The Complete Guide to Marketing Asset Creation

The phrase “content is king” seems to be more popular than ever, especially with the surge of the Inbound marketing methodology in recent years.

The purpose of inbound marketing is to attract customers by offering valuable content and experiences tailored to their needs. Unlike outbound marketing which is more interruptive and not customer-centric, inbound marketing’s about valuing and empowering these people to reach their goals at any stage in their journey with you.

All three phases of inbound marketing (Attract, Engage, Delight) require specific pieces of content (or marketing assets) to help prospects move to the next stage of their buyer’s journey.

And in this article, we’ll dive deeper into the marketing assets world, what types there are, how to manage them, and more.

Let’s begin!

What are Marketing Assets?

Marketing assets are anything used by an organization to promote its brand, products, or services. This may include emails, brochures, case studies, white papers, podcasts, blog articles, website content, videos, and many others. 

What type of marketing asset a company will use to target customers is based on its marketing strategy.

As we mentioned at the beginning of our article, Inbound marketing uses those assets to engage with and inform the modern buyer who is constantly looking for more information.

For instance, a blog article that presents you as a market expert will appeal to this buyer which is the first stage (attract) of their customer journey with you.

But marketing assets are not only for customers and prospects. Some of them are used for the internal purpose of motivating and empowering employees to promote the company and product in a specific and consistent way. 

For example, an internal brand guide might advise employees on the consistent use of logos, colors, fonts, image style, and brand voice, while a product messaging presentation might train your sales team on how to communicate your company’s product and its values in the right way.

But what types of digital marketing assets are there and when to use each of them? 

Let’s see.

Types of Marketing Assets

There are a ton of different digital marketing assets that you can utilize. However, it’s good to know their specific strengths before creating them. 

Here the phrase “the more assets, the better” is not applicable as you want to have only those assets that will bring the most value for your company. 

Furthermore, as we’re going to discuss later in this article, creating an asset is just the first step. Then, you have to manage it properly, otherwise, you risk things going out of control. 

But here are some of the fundamental assets that you might want to have:

White Papers

A good definition of a white paper would be “an advanced problem-solving guide”.

A lot of marketers find it hard to differentiate between white paper, ebook, and a blog post. To start with, it must be an authoritative and in-depth report/guide that provides information and education about a complex issue. Its main purpose is not to promote a product or specific solutions. A white paper could help you establish yourself as an expert in the field and someone who knows customers’ biggest pain points.

That’s why white papers are a perfect TOFU offer. Typically, white papers require at least an email address for download, making them great for capturing leads.

Videos/Webinars

Today’s users consume more videos than ever. Videos and webinars are a great alternative for those of your prospects who do not want or don’t have time to read a lengthy document. 

Overall, the video as a media format will provide you with a lot of options to engage your prospects and customers. You can offer them “how-to” content, interviews, product presentations, etc. 

And the best thing is that you can transform an existing written piece of content into a video in no time. 

Let’s say that you have a blog article on a specific topic. You can rework the text into a script, add some animations, and background music, and you’re done. 

Additionally, videos and webinars could be useful in every stage of the marketing funnel. Even your existing customers can find something valuable in them. 

Case Studies

Whatever marketing assets you decide to have, their main purpose is to move your prospects down the funnel.

Now, let’s say that some of your leads have jumped from the TOFU stage to the MOFU stage. At this point in their journey, they are aware of their problem, and now they are considering different solutions to tackle it.

In other words, they need convincing that you are the right solution for their problem.

This is where case studies enter the stage. 

They provide concise, interesting, and factual information about existing clients and how their pain points were addressed and their problems were resolved. 

Case studies are such powerful tools because people believe people. They don’t trust companies. That’s why users always search for social proof, go through customer reviews, and ask for feedback in Facebook groups. They need to be sure that other real human beings with similar problems like theirs had a good experience with your company.

Infographics

The term “infographic” itself is shorthand for the phrase “information graphic.” Infographics help communicate complex and detailed information in an easily digestible, visual format that uses images, data, and text to tell a compelling and memorable story. 

