Online marketing is experiencing its golden era. If you’re not on the internet, you don’t exist. However, the offline world should not be forgotten either. Tangible marketing materials in the form of brochures and catalogues are still a firm pillar of advertising. In this article, we’ll reveal, why it is worth including brochures and catalogues for your services and products into your marketing mix. We’ll also give you some tips on how to make them work.
If you solely rely on online, you risk
If you care about gaining new business opportunities, you should not miss out on the internet. These days, a lot of companies spend thousands of dollars on online marketing, forgetting to offer the clients a tangible presentation of their products and services. Whether you sell cars, make furniture or own a beauty salon, brochures and catalogues have always had a firm place in the marketing mix. The only brands that can afford to ignore them are those, which operate only on the Internet and sell online services.
Image trying to present your brand to your client in person without any printed marketing materials. If the client wanted to visit your website, you would have to dictate your address and hope they would remember it correctly. The client can also write it down or save it in the smartphone. Not everyone has a smartphone with an internet connection at hand, and even if they did, they may not check the site later.
In addition, there are dozens of notifications and distractions fighting for our attention when using smartphones or computers. The study by Microsoft proves it . According to the study, the ability to keep attention has shortened since 2000 from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. You have just the eight seconds to make the client remember you.
On the other hand, brochures, catalogues and other printed products represent something tangible, something that will hold the client’s attention longer and the client can return to it later. You don’t need to present your offer in detail right away. Most important is to make the best possible first impression and to make a contact with the client.
Don’t try to force the sale
The most important item of each brochure and catalogue are contact details. These are the main means for the printed material to fulfil its purpose, i.e., to sell the product or to create a customer-brand relationship.
Contact items should therefore be easy to read and clearly visible, with large fonts and sufficient contrast with the background. It should include a phone number, as a lot of people prefer this type of communication and a website or email is not enough for them. Keep your target customer group in mind. Younger people prefer to use social media and scan the links to websites from QR codes rather than type them on the keyboard. High quality pictures of products, precisely crafted texts and your logo must not be missing either.
If there is something you can be inspired by from the online world, when it comes to printed marketing products, it’s content marketing. Its philosophy is that you don’t always have to force the sale. Provide the client with an added value in the form of useful information. In addition to sales, this will deepen the client’s relationship with the brand.
Although the content of high quality is part of online marketing of most modern brands, the first content marketing projects were created decades before the Internet was invented. One of the most famous is the Micheline Restaurant Guide, which was created to encourage people to travel more by car and thus buy Michelin tires. Another example is The Furrow magazine by the manufacturer of farm equipment, John Deere, which has been providing farmers with useful advice since 1895. The famous Tour de France was also created as a marketing project to sell more copies of the newspaper, which covered the sporting event.
Here are some other examples. Supermarket chains started to enrich their traditional flyers with interesting recipes. Some of them, such as Lidl’s Kitchen have also become an independent project with their own website. So, think about what added value you can offer to your clients. If you sell spare car parts don’t be afraid to pay for some extra pages in a catalogue. You can thus advise your clients on how to prepare your car for winter. If you run a hotel or a restaurant, provide brides with useful tips on what not to forget when planning a wedding. You don’t need to worry about not getting this investment back. Research has shown that 78% of customers prefer to get to know the brand better through quality textual content.
Take advantage of modern technologies
Any type of printed materials should be made in accordance with the visual identity of your company. Its presentation should look coherent. With brochures and catalogues, this starts with the choice of the paper. For large product catalogues, thinner, so called newspaper papers with weight of 45 to 60g are suitable for economical reasons. For brochures with fewer pages, papers with higher weight are preferable. For exclusive products or services don’t hesitate to use 300g papers or 600g covers. It is the paper that embodies the durability and prestige of the product. It doesn’t apply only to the material itself, but also to its finishes.
A lot of brands opt for minimalism, but it is not suitable for every product. In some cases, it is preferable to emphasize its exclusivity through varnishing. A popular choice is a partial varnish, which highlights certain parts of the cover or pages. Special types of varnish, such as glitter, pearly, phosphorescent or hybrid (so called orange peel) can create a unique texture on a printed material. The process of lamination is very similar – it can create a unique textured surface and increase the durability of the printed matter. Popular are velvet laminate or laminate with the structure of orange peel, metal, leather, etc.
For brochures and catalogues, the most commonly used paperbacks are V1 and V2. If you want to differ from the others, you can reach for other types of book binding, possible are spiral (used for calendars) or comb bindings.
As far as dimensions are concerned, the standard sizes are A4, A3, A5 or A6. However, you can differentiate yourself from the others in this case as well. For example, by using a smaller, atypical size or by using the cut outs. Thanks to the atypical shape, the brochure not only attracts attention, but it can also have an extra function – for example, you can place there some product samples, a business card, a discount voucher.
Make the most of both worlds
Online marketing has boomed so much in recent years that many brands gave up the idea of a tangible presentation completely. However, with a little bit of skill, you can get inspired by the online world when designing and producing brochures, catalogues and other printed materials. Bear in mind your target groups and be where they are foremost.
