Ah, that satisfying thump you get when you set your marketing materials down on the table at a meeting. “Thump value,” as it’s known in the industry, arises when you’ve developed a suite of quality, on-brand materials that you can use to impress prospective clients, customers or vendors. Together these say that you’re here, you mean business, and you know what you’re doing.
Let’s explore what it takes to maximize your thump value.
The Marketing Collateral Essentials
Whether you’re hosting a meeting, exhibiting at an event or doing a mail-out to prospects, you’ll find yourself reaching for a core selection of marketing materials. While the digital portion of your marketing suite is likely on the rise, the following print pieces are still a must:
- Presentation folder. A branded piece used to collate and present your materials.
- Business cards. Often the first interaction people will have with your brand.
- Postcards. A simple and effective way of getting across the bare essentials.
- Flyers, catalogs, and brochures. Great for tailoring your products and services to different audiences.
Other popular print pieces include white papers, case studies and, depending on the size of your business, magazines.
Each piece should complement the others, should be on brand, and should provide valuable insight into your business and what you offer. Having a variety of pieces allows you to gather together essential information to suit varying contexts and audiences.
The Value of Your Print Packet
In a world where websites, email, and social media looms large, it’s easy to discount the value of print materials as being outdated or inessential. But print can make an impression that digital often simply can’t.
Print allows you to impart a sense of quality, luxury, and heft that can’t easily be conveyed through digital media. Heavy paper stock, intriguing textures, luxury inks and large-format or fold-out designs are all unique to print media and leave audiences with a first impression that resonates.
Print can also reach prospects where digital can’t. Encouraging a conference attendee to visit your website has a less immediate impact than being able to hand them a packet of materials – and is a higher-friction approach as well. Digital can’t be contemplated on a flight or over lunch the same way that print can.
Furthermore, when a print packet arrives in the mail it packs an entirely different punch to an email. It says that you’re serious, that you value the connection that you’re about to make, and that you’re confident in what you do.
Beautifully Strategic Collateral
Just like anything in business, your print packet should be a strategic effort. While eye-candy is part of its appeal, these materials should be engaging and informative. They should back up your elevator pitch and help get across your brand messaging, value proposition, vision, and story.
The idea of these pieces is to make a powerful impression, add value, and communicate your brand and what it has to offer. A quick print-out of something generated in MS Word won’t pass muster, and nor will something created back when your brand had an entirely different visual identity. Your print packet should reflect your current brand along with current trends, – and should be a high-quality endeavor from start to finish.
For help building a portfolio of print collateral that gets the thump value thumbs up, get in touch!
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