What is Marketing Collateral? | Functions, Types, Examples and Strategy

Marketing Collateral is any digital or printed material used to communicate or promote a firm’s brand message, products, or services. This can include a wide range of formats, such as point-of-sale posters, videos, e-books, printed brochures, newsletters, and graphics, among others. When deciding which type of marketing collateral is best for your firm, it is pivotal to consider the specific goals you want to achieve.

Key Takeaways:

• Marketing Collateral focuses on distinct digital or printed materials used to communicate or convey a firm’s brand message, products, or services.
• It is crucial for storytelling and brand communication, ensuring a clear and consistent brand message across different channels.
• Marketing Collateral comes in distinct forms, offering flexibility to tailor content to different stages of the sales cycle and audience preferences.
• Examples of effective marketing collateral include HubSpot’s Marketing Blog, Mailchimp’s Email Newsletter, and Nestle’s Product Catalog, showcasing different approaches to engage and inform the target audience.

1. Storytelling and Brand Communication: Marketing Collateral is pivotal for storytelling and brand communication. It helps convey your brand’s story and message clearly and consistently, ensuring that your brand’s essence remains intact and undiluted, regardless of who interprets it.

2. Sales Enablement: Marketing Collateral is a powerful tool for sales enablement. It provides your sales team with the necessary resources to make their meetings more productive and impactful. With materials like brochures, sell sheets, case studies, and presentations, your sales team can present information more effectively, answer questions confidently, and close deals more efficiently.

3. Lead Generation and Conversion: In the lead generation process, marketing collateral is crucial. It engages potential buyers and guides them through the sales funnel. Assets such as infographics, whitepapers, and success stories are designed to capture interest, build trust, and drive conversions.

4. Consistency and Productivity: A well-defined marketing collateral strategy enhances consistency and productivity. It gives you a clear roadmap for success, aligns your sales process, and ensures your audience receives accurate information.

5. Variety and Flexibility: Marketing Collateral comes in various forms, both print and digital, static and interactive. Utilizing a mix of assets, such as emails, infographics, brochures, and videos, allows you to engage prospects with their preferred content types. This flexibility means you can tailor your collateral to different stages of the sales cycle, ensuring that your messaging remains relevant and effective from initial contact through conversion.

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1. Promoting Brand Messaging: Marketing Collateral is a pivotal tool for communicating and promoting a firm’s brand message, values, and offerings to the target audience. It helps boost brand awareness and recognition by consistently presenting the brand’s identity across various formats. This ensures that the audience clearly understands what the firm stands for and what it offers, creating a strong and memorable brand presence.

2. Supporting Sales Efforts: Collateral such as brochures, sell sheets, and product catalogs is vital in supporting sales efforts. These materials provide detailed information about products and services, helping sales representatives educate customers and effectively close deals. By having access to comprehensive and well-designed collateral, sales teams can better articulate the benefits and features of their offerings, making their interactions with potential customers more productive and impactful.

3. Educating and Informing: Marketing Collateral serves an educational purpose by informing potential buyers about the firm’s products or services. It highlights features, benefits, and unique selling points, aiding consumers in making informed purchase decisions. Well-crafted collateral ensures potential buyers understand how the products or services can meet their needs and solve their problems, ultimately leading to more confident and satisfied customers.

4. Building Credibility and Trust: Providing valuable and relevant information through marketing collateral, such as case studies, whitepapers, and research reports, helps establish credibility and build trust with the audience. These materials showcase the firm’s expertise and experience, demonstrating that it is a reliable and knowledgeable source. By offering insights and evidence of success, marketing collateral reinforces the company’s reputation and fosters trust among potential customers.

5. Generating Leads and Conversions: Various types of marketing collateral, including brochures, infographics, and landing pages, are designed to attract and engage prospects. These materials guide potential customers through the sales funnel by providing the information and incentives needed to encourage desired actions, such as making a purchase or contacting the company. Effective collateral can capture interest, nurture leads, and drive conversions, contributing to the overall growth and success of the business.

