With emerging options like print on demand, or use of digital trends, sales collateral can take many forms while still being cost effective and highly successful. What kinds of sales collateral performs best? There are a few that we tend to like above the others when we are looking to be the most efficient with our client’s time and money. And, I have a couple little tips for some of them too that have proved to work well for some of our clients.
Digital Sales Collateral
Digital Sales Collateral can be a micro site that is separate from your company’s main website to promote a single product, an event, or possibly even a recruitment drive if your company is growing. Micro sites tend to have a few pages that typically answer the what this is, why its a big deal and how to get in touch with us. We don’t typically have to answer the “who we are” question on a micro site because often times they already know you. Otherwise you probably want to drive them to your main website that has more of that information.
Often a micro site is overkill for your initiative, and that’s where having a dedicated landing page on your existing website is impactful. You can answer those same questions on a single page, often times with no other navigation (we want to keep them there so we have their undivided attention) and a contact form or some other call to action.
One thing I love to encourage when creating a landing page or a micro site for a client is to use another form of digital collateral such as an e-book or a white paper to incentivize the user to give you their contact info in exchange for this valuable information. Its a win-win, they obviously are interested in what you have to offer, which is why they are interested in the e-book/whitepaper, and by providing you a name, email and maybe a phone number, they are giving you a warm lead for you to follow up on. Its a great way to establish your brand as an expert, gain trust and show what your product or service can provide to them.
Traditional Print Collateral
This can really cover a lot of ground from ads, to banners and signage, to even your business card. Banners and signage are pretty self explanatory, everyone knows what they do. We like creating banners that can be re-used for multiple events to get the most bang for our client’s buck. Pull-up banners work great because they are easy to ship or travel with when attending a conference or event.
When going to an event, we often recommend a couple things to help make that event a success. If your company will have a booth at the event or trade show, we might suggest investing in a happy hour at your booth. There are likely events planned within the event already, but one thing most attendees appreciate is having a go-to booth where they can grab a beverage, maybe a light snack and take a break. Its a great close to a busy day. Visitors have been on their feet all day, likely without a lunch break, having refreshments at your booth at a specific time will help draw a crowd, and provide a great opportunity to share your company’s products or services.
Another wise investment would be in an ad for the event’s program/guide. These are often relatively inexpensive and can tell visitors what your company does in the ad, but also what your booth number is so they know how to find you. You can then include the information about your happy hour to attract show attendees. We even recommend using your email marketing to send out an invite ahead of the conference to your existing customers who may be attending the event.
Finally, our my tip may not even sound like sales collateral, but its your business card. Business cards come in all shapes in sizes, they have really cool translucent plastic ones that almost look like they are lit up, they have odd shapes and sized business cards, the possibilities are really endless.
In this regard, having a non-traditional business card is something I would not necessarily consider if you will be sharing it at a busy event. On the one hand, an impressive, one of a kind business card may be a great first impression, on the other, it can make it less useful.
For example, if your business card is an abnormal size or shape, its hard to keep it with your other business cards, making it more likely to end up in the trash or lost. If its a dark card, and/or printed on a unique material such as plastic or even metal, it makes it only serve one purpose, contacting the person on that card.
I like to suggest bringing a nicely designed business card, that’s on a traditional paper stock and is white. Why? Well, think about events you have attended, you meet lots of people, maybe the person who gave you their card told you about something else you don’t want to forget? A white, paper card allows you space to write those details on the card. Maybe you bump in to an old colleague or classmate at dinner, and the only thing you have on you is a business card someone gave you at the event earlier that day? If its a light color and made of a material you can write on, you can now record your friend’s number making that card much more important now.
You can always have a box of the really impressive business cards to share with people on a sales call or at a time when you have an individual face to face meeting. But consider having a card designed for those larger crowds, and leave some space for those personal notes, it makes those cards much more of a useful sales tool! Not to mention, those cards tend to be a lot cheaper to print as well!
There are endless other options for Sales Collateral both digitally and traditional, if you have any questions about which may work best for your company, or would like any additional info about a few of the concepts we share here, let us know!
