How To Brand Your Marketing Materials

Creating a strong brand for your business takes strategic planning, after all, your goal is to deliver a message that’s clear while connecting to your consumer on some sort of emotional level. While it would be nice to create an effective brand using only one strong medium, you’ll find you get a whole lot of mileage out of cleverly crafting the right marketing mix.

With all the rage in social media and online marketing, offline strategies still hold high importance. Despite the technological age we are in, we’re still social beings who conduct business in brick and mortars and meet face-to-face. Call it old-fashioned, but how many times have you verbally told someone about your business only to be asked for a business card or brochure? The fact is the majority of the population didn’t grow up with a smart phone in their back pockets or even a keyboard on their desk. And that’s something every business owner still needs to take into account.

Branding Your Materials

When it comes to your offline marketing, branding your materials well so that they achieve your goals is crucial. The look, feel and design of your printed material all play a critical role and consistency both online and offline is key.

Your Identity: Your corporate identity should be consistent throughout all of your printed material, from your brochures,  letterhead and envelopes to your promotional material and presentations.  Your corporate perception and message should be the same on all pieces, right down to the font and color.  If your current supply looks somewhat of a mish-mosh, consider taking the piece that represents your identity and streamline what doesn’t fit.

Your Direct Mail Campaign: Direct mail is an intrinsic part of your marketing mix, having the advantage of being able to send your material repetitively to your new prospect.  The average consumer needs to see your message seven times before they take some sort of action and direct mail is a cost-effective way of getting in front of them and being top-of-mind when it comes time for them to buy.  Direct mail doesn’t necessarily have to be the traditional postcard either – you can send sales letters, catalogs and brochures, too.

Your Contact: It may seem elementary, but all of your material should include all of the ways your customers, new and old, can contact you online and offline.  This includes your address and phone number along with your social media and website.   To save on space, a QR Code or Microsoft Tag will help direct consumers to your selected online content.

Give it Away: Promotional items, such as pens, calendars and mugs are not only great to receive but they are consumables that stick around for a while.  Your next client may lose your business card, but your coffee mug will stay on his desk.  Throw in a calendar and your identity and message will be a daily reminder all year long.  The life of a promotional item is longer than many other medium in your marketing mix.

Your marketing mix can include a wide variety of items that serve to connect your business and identity to your existing and potential consumers.  There’s not one medium that will yield optimal results by itself; rather, it takes different types to stay in front of your market.  Streamlining your brand and keeping it consistent will help your consumers remember you when it comes time to buy.

If you’re looking for products to include in your mix, be sure to check out all that Greenway Print Solutions can offer you.  If it can be read, scanned or touched, Greenway Print Solutions can get it printed.

Related articles

• How Can Email Marketing Help Support Other Offline Marketing Efforts?
• Choosing the Right Marketing Mix
• Integrating Your Online and Offline Marketing Strategies
• The Importance of Direct Mail to Your Company's Marketing
• Back to the Future for Direct Mail
• Best Automotive Direct Mail Piece Period. I Don't Think So. By Auto Velocity

---