The corporate world has awakened to the importance of printed and Internet marketing tools in brand building, promotion and profitable sales. To this end, most businesses strive to get myriad marketing materials such as logos, brochures, business cards and websites etc ready, much before the business is set to roll. Winning over clients has become virtually impossible without these marketing tools and therefore experienced brand building organizations are being hired by businesses despite budget constraints.

With ground-breaking promotional ideas and materials come the responsibility of ensuring consistency - of information, values and appearance. Watching out for consistency-related mishaps between printed marketing literature and website marketing materials has become increasingly important because this problem can severely affect a company's credibility and reputation.

It is highly imperative that the values, identity and professional image you wish to display to customers be unswerving in both the printed promotional material and the content on the website. The printed marketing literature, such as pamphlets or business cards that you hand over to investors, clients and other third parties, should eventually lead them on to your website. Thus, make sure your printed promotional materials have your website address.

All the same, bear in mind that your website is not a duplication of your printed material. Customers and other interested parties will want to look up your website for additional information. Provide vital details that you think will get them to pay more attention to your products and services. Your online brochure is in fact a great platform to win new clients and keep existing clients hooked on your services.

It is very important that you ensure the look and feel of the website marketing platform and the printed literature is in harmony. Experiments with the logo, contradicting business goals, shifting corporate identity et al can result in dubious company repute and misconstrued targets. In fact, this could also be a reason for confusing members of your staff and hence account for unaccomplished objectives.

Building a website is not the end all of Internet marketing. An organization should make sure that every time there is a change in business goals, target markets, new ventures, introduction of exciting products and services, and other significant changes that call for new printed marketing literature, the amendments must reflect on the website also. Almost all the time, clients would immediately turn to the website after reading through printed material to garner detailed information. In such a situation, if your website wears an outdated, washed-out look; you are most likely to lose business.

To conclude, good brand management is equivalent to uniformity across all media. Looking one way on print and the other way on the Web can end in serious identity and integrity issues; find a way out of such a problem if you wish to run a successful business.

For additional information on integrated marketing communications (IMC) or to have our Design team help to develop a congruent brand marketing message, please contact us today!