6. Enhancing Customer Engagement: Marketing Collateral like newsletters, e-books, and visual aids used in sales presentations will help keep customers engaged and informed. These materials provide updates on new products, offers, and company news, nurturing relationships with existing customers and boosting loyalty. By consistently engaging with customers through well-designed collateral, firms can enhance customer retention and encourage repeat business, leading to long-term success and customer satisfaction.

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Marketing 101

1. Offline Marketing Collateral

Offline Marketing Collateral focuses on various tangible materials that businesses use to promote their brand, products, or services outside of digital platforms. These materials are physical and can be distributed in person or through traditional marketing channels.

• Brochures: These paper-based documents provide detailed information about a firm’s products and services, along with company background and contact details. They are useful for face-to-face interactions and trade shows.
• Business Cards: Often exchanged during meetings, business cards carry pivotal information such as the company logo, employee name, job title, and contact details. They serve as a formal introduction tool.
• Educational Material: Used primarily by B2B companies, these include guides, whitepapers, case studies, and research reports. They educate the target audience about the company’s offerings and industry insights.
• Product Data Sheets: These sheets offer detailed descriptions of a product’s features, benefits, and applications, helping potential customers understand the product better.
• Product Sheets and Flyers: These are typically used in marketing campaigns and as handouts, providing concise information about products and services to potential customers.
• Catalogs: Catalogs list the various products or services a company offers, often including detailed descriptions and pricing information.
• Danglers and In-Store Signage: Used in retail environments, these materials promote products and services directly at the point of sale, attracting customer attention.
• Warranty Sheets: These sheets provide customers with guarantees for products or services, outlining what is covered under the warranty and the duration.

2. Online Marketing Collateral

Online Marketing Collateral refers to digital materials used by businesses to promote their brand, products, or services through various online channels. These materials are accessible via the internet and can reach a wide audience across different digital platforms. Online Marketing Collateral includes the following:

• Landing Pages: These are standalone web pages where visitors arrive after clicking on an online ad. They are designed to promote a specific product or service and encourage actions like making a purchase or signing up.
• Email Newsletters: Sent regularly to subscribers, these emails include promotional content about products or services, keeping the audience informed and engaged.
• Banners and Display Ads: These ads appear on websites and are purchased by businesses to showcase their products or services, often leading to increased visibility and traffic.
• Product Pages: These web pages provide comprehensive information about a specific product, including features, perks, pricing, and purchasing options.
• Blog Posts: These are articles published on a firm’s blog, often covering topics related to the business’s niche. They help in educating the audience and improving SEO.
• Social Media Posts: These include updates shared on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, aimed at engaging the audience and promoting products or services.
• Instructional Videos: These include videos that demonstrate how to use a product or service. These help educate customers and provide visual instructions.
• Ebooks: These include digital books that can be downloaded and read on electronic devices. They often cover in-depth topics related to the company’s industry or products.
• Email Signatures: These include the text and/or image appearing at the end of an email. It typically includes the sender’s name, job title, and contact information, often with a company logo.

• eBooks, Digital Brochures, and Reports: These digital assets are perfect for introducing products, sharing brand stories, and presenting research findings in an engaging format.
• Blog Posts: Blog Posts cater to every stage of the buyer journey, serving as a platform for news, product launches, expert insights, and entertainment, thus nurturing customer engagement.
• Case Studies: Case Studies showcase how your product or service benefits customers, encouraging leads to envision choosing your brand over competitors, thereby aiding in conversion.
• Whitepapers: Whitepapers establish thought leadership by reporting research findings, explaining technical features, or offering detailed product descriptions, enhancing credibility and trust.
• Newsletters: Newsletters boost loyalty, promote special offers, showcase expertise, and expand reach by building and engaging a subscriber base, thus strengthening brand-consumer relationships.
• Infographics: Infographics captivate audiences by visually representing data, timelines, or complex subjects in a simple and easy-to-understand format, making information more accessible and memorable.
• Product Catalogs: Product Catalogs provide vital details such as product names, sizes, descriptions, reviews, weights, prices, images, and availability, ensuring customers have all the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions.
• Research Reports: Research Reports featuring unique data analysis help brands earn backlinks and establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry, enhancing credibility and authority.

