Motivate your readers to take action with a short but dynamic CTA.

In the end, the biggest advantage of print flyers is that they are tangible. People can hold it in their hands and take them home.

Where can people take your flyer?

Consider adding a flyer holder in front of your store or in the lobby of your company. For example Heavy Duty Outdoor Flyer Holder With Lid. Or if you are looking for something more elegant like wood displays, check out Wood Wall Literature Displays. They will fit perfectly in your lobby or your office.

Business Cards - Introduce Your Company Quickly, But Effectively!

Business cards are traditional, but powerful marketing tools. They are handy, expressive, personal, and inexpensive ways to win potential clients.

Interested?

Let’s dive deeper.

Why do business cards still matter?

The same reason that brochures and flyers do - business cards are tangible, and people can easily slip them into their wallets.

Also, they are personal - people appreciate that you care enough to present them the information about your company - they will easily remember printed details like contact number, logo, services, etc.

As you provide enough details on your business card it shows that you pay attention to details - super important for appearing professional!

How to design effective business cards?

Do you want to be prominent and get noticed?

Then get creative and make a unique business card - you will win the market!

First of all, pay attention to the design.

Color is the first thing potential clients will notice on your business card.

Choose a soothing color, and avoid disharmonious combinations. Color is another way of identification, so be consistent in your color choices when you build your website, brochures, and other marketing materials.

The next issue connected to the design is to make sure that it portrays your field of business.

 

Keep your business card functional. It needs to carry out information - clearly and simply. Make your text readable so that your potential clients don’t struggle to understand what is written or need glasses to see the text properly. So choose appropriate sized and shaped fonts.

Okay, you covered design. Now you turn to content.

People should determine at a single glance what your business is about. So, keep your content as clear as possible.

The name of the company and its logo should pop up.

Extra tip: Include your company’s slogan (what you promise).

Grab the attention with essentials - people will call you for additional information!

Put your photo on your business card - it’s a super cool idea.

Especially if you work alone (for example you are a real estate agent)

Showing yourself builds familiarity and you can expect massive calls from potential clients.

But, do it professionally (not like for an ID photo). Dress up smartly, use proper lighting and background, and BAM! Your business portrait will be something to remember.

To wrap it up - put only essential info on your business card, accompanied with creative design and contact number or email address and you are good to go!

Do you want to keep your business cards on display in your office?

Consider getting some holders for your ready business card. Check out Clear Acrylic Business Card Holder. It is super simple, but also an elegant holder that will keep your desk organized. Or you might want to try something even more effective like Slant Back Easel With Four Business Card pockets. This business card holder will enable maximum visibility of your logo. It is super cost-effective.

How to effectively use business cards as marketing material?

Now, let’s get really down to business and discuss this question.

Give out your business cards everywhere.

Don’t wait for others to ask for them. Instead use every opportunity to slip your business card. Business gatherings, fairs, assemblies are just a few examples of places that will work.

Also, give them to your friends and relatives - they will be eager to share them with others and promote your business.

You could also give them along with business gifts - this creates an awesome image of your brands.

Where else?

Well, anywhere you think is effective - banks, grocery shops, hospitals, beauty salons, craft shops - the list is endless.

Wanna spice it up a bit?

Make a game out of the distribution of your business cards. It could be in a way of a friendly competition - who gives out the most cards to people or how far your card travels from your company. Trust me, people always respond to something unconventional and amusing. Just prepare some prizes for the winners.

You already have some outgoing orders? Well great, then put your business card on top of the order.

Don’t overlook CTA - Call to Action

As I have already mentioned, CTA is a powerful way to bring in sales through your business cards.

Don’t get your business card thrown in the trash. Instead, invite your potential clients to ring you or send you an email when they need your services.

Why not go a step further and write an awesome CTA message. Offer a discount to new clients, QR code to the website page that presents your services, or add a tagline with a twist.

Connect with others

A super-effective way to use your business cards is to create your own referral network with companies you are not competing with. Trade distribution of cards with them.

Why not partner with your past clients? If they have been satisfied with your service, you can ask them to display your business cards in their own company or shop.

Clients relate to other clients - put testimonials on your cards to ensure credibility. Use the extra space you have on your cards by saying about your present clients’ satisfaction.

4. Posters and signage - get your customers to remember you

Posters are a powerful marketing tool.

They are super cost-effective forms of advertising and allow you to send your message to your target audience in a simple and easy way.

Do you want to find out how to use posters as your marketing material?

