Marketing and print collateral plays a crucial role in growing your business. Sometimes, the print pieces are the only thing your prospects see before making a decision to do business with your company. Other times, print collateral plays a support role for your salespeople. Either way, it’s common for collateral to be created and rarely reviewed for whether it still accurately reflects your business. While some pieces can be used long-term, others might quickly become outdated, especially if your product/service lines, pricing, or brand has changed. It’s a good idea to review your printed materials and regularly refresh them. 

Why should you audit your collateral?

Using up-to-date and fresh sales and marketing collateral ensures you accurately represent your brand and services to prospects and customers. These materials should be consistent with your brand and align with the style of your other marketing efforts, including your website, emails, and social media. Inaccurate or outdated collateral can cause confusion or frustration among buyers, leading to lost sales, or worse, lost customers. Depending on how much your business has changed, these materials might not be effective for your target market at all. Therefore, it's essential to regularly audit and refresh your collateral to ensure it is persuasive with benefits and features and relevant to customers’ pain points.

How often should you perform a collateral review?

You should perform audits of your sales and marketing collateral every three months, or once a season if your business is seasonal. This timeframe allows you to make necessary updates and capitalize on seasonal promotions and trends in your industry. 

Also, it's critical to audit and update your print collateral:

• When launching new products or updating your product line

• When rebranding or updating your logo

• Before any industry event or trade show where you'll distribute printed materials

• Any time your contact information or physical location, such as your address, phone number, and website changes

The rise of post-pandemic virtual and hybrid events also necessitates a review and refresh of your marketing materials. Does your printed collateral translate well to the virtual space? Consider how your printed collateral can best support your sales team as they participate in virtual and in-person events. 

Five questions to ask during marketing collateral reviews

There are a few important questions to ask when deciding whether your marketing and sales materials require updates. 

Pro tip from our Kansas City-based print marketing experts: Keep a spreadsheet or Google doc of all of your materials, where the art is located, and the last edit date.

1) Is there consistency with your brand?

All marketing and sales materials should be consistent with your current branding and align with the style of your other marketing pieces. Ensure that each piece fits in seamlessly with your visuals on other channels, including your website, emails, and social media. Customers should easily be able to identify the materials as belonging to your business. If you find discrepancies or outdated imagery, it’s time for a refresh. 

2) Does your collateral still speak to your target audience?

Every piece of print collateral should include messaging targeted to the customer to make a strong point. Align your message with what your audience cares about—their needs and desires, the challenges they face, and the questions they ask. Don't use industry jargon or marketing fluff. Use keywords that resonate with your customers. Even if that means using less technical terminology. Also double-check your imagery to ensure that any photos of people reflect who your customers are. Consider things like age, race and ethnicity, gender, marital and family status, and lifestyle to ensure all customers feel represented. 

3) Does your piece have a clear call to action?

Marketing materials are only effective if they include a clear call to action. Ensure that you have a prominent and visible call to action on every piece of collateral, including trackable coupon codes, custom landing page URLs, or other tools that provide insight into how well your CTAs are working. 

4) Is your content up to date?

Your business is continually evolving, and your collateral should reflect your current offerings, including showcasing any specific products or services, which might not be the same as they were six months or a year ago. Ensure that every piece of sales and marketing collateral reflects what your business offers right now. Make changes to feature your newest or most popular products, and remove any products or services you no longer offer. It’s also smart to switch out seasonal products or services to keep your collateral as fresh as possible. If you showcase certifications, awards, or other mentionable events, be sure to keep those up to date as well. 
 

Beyond current products and services, look at your content from your customers’ eyes. Does it still resonate with and matter to readers? As your customers change, so should your content. What they cared most about last year may not be what they care about now.

A material audit and refresh is the perfect opportunity to consult with your sales team and ask what collateral they need to do their jobs better. Find out what messages and calls to action they’ve found successful and integrate them. It’s also a good idea to survey your customers. This helps you learn more about their needs, so you can speak to those needs in your messaging. In doing so, you’ll help answer their questions and demonstrate how your business can solve their problems. 

5) Is your contact information current?

Lastly, don't forget to include your contact information. You want to ensure that interested customers can connect with you, so include your website, social media handles, phone number, email, and physical address on every piece. If you're promoting Kansas City events, be sure to include the date, time, and location on every piece you use.

Don’t let your collateral become stale

If you haven’t reviewed your collateral in a while, take the opportunity to do so now and make a plan to do a regular audit and refresh going forward. Better yet, get an expert opinion from our Kansas City-based print marketing experts. Who better to evaluate your collateral than people who design and print pieces for other businesses every day? To learn more, contact your AlphaGraphics Kansas City Account Manager at 816-842-4200. 

About AlphaGraphics Kansas City

Located in the creative Crossroads Arts District, AlphaGraphics Kansas City is a certified Women-Owned business that specializes in helping Kansas City businesses solve marketing problems. The printing company’s production specialties include G7 Certified digital color and large-format printing. 

Questions? Ready to Get Started? Get in Touch!

We're social! Follow us here to see what we're up to! 👇