When we are approached to develop a brochure or catalogue, be it digital or printed, usually it’s an indicator that the need is one of content beyond a simple sales tool, but a brochure is often the easiest way to explain this need and have something relatively straightforward to show at the end of the process.
You see, brochures and catalogues are one of the few tactics which can support pretty much all marketing touchpoints and any integrated marketing strategy. Our clients instinctively know this.
The value we deliver comes on how we insert them into the customer journey and make them useful in digital, as well as face to face or retail environments; that we bring our creative and strategic experience to bear so they are not only the backbone of a sales toolkit, but will also provide a library of content that can be used interactively. Two examples of how this can be done is by using video or by making a brochure or catalogue ‘shoppable’. The key, as with ‘everything marketing’, is to understand the customer behaviour and deliver something that suits.
Here are some ideas on how you can make the most of brochures and catalogues by thinking beyond the printed page.
Create awareness of your product, services and brand
This might seem obvious but catalogues and brochures are excellent for building brand trust. To do this, it is important that it has a distinct brand identity. If you don’t have brand guidelines, then allowing for the creation of a simple style guide will not only make your brochure or catalogue more recognisable, but you can then use this style guide and its assets across other marketing items so customers get the same visual experience across all your marketing.
We can also create catalogues or brochures to exist online to provide greater flexibility than PDFs. There’s nothing wrong with PDFs, we can make these interactive too. By taking them online however, we can add product videos, animations and photo galleries to boost engagement, then create a printable document that works with the online version. This is important when you consider that four times as many consumers would prefer to watch a video about a product than to read about it, which we can also align to any YouTube or social media activity to create a seamless experience and to give the customer the choice on how they interact with your brand.
Support promotional activity across all touchpoints
When paper and pixels unite, amazing things happen. As well as having a printed brochure or catalogue, we can convert these into a digital items where pictures can be made to be ‘shoppable’ with just a click. By linking to an online store, it allows potential customers to buy products seconds after discovering them, thereby increasing the chances of a purchase. It also makes the user experience and process easier, which can only strengthen your brand’s relationship with consumers.
Thinking more strategically, an online catalogue can also impact your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). As it will be part of your website domain, it will be indexable, added to your web properties and its text ‘crawlable’ by Google. This will support your ranking and overall ‘domain authority’.
In short, by turning a printed brochure or catalogue into a digital revenue channel, our clients can expect great return on investment (ROI).
Target effectively
The flexibility of brochures and catalogues not only comes from how they are designed and produced but also on how it allows a business to highlight the services it offers and the category or sector it serves. By showcasing relevant knowledge and experience, engagement and action are much more likely.
As well as content, targeted distribution also enables clients to increase relevance and engagement. This can be achieved by embedding the brochure or catalogue on your website and sharing it to your social media. From there, your audience can be segmented and post boosted to get the brochure or catalogue in front of specific potential customers. If email marketing forms part of your overall strategy, direct links to the brochure and catalogue can also be added to emails or newsletters. Consumers who subscribe to items such as these are far more likely to buy from you than new leads, so keeping existing clients or prospects up to date on your current offers is one of the simplest ways to sell. These are just a few examples on how a brochure or catalogue can be amplified and targeted, but it clearly shows how it can be used across multiple tactics and audiences.
Parting thoughts
By thinking of the wider picture, being creative and proactive, brochure and catalogues can extend the reach and relevance of your business and offer. There aren’t many tactics you can invest in which are so adaptable and which can deliver so much value.
If you need to increase enquiries and have been thinking of catalogues and brochures, we can help you make the most of the opportunities they provide. Please get in touch to arrange a call.