No company or organization exists for itself alone. Rendering service as a company involves people, and you have to know first before people accept the service you are rendering. Your marketing collateral is how you want the world to know you. It describes your identity and value.
Your honest perception of your company is not the most important. It matters how you present that perception to people. The different formats in which you put out information about your company is your marketing collateral.
Marketing collateral can take many forms. It includes printed brochures, point-of-sale posters, videos, e-books, newsletters, graphics, and more.
So, the question is "How do you want to project your company?" The question is not about what to write.
The main issue is about how to write. You may have good intentions as a company, but you might not get the needed acceptance if you present them wrongly. Like a famous quote says, " While the intent is the seed of manifestation, action is the water that nourishes the seed. The action, in this case, will be how to design your collateral to make it more appealing.
Your honest perception of your company is not the most important. It matters how you present that perception to people. The different formats in which you put out information about your company is your marketing collateral.
Have you read Principles for designing SaaS products?
Tips on how to design a Marketing collateral
Prioritize Visual Content
There could be different reasons why you're not getting the kind of engagement you'd like. However, one of the most common errors that brands make is relying too much on text.
This era is different from the 90s. This is not an era where people want to read two pages before understanding what you do. This generation is exposed to more branded content than at any other time in human history. And they're less likely to put in the effort to read your content if it's filled with texts.
Organizations must invest in visual content. However, any visual content will not suffice. Stock images and icons, which are frequently included as a component of DIY design tools, can only take you so far.
They can appear so generic, to be off-brand, leaving people with a negative or incorrect impression of your company. And it's just as likely that they will be completely ignored. After all, your target audiences have a plethora of excellent visual content to choose from.
Be Clear on Your Values
Value is important in branding. Your collateral design must reflect your values. Do not leave it for people to figure out. Be bold about what your values are. And, if you can't be open about how you source your product or your thoughts about injustice, it's time to rethink. Are you providing something with which your customers would be proud to be associated? If not, it's time to make some changes.
It is advisable to do this before developing a marketing strategy, and before creating any content. This is because your marketing content is a reflection of your brand, a visual representation of your brand strategy. So, are there any topics you avoid or don't have a clear answer to? If you feel you have things you can't be transparent about, it's time to rethink your brand values and how they shape you.
Be User-centric in your Approach
You should be emphatic on creating content that feels personal to the user. You need to be user-centric in your approach. Today's audiences expect these kinds of interactions.
Research revealed that 72 percent of users are only interested in content that feels tailored to their specific needs. How will you accomplish this? One effective solution is to create interactive media that provides each user with a unique experience. For example, when you enter your financial information into mortgage calculators and tax software, you get customized and useful results.
You can also do it with an interactive infographic or website. It could include interactive elements, such as clickable maps, graphical representations, animations, or any number of other interactive elements. This results in a unique journey for each user. You can delve deeper into the information that most interests you. For example, you can click on a particular area on the map, and skip over the information you don't need.
Value is important in branding. Your collateral design must reflect your values. Do not leave it for people to figure out. Be bold about what your values are. And, if you can't be open about how you source your product or your thoughts about injustice, it's time to rethink. Are you providing something with which your customers would be proud to be associated? If not, it's time to make some changes.
Tweak your Collateral for Multiple Applications
It takes time and effort to create high-quality visual content. This is why so many marketers believe they do not have the resources to produce anything other than custom-made content. However, you can make the most of a single piece of content. You only need to design it such that you can tweak it for different platforms.
Assume you want to create a unique header for a new landing page. You want this landing page to look great as part of an important launch, so you choose a custom design.
Fortunately, you can repurpose that header by adjusting the dimensions and messaging for each channel to promote the new landing page on your social media channels. You now have five additional assets, all of which look just as good as the first! Similarly, you can use that header — or a modified version of it.
You can also create a library of reusable assets called a visual workbench. It could include icons related to your product offerings or services. You may frequently refer to data visualizations related to your industry. It could also be headers for specific types of blog posts.
Create a Brand Campaign
Publishing one content after the other will bore you out. You might do more work for yourself rather than less.
Now, take a step back. Consider how your content can be related to one another and how it can tell a larger story about your brand.
Check to see if your branding guidelines are still complete, relevant, and applicable to the types of content you're creating. Adjust and update them as needed. Then, organize your content into distinct campaigns. Each should have a specific, measurable goal as well as a defined target audience.
Final Thoughts
Your marketing collateral is your biggest platform for your audience to know you better. It matters how you design it. You don't want to do it just guessing the things to do. That's why you should start applying the strategies outlined in this article now.