1. HubSpot’s Marketing Blog: HubSpot’s Blog stands out as an excellent example of valuable online marketing collateral. It offers educational content covering marketing, sales, and customer service topics, aimed at attracting and engaging their target audience with relevant and insightful information.

2. Mailchimp’s Email Newsletter: Mailchimp regularly sends out email newsletters to subscribers, featuring updates on products, marketing tips, and industry news. These newsletters serve as an effective means to nurture leads and maintain top-of-mind awareness with customers, keeping them informed and engaged.

3. Nestle’s Product Catalog: Nestle’s product catalog provides comprehensive details about its extensive range of food and beverage products, including names, images, descriptions, and pricing. While typically associated with e-commerce, product catalogs are valuable marketing collateral for businesses across various industries, aiding in showcasing offerings and informing potential customers.

1. Reaching Potential Customers: Marketing Collateral serves as a bridge to reach out to potential consumers, especially those who are still in the early stages of considering a purchase and may not be familiar with your brand.

2. Establishing Credibility: Informative materials like white papers, blog posts, and case studies play a pivotal role in establishing credibility for your brand. They demonstrate your expertise and thought leadership within your industry, building trust with your audience.

3. Educating and Informing: Marketing Collateral serves as an educational tool to inform potential buyers about your products or services. It addresses their needs and pain points, providing them with relevant and concise information to help them make informed purchase decisions.

4. Enhancing Brand Awareness: Tangible printed marketing collateral, such as catalogs, brochures, and flyers, contributes to enhancing brand awareness. These physical materials provide recipients with something they can hold onto, reinforcing your brand messaging and contact information in their minds.

5. Driving Sales and Conversions: Effective marketing collateral, both offline and online, plays a vital role in driving sales and conversions. By engaging prospects, nurturing leads, and guiding them through the sales funnel with compelling content and clear calls to action, it encourages them to take the next step toward making a purchase.

1. Audience-Centric Approach: When crafting marketing collateral, prioritize your audience’s needs and preferences. Consider their pain points, concerns, motivations, likes, and dislikes. Utilizing a Customer Data Platform (CDP) can provide valuable insights into your audience, permitting you to create content that resonates with them and helps them achieve their goals.

2. Brand Consistency: Consistency is key across all marketing collateral to reinforce your brand identity. Whether it’s ensuring uniformity in logo colors or adhering to specific design aesthetics, brand consistency is pivotal. Establishing brand guidelines is essential, and employing technology like a Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform ensures access to approved, on-brand marketing materials while preventing misuse.

3. Data-Driven Decision Making: It’s pivotal to base your marketing decisions on data to ensure effectiveness. Regularly analyze what’s working and what isn’t to optimize your strategies. Analysis of unique identifiers such as redemption codes provides valuable insights into campaign performance.

1. Defining Marketing Collateral Goals: Begin by detecting the goals you aim to achieve with your marketing collateral strategy. Determine whether you’re seeking increased revenue, referrals, sign-ups, website traffic, or other specific metrics tailored to your business. Pinpoint these metrics prominently to serve as constant reminders of your objectives.

2. Securing Executive Support: Obtain buy-in from executives before initiating marketing collateral creation. Keep them informed about your strategy’s progress and its impact. Regularly seek their feedback to ensure alignment with the firm’s target audience, agenda, and objectives.

3. Aligning with Organizational Themes: Ensure that your marketing collateral aligns with the overarching themes and messages of your firm. Integrated marketing communications facilitate conveying a unified message across various channels, enhancing customer engagement with your products and solutions.

