Collateral

Collateral is a term that covers many marketing vehicles – if a marketing piece doesn’t fall neatly into another category think of it as collateral.  Collateral is used to support the sale of a product/service and is commonly used by sales staff when interacting with a prospect/client. 

Examples of collateral include but are not limited to:

·         Brochures and data sheets

·         White papers

·         Newsletters

·         Visual aids used in presentations

·         PowerPoint presentations

·         Direct mail pieces

·         Sales scripts

·         Posters and signs

As with all marketing your collateral will be more effective if you work hard to address the customer’s perspective on how the product will meet their need.  Too often collateral becomes a dumping place for all kinds of neat specifications without addressing what this means to the customer.  What need is your product addressing and what makes your offering unique from all the other providers out there?

Keeping costs low, while providing quality product is a key concern of all businesses.  You need to take the same approach when considering your investment in collateral material.  There are times when you can present a quality look and feel – without a full color brochure on glossy paper.  While printing in large quantity is always cheaper than small quantities, I recommend starting with small to medium press runs for new materials.  Make sure the collateral is meeting your needs before committing to a larger run… often time the cost savings associated with larger runs is never realized when a piece of collateral becomes obsolete and usage isn’t as high as expected and it sits in a store room collecting dust.

Templeton Integrated Marketing can help you with

·         Collateral evaluation – determining the type of marketing materials your sales team needs

·         Content development to address the customer perspective

·         Copywriting

·         Design and production through a network of graphic artists and other vendors

Print Advertising

 
Selecting the right publication is the most important aspect to print advertising.  You can choose your local newspaper, specialty trade publications or consumer magazines.  National publications usually offer regional sections…but if you only distribute locally this will not likely be your best bet.  Which type of category you choose depends on your product or service.  There are also several publications that are dedicated to Orange County, I’ve provided a list of some that I know…if you know of other publications that are exclusively geared toward our home please  send me an e-mail as I’d love to add them to my list. 

Besides our local newspaper, The Orange County Register, here is a list of Orange County Publications.

·         944 Magazine

·         Beach Cities Style Magazine

·         Clipper Magazine (OC Edition)

·         Laguna Beach Magazine

·         Long Beach Magazine (OK not OC but close enough)

·         OC Weekly

·         Orange Coast Magazine

·         Parenting Orange County Magazine

·         Savvy Shopper Magazine (OC Edition)

After selecting your publication, I believe the following three principles will help you succeed with your print advertising.

1.       Repetition is key – a single placement will produce little.  At a minimum you should run 3-4 ads in a publication to determine is the publication is successful for you.  If you are going to change your ad, make sure that different versions build upon each other and have a common visual identity.

2.       Less is more – Keep the design simple and concentrate on a strong headline and image. The headline should answer the customer’s question “Why should I care?”  Images/illustrations are very important to getting the customer stop and take notice…but take care to make sure the image is representative of your uniqueness and avoid stock photography if possible. 

3.       Have a call to action – and put tracking in place to help evaluate your campaign.  If providing a telephone number, set up a special 800 number that is associated with the ad.  If directing people to your website, they should be directed to a special landing page that delivers on the promise of the ad…and this landing page be coded to make sure you can determine the number of people who visited.