Every business wants to generate leads. Unfortunately, much like you, your potential customers are busy people. This is why marketing collateral has become such a popular marketing tool. Instead of sending a lengthy email or talking to a prospect for hours on the phone, you can send a piece of collateral that is both informative and visually appealing.
Why You Should Use Marketing Collateral in Your B2B Appointment Setting Program
By using marketing collateral in your B2B appointment setting program, you’re not only saving your prospects time, you’re saving yourself time. Think about it—if you have a piece of marketing collateral that makes sense in all the most common sales scenarios, you’ll have a rebuttal for everything. Your sales reps won’t have to wonder about what to say in an email because they’ll already have exactly what they need.
Here are six common sales scenarios where you can use marketing collateral.
1. Brochure—When a prospect says, “I don’t have time to talk right now.”
What is a corporate brochure? A corporate brochure is written and designed to showcase the benefits of a company’s products or services for potential customers. They also give a general overview of the company.
Since corporate brochures provide a general overview of a company, they’re great for potential customers who don’t have much time to talk. If you can’t talk to them, at least you can send them a brochure. If a prospect doesn’t know much about you and you just want to start the conversation, a brochure is the perfect piece of marketing collateral to use.
Other situations where a brochure makes perfect sense:
- When a prospect says, “Can you send me some information and I’ll get back to you?”
- When a prospect says, “I’m not really sure I understand what your business does.”
- When a prospect says, “I’ve never even heard of a company like yours, what exactly do you offer?”
A prospect won’t always have time to talk right now, but that’s why you let your brochure do the talking for you. It explains everything a prospect needs to know in a clear, concise manner.
2. Sell Sheet—When a prospect says, “I’m interested in XYZ service. Can you tell me more?”
A sell sheet, also known as a product sheet or a sales sheet, is a one-page advertisement of your brand, product, or service. You can create a general sell sheet about your company, but more often than not, sell sheets are used to promote a particular product or service.
Some of the leads in your sales pipeline will be further along in the buyer’s journey than others. These leads may have already expressed interest in particular products or services that you offer. In a scenario where you know more about the potential customer’s needs, a sell sheet makes the most sense.
Other situations where a sell sheet makes perfect sense:
- When your company is trying to push and sell more of a particular product or service
- When you have a complex product or service and you’re running out of time to talk about it on the phone
- When your prospect is too busy for you most of the time and you need something to pique their interest
A sell sheet is useful in so many scenarios because it will tell your prospect, at a glance, if your products or services are a fit for them. They not only help your prospects, but they also help your sales reps close more deals.
3. Case Study—When a prospect says, “Have you worked with other companies similar to mine and had success?”
When a prospect wants to know about your past successes, they’re leaving the door wide open for you to share a case study. In the marketing world, a case study is a type of marketing collateral that demonstrates exactly what you did to help one of your clients achieve their goals. It typically outlines a problem, the solution you provided, and the result or impact of that solution. A case study is powerful because it shows that you’ve had success helping other companies and instills confidence in potential customers in your pipeline.
Other scenarios where a case study makes sense:
- When a prospect says, “How much experience does your company have?”
- When a prospect says, “Do you have testimonials from past customers?” (You can include a testimonial on a case study)
- When you’ve pitched someone, but they still need a little more convincing (showing the impact you had on another company could be just what they need)
If your sales team is selling to a wide variety of companies, you need to have more than one case study. Your sales team should have several case studies readily available so they can cater to a prospect’s specific needs. A prospect will be more compelled to read a success story if the company is similar to theirs, so make sure you have lots of options for what to send them.
For example, if you’re a commercial construction company calling on construction leads, your prospect pool is probably huge. You’d submit a proposal for almost any type of job. Maybe one of your case studies talks about a design-build project you did for a business. Another case study could talk about an expansion you did for a school. Or maybe you completed an entire construction job from the ground up for a warehouse. Showcase as many successes as you can using case studies; it’ll help your sales team.
4. Infographic—When you can’t pique a prospect’s interest.
Infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge. They are used to present information quickly and clearly. Infographics are a great marketing tool because they can help a prospect understand an idea or concept better. Since infographics use patterns, colors, and shapes, they are more visually appealing and improve cognition.
An infographic is a great tool for when you just can’t seem to hook a prospect. Since they’re easy on the eyes and easy to understand, it might be the first thing they actually take a close look at. Another time when an infographic makes sense is if you’ve exhausted all of your other resources but you still want to stay top of mind. This is not to say that infographics aren’t a great tool, but they certainly shouldn’t be the first or even second thing that you send a prospect. Make sure they have an idea of what you do first before you send them an infographic.
5. Video—When you’re having trouble reaching prospects and want to measure engagement.
In video production and in B2B lead generation, a promotional video is a video that is produced with the intent to promote products and/or services to potential and current customers. From animated videos to custom videos and everything in between, there is a wide variety of options available to you when you choose to promote your product or service with a video.
Much like an infographic, videos are a great marketing tool to use when you can’t pique a prospect’s interest. However, unlike infographics, videos go into much more detail about a product or service. While videos and infographics are both great for visual learners, videos are typically 1 to 2 minutes long. Even so, 66% of people say they’d prefer to watch a short video to learn about a product or service. So, your prospects may actually respond better to a video.
A video is also great to use when you want to measure engagement. By including a trackable link in a short email campaign, you can see how many people are actually opening your emails and engaging with them. This helps you determine your warmer leads. If your team uses Salesforce as a CRM, a Salesforce consulting partner can show you how to use link tracking in emails using Pardot.
6. Pitch Deck—When you set the appointment.
A pitch deck is a sales presentation that helps guide the sales conversation. Account executives use them in sales meetings when delivering a pitch to a potential customer. Every B2B business should have a pitch deck that explains what their company does and how their products or services can help their target customers. About 10 slides is a good place to start. A great sales deck can be the difference between an average pitch and a great pitch that results in a deal.
Marketing collateral is a powerful tool in a sales program. Sending the right piece of marketing collateral at the right time is even more powerful. Different types of collateral work better in different sales scenarios. If a sales development representative is equipped with enough pieces of marketing collateral for every sales scenario, they’ll be able to successfully schedule more sales meetings for your account executive team. More sales meetings = more closed deals = increased revenue for your business.
Are you ready to see how a B2B appointment setting program that utilizes marketing collateral could help you sell more? Contact Abstrakt Marketing Group today to learn more.
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