Marketing Collateral Explained: Types and Examples for 2025

What is marketing collateral

Marketing collateral refers to the various materials used to support a company's marketing efforts. These materials can include printed items like brochures and flyers, as well as digital assets such as social media graphics and email templates. Historically, marketing collateral has been a core element in both branding and sales strategies, helping businesses communicate key messages and drive customer engagement. In today's landscape, traditional collateral (print materials) and digital collateral (online ads, websites, social media posts) serve complementary roles. While traditional forms focus on in-person and direct communication, digital collateral leverages online platforms to reach a broader audience, providing more interactive and measurable results. Both types are essential for building brand recognition and fostering customer relationships.

20 Types of marketing collateral you should know

Here are 20 essential types of marketing collateral, each serving a unique purpose in your promotional efforts:

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1. Company brochures & flyers

These printed materials are perfect for sharing detailed product or service information at in-person events, conferences, or via direct mail. They help create brand awareness and provide potential customers with essential takeaways.

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1. Business cards

A fundamental piece of sales collateral, business cards are crucial for networking. They provide essential contact information and a quick reminder of your brand, leaving a professional impression during interactions. A well-designed card reinforces professionalism and serves as a mini advertisement for your business.

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1. Product catalogs

Product catalogs are comprehensive guides that showcase a business's offerings. Often used in B2B marketing, they help potential clients explore available products or services. Catalogs can be printed or digital and are a vital part of the sales process.

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1. Case studies & white papers

These in-depth documents showcase your expertise through real-world success stories, reinforcing your position as a thought leader. They highlight how your solutions have effectively addressed client challenges. By building trust and credibility, they serve as compelling marketing collateral for potential clients.

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1. Digital marketing collateral (eBooks, webinars)

These digital assets are incredibly useful for lead generation. eBooks offer valuable content in exchange for contact information, while webinars provide interactive learning experiences and establish authority. They are highly shareable, reaching a wider online audience and positioning your brand as an expert.

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1. Branded presentations (pitch decks, proposals)

Essential for sales and partnerships, these professionally designed presentations communicate your value proposition clearly and persuasively. They help secure deals and foster collaborations by visually showcasing how your product or service can solve specific problems. They are ideal for conveying complex information in an engaging format.

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1. Infographics & visual explainers

Infographics and visual explainers simplify complex data into engaging, easy-to-understand visuals. These assets are ideal for digital campaigns, helping grab attention and increase engagement. They are an effective tool to break down technical or dense information into digestible formats.

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1. Email marketing templates

A core form of communications collateral, these ensure consistent and professional email outreach. They streamline your email campaigns, from newsletters to promotional announcements, by maintaining brand guidelines across all communications. This consistency builds brand recognition and trust with your subscribers.

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1. Landing pages & microsites

Landing pages and microsites are designed to drive specific conversions, such as sign-ups or sales. They are targeted digital assets, often part of a marketing campaign. These pages are optimized for user experience, guiding visitors toward a clear action.

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1. Social media graphics & video ads

Social media graphics and video ads are visual tools used to increase brand visibility on platforms like Instagram and Facebook. They attract and engage users, encouraging interactions and sharing. Essential for modern digital marketing, they drive traffic and boost conversions.

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1. Press releases & media kits

Essential for PR outreach, press releases announce significant news, while media kits provide comprehensive information for journalists. They are vital for securing media coverage and announcing product launches. These tools help control your brand's narrative and generate positive publicity.

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1. Testimonials & customer reviews

Used to build trust and social proof across campaigns, these authentic endorsements from satisfied customers are powerful. They reassure potential buyers and validate your offerings, making your brand more relatable and trustworthy. Integrating them into your marketing materials can significantly boost conversion rates.

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1. Sales one-pagers & data sheets

Sales one-pagers and data sheets are concise marketing materials designed for quick information delivery. They summarize product or service benefits in a format ideal for sales calls or meetings. These tools help speed up decision-making and facilitate customer discussions.

