Five Ways to Make Your Marketing Materials Last

The best way to get more bang for your marketing buck is to make your marketing materials last longer. If you have the perfect flyer, for example, distributed in the best place with the perfect design and sales pitch for your target audience, the only way to make it better is to make it last longer. There are several tips and tricks savvy marketers know that help marketing materials stand up to wear, tear, and the weather and allow them to capitalize on that longevity to boost the return on investment. The following details five ways you can make your marketing materials last longer.

1. UV coating

Probably the easiest and one of the cheapest ways to make your marketing materials last longer is to have them UV coated. UV coating is a compound typically comprised of kaolinite or calcium carbonate that is refined and bound with a glue that adheres it to paper. Once the wet solution and paper pass under ultraviolet light, the compound hardens and dries. This thick, durable layer not only adds an attractive glossy sheen, it adds a water-resistant and weather-resistant buffer that reduces wear and tear and protects paper from every day use.

2. Print on thick paper stocks

Thicker paper stocks, such as 16-point cover and 13-point cover, are pre-coated and typically stand up well over time; however, they perform much better when they're also coated with a UV coating. This is especially useful for business cards and other heavy wear marketing materials that are routinely passed from person to person.

3. Place them in a protective sheath

Flyers and posters can be placed in protective display cases in strategic locations without losing effectiveness. In fact, if your display case is designed to complement your flyer design, it can actually enhance your image and increase your return on investment as you will appear to be a bold, sophisticated, resourceful company.

4. Post indoors

There is no rule that your flyers and posters have to be posted outdoors; at least, not all of them. You can also post them at strategic indoor distribution points to capture attention and keep them away from weather and sunlight, which can damage print marketing materials no matter how they're coated or otherwise protected.

5. Smart storage

Many companies launch annual promotions and re-use marketing materials year after year. If this is you, be sure to shore leftover marketing materials from this year in a cool, dry place away from the environment. Nothing is worse than leaving your brochures out in the sun and opening the package a year later to find them yellowed and crispy. Make sure moisture doesn't get to them, either, so they do not get wet, flimsy, runny or moldy; and keep them away from areas animals can get in to them. Mice, in particular, will get into your boxes of paper and chew them up. No word on whether they consider becoming customers first.