Why Branded Collateral is Important for a Professional Brand
What is brand collateral?
When we hear the word ‘collateral’ it’s often associated with assets. Another meaning of the word is derived from its association with ‘lateral’ – ‘co-lateral’ meaning ‘running parallel to’.
Branded collateral works within both definitions. You are aiming to highlight your brand across a number of channels or locations in parallel with your advertising, and to fill the gaps left by your advertising to mitigate the risks of having all your eggs in one basket.
Simply put, branded collateral is not just advertising; it’s the cumulative touchpoints that your audience have with your brand everywhere else. For example, it works as an advertisement in the form of a trade show banner, but this would also help customers to pinpoint your location in a vast trade show hall, being a brand they recognize and are therefore drawn to.
Online, your brand collateral would include your website, white papers, demos, web copy, blog posts, social media profiles, and any other digital interaction outside of advertising.
However, the term more often focuses on branded physical media, such as business cards from Printivity, and there is a good reason for this.
The human element
Taking B2B as an example, a recent report commissioned by PwC shows that when asked about the process of making business decisions, 41% of business leaders stated the most significant single factor that drives decision making is instinct. Second to this was the experience of others (31%), and thirdly was data (23%).
Therefore, cumulatively speaking, 72% of decision makers are swayed by their own gut feeling or the feelings of others. This means that the first impression people have of your brand is more important than anything else when it comes to whether or not they will do business with you.
When that first point of contact is a sales pitch, it’s your own appearance and presenting style that is judged. However, more often it is packaging, business cards, brochures or exhibition stands that form the first interaction that prospective customer has with your brand. What the branding conveys and says about you to them can make or break that interaction.
Consistency
It’s important for your customers or potential customers to be able to instantly recognise your brand whenever they come into contact with it. It’s not just enough to see it; recognition builds real brand awareness. When someone recognises a logo, colour or typeface as belonging to a certain brand, the brand will sit in their mind. This can only happen when people have seen your brand during their everyday life, for example as a set of branded mugs used in many a kitchen. Sometimes print media won’t be enough to help your brand grow and so looking at using other products to help with this could be your next step. For example, looking at these unique umbrellas that BrandedBrolly (www.branded-brolly.co.uk) can design for you could help to increase your growth quicker if you use them alongside print media methods too.
Print media for brand collateral
Print gives a lot of options for establishing interactions with your customers, such as:
- Business cards
- Packaging
- Envelopes
- Point of sale
- Direct mail
- Exhibition banners
- Signage
- Printed newsletters
- Brochures
- Letterheads
- Etc
If you’re interested in expanding the scope of your printed brand collateral, we have the flexibility to match your needs, both for printing & materials, and also the packing, delivery and replenishment of the end product.
With our cutting-edge production technology, no matter how complex or high volume your project may be, your brand colour palette will always be printed consistently and to the highest quality.
If you would like to speak to the experts about how printed marketing collateral could help your business, call us on 020 8544 5500 or email hello@wearepositive.com
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