Stick with me here.

How to design an awesome poster?

I must start by saying that there are a lot of different ways you can design your poster - just use your imagination. And follow these steps.

Know the goal of your poster

Okay, let’s talk about it. Do you want to inform your customers about a big sale? Or about the launch of your new product? Or perhaps to attend a conference? Posters are a super-effective way to talk about all these goals.

Just design them strategically and choose the right design.

How will you choose the proper design?

Well, first answer the following question is...

Who is your target audience?

Choose the layout, colors, and design depending on whether you want to attract younger or older generations (are you throwing a party or organizing a fundraiser - the design will be much different).

Choose the right place for your poster

If your goal is to present your company, put your poster in your lobby, on some bare wall. It will pop up and definitely attract attention.

Of course, don't forget to frame your poster. To do it perfectly check out Wall Mount AD Frame. This awesome frame will permanently display your poster/sign - it’s durable and cost-effective.

If you plan to display your poster outside, make sure that you choose a larger size - this will ensure great attention!

Don’t forget about CTA!

Call - to - Action should be clear and straightforward - how else will your readers know what to do next.

Depending on your goal, include for example:

Register online

Sign-up today

Visit our sale

Purchase our new product

The list is endless.

When should you use your poster?

As I’ve already mentioned, posters are a powerful and fascinating advertising tool, and you can use them especially during special occasions, for example, the holidays. Are you offering some special discount? Convey your message through an effectively designed poster.

Also, posters are super-effective if you want to draw readers’ attention to a special event in your area.

Just write your message clearly and include the essential information.

If you are promoting your business, the message should be clear but also catchy. Everyone who glimpses an eye on your poster should understand it properly, especially the people you are targeting your poster to.

One more thing about your business - if you are promoting your product or service, especially if your market belongs to a limited niche or demographic, posters are a super-cool marketing material to use.

All in all, create a poster or sign for your marketing campaign because they are super cost-effective and they produce results quickly.

Why are signs an effective marketing tool?

Let’s turn to signs now.

If you for example have a small business, signs are a super-effective marketing tool to send your message out to the world. So, to start catching the eye of potential clients find out how to do it with signs.

Brand awareness

Signs enhance your company’s image with fonts, colors, and visuals and improve your company’s brand. As you know, branding is super important for portraying the soul of your business to potential clients.

It’s simple - if people easily understand what’s your brand about, they will buy your products and remember your company the next time they need the services you are offering.

Be consistent

Consistency is the key to success. Your signs should be designed consistently with your general brand. This means that your logo, fonts, colors, taglines should look the same.

Why is this important? Well, this way people will instantly recognize your brand, no matter if they are looking at your signs or your social media. Okay, your marketing materials don’t need to look completely identical. They just need to have some kind of common element that builds the whole picture.

Design a sign like a pro

Even though there are tons of different options for signs, don’t get overwhelmed by them. Just think about what you want to accomplish with your sign. Then you will have a clear picture of what kind of sign to choose.

But, let’s cover design first.

Let your imagination guide you here. The more creative you get the bigger success you will accomplish.

Make your sign memorable. Think about witty taglines that are connected to your business. People definitely respond to play on words, because they are intriguing and easy to remember.

Next, think about fonts and colors.

Choose big and bold fonts - your sign needs to be readable. Avoid thin and elegant fonts - go with bold ones!

Think about the contrast. Your sign will definitely be attention-grabbing if, for example, you put your dark-colored logo on the light-colored background.

Why is all this important? Well, your message needs to stand out. Otherwise, it will go unnoticed. Write it as simple as possible, using big and bold fonts. Your message could deal with promotion, brand, or some event - but it should be read quickly by your potential clients.

Where to put the sign?

When you’ve done with all these steps, you might also think about the material. Here you need to decide where you will put your sign - indoors or outdoors.

If you’re going to keep your sign inside, think about whether you're going to fix it on the wall, or just put it on your desk in your office. You can choose a lighter material in this case, like poster paper.

A super cool idea, for your desk sign, is to put it in a sign holder that will perfectly highlight your brand or promotion. Check out Clear Top Load Table Tents. They are made of high-quality material - acrylic and are ideal for conferences, trade shows, restaurants, or your office desk.

Having a limited space for your sign? Check the Three-Panel Table Tent/Ad Frame. It’s perfect for loading it with tons of information, on three different sides.

