This multi-part series is designed to give small businesses and start-ups an insight into how to build collateral and brand to target investors expanding on the overview article on my blog.
Most people looking for investing and funding believe that with their good idea, or even great idea, that people will be lining up to get on board.
That is almost never the case.
Investors are in the business of making money by loaning money.
They put a lot of thought into who they invest in as well as how often they do it.
One thing that you must always think about is there is very little more important than you in selling to investors.
The top investors in the business care less about the product compared to the person behind the product.
Make sure you have all your ducks in a row, are presentable, prepared for questions, and confident (not cocky) in your business or product.
That being said, assuming all people meet that requirement, you need to produce collateral that will separate you from the pack.
Presenting well thought out, informative, and attractive collateral will not only present your information in an eye pleasing package but will also show investors you are committed to your product's success and not just looking for hand-outs.
On to this installment of Building Collateral for Investor.
Your Basic Collateral Needs Once you have built a fantastic website, developed a beautiful and memorable logo, and fine tuned your Corporate Identity material to perfection you still need collateral.
However, unlike everything I've talked about thus far, you don't need all of these items.
Some are certainly situational and should only be created when you are going to be in that situation while others are not essential but can certainly help.
Here are some of the pieces you may find a need to create and why you should create them.
Tri-fold Brochure Out of all the extra collateral that you can create, the most obvious and multi-faceted piece of print collateral you can produce is a tri-fold brochure.
The beautiful thing, and attractive thing when it comes to investors, about a tri-fold brochure is that it is compact and somewhat informative.
The rules for building an effective and attractive brochure are fairly straight forward.
1) Do not put a lot of information on the front - Remember, especially when talking about Investors, the brochure is sales piece first and an information piece second.
The front panel is the first thing an investor will see.
It needs to be attractive and draw the viewer to open it to learn more information.
2) Do not try to cram every single bit of information into your brochure.
The point isn't to explain everything the point is to sell the concept of it.
Pick, at most, one topic per panel and keep the information short and informative.
3) Keep the overall look in mind when laying out content.
Remember that most countries in the world read from top left down to bottom right.
Don't bounce your content all over the place or abuse the concept of columns and tables.
Have a flow to your content and imagery that leads the reader across the page.
4) Once inside do not forget about images.
Images are more attractive and interesting to people than words.
Make sure to include high quality images of your product inside the brochures.
A beautiful picture will sell your product faster and more effectively than any combination of words.
5) Leave the back of the brochure blank except for a return address.
Again, when you're targeting investors the main goal is to prove you know how to spend money wisely and effectively.
One fantastic and subtle way to do that is to set your collateral up to serve two functions.
If you hand an investor a brochure and then down the road send them a brochure as a follow up they will take note of how the single effective piece of collateral is multi-functional.
Sales Sheet Sales sheets are something you should have for retail buyers but can be very useful in selling investors.
What a sales sheet is is a listing of the key features and benefits to a product or service a company offers.
Retail buyers and investors both love them because they can quickly recall what is attractive about a product.
The trick is to not go over-board in the design of your sales sheet.
Keep your graphics to a minimum yet effective.
The point of this piece of collateral is to arm the viewer with quick hitting information and over-doing graphics does nothing but distract from the important content.
Include a picture or two of your product or someone using your service and maybe a simple graphic element that accents the basic look of the piece.
Trade Show Graphics If you are attending a trade show and are looking for financial investment nothing will kill your image than a shabby booth.
The point of getting a trade show booth is to attract people to come over and learn about your product.
Investors often times walk the floor t trade shows and will be drawn to an attractive booth.
There is no need to go crazy and build custom frames and structures to make yourself standout.
You can get portable banners printed, vertical banners as well as attractive product displays.
This is without a doubt one of the most misunderstood graphic elements in the business.
You don't have to spend a ton of money to build an attractive booth.
There are dozens of high quality banner printers online and beyond that you can build your own displays.
Think creatively and make sure it's attractive and your booth will easily hold its own.
Signage If you convince an investor to meet you at your office have an attractive sign outside your building or office.
Obviously if you don't have an office this doesn't apply.
But if you do spend a little bit of money to put an attractive sign outside your office.
There are a great number of ways which are inexpensive to build a sign.
Think creatively and you will make sure the investor walks through your door impressed.
POP Banners, Signs etc...
Whether or not you have placed your products in a store or retailer having the Point-of-Purchase collateral printed is very impressive to investors.
It shows that you are forward thinking and preparing for what is coming down the road.
Depending upon your product or service POP collateral can be everything from posters to counter top displays.
Think of a number of ways you could advertise your product in a store (visit a store you might be placed in and see what already exists) and produce some sample POP collateral to have on hand when you meet with an investor.
The beauty is you don't have to get many printed and the impact they will have on an investor can be incredible.
Gadgets and Giveaways Another multi-purpose tool is the "giveaway.
" These are always very popular at trade shows and can be effective reminders to investors of who you are.
However, this is a very sharp double edged sword.
Think long and hard about what kind of giveaway piece you have on hand to hand to an investor.
This type of thing can just as easily come across as a promotional gimmick belittling the seriousness of your company.
So think long and hard before buying a bunch of pens or puzzles or other giveaways.
However, if it is nice, cool, and all around memorable it can be a helpful reminder of your company.
All in all think about how you might meet an investor and target what extra collateral you create towards those specific scenarios.
If you have the money to do everything under the sun than by all means do it.
However there is no need to produce all of them.
If I had to tell you one thing to do out of the list above it would definitely be the Brochure.
The brochure is by far the most versatile piece in the list.
However, think about how you can use these materials strategically and work towards that goal.