Your marketing materials shouldn’t be limited to traditional outbound advertising – especially if your business is B2B. Sure, getting attention is part of the battle, but what if a prospect visits your website and only sees some product descriptions and a pricing page?
There Has been there more. You need To have material to show that you can walk the path. One type of content to help you get there is called marketing material, and it can come in various shapes and sizes.
Here we get a deeper understanding of the concept and go into the top five marketing collateral formats that you can use to establish legitimacy and complement your sales efforts.
What are Marketing Materials?
Marketing materials are media or marketing materials that are usually more informative than traditional advertising. The medium is generally designed to project authority, establish legitimacy, and build trust with potential customers to complement the sales effort closely.
Marketing collateral is, at its core, a way of communicating to potential customers that you know what you are talking about. It shouldn’t be as conspicuous as conventional advertising. When creating marketing materials, your priority is generally not to grab attention but rather to keep it and improve it.
In most cases, the prospects looking at your marketing materials are curious about your business, but they may not know you or what you are offering. Well-designed marketing materials can put them at ease. This can help build the trust necessary to build and maintain a customer relationship.
Marketing materials tend to be educational in a way. When done right, the informative nature of the format can help you stand out from the competition by showing a thorough understanding of your industry that others in your field may not project.
If all of your marketing materials are solely meant to talk about your product or service, then sell yourself short. When prospects decide to buy, they don’t just think about what’s for sale; they think about your business as a whole.
They want to know that they are being looked after by a competent, knowledgeable, knowledgeable organization that they can rely on to resolve any problems and concerns they may have. Creating thoughtful marketing materials is one way to help this cause.
Types of digital collateral
- Blog posts
- Ebooks
- Case studies
- credentials
- White papers
1. Blog posts
Oftentimes, creating good marketing collateral is about adding value to your audience. One of the better forums to create and promote the kind of material that does this on an ongoing basis is a well-maintained company blog.
You can constantly add helpful insights and audience engagement to your sales effort – driving traffic to your website and generating leads through actionable advice, expertise, and entertainment.
Like any other type of effective marketing security, good blog posts can project authority in your industry. You want to show that you are keeping up with industry trends and understanding your area’s nuances. Continuing to publish high-quality, helpful content can help and reassure your potential customers.
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2. Ebooks
EBooks are similar to blog posts in that they should project the authority of the industry through engagement. Still, they are typically longer, more detailed, and less snack than typical blog content. This type of marketing collateral generally attracts prospects with a vested interest in your industry. Here are some examples from HubSpot.
Image source: HubSpot
In a way, an e-book could be compared to an extended blog post or a series of blog posts. Like blog content, an e-book generally contains accessible language and actionable advice.
In many cases, e-books are downloadable and can only be accessed in exchange for a prospect’s contact information. This makes them a powerful lead generation tool.
Regardless of your business, you likely have the resources and expertise to incorporate your industry-specific knowledge into a well-designed e-book. Remember that your marketing collateral should be designed to build trust with prospects and customers.
If you can bring out e-books to reliably increase their industry knowledge, you can convince them that they are in good hands when buying your product or service.
3. Case studies
Case studies offer specific documents detailing how certain customers have seen success from using your product or service. This format differs from the two previous ones in that it is never product-independent. Here is an example from HubSpot:
Image source: HubSpot
Each case study is created in collaboration with a satisfied customer. It’s a form of cross-promotion that shows what your product or service looks like in practice – a roadmap that potential customers can use to imagine what you could do for their company.
Like almost every other example on this list, case studies are educational. They provide a more detailed explanation of how your product or service works using an active example. It’s also another way of building trust.
When you can refer to reputable customers willing to vouch for your business in detail, you can build your business’s reputation as a solid, knowledgeable organization with a product or service that delivers results.
4. Testimonials
Testimonials are essentially condensed case studies. Many, if not most, prospects have neither the time nor the interest to delve into a comprehensive case study. If you want to reach them, you need to provide quick content to peer passively over. Testimonials can do just that.
Here is an example from HubSpot:
Image source: HubSpot
This testimonial follows the format’s best practices. It’s visually appealing, clearly identifying who made the offer and pointing out specific benefits – a solid example of appropriately informative, easy-to-digest marketing material. Ultimately, a good testimonial helps project the company’s legitimacy and inspires potential customers to explore its promotion further.
5. White papers
A whitepaper is a compelling, authoritative, and detailed report on a specific topic. In general, one of these documents will raise a problem and provide a solution to it.
It’s usually more technical and less accessible than an e-book. It’s meant to attract a crowd more closely related or interested in your industry – and audience that naturally comes across the problem at the core of the document.
White papers should not be product gaps. It is recommended to keep them objective and educational. That being said, the topics you choose must be relevant to your company or area.
These types of collateral must also be thoroughly researched, carefully formatted, polished and written in a reputable tone. That means no flashy language or cute gimmicks. Here are some examples of topics from HubSpot’s No other report on the state of marketing.
Image source: HubSpot
As I keep telling you, every format listed in this article is tailored to some degree for project authority – the whitepaper is the purest example of this trend. It is a technical Document intended to demonstrate technical Knowledge to a lot with technical Skills.
Well-designed marketing materials can give you an edge over your competition. Not only is it a great lead generation tool, but it can also provide your business with an element of authority and trustworthiness to make potential customers more comfortable and willing to buy from you. If your company doesn’t produce it, then you should try one of the formats listed above.