Catalogue printing for successful marketing and brand growth

You’re sitting in your home, considering buying a new sofa. You may browse the internet, but it’s not inspiring you, suddenly a catalogue pops through your letterbox.

Right before your eyes are the answers to all your questions – sizes, colours, designs all in one place thanks to that catalogue you’re holding in your hand.

There are so many advantages to creating a product catalogue for your business. It gives you an air of authority, of letting your customers know that you’re serious about what you’re offering because you’ve taken the time and trouble to create something tangible, just for them.

And that’s just the start. You don’t have to rely on people randomly browsing online and the highly competitive space of Google searches where you will be competing with huge conglomerates with a marketing budgets of millions of pounds, in the hope that potential customers will stumble across your company.

A printed catalogue has a high retention factor and a shelf life. Even if the receiver doesn’t buy something straight away, they are more than likely to keep it and continue to browse or hold on to it until the moment is right for their purchase.

And don’t just take our word for it. The Harvard Business Review www.hrb.org - reported that despite the widespread use of email and social media campaigns, over the past five years the desire for hard copy catalogues has continued to grow.

The prestigious body carried out several pieces of research to verify its findings, working with an American luxury watch and jewellery company on both an email and printed catalogue campaign.

While the finding showed that only 26 per cent of the emails were opened, around 90 per cent of people browsed the catalogue and kept it for at least seven days. The final statistics? An incredible 600 percent ROI from the printed catalogues.

Put plenty of thought into your design and messaging. Many moons ago, catalogues consisted of just page after page of products, but now it’s important to convey an emotion or a sense of excitement in your literature, there is a lot of psychology that goes into creating a product catalogue.

It’s also a place to impart your brand values and allow customers to imagine the experience or how your product or service can enhance their life or living situation.

Catalogues also are a great way to showcase your offering to people who may not even be considering the service/product you are selling. Perhaps they didn’t know they needed a new sofa until they were holding a stunning range of them in their hand in catalogue form.

Online sales rely on people actively looking for something, but a catalogue that comes through your door or picked up in a public place can help engage potential customers.

First steps are to decide what work best for you and the messages you want to convey.

A great starting point is to consider a perfect bound book. With a maximum of 600 pages, this is a perfect choice for anyone wanting to convey style and quality. If your business is selling high-end products, then you can also add silver or gold foil accents to really make it hard to miss.

If you’re working to a budget, then consider a saddle stitched brochure or catalogue.

Don’t be fooled by their reasonable price – they offer exceptional quality and make a fantastic addition to any businesses marketing collateral. You can also add extra touches to make your catalogue stand out from the crowd.

If you are looking to mass produce a large volume of catalogues, opt for a long run print solution, and choose a litho saddle stitched catalogue.

There’s no compromise on the finished result, a stylish and colourful catalogue which will undoubtedly have a high retention factor can be in your hand soon after finalising your design.

With a variety of paper stocks and sizes, you can create a product that’s bespoke for your company and will help drive sales and win customers.

If you want to do something quirky and different, consider a teaser catalogue in the style of a newspaper – these are guaranteed to grab the reader’s attention as soon as they land on the doormat. You can choose from a variety of sizes and really engage with potential clients.

Use your brand as a tabloid style heading, write a fun “shock horror probe” headline, and people will find your products hard to resist.

There’s even a scientific name for it: ‘The humorous effect’ – a “cognitive bias that causes people to remember information better when they perceive it as humorous.”

In other words, think outside the box, create clever and original marketing materials that make people smile and boost engagement.