4. Establishing Brand Identity: Design marketing collateral in line with your brand’s guidelines and values. Take inspiration from brands like Google Chrome, renowned for cleverly designed doodles that celebrate diverse individuals, reflecting their brand ethos of inclusivity and celebration of human achievement.

5. Learning from Industry Leaders: Study the marketing strategies of industry leaders to distill best practices for your collateral strategy. For instance, analyze McKinsey’s Thought Leadership pieces to detect effective approaches and adapt them to your firm’s strengths and expertise.

6. Implementing Collateral Management Systems: Utilize a marketing collateral management system to maximize the impact of your content. Ensure stakeholders are promptly notified of new collateral availability and updates. Grant access selectively and leverage insights on content performance to refine your strategy effectively.

1. Rebuilding Relationships with Sales: Strengthen the relationship between marketing and sales teams to promote creativity in marketing collateral development. For instance, creating competitor battle cards empowers sales teams with insights to effectively position products and services against competitors.

2. Engaging Internal Teams: Collaborate with internal teams like product engineering, design, and customer support to gather valuable insights. Engineering teams may offer unique perspectives on product benefits, which can inform the creation of compelling marketing collateral.

3. Networking and Learning Opportunities: Actively seek opportunities to engage with peers and industry experts through events like conferences, webinars, and fireside chats. Networking exposes you to diverse perspectives and innovative ideas, inspiring the creation of fresh marketing collateral.

4. Prioritizing Customer Interactions: Seize every chance to interact with customers and gather feedback on product/service experiences. Address any issues promptly and consider leveraging satisfied customers as advocates through testimonials or video endorsements, enhancing the impact of marketing collateral.

5. Seeking Insights from Executives: Engage with company executives to gain valuable industry insights and strategic perspectives. Conversations with key stakeholders, such as the Chief Product Officer or CEO, can reveal valuable information about product roadmaps, industry trends, and competitive landscapes, informing the development of authentic and impactful marketing collateral.

1. Streamlined Content Distribution: Sales teams often struggle to find the right marketing collateral, leading to wasted time and missed opportunities. Research indicates significant hours are lost annually due to content search inefficiencies, highlighting the urgent need for a seamless distribution mechanism.

2. Efficient Content Management: Despite substantial investments in marketing collateral, a significant portion remains unused by sales teams. To remedy this, firms must adopt efficient content management and distribution platforms that ensure easy access and timely updates, eliminating reliance on cluttered email systems.

3. Collaborative Content Creation: Collaborative content creation prevents the inadvertent use of outdated collateral, safeguarding brand integrity and customer trust. By enabling real-time updates and version control, teams can ensure that marketing collateral remains relevant and impactful.

4. Alignment Between Sales and Marketing: Bridging the gap between sales and marketing teams is pivotal for cohesive content creation and delivery. Collaborative platforms facilitate mutual understanding and alignment, resulting in improved performance metrics and streamlined sales processes.

5. Comprehensive Content Audit: Regular audits of marketing collateral are imperative to maintain content relevance and effectiveness. A centralized platform provides insights into content creation dates, ownership, and performance metrics, empowering businesses to optimize their content strategy and drive meaningful results.

Why is it termed marketing collateral?

Marketing Collateral is so named because it focuses on various media types utilized to bolster the sales of a product or service. Traditionally, collateral referred specifically to materials like brochures or sales sheets designed to aid sales efforts.

What is the significance of collateral value?

Collateral Value is associated with the fair market value of assets utilized to secure a loan. This value is typically determined by assessing the recent sale prices of similar assets or through professional appraisal.

Is a logo considered marketing collateral?

Yes, a logo holds significant importance as a piece of marketing collateral for any business.

What does marketing collateral printing involve?

Marketing Collateral printing involves the production of printed materials aimed at promoting a firm’s products, services, offers, or events.