Infographics can help entice readers by presenting lots of information quickly. Furthermore, they could be a great addition to your set of marketing assets as they are compelling material for all of your visual prospects.

In short, infographics have a lot of advantages that you might miss if not use them:

• Easier to share;
• Easier to read;
• Marketing friendly;
• Condensing content.

Corporate Brochure

The purpose of a corporate brochure is to highlight the benefits, products, and services of the company. 

A brochure typically has one, two, or three folds and is distinct from a flier, direct mail letter, or catalog. 

Despite being used by large companies, brochures are an affordable advertising tool for small businesses.

Companies can use brochures in a variety of marketing capacities. You can mail a brochure with a business card or other collateral material to targeted customers using a mailing list. Door-to-door salespeople often hand out brochures. Brochures may also be displayed on a retail shop’s front counter or in displays for customers to view while they are in the store or after they leave.

Presentation

The purpose of company presentations is to give prospective clients and customers valuable information about the history and services of a company. 

Presentations are used by businesses to explain how they can help their customers with their needs or problems. However, companies can also use presentations to report business successes to partners and executives or attract the attention of possible investors. The right company presentation can help you gain new clients, increase revenue, and show others how your business has succeeded.

Blog Articles

Blog posts are one of the most popular types of marketing assets. While they are typically used for educational purposes, some business blog posts can contain a call to action to persuade new readers to check out the company’s products, services, or other content.

Blog posts are great for answering questions that your prospects are searching for, resulting in increased traffic to your website and helping your company build brand awareness.

Blog posts can be used at any funnel stage, depending on what information they contain and what questions they answer. However, they’re especially great in the awareness stage.

How to Organize Marketing Assets

Marketing assets need to be designed and created with a marketing strategy in mind. They are most effective when they are used in the proper context so take care to employ them appropriately in the right type of campaign. 

Typically, marketing departments are full of people with creative ideas who are constantly willing to create new assets and materials that support global campaigns and empower staff to promote and sell products or services.

However, tracking and managing too many assets can quickly become an overwhelming task.

Eventually, you might end up in a situation where your assets don’t contribute to your business goals as you’re constantly wasting time looking for the latest iteration and making sure that all of your salespeople are using it.

It’s simply impossible to operate and collaborate without a central repository or Marketing Asset Management (MAM) system.

Integrating a MAM system will allow you to digitally control your corporate marketing assets and make sure that all assets are accessible, easy to find and share, brand-compliant, and available for global campaigns.

Apart from that, there are other techniques for asset management like:

• Standardizing file names and including date and version; 
• Categorizing assets; 
• Applying a status to each asset, such as current, needs an update, or archive; 
• Archiving outdated assets.

What Are The Key Benefits of Marketing Asset Management?

Time is money, and if you have ever dealt with the annoyance of trying to find a critical campaign you know how time-consuming that task could be. 

Having a proper Marketing Asset Management system means no more digging through old folders, emailing the entire department, or the worst – writing to an ex-colleague for help because they were the last ones who worked on the asset.

And that’s the biggest benefit you will get from integrating a MAM system – quick and uncomplicated accessibility.

Of course, the list doesn’t end here. You’ll also

• Increase your revenue growth and overall performance;
• Improve your team’s communication, productivity, and collaboration;
• Reduce time searching for assets;
• Reduce redundant recreation work;
• Maintain global brand consistency;
• Repurpose assets for improved ROI.

Brandanizer: The Asset Creation Partner

The number one issue with relying on an outside contractor/agency for creating your marketing assets is whether they will be able to grasp the industry tone of voice. 

A lot of times agencies find it hard to blend in more specific markets like the IT industry, for instance. 

For us, at Brandanizer it’s not only important to get the job done, but also to be able to do the tasks in front of us as if we are in-house members of your team. 

That’s why we are specialized mainly in the IT industry and know the challenges, problems, and pains IT companies face every day.

We are a team of highly motivated and proven experts in the field of strategic marketing, branding, brand positioning, content creation, and design. We love our job and have earned many partners through the years with the passion we do our work. 

In Brandanizer we know how important marketing for IT companies is and we show it to our partners and clients.