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1. Event signage & booth graphics

Ideal for trade shows and live events. These materials attract attention and provide brand consistency. They make your presence known and guide visitors to your booth, ensuring your brand stands out in a crowded environment. High-quality signage reinforces professionalism and makes your space inviting.

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1. Corporate blogs & SEO articles

These content marketing assets drive traffic and establish authority in your industry. Regular, high-quality articles improve search engine rankings and position you as a thought leader. They provide valuable information to both current and potential customers, fostering engagement and loyalty.

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1. Branded merchandise & promotional products

Branded merchandise, like pens or t-shirts, serves as a physical reminder of your business. These products help reinforce brand identity and encourage customer loyalty. They are often used as giveaways or rewards, keeping your brand top-of-mind.

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1. Instruction manuals & onboarding guides

Instruction manuals and onboarding guides provide essential information for customers to use your products or services. They enhance the user experience, reducing confusion and improving satisfaction. These materials are key to customer retention and reducing churn.

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1. Interactive tools & calculators

These digital assets engage users by allowing them to make informed decisions. Examples like ROI calculators offer personalized value by helping customers assess the benefits of your product or service. They are effective at converting visitors into leads by demonstrating tangible value.

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1. Web banners & display ads

Web banners and display ads are visual ads placed on websites to drive traffic or raise brand awareness. These materials are ideal for PPC campaigns and retargeting efforts. They grab attention and encourage users to take action, such as clicking for more information.

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1. Podcast episodes & branded audio content

A newer form of digital collateral, podcasts are used for brand storytelling and authority building. They offer an intimate way to connect with your audience and share insights, fostering a deeper relationship. This medium allows for rich, detailed discussions that can position your brand as an expert in its field.

How to design professional marketing collateral

Creating professional marketing collateral requires a strategic approach to ensure it resonates with your audience and aligns with your brand. Below are detailed steps to guide you through the process.

STEP 1
1. Define your objective and audience

Before designing any marketing collateral, it's crucial to understand your objective, whether it's to generate leads, build brand awareness, or promote a product. Equally important is identifying your target audience and their preferences. This will guide your messaging, tone, and design style to ensure relevance and impact.

STEP 2
1. Choose the right collateral type

Select the collateral type that best suits your marketing goals. Whether it's brochures, digital ads, or social media content, each type serves a specific purpose. Understanding your objectives and audience will help you choose the most effective medium to convey your message.

STEP 3
1. Design with clarity and consistency

Ensure your design is visually appealing yet straightforward, with a clear message that resonates with your audience. Maintain consistency in fonts, colors, and layout across all materials to reinforce your brand identity. A well-organized and professional design ensures that your message is communicated effectively.

STEP 4
1. Review, test, and distribute

After designing your marketing collateral, it's essential to review it for accuracy, consistency, and alignment with your objectives. Conduct tests to ensure it performs well across different platforms or formats. Finally, distribute your collateral through the appropriate channels to reach your target audience effectively.

Now that you've mastered the steps to design professional marketing collateral, let's explore how Pippit can streamline the process with its AI-powered tools and templates. Discover how this platform empowers businesses to create impactful videos, posters, and more with ease.

Pippit: Your go-to platform for collateral advertising

Pippit is an AI-powered platform designed to simplify the creation of professional marketing collateral. With features like an AI video generator, customizable templates, multi-track video editor and multi-platform publishing, Pippit helps businesses create engaging promotional materials quickly and efficiently. Whether you're designing videos, posters, or product listings, Pippit's intuitive tools are ideal for marketers, small business owners, and content creators looking to enhance their brand presence. From lead generation to sales collateral, Pippit empowers users to craft high-quality materials that drive results. Let's explore how you can make the most of Pippit's features for your business.

Steps to enhance product listings with Pippit's batch editor

Enhancing your product listings has never been easier with Pippit's batch editor. Follow these simple steps to create eye-catching visuals for your products that drive conversions.

STEP 1
1. Upload product images

To begin enhancing your product listings, first log in to your Pippit account. From your dashboard, navigate to the left-hand menu and click on "Image studio". Once you're in the Image studio interface, Select "Batch edit."

