Did you know your marketing collateral (or lack thereof) has a huge impact on your business growth? It’s true. Not sure what marketing collateral is? Never fear. We’re here to answer the questions — What is marketing collateral and how should wedding pros be using it?
WHAT IS MARKETING COLLATERAL
Your business needs more than just product descriptions and pricing pages on your website. That’s where marketing collateral comes in.
It’s a group of media items (we’ll discuss what kinds of media later) that are specifically used to generate sales. A great way to think about marketing collateral is a more informative piece of media or marketing materials than your standard ads.
Marketing collateral is designed to —
- Establish your business as an authority.
- Create market recognition.
- Build trust with your ideal or target audience.
Some people hear this term and they think of brochures, business cards, product catalogs, etc. All kinds of physical items — and that’s partly correct.
As much as digital has jumped forward, you would be surprised how much a well-timed snail mail advertisement can yield real results for your business. According to a recent study done by the U.S. Postal Service, 68% of marketing respondents said combining digital strategies and direct mail increased website visits, and 60% reported an increased ROI.
In order to grow your business, it’s important for wedding pros to have a plan with marketing collateral that includes both digital and print materials seamlessly. (This is part of the omnichannel experience, which is an essential part of successfully reaching your target audience. The good news is that it also makes your work more efficient!)
Let’s dive into the different types of marketing collateral.
MARKETING COLLATERAL FOR EVERY PHASE OF THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY
Every customer is in one of four phases of their journey with your business.
- Awareness — They need to be made aware of your business and services.
- Consideration — They know about your business and they are considering you as an option to buy from.
- Conversion — They are ready to buy from your business and eventually do.
- Loyalty — They love your business and want to know about all your products — plus they share your work with others.
We’ve discussed what it is and why it’s important — now let’s talk about the specific types of marketing collateral wedding pros can use to grow their wedding business!
Awareness Phase
- Branded Print and Digital Pieces
This includes well-done business cards, postcards, letterhead, email templates, and more.
- Landing Pages
These are often tied to a particular campaign, offer, or product. This is usually where a potential customer will land after clicking on a social ad.
- Pillar Pages
These are pages that take a deep dive into one topic and can be connected to blog posts that cover other related blog posts. These provide highly valuable opportunities for rich SEO (search engine optimization) content that brings people to your website.
- Blog Posts
Blog posts are wonderful way to organically attract new clients that are searching for topics related to your services. A great place to start is by addressing your most frequently asked questions to create evergreen blogs that will be relevant and valuable to your clients forever.
- Infographics
Infographics are great for everything from social media to your business website and more! It’s also an effective way of making your products, services, and customer benefits more visual. (It has been proven that humans are better at taking in visual information than general copy alone.)
An infographic is a collection of charts, imagery, and very little actual text with the goal of giving a general overview of a topic. (These are also great opportunities for SEO and getting widespread exposure on social media!)
- Branded Content / News Releases
Branded content is produced as a more robust style of advertisement. This is often the case with creating your own news story opportunities that feature your business or service, etc.
Consideration Phase
- Case Studies and Testimonials
Another name for this would be your client portfolio and testimonials. This is where you would showcase what your work looks like and what clients have to say about working with you. (Here’s an example of using case studies on your website.)
- White Paper or eBooks (PDF Download or Digital Lead Magnets)
This may sound like technical jargon, but it’s very simple. White papers are basically in-depth content on a topic that is meant to establish you/your business as an expert. These can be relatively simple and are most often designed to be evergreen. They are a standard lead magnet opportunity for wedding pros!
- Brochures
Whether it’s digital or printed, brochures are still effective in getting the most important details to your client. A well-designed brochure that works with a robust digital strategy is a recipe for attracting new clients!
- Product Catalogs + Pricing Guides
With so many options for marketing collateral, it’s important to have your basics covered. A product catalog is one of those basics. When it comes to the wedding industry, a pricing guide can be an attractive and successful lead magnet to help you grow your email marketing list!
- Your Brand Story
Like we just discussed, the basics are important. Don’t overlook the powerful impact of telling your own narrative — your business story. It makes things more personal and humanizes your business.
- Email Series
A topical, branded email series is a powerful piece of marketing collateral — especially when positioned with a lead magnet (like a pricing guide, or a helpful PDF download — also known as a white paper in the business). This could be a Welcome Series or an Educational/Topical Series.
Conversion Phase
- Proposals
When you’re closing the deal, it’s important to communicate the value that your business and expertise truly brings. That’s why branded and thoughtfully designed proposals are a must-have part of your marketing collateral.
Loyalty Phase
- Email Newsletter
Think of it like a digital mini-magazine where you can highlight great work, keep your customers informed, and nurture new sales. This may be the single most powerful way to nurture repeat sales in your marketing collateral collection!
- Re-Engagement Emails
Every wedding pro has people on their email list that haven’t been opening for a while. Don’t lose out on future sales and great customer interaction. A branded re-engagement email series can be evergreen and very effective at bringing loyal customers to an active status again!
- Reports and Guides
Depending on your area of expertise, a report or topic guide is a helpful way to educate your clientele and keep them in the know on what is hot — all while keeping them engaged with authentic content.
THREE TIPS FOR WEDDING PROS
Now that you know what marketing collateral is and have examples for every phase of the customer journey, it’s time to talk about a few pro tips. These tips will help you avoid common pitfalls — and create successful marketing collateral for your wedding business!
1. Make Your Collateral Attractive
The wedding industry is a highly visual industry with a lot of big emotions tied to purchasing. It’s an industry filled with once-in-a-lifetime days that clients have been dreaming about their entire lives. Your marketing collateral needs to be well-designed firstly because it takes people .5 seconds to form an opinion about your company based on the visuals and how it functions (if it’s a website, etc.).
2. Keep Branding Consistent
While all marketing materials may not be created at the same time, they need to have the same branding. According to LucidPress, 45% of customers expect to see great design across all marketing and sales collateral.
This is where items like brand guides and branded templates become invaluable! They help save time and keep everyone on the same page. (It’s the best-kept productivity secret in marketing!)
3. Create collateral that will help in each stage of the customer journey.
There are many types of marketing collateral, so it’s important to think through what you want to spend time and money creating. Focus on creating at least one piece of collateral for each phase of the customer journey. (Awareness, Consideration, Conversion, Loyalty) This will help your marketing materials work for you so you don’t have to nurture every single lead yourself. (That means you are making room for exponential growth!)
MORE RESOURCES TO HELP
- Want to learn more about the digital marketing trends in 2021 that can help you grow your wedding business? Check out this blog from our sister company Brandlink Media. It covers the top digital marketing predictions for 2021-2022— and more!
- Want help with your marketing collateral? Contact Brandlink Media for a free consult to get some professional insight on what marketing collateral may be helpful for your next step. They specialize in helping wedding pros reach their ideal clients — and look great doing it!
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Written by Corrie McGee
