We promise you’re not alone. Many (probably most) marketers contend with mountains of marketing materials. If you’re struggling to determine which marketing assets you need to grow and how to keep them organized and optimized, well—join the club! It’s a big one.
Why Marketing Materials Matter
You understand that a brand’s message is only as strong as its materials. For multi-location businesses, this can be tricky to manage. When marketing materials are scattered across various platforms and teams, consistency can be hard to achieve. Don’t be deterred! This list ensures you have everything you need in one place so you can focus on growing your brand.
The more complete and more consistent your collection of materials is, the more confidently your brand can scale—because every location is equipped to show up professionally and cohesively. Each of these categories plays a role in building recognition, trust, and engagement—all of which contribute directly to long-term brand growth.
Related: 6 Perks of Online Marketing Portals for Your Brand
The Essential Marketing Materials Your Brand Needs (By Category)
1. Brand Identity and Core Assets (Your Brand’s Foundation)
What makes up a brand? There are a few key ingredients that combine to create the mark that makes your marketing. Think of these brand standards as your brand’s essential DNA. They build the personality that your customers know and love. Branding elements include, but are not limited to:
- Brand name
- Logos (primary, secondary, submarks)
- Brand color palette and typography
- Imagery
- Tagline/slogan
- Brand guidelines and usage rules
2. Print and Collateral
Despite living in a digital world, print remains a marketing powerhouse—and every smart marketing plan includes print and digital channels whenever possible. In fact, the integration of print with digital makes an impact greater than the sum of its parts. These print materials are crucial for their ability to be touched and felt. Both tactile and memorable, they deliver a powerful lasting impression:
- Flyers, brochures, and postcards
- Catalogs
- Presentation decks and sales sheets
- Customer handouts and product guides
- Rack cards and booklets
3. Digital Marketing and Advertising Assets
Digital marketing has several benefits; it’s typically affordable, reaches a wide audience, and generates results that can be measured accurately. These advantages make digital marketing an important component in a cross-channel marketing effort. Try deploying these smart digital assets:
- Your website and landing pages
- Social media posts and graphics (profile images, post templates)
- Blogs
- Digital ads (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn banners)
- Email marketing templates
- Video marketing assets
4. Large Format and Signage
Go big for big results! It’s hard to overestimate the power of a message or image writ large. Whether catching attention at trade shows, transportation hubs, or out on the street, these materials help you make a big statement, many times right at the point of purchase. Large format and signage turn heads with:
- Banners and window clings
- Vehicle wraps and decals
- Trade show booths and pop-up displays
- Storefront signage
- Street signage
5. Promotional and Branded MerchandisE
Everyone loves swag. It’s a scientifically proven fact. Really. People love getting things for free, and they also feel goodwill towards a company that gifts them something—usually repaying in loyalty what they feel they’ve received in value. Promo items are better than ever, and these useful, on-trend branded products help solidify your company’s presence and keep customers coming back:
- Premium t-shirts, hats, and employee apparel
- Branded giveaways (chargers and other tech, high-end tumblers, nice pens, fun tote bags)
- High-quality client gifts and event swag
6. Event and Seasonal Marketing Materials
Want to connect on an emotional level? You can make the most of every event and holiday with tailored materials that capture the moment and link that feeling to your brand. While options are limitless, there are several ways to leverage the power of an experience:
- Conference and trade show materials
- Holiday-specific promotions and signage
- Limited-time campaign assets
7. Internal and Training Materials
Brand consistency starts from within. When you equip your team with the right tools to represent your brand, you’ll build a unified brand that’s both scalable and shareable (not to mention profitable):
- Employee handbooks and guides
- Training videos and onboarding materials
- Internal newsletters and memos
Keeping Your Marketing Materials Organized and Accessible
Having all these materials is great—but where do you store them? Growth doesn’t just depend on having marketing materials—it depends on how well they’re managed and deployed across every location and channel. Many businesses struggle with outdated or inconsistent assets floating around in a chaotic digital abyss. Marketing assets live on hard drives, thumb drives, and people’s desktops. Thus, they are not searchable, secure, or even the correct version.
To tame the chaos of managing too many materials, you need a marketing asset management system. Because when your brand materials are complete, consistent, and accessible to your team, your growth isn’t just possible—it’s predictable. We’ll be discussing that in our next article in this series, “Best Practices for Storing Marketing Materials Across Multiple Locations.” In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek….
Meet our Proprietary Brand Management Platform
It’s a cloud-based repository for all marketing assets, including everything we reviewed above. Named Ignition, it’s designed to fire up your brand with marketing asset organization, consolidation, collaboration, and most of all—brand integrity. With Ignition’s brand management portal, you get:
- No more lost files: All assets are stored in a single hub that is searchable and accessible 24/7 on any device.
- Organization by category, campaign, or location: Easily categorize and organize all assets—and optimize their use.
- Approval workflows and brand compliance controls: Ignition ensures version control and guarantees all assets stay on brand.
- Print-on-demand and fulfillment: You and your teams can order directly from the platform instead of managing separate vendors
Related: Brand Management Platforms Level Up Multi-Location Marketing
With a streamlined marketing asset management system, your brand can scale with consistency and confidence. At Ironmark, we can help you design and implement any of the assets listed above, and we’ve built over 150 Ignition storefronts, ranging in size from several users to 17,000. Learn more about how we can help your brand grow and take an Ignition test drive today!