Then drag and drop your images into the editor, or click "Upload up to 50 images" to browse your device and select the product images you want to upload for editing.

STEP 2
1. Edit product images

Once your images are uploaded, it's time to enhance them. Click "Presets" from the left sidebar. From here, you can browse through various categories and choose a design template that you want to apply to your product images.

For precise control over your image backgrounds, click "Background" in the left sidebar. Here, you can easily toggle "Auto removal" on or off to automatically strip away the existing background from your products, or use "Fill color" to apply a solid shade from available palettes. Additionally, under "Select background", browse pre-designed options or click "Customize" to upload your own image or design a unique background that perfectly complements your product.

For managing your image dimensions, selecting "Size" allows you to easily adjust your product images. You have the flexibility to either set custom dimensions under the "Custom" tab and inputting specific width and height values, or utilize "Auto layout" for intelligent resizing. Additionally, Pippit offers a comprehensive list of pre-set sizes optimized for various marketplace platforms (e.g., TikTok Shop, Amazon, eBay, Shopify) and social media platforms (e.g., Instagram story, Facebook post), ensuring your images are perfectly tailored for wherever you plan to publish them.

STEP 3
1. Refine and download

After applying your desired presets, background changes, and size adjustments across your batch, Pippit offers an opportunity for individual refinement. Click on any image to further edit a specific image or use it as a base to create more variations in different sizes or with different presets. This is your chance to fine-tune any single image that needs extra attention or generate additional options.

Once you've made all necessary individual refinements and are completely satisfied with your entire batch of enhanced images, carefully review them in the main preview area. When ready, click the "Download all" button in the top-right corner of the interface. A pop-up "Export" dialog box will then appear, allowing you to finalize your download settings by selecting the pages to export, choosing your desired image format, picking the output size, and adjusting the quality. After making these selections, simply click the final "Download" button at the bottom of the dialog box, and your high-quality, optimized product images will be saved to your device, ready for immediate use on your listings, website, or social media!

How to create marketing collateral videos for business using Pippit

Want to bring your marketing collateral to life with dynamic videos? Pippit makes it simple to generate engaging video content that captures attention and tells your brand's story effectively.

STEP 1
1. Access the "Video generator" section

To begin creating engaging marketing collateral videos, first, log in to your Pippit account. Once you're on the dashboard, navigate to the "Video generator" option in the left-hand menu. This will open the "Turn anything into videos" interface, where you can easily input your content. You can type a text prompt describing your video, paste a link (e.g., to a product page or promotional content), or upload a document (e.g., product descriptions or marketing flyers). After entering your content, click the "Generate" button, and Pippit's AI will transform your input into a compelling marketing video.

A new window titled "How you want to create videos" will appear, where Pippit uses your provided information to start building the video. You can enhance visuals by enabling the "Auto enhance" feature, which automatically adjusts backgrounds for a more polished look. Additional options, like adding highlights, defining your target audience, and choosing a "Video type," are available. Preview and edit the AI-generated scripts to match your brand's tone. You can further customize the video with features like avatars, voice, language settings, aspect ratio, and video length. Once satisfied, click "Generate" to create a professional marketing video for your business.

STEP 2
1. Enhance video with AI tools

After your video is initially generated, explore different theme-based templates like product highlights, TikTok trends, promotional ads, plot twists. To customize your marketing collateral video, simply hover over your favorite template and click the pencil icon or choose "Quick edit." This allows you to easily adjust visuals, update text, and personalize elements, ensuring your video aligns perfectly with your business's style and messaging.

Inside the editing panel, you can fine-tune your video by adjusting the script, selecting from various AI avatars, and customizing voice settings. Make it truly yours by adding your own clips or images (e.g., product shots or branded visuals), updating text, and changing caption styles. If you'd like more control, click "Edit more" in the top right corner to access advanced editing tools and enhance the overall look and feel of your marketing video.

