Marketing Collateral: What It Is and How to Create It

Marketing collateral is any digital or printed material that communicates a company’s brand, products, or services to potential and existing customers.

These pieces might include brochures, videos, blog content, social media posts, and more. Their purpose is to grab audiences’ attention, showcase key features, and encourage customer engagement at every stage of the marketing funnel.

You might encounter these two terms being used interchangeably, but it’s vital to separate them in your mind since they refer to two distinct types of marketing resources.

Marketing collateral refers to finished customer-facing materials. These are the ready-to-go product catalogues, infographics, e-books, and other forms of content that directly support your marketing strategy.

In contrast, marketing assets often encompass a broader range of internal resources. These include things like brand style guides, design templates, or even raw video footage used to create promotional content. In other words, these assets are helpful to you, but you’d never send them out externally.

Think of it this way: marketing collateral is what a prospective customer actually sees, while marketing assets are like the building blocks your marketing team uses behind the scenes, often to create marketing collateral.

Together, they form the foundation of a cohesive brand identity and enable effective distribution across multiple channels.

Before discussing the different types of marketing collateral, we should pause to consider why they matter. Understanding the advantages of marketing collateral can help us create pieces that genuinely support our overall marketing strategy since we’ll understand the overarching purpose.

Professionally designed marketing collateral that uses your marketing assets creates a consistent brand experience and demonstrates credibility to your target audience.

You show up as a brand through your content, whether it's print brochures or digital ads. Doing so in the same manner each time allows a familiarity to build up over time. Customers know what to expect from you. This brand recognition helps potential customers feel more confident about your offerings.

In addition, if you supply value through your marketing collateral, you can build a reputation as a trustworthy source of information related to your product or services and related industry questions.

This is the fundamental reasoning behind content marketing campaigns: offering value that helps to solve customer pain points. Do this well in your marketing collateral, and you take a significant step to forge that bond with your audience that can lead to customer loyalty and retention.

Marketing collateral plays a key role in supporting your sales teams. A well-structured sales sheet, presentation deck, or in-depth product documentation ensures they have everything they need to sell the product or serve.

In providing this marketing collateral to your sales team, you accomplish a couple of key things:

• You ensure they have the right messaging, ensuring consistency across the whole team.
• You give them (ideally) collateral to suit leads at every stage of the customer journey.
• They have what they need on hand to make conversations with prospective customers more efficient.

Essentially, your marketing collateral gives them an arsenal of marketing materials to deploy as needed as they do their job - converting leads into customers.

We’ll touch on this more a little later, but you should be creating content with a specific audience in mind. Even so, no matter how niche your audience is, they’ll still likely vary in their preferred modes of engagement. By tapping into various formats (videos, blogs, product catalogues), you cater to different content preferences and funnel stages, ultimately boosting conversion rates and user experience.

One of the great things about high-quality marketing collateral is its versatility.

Let’s say you create a fantastic infographic related to your product. You can use this in some blog content. You can use the blog in an upcoming email campaign. You can share the original infographic via social media.

The more intelligently you build your marketing content creation machine, the more you’ll see tons of opportunities like this for your multipurpose marketing collateral. What you create can remain useful for future product updates, special promotions, or new audience segments.

Marketing collateral comes in many forms, and you’ll lean on various types depending on your business context and what’s right for you. You may go all in on video if you have the time and resources. You may double down on an email marketing campaign. Let's examine your choices more carefully.

Despite the rise of digital content, print collateral still has a place in your marketing collateral strategy.

The enduring popularity of print collateral like direct mail campaigns or flyers handed out at fairs and conferences may actually be thanks to the oversaturation of digital collateral.

Studies estimate that ~350 billion emails will be sent every day in 2025. Many of these are marketing emails looking to sell something. The result of this steady increase in recent years is that it gets harder and harder to get your message seen as open rates decline.

The average email open rate in 2024 was only 21%, and this is on a downward trend.

Of course, there are plenty of explanations as to why businesses may see this drop, not least because the collateral they provide may not be helpful. Yet, the general trend reflects a growing weariness of marketing noise among some customers.

In this dynamic, print collateral can be a refreshing throwback. These tangible pieces build trust and can influence buyer decisions.

Sending out a local direct mail campaign as a real estate agent in Melbourne may be a great option. You create a glossy brochure showcasing property photos to local customers, supplemented with success stories from their neighbours nearby. In this context, you have a better chance that your target audience of local buyers actually sees your message.

This is just one example of how print collateral can still make a difference.

This category includes blogs, e-books, white papers, and downloadable PDFs of written content that people can access online, usually via your website.

