Whether you’re giving away pens, keyrings, notepads, magnets or USB sticks, marketing collateral can be a very effective tool when utilised correctly. After all, how else can you consistently remind existing and potential customers of who you are without being intrusive or getting on their nerves?
If you’re going to spend money on producing and giving away collateral, it’s important to ensure you get it right. Here are some top tips for designing something that will capture people’s attention and increase your chances of making a conversion.
Have a clear call-to-action
Every time someone leaves their house or gets in their car, the fantastic keyring you’ve designed captures their attention. That’s all well and good but you need to give people an instruction otherwise they’re unlikely to take the next step. Prompts such as ‘call us now’ or ‘visit our website’ can be very effective but just make sure you include the necessary contact details on your collateral.
Get your messaging right
When you’re trying to sell something to someone, they want to know what’s in it for them. Say you’re a broadband provider for example and you’re trying to convince consumers to leave their existing supplier for you. Giving them a free pen isn’t enough on its own to do this. If you include your unique value proposition however (faster download speeds, cheaper tariffs, special offers), people are much more likely to take notice.
Is your collateral appropriate?
No matter how great your marketing collateral is, if it’s not appropriate for your audience, it’s a waste of time and money. If you’re trying to reach out to builders for example, there is no point handing out pads of paper because they don’t sit at a desk all day. Something like a flask for tea and coffee or a torch would be much more helpful to them.
How are you using your space?
In order to grab the attention of your potential customer, you need to think about how and where you’re displaying your messaging. Your call-to-action must be prominent and easy to read. This can be established by thinking about your positioning (the bottom of a mug for example would be pointless), have decent sized text and include interesting images if you have space.
Use consistent branding
One of the most important things to consider when designing your marketing collateral is to ensure that you use consistent branding. Brand recognition is hugely valuable and your ultimate goal is to get people to identify your brand from just a quick glance. If you take Twitter for example, you only have to see a picture of the little blue bird and you instantly know it’s Twitter. If your branding isn’t consistent people will become confused and they will have no way of recognising you.
Make it look great
Some companies are lucky enough to have an in-house graphic designer. If you can’t afford this or simply don’t have enough work for a full-time employee then it’s important to research the different tools you can use. As helpful as it is for other projects, unfortunately, Microsoft Word doesn’t quite cut it when it comes to design.
Websites such as Canva allows you to create your own designs and can be great if you have the time to do so. If you’re incredibly busy with other projects however, outsourcing to a company that specialises in branded collateral is the perfect solution.