When you select "Edit more," you'll unlock a full suite of creative tools, including the ability to add background music, adjust volume, change animations or backgrounds, and fine-tune the aspect ratio. These features help you create polished, engaging marketing videos that showcase your products, services, or brand initiatives in a professional and captivating way.

STEP 3
1. Export, publish and track performance

Once your marketing collateral video is polished and perfected, you can easily export it in various formats and resolutions by clicking the 'Export' button, optimizing it for different platforms. Next, use the 'Publish' options to directly share your completed video to a variety of social media channels and other digital platforms, streamlining your distribution. Finally, to understand its effectiveness, access the 'Analytics' dashboard to track performance, monitoring key metrics like views and engagement. This allows you to gain valuable insights and refine your future content strategies for even better results.

Steps to design marketing collateral posters with Pippit

Eye-catching posters are essential for effective marketing collateral. Pippit's AI-powered Image studio makes designing professional posters a breeze for businesses and creators. Follow these steps to craft standout visuals today.

STEP 1
1. Select "Poster" from Image studio

To begin, start by clicking the above link, which will take you directly to the Pippit platform. Once there, log in to your Pippit account. On the left-hand navigation bar, click on "Image studio". Within the Image studio, look for the "Level up marketing images" section and select the "Poster" option. This will open the poster generation interface.

STEP 2
1. Enter prompt and generate with AI

Once the poster generation interface opens, provide a clear and detailed prompt describing your desired message and visual style into the box on the left. To optimize results, switch on the "Enhance prompt" toggle. Just below, select the poster type and style that best fits your campaign's purpose, be it for a product launch, promotion, or brand awareness. You also have the option to upload a reference image to guide AI's design, ensuring the generated posters perfectly align with your brand's aesthetic. Finally, click "Generate" to instantly view a variety of stunning, AI-crafted poster options for your campaign. Pippit also features a "Layout to poster" option, allowing you to turn a layout you create directly on the canvas into a poster, incorporating any text or elements you add.

STEP 3
1. Select, customize, and download the poster

After clicking "Generate," Pippit will present you with a variety of stunning, AI-crafted poster options based on your prompt. Browse through these generated designs and select the one that best captures your brand's essence and campaign message. Your chosen design will appear on the canvas, allowing you to easily customize the text while preserving the layout and style. To tailor your poster for different platforms such as social media feeds or web banners, click the "Resize" button located above the canvas to adjust the aspect ratio and dimensions to fit your specific needs.

To enhance it further, click the "Edit more" button to enter Pippit's comprehensive image editor. This robust editor provides extensive functionalities to add and manipulate visual elements, fine-tune backgrounds, apply filters and effects, adjust colors, and perform detailed visual adjustments to perfect your marketing poster.

Once you're satisfied, click the "Download all" button in the top-right corner of the interface. A pop-up dialog box will then appear. Here, you can finalize your download settings: choose desired format, size and adjust the quality. After making your selections, click the "Download" button at the bottom of the dialog box to save the high-resolution poster for your campaigns or print materials.

Key features that simplify marketing collateral design

• AI-powered video generator

Pippit's AI-powered video generation tool drastically simplifies video production by transforming text prompts, links, or documents into dynamic video content. It automates much of the creative process, allowing businesses to quickly produce engaging promotional videos for various marketing campaigns without extensive video editing skills.

• Avatars and voiceovers

Enhance your video collateral with lifelike AI avatars that can narrate your content, providing a professional and consistent brand voice. Paired with customizable AI voiceovers, these features eliminate the need for costly voice actors or complex recording setups, making video creation more accessible and scalable for marketing purposes.

• Free asset library

Access a vast collection of royalty-free images, videos, and music. This extensive library provides high-quality visual and audio assets directly within Pippit, ensuring you have diverse and professional content readily available to enrich your marketing collateral without additional costs or copyright concerns.

• Marketing collateral templates

Leverage a wide array of professionally designed templates tailored explicitly for various marketing needs, including posters, banners, and video themes. These templates serve as a strong starting point, allowing users to quickly customize designs, ensuring brand consistency and saving significant time on creative development.

