Marketing collateral sounds like a big fancy phrase, but we promise you it isn’t. If you don’t know what it is, the good news is you probably already had it without even knowing that you did. Marketing collateral is any type of medium that you use to promote your services, product, or business. Literally, anything. Flyers, posters, emails, blogs, gated content, you name it. It isn’t outright your advertising, like a paid ad or an ad slot in a youtube video – it’s more subtle than that, and should be helpful to the consumer when it comes to helping them decide whether or not to choose you as the person they buy from. That decision-making process is called the marketing funnel (we talk about it in our marketing budget blog!), which goes through different stages of the buying process. 

Essentially, your marketing collateral should help with each of the stages and ultimately leading to sales. With all the technology we have available to us, the types of marketing collateral to use are almost infinite (well, not infinite but we felt like being dramatic- there’s just a lot).  That’s why we’re only going to cover a few of the most important pieces of collateral. But if this really isn’t enough for you, head over to this blog, and maybe that’ll satisfy your thirst for more knowledge. 

Digital Collateral

Blogs 

We aren’t ashamed to call ourselves out for this one, but blogs and blog posts are one of the most popular forms of collateral because they can be used at any stage of the marketing funnel. They’re great sources of info, you can easily fit a call to action into one of them, and create great awareness for consumers. They’re great to go in-depth on topics that are relevant to your industry or that you know of specifically, and then tie it into one of your services or products. You can also use them as a call action to your website and social, and you’re also helping a consumer along their way when trying to find information about services, products, or a process. 

Case Studies 

We LOVE case studies. They’re a full-blown testimony to your work and they also promote it in a healthy way without having to pay for advertising. One of the stages of the marketing funnel is the consideration stage, and when you have the ability to showcase what you do as a company, that can help with persuasion/consideration and eventually turn into a lead. Case studies can be amazing to highlight the big wins of your company and show a potential buyer what you can do at your fullest potential. They should show the four components of what happens when working with a client: the challenge/question, the process and how you worked through it, the result, and if possible a client testimonial. When writing a case study, also make sure to have interviews with the client and ask questions that will emote real answers that can make your case study human and overall more compelling. Case studies that read like stories make your brand look better overall as well, instead of being filled with simple facts. 

Testimonials

While good reviews and star ratings on google are good, having a page dedicated to client testimonies and creating graphics around testimony quotes for your Instagram feed show people that your clients wanted you to know how good of a job you did, and that in of itself is powerful. They’re also really easy to use in conjunction with other types of collateral, like brochures or flyers, and sometimes even as spotlight quotes on a webpage. 

Infographic/Informational Carousel 

We really love a good information carousel- if you’ve seen our Instagram, then you’d know. We like to think of them like little mini-blogs – short, sweet and informative, and oftentimes more colorful and aesthetic than just your normal blog. Infographics and carousels are easily shareable and a quick read, which most of the time people prefer anyways. They’re just as valuable as blogs because they show you can be thought leaders and information sources both on your website and on your social platforms. Also, people just love looking at pictures too (sorry, we don’t make the rules). 

Brand Stories

Probably in some movie by some famous actor, a guy said “People love a good story.” (Kidding, that was my sophomore year creative advertising professor, but the former sounded cooler.) And that stands very much true in the advertising and marketing industry. Having your brand story as creative, dynamic, intriguing, or aesthetically pleasing as it can be very valuable to your consumer. Making someone feel like your brand is more than just a brand, and that by working with you they’re becoming part of something bigger will help your potential consumer in the decision making process. It also helps to make a connection with your potential consumer, because then that gives you a leg up on the competition. 

Company Founder/Executive Bios 

If having a compelling brand story isn’t enough, having a good bio page is then something you should look at. While it’s great to promote the awards, accomplishments, and credibility of your founders/execs, it helps to make them seem more appealing and less like daunting figureheads. If your brand AND founders seem cool and intriguing to work with, that’s a win-win. 

Gated Content 

Anything you create that a potential consumer can download and use, but requires them to enter information like their email is gated content. It’s honestly a win-win too- they receive something that is useful to them, and you receive information like emails, names, job titles, etc. that can turn into potential leads. We love creating gated content because it allows us to give a potential consumer that little push they might need to ask us about our services! 

Print Collateral 

Believe it or not, there is some print collateral that we still find very useful and you probably run into every day. Business cards are a huge piece of collateral, and while they might seem out of date because of website and social, handing someone something physical to keep creates a connection and something they remember you by- so make sure whoever designs them for you does a great job. 

Brochures and flyers are also super common and useful, especially when at a large event. Passing them out helps consumers remember you, and when the event is over and everyone’s gone home, and suddenly they have a need for your services or just want to look you up and can’t remember, they have that flyer or brochure to go by. 

Another form of marketing collateral would be anything you can have at a tradeshow booth. We’re talking stress balls, pens, hand sanitizer (oh hi, any conference from here on out for the rest of our lives), pop up displays, etc. If you’re giving away any literal material, you’re doing yourself a disservice by NOT having your branding on it in some capacity.

You most definitely already have one of these pieces of marketing collateral if you’re any bit of involved in your business, if we had to put a bet on it! We hope this blog was helpful or insightful in any way, and if you don’t know how to use your marketing collateral or make more of it, we’re always here to help, and we’re just one email or DM away. Let’s get to collaborating!