Branding Your Business with Printed Marketing Materials

You have the company message, the colors, the fonts, the logo, the emotions and the target audience. The question is how to apply all of these things into a successful branded marketing campaign. Printed marketing materials are the backbone of any branding effort, because it's the best way to put your company right in front of your ideal customers. The following are a few tried-and-true ideas you can incorporate when branding your business with printed marketing materials:

The corporate identity package is first on our list because it's often the first thing people think of when they think of branding. Corporate identity packages lack the luster of other branding efforts, but they offer massive repetition that is crucial to a successful campaign. A solid corporate identity package includes business cards, letterhead, envelopes, brochures and presentation folders. The beauty of the corporate identity package is that every single piece of correspondence you issue to customers carries your company's image and reinforces your message.

Direct-mail campaigns place your message in the best place possible — right in your customers' hands. Direct mail can be anything from simple postcards and flyers to 80-page catalogs and multi-piece sales letter packages. Powerful branding that keeps your company on the top of customers' minds can be achieved through direct-mail repetition; just because a prospect doesn't respond to your first direct-mail piece doesn't mean that that mailing won't later act as a reinforcer for subsequent mailings. In short, the more often you mail (without going overboard), greater potential for a good response rate exists for each subsequent mailing.

Press releases should be printed on company letterhead and distributed to the media. Press releases are powerful branding tools, because, if your news is printed, you gain unbiased third-party validation and the potential to reach customers you didn't know you could have.

Simple take-away POS displays such as a coupon book, brochure or even a menu can boost your branding efforts, because they are voluntarily picked up and taken home. Another way to use POS is to sponsor a charity via a retail outlet that asks customers for a small donation, which results in their names being placed on die-cut shapes and taped to the wall for all to see. All you have to do is provide the printed cutouts and add your company's name and logo to a portion of it. Your brand will not only be prominent, it demonstrates that your company has compassion and goodwill, which can be a boon to attracting new business.

Stickers offer the most fun branding opportunities, and perhaps the most creative. You can affix custom-made stickers to anything — notebooks, car bumpers, restroom stalls, floors, walls, windows, mirrors, filing cabinets — you name it, you can stick it! If you can come up with an appealing sticker design that customers will want to keep, all the better. Sometimes companies even hand out stickers to children at parades with a cute saying and their logo or company name beneath it.

Want others to look at you every day, all year long? Distribute free calendars to your customers. This is one of the easiest and most effective branding strategies simply because calendars have intrinsic value — people like to stay organized.

Event sponsorship through banners is a great way to get your image in front of hundreds or thousands of potential customers at one time. This could be a rock show, a festival, a sports event or any other event where your target audience gathers. When developing a branded marketing campaign, it is imperative not to skimp on materials. This is true with all branded printing materials since your customers will equate the quality of your promotional pieces to the quality of your company. Make sure you use a printer such as PsPrint that offers the best paper grades, inks, finishes and state-of-the-art printing presses so your company leaves the very best impression.