Print Collateral | Types | Why use it for Marketing? 

Even though the popularity of digital marketing is on the rise, you can’t underestimate the impact and benefits of print collateral. From eye-catching brochures to handy business cards, printed materials are a tangible and potent way to reach your customers and market your brand. 

In this article, we’ll cover what print collateral is and what its types are. We’ll also discuss how this marketing technique competes with more modern digital marketing.

What is Print Collateral?

Print collateral is a common marketing technique you can use to expand your business and communicate with your customers. It involves printing and distributing items like flyers and brochures with your business information and promoting your products or services. They can also be used to promote any occasional company events or fundraisers.

A common misconception is that printed marketing cannot compete against digital marketing. However, this technique is a better way to build bridges between you and your customers. In fact, 79% of consumers in a survey admitted that direct mail ads stood out to them as opposed to digital advertisements like emails. 

Print Collateral Types

Printed materials are no doubt a great way to market your business with paper and comes in the following types:

• Brochures: These are folded pieces of paper or cardstock that usually have the company’s information printed on them. A lot of brochures often also include stunning graphics and images to make them more appealing to readers. 
• Flyers: Flyers are single-sheet documents used for making special announcements like events or sales. These are typically distributed by hand or directly mailed.
• Business cards: These are perhaps one of the most common print marketing collateral examples for networking. They’re small cards that usually contain the information of a company’s representative, e.g., their designation, contact number, company name, and logo. 
• Booklets and catalogs: Booklets and catalogs are great for conveying detailed information about your product and company. They can include product images, pricing, sales advertisements, and instructions for placing orders.
• Postcards: These are used to convey short, attention-grabbing messages like sales promotions or reminders. With a brief message on one side, the other has an image or illustration printed on it. This image could be of your company’s logo, relevant graphics, or products.

Benefits of Print Collateral

Printed advertisements can be a valuable asset to your marketing strategy in many ways. Some benefits are as follows:

Tangibility

When your customers hold and interact with printed advertisements, it creates a sensory and memorable experience. Hence, the physical impact of print collateral marketing is something digital marketing techniques can’t replicate.

Offline Accessibility

One of the major benefits of print collateral is its offline accessibility. Since you don’t require an internet connection for printed ads, they reach a bigger audience, which may include people who are not as tech-savvy. This also makes them perfect for complementing any of your digital marketing strategies to reinforce your brand.

Targeted Marketing

One great benefit of printed assets is that your prints can be distributed strategically to specific locations and effectively reach the right audience. For example, a restaurant that caters to tourists would place its printed collateral in hotels or popular local attractions.

Permanence

Printed advertisements like flyers and brochures cannot be deleted, skipped, or forgotten like digital ads. They can be kept as a future reference and become a constant reminder of your product or services to customers. Even if a reader throws away your flier on the road, its eye-catching design may pique the curiosity of passersby. So, the impact lasts much longer than an email that a person will open once and never see again. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, print marketing collateral can be an effective asset in a marketer’s tool kit when it comes to promoting a brand. The marketing technique is a great way to make lasting impressions and reinforce your brand in an increasingly digital world.

The key to utilizing the full potential of this type of marketing is to deeply understand its diverse forms and know which is more effective for different target audiences. Once you’ve figured that out, you can confidently use this method to take your brand to new heights.