Advertising guarantee is the term used to depict the materials used to present your business capacities and items.

This begins with your business letterhead and business cards and incorporates some other correspondence pieces that are delivered by the organization, for example, leaflets, organization actuality sheets, item sheets, flyers and press packs. Every single of these things ought to be connected to your image picture and advertising message.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

Every company has some form of marketing literature or collateral irrespective of the sector or industry they are in. Why is marketing collateral so important though? Marketing collateral is the term used to describe media that supports the sale of a product or service. It’s the tangible evidence that conveys the tone, positioning and credibility of your business in the marketplace.

How you present and communicate your products or services can make the difference between receiving an enquiry or helping to further the sales process. Prospects and clients will often look at several competitors before making an enquiry, so it is important to differentiate yourself from the competitors and present yourself as market leaders. Your marketing material is often the means that a potential client will use to shortlist companies.

Every business will use some form of collateral whether it’s a website, company stationery, product sheets or product literature to advertising, point of sale, e-marketing, exhibition stands or direct mail. It’s intended to make the sales effort easier and more effective so it is paramount that each piece works for you. To ensure this is the case, all items should be designed with a specific job in mind, they are a tactic of your sales strategy. As the first impression, it also needs to reinforce your business and present you in a professional light.

The design of any collateral is important as the better designed a piece of work is, the easier it will be for the customer to understand the messages and understand your offering. Copy heavy literature may deter a customer from reading the information and therefore you have lost the opportunity of getting your message across. Likewise, too much imagery and not enough supporting content may indicate a lack of substance and not provide the answers a customer needs to help the decision-making process.

Here are some key areas to consider before approaching the development of any collateral:

• What are you looking to achieve/what is your end goal?
• Who is your target audience and what message are you looking to deliver?
• How will your collateral be used/distributed to customers and prospects?
• What form of marketing collateral will you use?
• How will you encourage the end user to consume your collateral?
• What are your timescales, volume and delivery method.

Marketing Collateral Design Elements

When you set about designing a piece of collateral, in-house or through an agency, remember these 4 key points:-

• Brand consistency
• Balance of content and imagery
• Identify a clear call to action or purpose of the collateral before starting
• Always include your contact details, address, phone, web and email.

Print Quality

It is also important to remember that the paper you use to print your marketing collateral on is just as important as the design itself! The last thing you want is to spend money and resource on developing an amazing design, for it then to be wasted due to skimping on print processes and paper quality.

Prospects and customers are likely to judge your company by the quality of literature produced, so it is vital to make sure that the print process, paper finish and paper stock used is of a professional quality and portrays your business in the right way.

If your marketing collateral is the shop window to your business, make sure it doesn’t let you down. You only get one chance to make an impression and we all know first impressions count!