Know-How Exchange : Branding

All the vehicles you listed have met with some success. More important than the format or vehicle, however, is the MESSAGE. The greatest successes seem to be a function of promising an important and unique BENEFIT to a specific TARGET AUDIENCE.

Said another way, it's all about the BENEFIT PROMISE. The most successful vehicles for B2B companies (including consultants) seem to be related NOT to the specific vehicle, but to delivering a COMPELLING AND UNIQUE BENEFIT PROMISE to a HIGHLY TARGETED AUDIENCE.

Keep in mind, too, that different marketing collateral is best applied at different stages as the prospect works through your marketing-to-sales funnel (from awareness on through the decision to actually purchase.)

Is your objective audience engagement, or are you looking to present findings/forecasts to your manager?

If it's AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT: The question is not "Which marketing collateral do you think would be more effective and preferred by the SENIOR MANAGEMENT" but rather "Which marketing collateral do you think would be more effective and preferred by the BUYER." Buyer preferences will of course vary depending on who they are and their relationship with you. And be sure to test the you-know-what out of any assumptions!

If it's SENIOR MANAGEMENT: Check out the research (FREE!) latest from DemandGen (https://www.demandgenreport.com/resources/research/2016-content-preferences...), Kissmetrics (https://blog.kissmetrics.com/content-b2b-tech-buyers/) and CMI/MarketingProfs (https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2016_B2B_R... - pages 15-16). For forecasts, you might want to purchase research from Gartner or Forrester. These can help you set a baseline to test against and figure out which content works for your company's buyers.

Good luck!

Thanks for asking a good question. Old guys like me often prefer snail mail. Many younger people despise it. Gatekeepers will often ask for information by mail, primarily to get rid of you. If you have a white knight, you want something to help justify his decision. The US federal government (the largest buyer of goods and services on the planet) doesn't really seem to care about marketing materials. If you're going to a tradeshow, you will have a much greater need for materials. If your product or service is new or innovative or unique or special, you have an increased need for materials.

My judgmennt would be that the singgle most important thing you need is good quality letterhead envelopes and business cards. But there are mmany options for your next steps. For example, is yyour biggest problem that you have lots of leads and difficulty closing them? Are you having difficulty generating sales leads? Are you trying to reach out to current customerss to makee follow-on sales? Are you working locally, regionally, nationally, or globally?

I would very much enjoy a chance to talk with you by telephone to learn more about your situation so that I can offer some better informed advice. No charge. If you are interested, send me an email, yoou can find my email on my profile page. Good luck.