• Multi-platform publishing and analytics

Streamline your distribution efforts by directly publishing your completed marketing collateral across multiple social media platforms and digital channels from within Pippit. Coupled with built-in analytics, this feature allows you to track content performance, understand audience engagement, and gain insights to refine your marketing strategies effectively.

Marketing collateral examples by industry

Discover how marketing collateral adapts to various industries, driving engagement and sales with tailored strategies. Below, explore specific examples for key sectors, showcasing how the right materials can meet unique business needs and audience expectations effectively.

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1. Retail & e-commerce: Retail and e-commerce businesses depend on product catalogs to display their full range, social media ads to reach a wide audience, and promotional emails to highlight deals. Abandoned cart reminders and seasonal campaign visuals (e.g., holiday banners) boost conversions by re-engaging shoppers. Branded merchandise like tote bags or branded packaging fosters customer loyalty and enhances brand visibility during events or online orders.
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2. SaaS & Tech: SaaS and tech companies utilize white papers and case studies to showcase industry expertise and successful implementations. Branded presentations and explainer videos simplify complex features for clients, while webinars offer live engagement with prospects. Blog posts and infographics establish thought leadership, driving organic traffic and attracting leads through SEO-optimized content.
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3. Healthcare: Healthcare providers rely on brochures and patient education guides to deliver clear health information, complemented by infographics for quick understanding. Testimonials and video content, such as doctor interviews or patient stories, build trust and credibility. Newsletters keep patients informed with health tips, appointment reminders, and service updates, fostering long-term relationships.
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4. Education & e-learning: Education and e-learning platforms use eBooks and branded presentations to deliver comprehensive course content to students. Interactive tools like quizzes or progress trackers engage learners, while social media graphics promote courses across platforms. Case studies highlighting student success stories attract new enrollees by demonstrating tangible outcomes and value.
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5. Real estate: Real estate professionals employ flyers and virtual tour videos to showcase property highlights, attracting potential buyers with immersive experiences. Direct mail campaigns featuring property photos and success stories target local markets, while landing pages capture leads with detailed listings. Email templates nurture leads by providing market updates and personalized property recommendations.

Conclusion

In this article, we've explored the importance of marketing collateral and the various types that businesses can use to enhance their brand presence and drive customer engagement. From video content and social media posts to brochures and promotional materials, each type of collateral plays a key role in achieving your marketing goals. Pippit simplifies the entire process, offering AI-powered tools, customizable templates, and easy publishing across multiple platforms. With Pippit, you can create professional and engaging marketing collateral in no time. Ready to take your marketing collateral to the next level? Start using Pippit today to create impactful videos, posters, and more!

FAQs

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1. What are the best practices for creating effective collateral advertising?

To create effective collateral advertising, it's essential to keep your message clear, focus on your target audience, and use consistent branding throughout all materials. Use compelling visuals, highlight key benefits, and ensure your call-to-action is prominent. Incorporate advertising material like infographics or videos to engage diverse audiences, enhancing overall impact. Pippit's AI-powered design tools and marketing collateral templates help streamline this process, ensuring your materials are polished, professional, and on-brand.

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1. What are the common mistakes to avoid when designing sales collateral?

Common mistakes in sales collateral design include overloading with too much information, inconsistent branding, poor-quality images, and unclear calls-to-action. Always aim for clarity, simplicity, and visual appeal. Pippit's intuitive design features, such as customizable templates and a free asset library, help you avoid these mistakes by providing easy-to-use tools that ensure your collateral is both effective and visually engaging.

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1. What should a small business include in its business promotional material?

Small businesses should focus on including their value proposition, contact information, key product or service benefits, and a clear call-to-action in their promotional material. It's important to maintain a consistent tone that resonates with your target audience. With Pippit's versatile marketing collateral tools, small businesses can easily create engaging promotional materials that align with their brand identity, helping them reach and engage their audience effectively.