How to effectively design custom presentation folders
With high pressure to cut costs in today's hyper-competitive market, companies need their employees to be more innovative about using resources to stay within budgets. This is especially true for departments with impact that is harder to accurately measure, such as marketing. One often overlooked and underutilized tool are custom presentation folders. By spending a little extra time and effort to design the right folder, marketers can succinctly represent the company's brand and culture while setting expectations for customers or reporters.
To do this, first identify and understand the target audience. For example, prospective, new, and existing customers, although similar, have very different needs.
Prospective customers need to be convinced to trust your company and products or services. New customers need to be informed about all the different products or services you offer and perhaps even better understand your firm's culture. Existing customers need to be reassured that you can continue to deliver the products and services they've come to rely on.
One folder cannot serve these different functions. As a result, you will have to choose one group and design a folder with that end use in mind, based on what goes into it.
Once the general design has been created, details such as fonts and colours have to be chosen. It will be tempting to use a wide variety of both. But keep in mind that designs are not made stunning by indiscriminate use of flares. They are most powerful when clean, simple, and straightforward. Limit the number of fonts to a maximum of three and colours to a couple key choices and a handful of smaller accents.
When your design is finalized and you are ready to review your proof, work with your printer to determine the optimal paper stock to ensure you get a quality print. Even the most brilliant designs can get lost and forgotten when printed on the wrong type of paper.
Remembering these simple points can allow you to turn an everyday organizational tool into an effective marketing tool. Take advantage of the versatile capacity of custom presentation folders and expand your options without increasing costs.
