Marketing and catalog tips

Catalogs are great sales tools, designed to generate leads or direct sales. Many companies still use catalogs to market, list, and sell their services and products. They may offer their catalog on a flash drive or on a CD, but it is still a catalog. Most still find it easier to flip through a printed version. In this world of social media and email catalogs, catalogs are still a very popular and effective way to advertise your services, businesses, and products. For many, a catalog is a key tool in their marketing plan, enhancing other initiatives such as email and social marketing and other print products such as brochures, flyers, and postcards. Catalogs are also a great way to present a lot of information to your prospects and clients. Studies have shown that catalogs last longer in customers’ businesses and homes, where they are scanned and consulted to order and find out about the product, keeping your product, services, and company information in front of them.

Before diving into the deep end and printing a catalog, there are a few things you need to know:

1. Do some research, research … and then maybe do a little more research

Do you know who your target audience is? If not, you have to find out. Evaluate who you want to send your catalog to to get the best return on your investment. BEFORE doing anything else, ask yourself the following questions:

A) What age groups am I targeting?
B) Am I marketing to a group of men / women?
C) What income level is my target audience (if any)?
D) If you are targeting companies, what type of company would use or benefit from my product or service? Make an extensive list.
E) Is there a specific geographic area? Ex. 50 miles radius

Also, survey your customers to find out more about what they buy, would they like to see that you offer other products / services? Ask them if they have good customer service or need improvement. Your goal should be to provide your ideal customers with something that they find beneficial and valuable, while also providing excellent customer service. Without good customer service, you can forget about it. Customers want and expect good customer service.

2. Details, details, details

Okay, you’ve done your home work and now you know who your target audience is. You probably thought the hard part was over. Sorry, it’s just getting started! Now that you have determined who your target audience is, you need to find out what products or services you want to include in your catalog to get the best return on your investment. The price of catalogs has become much cheaper with the new printing methods, but you still don’t want to waste your time or money. Review your sales reports and see which are your best-selling products. Have a new product line you want to introduce? Are there any new products you want to add from customer requests? How many pages would you like your catalog to have?

Do you have a catalog before? If so, please review it with all this in mind and edit it.

3. Location, location, location

We’ve all been to stores and notice that the “best sellers” are posted near eye level, usually in a prominent place to grab your attention. Think of your catalog in the same way. You want your “best sellers” or maybe your newest items to stand out with a very flattering design and a nice clean copy. They will probably appear near the front of the book, unless you make a really nice center page layout.

4. Copy, copy, copy

In addition to making your catalog look good visually, you need to make sure you write a good copy of the catalog that is being sold. To create good copy, you need to understand why customers buy from catalogs. Here are six reasons why customers buy from catalogs:

A. Saving money is the number one motivation for anyone to request your products or services instead of the competition. Your catalog should emphasize cost savings. Put this on your front page, on your order form, on every page of your catalog, on every item where applicable. Get creative if you can retail vs. your price.

B. The buyer wants to make sure that they are buying the correct product from a reliable supplier. How do you determine this?

Make sure your copy has clear and concise specifications for all products or services listed.

Use testimonials. Include quotes from satisfied customers who praise your products or services in your catalog.

Warranty. Offer a refund or replacement, if your product or service does not perform as promised. Remember: provide good quality customer service.

List some facts about your company or product: years in business, number of employees, number of locations, annual sales, etc.

C. Customers buy products for various reasons: to resell the products for a profit, as a gift, or to use them for their business, personal, or home use. In the copy of your catalog you should emphasize the benefit that your customer will receive by buying from you. How you can make money, save money, quality service, exceptional quality product, optimize production. You get the idea.

D. Have you ever heard the saying “If it’s free, it’s for me”? Everyone loves gifts, no matter if it is a business executive, a group of shoppers used to gifts, or your sweet grandmother. Your catalog may offer the buyer a free gift in exchange for their order. If you do this, display the gift prominently on the cover and make sure it is a personal gift, not a discount or gift of business merchandise.

Popular gift items may include a gift card, sets of pens and pencils, flash drive, calculators, mugs, charger, stylus, pedometer, T-shirts, or stress balls. Be creative, if you have a unique or popular item, use that shape or idea. Eg An electric company could give away a light bulb shaped as a gift or if it promotes a “best idea” in its catalog, it could use a light bulb shape.

E. Fulfill a need or want. A good catalog is a tool to use to obtain valuable and much-needed information about the product. The more your catalog and its content meet a need or service, the more likely it is that the buyer will order from you, over and over and over again.

F. Solutions; your buyer is not looking for a specific product. It is not what you ask … you are looking for a solution to a problem you have. Take advantage of this, be a problem solver. Have products or services in your catalog that show that you can solve your problem, save time and money. Again, emphasize the benefit to them. Offer convenience, make it easy. Can you say Cha ching?

Now that you know what they’re looking for, it’s time for you to learn what makes a good copy good. Be descriptive, paint a picture, be precise, clear and specific. Don’t be too technical unless the product calls for it. List the benefits or troubleshooting features for each item or service. Don’t clutter up your pages, keep them nice and easy to read. Choose a clean font and easy-to-read colors. Note that your catalog pages should be divisible by four unless you want to have a blank page for notes.

Give them the order. List a website, phone number, email, any contact information where they can place an order. Let it be very clear. Some companies put contact / order information at the bottom of each page of their catalogs. If you only put your contact / order information in one or two places, make your order / contact information very prominent. Make sure it stands out.

Oh, and did I mention, tell them how your products or services will benefit them. Emphasize what’s in it for them.

5. Follow-up … Check back

Well, you have shipped your catalog, so now you can sit back, relax, put your feet up and wait for the orders to arrive. NOT! Your catalog may be available to your distributors, on desks, counters, or in the hands of the customer, but that does not mean that it is doing everything possible for you. You’ve invested a lot of time and money, so you want to get the most out of this piece of marketing. Customers are overwhelmed with advertising. You don’t want your catalog to get lost in confusion. There are several ways to publicize your catalog. Follow up with frequent sales calls, phone calls, emails, or flyers or postcards to keep your name, product, or service on the cutting edge. Remind them of the special offers, the gifts we talked about earlier, the new products, services or brands that are in your catalog. Keep marketing, directing attention to your catalog.

6. Analyze – (yes, you heard me right)

Now for a little detective work. Analyze the performance of your catalog. This is where many people fail. This is a very important part of your catalog marketing project or any marketing effort. Keep a spreadsheet, keep track of all your results, and see what worked and what didn’t; What was sold, what did not? Be very specific. Did my sales go up? What products were sold and which were not? Check in with some of those good clients you have, get their feedback. This is an essential tool for all future catalogs or marketing efforts. You don’t want to repeat products, copies, or efforts that were unsuccessful. Remember, evaluate everything; not just the products, services, or copies you’ve listed in your catalog, but who it was shipped to, the time of year it was shipped, the colors used in printing, the pages are clear and concise, and any other items you can scrutinize to improve your catalog. Keep editing and retouching.