As an example, Culture Amp, an HR tech company, offers a library of downloadable reports and guides on improving workplace culture (you can also see podcasts here):

These resources draw in leads by addressing actual pain points and demonstrating thought leadership.

Whatever your industry or niche, you can likely create similar content to answer questions for your audience.

Sales teams can easily share this valuable content as part of their sales process. Even satisfied customers and other stakeholders may share these accessible resources via social media.

Such long-form content also often helps with search engine visibility if you implement a comprehensive SEO strategy. SEO is a tactic to ensure you optimise content for the keywords that people are searching for. This helps you appear higher in search results — a critical win for driving traffic online.

Short demos, promotional clips, or customer testimonials can be powerful tools to convince your target audience to convert.

How do we explain the rise in the popularity of video? Modern consumers scroll through endless text posts every day, so compelling video can instantly capture their attention.

Short-form clips on platforms like TikTok or Instagram Reels offer a personal touch, letting brands tell stories or feature behind-the-scenes peeks in a relatable way.

User-generated content (UGC) is also on the rise — think customer reviews, quick product demos, or community challenges — all of which help build authenticity and a deeper connection with your audience.

A great example of this is the #EmpowerMoves 2021 social media campaign from UN Women Australia on TikTok.

The campaign sought to empower women by encouraging them to learn a self-defence dance and share it online. Not only did it amplify the UN Women’s message to a broader audience, but it also gave participants a sense of ownership in the cause.

The widespread sharing generated significant engagement and underscored how video-based UGC can be a highly effective form of marketing collateral.

Social media posts, infographics, and bite-sized content help brands convey data or insights in a compelling, shareable format.

Woolworths frequently posts infographics and recipe cards on Facebook and Instagram, highlighting easy meal ideas or seasonal produce. This approach provides immediate value (quick recipes) while also nudging consumers to visit stores for ingredients.

Think of the bite-sized chunks of content you could offer your audience. If you’re a tradie, perhaps you could offer concise DIY tips for homeowners. Accountants could create social posts providing tips for tax time.

Whatever your industry, there’s bound to be some expertise you can share to provide value for clients while building your authority as a brand.

Showcasing genuine success stories builds trust by providing social proof of how a product or service delivers results for real customers.

Canva shares stories of startups, nonprofits, and educators who’ve transformed their presentations or social posts using Canva’s templates.

By featuring actual before-and-after visuals, Canva shows off its user-friendly tools and brand impact. This adds value for readers since it’s proof of concept for Canva; it’s easy for potential customers to see the product in action. It also helps the visuals look great (they have a great product as a foundation.)

Marketing collateral that shows your product in action by real users is increasingly powerful.

This emphasis on customer satisfaction reflects a general trend toward savvy customers who value reviews and customer testimonials over what a brand simply tells them. And it makes sense! Why tell a customer how great your product is when you can show them through customer success stories?

Regular newsletters keep your audience informed of new products. They also give you an opportunity to share promotions or updates with an audience who should already be primed to take action (since they signed up for your newsletter).

These emails gently nudge them through the buyer’s journey.

Your emails also give you a chance to repurpose some of the other marketing collateral you’ve created to add value: blogs, e-books, and other informational content.

THE ICONIC sends weekly emails featuring fresh arrivals and styling tips to its loyal audience. It also entices readers with promotional deals and limited-time offers.

This drip approach sparks repeat visits and encourages subscribers to shop without feeling overwhelmed by the vastness of the website. It feels like a curated selection just for them.

In other words, the newsletter improves their shopping experience.

By mixing and matching these content formats, your marketing team can reach different audience segments with content they truly value.

And don’t forget — you’ll notice above a blending of different types of content — more evidence of the repurposing that should be at the core of your strategy.

You can share video content online via social media. You can share customer testimonials on your website or in a blog while converting them into an Instagram post with a compelling image. Somebody could easily convert a digital e-book into a physical pamphlet you can share at a trade conference.

You can use all these types of marketing collateral wisely, ultimately guiding your audience closer to a purchasing decision.

There’s no one-size-fits-all marketing collateral that we can recommend as a rinse-and-repeat template that will work for everyone. That’s because it’s vital that your content aligns specifically with your overall marketing strategy, which will obviously vary depending on your audience, business size, industry, business goals, competition, etc.

That being said, we can outline a broad approach you can take that will set you up for success:

If you were only to take away one point from this effective marketing collateral guide, make it this: all marketing activity stems from research. Quality research is the differentiator that converts your aimless content creation into something conducive to a targeted campaign.

Before design or copywriting, you must explore what your audience needs. Conduct market research, survey existing customers, and review customer data from your CRM or marketing automation platform.

