One of the biggest challenges new start-ups and small businesses face is how to properly market their business. For an entrepreneur who has no background in marketing, being able to know what works especially in their business niche can be a serious challenge. Without the right strategy, they could end up spending a lot more than they should with minimal or no results to show for it.
Although developing a great marketing strategy for your small business is key, having the right strategy without the right marketing tools won’t get your business anywhere. To get the word about your business out there, a set of well-designed marketing materials in line with your brand is what you need. But what exactly are these marketing materials?
What are Marketing Materials?
Marketing materials are items or brand elements designed for promoting a brand, product, or service. The most common form of this is “literature”. Marketing materials are used to present businesses, their products, and services to their target audience using a defined marketing strategy. Marketing materials form a visual representation of the companies, goals, prospects, and marketing message to their audience. Marketing materials can be in physical or digital form. By physical form, we refer to items such as mugs, keychains, printed materials like brochures, roll-up banners, business cards, presentation folders, etc. Whereas digital forms can be a company website, web banners, social media ads, and many more.
Many marketing materials can be beneficial to businesses whether small or large enterprises. However, for this article, we will be focusing on the top 5 marketing materials essential for every small business or start-up entrepreneur to get their business up and running.
Logo
A logo is a brand element you can’t do without even as a new start-up. The best way to describe a logo is “the face of a business”. This is because a logo is the simplest graphic representation of your business featured on every other material for your business. It is usually the first brand element your audience and customers will associate with your brand. Therefore, since it is the face of any business, it is one of the most powerful tools you can use for marketing.
Getting a logo can be tricky as anyone can call anything a logo. Logos can be in image form, text, or a combination of both. However, what’s important to note is that you can’t use a generic, sloppy, or unprofessional design as a logo for your business. If you want something that will connect with your audience, market your business, speak about your brand and build your business brand recognition, then you need a professional and well-designed logo. Unless you’re a designer, you’ll need the services of a graphic designer to get you a unique and custom logo for your brand.
2. Business Cards
Now that you have your logo, the next thing in line is your business cards. Business cards are great marketing tools that can be used in many ways. You can easily use your business card to connect with potential clients and customers when you meet them. You can do this by dropping it with them as a way to share information about your business and have them get in touch with you. You can also post your business card or bulletin boards in local shops in your community as a way to introduce your business. You can also leave a stack of them with your local business owners so anyone who comes in can have a copy and reach out to you.
To get a professional business card done, you’ll need your logo, contact details, and the right dimensions. Once you have it all sorted out, you can design your business card and get it printed. The good news is that you don’t have to hire a graphic designer to get your professional business cards done. With an online printing service like Printsouq, you can create your logo by yourself and have it printed and shipped to you from the comfort of your home. All you need is to get on the website and select a design style from a large range of design template choices for business cards, edit your template to your satisfaction, put in your logo and your details, place your order for print and have it delivered to you.
3. Flyers and Post Cards
Flyers and postcards are one of the best marketing tools you can use even for a startup business. It avails you an opportunity to create awareness about your business locally, and share information about discounts, upcoming events, or special offers with your products and services. Just like business cards, you can leave both postcards and flyers with local business owners to reach out to customers. If you’re looking to have your flyers and postcards designed and printed, you can also make use of online printing services. Select your preferred template to edit and customize the design. While placing your print, always remember that flyers and postcards come in a variety of paperweights. So always select your desired weight before placing your order.
4. Brochures
Brochures come in handy when you need to share a lot of information about your business compactly and handily. With brochures, you can decide to tell the story of your business which is something similar to the about us section on your website. Brochures are perfect marketing tools because they allow you to share in-depth information, promote an upcoming event and also write a pitch to your potential investors.
The good news is you can also design your brochure by yourself using several existing templates online. All you need to do is to edit them, put your logo, change the colors to your brand colors, customize it the way you want, and have it printed and delivered to you.
5. Website
The need to create an online presence today for your business cannot be overemphasized. With the advent of COVID-19, most people now turn to the internet to search for products and services to reduce physical contact. Apart from the need to reduce physical contact, having a website for your business gives you a higher level of credibility, launches your business beyond your local reach, and helps your customers easily build trust.
For your website to serve as a good marketing tool, it must have your brand showing all over it. People should be able to recognize your business brand once they visit the website. You can do this by making sure that the URL, color theme, logo, tone, and voice are all consistent with your brand.
Your website should also carry all the information about your products and services. It should be able to tell the story about your business and show your hours of operation, social media information, and all your business contact details.
In conclusion, your marketing tools speak a lot about your business. From logo to website, business cards to flyers, etc. you must make sure that you’re getting the best designs that are consistent with your brand. Create professional designs for your business by using online printing services at your disposal to get the word out there and build your business.