Marketing Collateral Uses: 7 Examples of Marketing Collateral

Marketing collateral consists of both digital assets and more traditional, tangible pieces of content for the promotion of products and services. A marketing and sales team might use these marketing materials in their own campaigns or place them as advertisements in product catalogs, trade shows, or external websites.

Although marketing teams primarily deployed these materials to increase lead generation and sales in the past, they now use these materials for a host of additional reasons—for example, to promote brand awareness.

Using both digital and print collateral can help set your company up for a greater degree of success. Consider these three reasons why you might want to start incorporating marketing collateral into your own company efforts:

1. 1. To forge better customer relationships: Unique and appealing marketing collateral can grab a customer’s attention and keep them engaged with your brand long after. Use different types of collateral to appeal to different customer personas. Try out different types—both print and digital—to see how you can best reach your target market.
2. 2. To promote brand awareness: Marketing collateral is an excellent way to get your brand message out to more people. Marketing teams use these pieces of content to draw in more interest and curiosity from potential consumers. For instance, a landing page full of success stories and positive testimonials will help people associate your brand with positive change in other people’s lives and potentially in their own.
3. 3. To support sales: Throughout each phase of the buyer’s journey, you can use marketing collateral to support a potential customer’s sales trajectory. Create a template using different types of materials—start by generating leads, then set out to move a customer from the consideration stage to the closing phase. You might need to use different styles of marketing collateral for different customers to sell consistently. It’s important to experiment with different approaches and types of content.

There are countless kinds of materials people use to entice potential customers. Here are just seven marketing collateral types to keep in mind:

1. 1. Business cards: This classic type of marketing collateral uses small bits of print material to create a lasting impact. When you end a positive face-to-face interaction by handing out your personalized business card, you create an opportunity for the customer to engage you again on their terms.
2. 2. E-books: Plenty of digital marketing collateral errs toward brevity, but e-books are the perfect type of content to give potential customers a more in-depth look at your product. White papers and sell sheets scratch a similar itch. Fill your e-books with engaging prose about your products and services and why they’re so useful and helpful. Include case studies to provide real-life examples.
3. 3. Email marketing: Once you have a customer’s contact information, consider emailing them regular updates, as well as promotions for your company. This type of content marketing helps maintain a regular relationship with a customer, so long as you use it with discretion. Too many emails might cause them to unsubscribe. You can also use press releases for outreach to wider swaths of people.
4. 4. Explainer videos: Sometimes all it takes to persuade someone to buy your product is to walk them through it. Use infographics and explainer videos to grant people the know-how necessary to hit the ground running with any of your goods. Consider using various satisfied customers, stakeholders, and team members in these marketing efforts to do the actual explaining.
5. 5. Podcasts: A salesperson might find it useful to start their own podcast or serve as a guest on another podcast as part of a marketing campaign. Especially when reaching out through someone else’s podcast, you open yourself up to the possibility of drawing in a crop of entirely new customers. Focus on a specific topic or product if the situation calls for it, but feel free to mount a more wide-ranging sales presentation if it’s suitable.
6. 6. Webinars: As a marketing strategy, webinars help you debut new products and network with prospective customers in real time. By inviting people to events like these, you manage to create the atmosphere of a trade show without people ever having to leave their home or office.
7. 7. Websites: Optimize your company website the best you can—in today’s market, it’s one of the most valuable, far-reaching, and multipurpose forms of marketing collateral available. Bring together various types of content you think will make the best possible impression on your potential customers.

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