The purpose of the research is to narrow down your buyer personas and identify their pain points. These pain points are the foundation of your key messaging opportunities. That’s marketing collateral in a nutshell.

Decide the goal of each piece of collateral. For example, are you aiming to drive lead generation, encourage abandoned cart recoveries, or build brand awareness?

Defining objectives up front helps guide decisions on content format, distribution channels, and call to action (CTA).

Whatever content format you’re working on, make sure you refer to your brand guidelines. These help ensure consistency in logos and colour palettes and in language to stay true to the brand’s tone of voice.

Work on making your messaging concise yet impactful (hitting home on that key driver that will address an audience pain point).

For example, if you’re creating a sales sheet, highlight the top 3–4 benefits rather than listing every feature. A simple tagline can stick in a reader’s mind longer than a paragraph of technical jargon.

As you collaborate with designers or a design agency to produce your visually engaging content, it’s worth remembering that you need to juggle a few different obligations:

• Be mindful of your audience’s preferences and expectations when reading or watching content
• Your visuals should align with branding and support, not detract customers from the message and purpose of the piece
• The design needs to be accessible

Bearing these things in mind should lead to a thoughtful design process that produces marketing collateral that is highly likely to resonate with your audience.

Consider the customer journey, as this will reflect where your marketing collateral belongs. Should your brochure be downloadable from your website, mailed out directly, or handed over during in-store visits?

For digital collateral, determine which social media platforms or email formats resonate best with your market. A piece that thrives on Instagram might not translate as well into LinkedIn (and vice versa).

No matter how great your visuals and overall messaging are, a lacklustre or clumsy CTA can let you down. Your CTA is so important as it directs the reader or viewer to the next step toward a purchase. That’s why it has to be clear, concise, enticing, and visible. Make sure your audience knows exactly what you want them to do next and that it’s easy for them to take action.

A content creator rarely nails a piece the first time. Run it by internal teams for feedback before publishing or sending it out. As you release it, monitor conversion rates, read times, or traffic spikes (whatever is relevant to your goals and the collateral type).

And remember, your content doesn’t always have to be static. If something underperforms, you can tweak something: the design, wording, or distribution method. Test again in its new, improved form and see what happens.

By keeping each step goal-oriented and data-driven, you’ll have a production line for producing high-quality marketing collateral that looks great while supporting your broader marketing objectives.

The notion of the buyer’s journey has cropped up a few times. It’s crucial to note that different collateral types work best at various stages of the journey.

Think of it like a funnel, where you are supposed to guide prospects from initial awareness of your brand or product to becoming fiercely loyal advocates.

Let’s give a quick overview of what works best at each stage:

• Awareness: At this top-of-funnel stage, people are just discovering a problem or need. Blog posts, infographics, and social media content help capture their interest.
• Consideration: Here, prospects are evaluating solutions. Case studies, product demos, and comparison guides answer deeper questions about your offerings. Testimonials or success stories from existing customers can also build trust during this phase.
• Decision: Potential buyers want to confirm they’re making the right choice. Detailed product documentation, pricing sheets, or an in-depth sales presentation can tip the scales in your favour. If they have final questions, a well-crafted FAQ page or quick reference guide can address lingering doubts.

Creating collateral to suit each stage of the funnel will help you provide content with the right information at the right time in the right place for prospects.

Ultimately, creating that Goldilocks piece of content for any given scenario drives conversation rates and overall customer success.

We’ve gone through a lot of advice and content for you to take away in this guide. Let’s round off with a couple of guiding principles you should stick to in every decision you make regarding marketing collateral:

1. Stay brand-consistent. All content should be recognisable and fit in with the brand’s identity. Fall short, and the result is you will confuse your audience.
2. Focus on value. Share the benefits rather than the features of your product or service. Customers want to know how your offering will improve their lives.
3. Use multiple channels. Different customers have different preferences for how they engage with content. Don’t restrict yourself to one channel, as you’ll be missing out on potential engagement.
4. Keep things current. Update your content regularly so that it is relevant and doesn’t contain misinformation (like outdated stats).

Marketing collateral is the vehicle through which you share your brand story as you share messaging that guides potential customers through every stage of their journey.

That’s why it's a great idea to combine smart research with consistent branding, effective copy and design with targeted distribution. Do this well, and you’ll produce materials that resonate with the audience and generate tangible results for your business.

For help with your marketing strategy, marketing collateral creation, and general management of the customer journey, explore Salesforce’s marketing software.

With Salesforce, you benefit from the latest AI developments that help automate some elements of your marketing processes. You also optimise all your customer engagement with an intelligent marketing analytics platform that spots inefficiencies in your funnels for you.