It’s another story if you plan to keep your sign outdoors. Consider rain-resistant materials like vinyl or corrugated plastic. This way your sign will stay safe and last longer. What about wind? You might ask. Well, choose a heavier product or one that can be secured or tied down - problem solved.

5. How to check if your marketing materials bring any profit?

Of course, when you invest money in your marketing materials you expect them to bring you ROI - return on investment.

Do you want to find out how to accomplish this?

Read the following chapter.

The effective checklist

When you are planning your promotion with marketing materials, make sure you jot everything down, to be sure that your promotion is working, or in other words enabling ROI.

Let’s start with the list:

Basics

Business cards, envelopes, letterheads, thank you cards - these are crucial items for promotion. Check which ones you're using.

Consistency

When you look at your marketing materials are they consistent in their look and feel? Is your company properly represented with colors and fonts?

Effect

Are you clear about the goals of each marketing material? Have they achieved the expected results?

Clarity

How about the message you’re sending with your marketing materials? Is it clear and simple? Can people read and understand it easily?

Appeal

Are your target customers interested in your content? Is it attention-grabbing? Check if you included the benefits that your customers expect to get.

CTA

Take action - does your message say this? Check if you have provided plenty of different ways for readers to contact you.

If you can say “check” for all these questions, expect a successful promotion.

Why do you need to keep track of your marketing ROI?

Well, the answer is simple - you don’t want to spend more money than you should. With marketing ROI you measure the results of your marketing strategies against your marketing expenses.

The crucial thing is to identify which marketing strategies actually work for you when it comes to generating sales and to concentrate on these strategies for the biggest returns.

The easiest way of calculating ROI for your marketing strategy is to check the amount of revenue that has been generated by that strategy.

But, don’t forget - for the best results in driving your sales you need to combine more different strategies.

One other way to see if your marketing strategies are effective is to set specific and quantifiable goals, and then estimate how well these goals have been accomplished.

6. Stay Ahead of the Game With Customization

So, you’re considering the customization of your products. Two questions you need to answer are:

Who are my clients? What are they looking for?

When you answer them you can see where customization can really increase your customers’ loyalty and satisfaction.

Read the following chapter to find out more.

Customization actually sells

How? You might ask.

Well, if you invest your time to make customized marketing material, you give people something to remember. The effort you put into designing these materials really pays off in the end.

So, to make your final marketing materials impressionable, you need to add a personal touch to them. Even though it can cost you a bit more to do it, you can always use custom printed materials that are cost-effective.

Great right? This way you save money but get the job done!

Check different customization options

Of course, your printed materials don’t need to look like they emerged right from the printer. When you awesomely design your materials you sure add an attractive element, but you go an extra mile when you add custom features like paper type, book sizes, or binding options. This really takes your marketing and sales to the next level.

You can check printing companies that can help you realize your vision.

Print on demand - a super cost-effective method

This method gives you complete control over how many marketing materials you need to print. Also, you save money - this is awesome, don’t you think?

Generally, most printers ask you to order a minimum number of copies. But, this causes a problem of waste - if you don’t distribute all those printed materials, then you will just stock them on some shelves or throw them in the bin. Both ways are bad for you - you waste your money!

So, printing on demand lets you print only the materials that you need right away, and then later you can print some more. Think about how much money you will save like this.

To explain this method even further, imagine you have some specific clients, and you need to personalize a marketing piece just for them. Maybe you have a meeting or conference with those clients, so you can print only a small set of marketing materials especially for those clients. So, you save money, but you appear super professional in the eyes of clients. Just because of the custom materials.

Why is customization important?

The answer is simple - not all your customers are the same. Maybe some of them want to use your product differently. That’s why customizing your marketing materials is the crucial thing - your customers get a personalized experience, and stay loyal to your brand. 

Customization is an awesome marketing strategy because it makes customers satisfied and a satisfied customer will come back.

Also, it’s all about first impressions. Marketing materials are the front face of your company.

So, how do you customize your printed marketing materials?

Since printing has become really powerful, you can easily make custom versions of your print collateral, designed for a specific geographic region, product needs, or demographic profile. 

You can get custom print materials on-demand like brochures, corporate identity, posters, advertising, signage, flyers, all consistent with your brand.

Check some of the customized marketing material below:

Brochures - you can customize them with your brand and contact info, and also you can add some appropriate geographical visuals (sunny beaches in Florida for examples)

Business cards - you can customize them with the names and your specific brand.

Investing in customization will really make you stay ahead of the game, but more importantly, you will make your customers satisfied.