3 Signs You Need to Diversify Your Sales Materials (and use Print Marketing)

You’ve hit all the major players in your marketing strategy – but is your print marketing as raw and real as it needs to be – and does it even exist?

What are marketing materials? There are many different types of business marketing materials examples that you may be capitalizing on. Examples of marketing materials, marketing strategies, and sales materials examples may include:

• A sound digital portfolio (SEO, SEM, PPC, social media marketing, online marketing materials, web content, YouTube, email marketing, affiliate marketing, radio, and television)

• Gorilla marketing tactics (getting out in the world and shaking things up with unique marketing campaigns)

• Cause marketing (linking your business to a worthy social cause)

• Relationship marketing (building relationships with your loyal customer base)

• Paid advertising (pretty self-explanatory – forking over your company dollars to increase your ROI)

• Sales (this is anything from calling customers and prospects on the phone to setting up meetings in person and canvasing areas and events)

• Word of mouth (relying on your loyal customers to spread the word about your good name)

While these marketing strategies are all fantastic – many, if not all of them, require the use of print marketing materials to embolden the message. Multifaceted marketing campaigns use a series of sales materials to present a message, emphasize this message, ensure the message sticks (staying top of mind) and garners a sizeable return – the best marketing materials keep on raising your revenue year after year.

1.      Zero Trace of Print Marketing in Your Current Portfolio

The first obvious sign that you should start introducing printed marketing material into your company marketing materials for a stronger marketing strategy is that you have no printed material of any kind. We can agree it’s a digital age, but printing marketing materials is still essential. Print marketing is still proven as a more emotive, more trusted, and more memorable source for retaining information and ads than digital marketing materials. FMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging that measures brain activity), expert sales and marketing articles, and other modern studies have concluded better recall and emotional responses to print advertising. Many consumers’ thoughts on the subject of print is that it is a more credible source of information.

 If you need to communicate a wealth of information for say a B2B product or service, a physical ad displayed on printed marketing materials will allow for a more digestible mode of communication where info can be pondered, reviewed, and even re-reviewed later. In a B2C space, print ads and print materials also allow prospective customers to have information readily available to comb over at their leisure. The print ad or sales material, as well as corresponding contact information, is placed on a desk, counter space, or fridge, where it is seen multiple times a day, assisting in your print media marketing efforts to remain top of mind.

Information in cyberspace (the internet) can disappear quickly and be forgotten just as soon, contending with extreme sensory overload and the onslaught of digital ads viewers see every day, which can reach into the thousands. Marketing print materials will enhance the customer experience and bring you closer to your clients.

2.      Lackluster Results from Current Marketing Efforts

Are your marketing efforts not yielding the types of results you’re hoping for? It’s time to get a bit more personal with your customers and your use of marketing materials for business with print material marketing. Reaching out with printed deliverables via direct mail or in-person can help. Here are a few tips and print marketing trends for your promotional material printing and campaign efforts:

• Get on a schedule. Consistency is key with print materials marketing.

• Host events and enter tradeshows. Make a marketing materials list for the types of marketing materials you think will work for your business. Be prepared with print marketing collateral examples like brochures, banners, signs, calendars, notebooks, beverage napkins, and more. Marketing materials for events are a great way to engage your customers long after the event is over.

• Send cards. Custom greeting cards are great to add to your marketing material list. Custom greeting cards are a very personal way to reach out to customers and prospects. Remember important dates (birthdays, holidays, etc.). Include a discount, promo code, or coupon on your marketing material design. Send thank you notes to new and old customers. Remember to include your contact info and company logo. Major companies like Ford, FedEx, Microsoft, and John Varvatos have incorporated greeting cards into their marketing.

• Create a catalog. If you have enough products and services, offer catalogs to your customers on an annual, bi-annual, or quarterly basis. An advantage of printed catalogs over digital catalogs is they are something physical customers can hold on to, adding a luxurious and multisensory experience to browsing for your products and services and a great example of printed materials selling goods by mail.

• Try billboard advertising. This may not work for everyone, but in certain industries, billboard advertising can be quite effective.

• Magnets. Fridge magnets and car magnets are both great forms of print marketing, but for different reasons. With car magnets, you can take your advertising everywhere you go with minimal effort – even on your days off, you are still promoting your business! Fridge magnets work to ensure that your business remains at the forefront of a customer’s mind – as they will see it every day, plus it’s highly convenient when they need your contact info.

• Referenceable deliverables. Give customers printed marketing collateral they can reference throughout the year. Try marketing materials for businesses like newsletters, calendars, stickers, business cards, magnets, and more.

3.      One-Dimensional Campaigns Don’t Have a Lot to Say

You have a lot to say, but your marketing campaigns aren’t reflecting this. If you’re hosting a contest, reaching out with email marketing, offering website promotions, or running up your social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, it’s time to incorporate some solid printed marketing ideas. Add print components to your business promotional materials. Effective print mediums can extend your reach, personalize your approach, and help you stay top of mind.

Print advertising is a tradition worth keeping. Take those running for political office with printed promotional materials. It doesn’t matter if you’re running for a local office or the presidency, campaign managers will always implement forms of print advertising into their political campaigns – equipping their team with printed materials for marketing like push cards, pins, yard signs, flyers, and more. Why do they do this – why is it necessary to join print and marketing? Because people trust the personable tradition of print as a timeless and worthy source of advertising and information.

While you may find business cards to be a bit outdated, they are still a very popular form of printed advertising material and contact info exchange. Perhaps business cards used as promotional materials for business is a formality, especially in more traditional industries, but think of business cards much like baseball cards – a chance to list out your best stats accompanied by your name, contact info, a photograph, and engaging messaging. Business cards are a concrete way to prove that your business can solve a certain problem and a physical way to stay on your customers’ minds. Plus, you can always choose to deviate from mainstream business cards and printed promotional material designs with different shapes, sizes, messaging, eye-popping colors, unique designs, and even different materials like foil or magnetic business cards.

Print marketing isn’t limited to eye-catching collateral either. Which of the following is an example of print media? Publishing print articles without ads, sending out press releases, and strategically placing ads in magazines can help to solidify your expertise in your business niche – making you a trusted source in your market and ensuring increased brand recognition and global outreach.

Looking to design marketing materials online and order marketing materials today? 123Print offers stellar marketing material printing. Create marketing materials at 123Print for your company, small business, or non-profit. We’ll show you how to design high-end marketing materials that will elevate your sales and drive new customers. We even offer free marketing collaterals samples to try before you order!