Welcome to 2019 - let’s make it a big year for your business! We’ll kick off with a useful rule of thumb for the next 12 months, namely that it’s not enough to have a great product or service if you have no way to promote it.
Shrinking violets don’t get ahead, so never be afraid to show off what you have. Whether you sell to other businesses or to consumers, your target audience will appreciate elegantly designed, well-written materials to peruse on their way to buying from you.
This is what we call marketing collateral - content you produce to inform people what you do and persuade them to close the deal. Collateral can take a variety of digital and physical forms, from brochures to blogs.
Here are 5 marketing collateral types that every local business could benefit from using.
If you’re a B2B business, this type of collateral is absolutely essential.
Before clients come to you, they’ll want some record of what you’ve done for other businesses like them. That’s why you need a ready supply of case studies documenting your successes.
A case study works in 3 parts: who your client was, what their challenges and/or goals were, and how you provided the solution.
They can be any length, and take any format you like, whether as a webpage, a downloadable PDF, or in a presentation. But remember, there’s no need for essays; punchy stats and figures should carry the story.
Think of customers that you have a particularly good relationship with, and approach them to ask if they would be willing to contribute a testimonial. Then post the finished case studies on a dedicated section of your website. Check out our own case studies section for inspiration here!
If you have a sales team of any size, you’ll need slide decks and presentations to clearly outline your business’s core propositions.
Luckily, it’s very easy to make a professional, attractive slide deck absolutely free. You might already have PowerPoint installed, but if not, Google Slides costs nothing and offers much of the same design functionalities.
If you make some particularly good slides, you could even print them off and distribute them in person, or turn them into downloadable PDFs for your website.
If you’re running a promotion or offer, you want to make sure it lands, so showcase it properly with a dedicated landing page on your website!
A landing page sits within your site, but functions like a homepage for a specific offer. You can then use other marketing channels, such as emails or online advertising to link to it as a one stop shop for anything relating to your particular deal.
An effective landing page will include any relevant information about its promotion, and direct people towards a particular call-to-action (CTA).
This CTA might be to request a callback, or ask people to submit their contact details before downloading some free content, or a link to buy the product on offer if you have eCommerce functionality on your site!
Read this article to understand more about landing pages.
Business cards are one of the most iconic, widely recognised marketing collateral types around. Flipping a stylish little rectangle onto the table as you leave a great pitch is an old trick, but one that still works.
Business cards give your customers a way to easily hold onto your details and reach out to you in time. Who knows, a lead you once met at a conference or in the field might find your card tucked away in their wallet one day and give you a ring!
A memorable design, such as an intriguing shape, material or colour combo, can help your business stick in customers’ minds long after you’ve left the room! It’s one piece of printed content that isn’t going away anytime soon.
One of the more versatile marketing collateral types, an email newsletter supplies your customers with a regular stream of content that could keep you at the front of their minds.
Newsletters are the best way to group together your digital collateral and get it out to your customers and leads. You could compile case studies and recent blog posts, with interspersed links to landing pages for your newest offers. Or maybe you’d provide a more personal touch - a little update on your business’s progress, or plans for the year. It’s all up to you!
Before you fire up tools like MailChimp or HubSpot though, have a read of this article on how to make your email marketing unmissable.
Your business can’t flourish without great marketing, and great marketing takes great collateral. With so many free or cheap online options for designing and producing high-quality content, the sky’s the limit on what your local business can achieve.
Just remember to make sure your branding is consistent, everything’s properly formatted and to run spelling and grammar checks on any text, and you’ll be on your way to sealing some serious deals in 2019.
Enjoyed this article? Try these 2 from our archives to learn more about different marketing collateral types:
