Collateral

Collateral is a term used to describe promotional materials accompanying an advertising or public relations campaign. Collateral most often includes any print or visual work done in addition to advertising in its traditional form (i.e., print advertisements, radio spots, and television commercials). Examples of collateral materials include newsletters, brochures, pamphlets, fliers, handouts, table tents, cards, ad reprints, direct-mail pieces, catalogs, booklets, magazines, posters, signage, PowerPoint presentations, position papers, backgrounders, websites, displays, and exhibits.

To be effective, collateral materials must meet an objective and communicate directly to a targeted public. Common objectives include increasing awareness of a product, service, or cause; educating audiences about an organization's stance on a particular issue; reinforcing a brand's image; communicating key message points to a particular group of stakeholders; and informing customers about the benefits of a product or service.

Collateral materials can be distributed directly to consumers in person, through the mail, or online. Public relations practitioners who work in marketing communications are often responsible for collateral materials that support the marketing or sales function. They develop customer newsletters that are more sales-oriented, brochures that explain product features, and magazines geared toward the buyers of a product or service. These practitioners also ensure the proper implementation of the corporate identity system throughout all collateral materials, which may even include posters, fliers, postcards, and pages on the Web.

A brochure is a printed piece of collateral material used for public relations, advertising, and marketing purposes. Brochures are considered a communication tool or tactic and a form of direct media (i.e., fliers, newsletters, posters), which reach their audiences through distribution channels other than mass media (i.e., newspapers, magazines, radio, television). Other terms used to describe brochures are pamphlets, considered a simple version of a brochure, and booklets, which are brochures produced in small book-like formats.

Every organization, whether corporate or nonprofit, needs brochures to convey key messages to particular target audiences. A brochure is a tactic with a specific objective. For example, brochures can educate an employee audience about company policies, inform customers about new products, or encourage members of a community to use a program offered by a nonprofit organization. Brochures communicate a sizable amount of information to a single reader at a handheld viewing. An orderly sequence of information is presented in stages through panels using a common design thread that visually connects all of the panels and helps entice and sustain the reader's attention.

A newsletter is a type of publication produced most often by public relations practitioners. Almost all organizations—nonprofit and for profit—create and distribute newsletters to members of their key audiences. With the development of desktop publishing, newsletters have grown in popularity. Although they share similar traits with magazines and newspapers, newsletters are smaller, less formal publications that are directed toward a specific audience, such as employees, customers, donors, volunteers, or shareholders.

Collateral services is an agency term often used to describe noncommissionable forms of service, such as the creation of sales promotion materials, new product studies, research, and merchandising. [Page 141]These types of services are usually performed on a negotiated fee basis rather than a percentage of an advertising media buy.

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