What is the difference between a presentation and a marketing kit?

Have you decided to announce your company and products to the whole world? It's high time! You have spent so much effort to get your “brainchild” on its feet, it’s time to bring it into the world!

How can this be done more efficiently? Shouldn’t we hire fairy-tale heralds to run from city to city and read out their worn-out scrolls in the main squares?

Well of course not!

Today, modern PR tools do an excellent job of playing the role of heralds: marketing whales or presentation. And here the question arises: what to choose? 

By the way, this article would not have been published if not for the frequent misconceptions that our clients come to us with. In 75% of cases they confuse these concepts. And if it weren’t for our marketers, who explain what’s what every time, not everyone would be able to order what they need the first time. And this is wasted time and money down the drain, you understand!

So, let’s figure out how a marketing kit differs from a presentation.

Marketing whale

Let's start with boring terms, without them it will be difficult for us to understand the difference between a presentation and a marketing kit. 

A marketing kit is a set of marketing materials in printed or electronic form (ideally, have both), which helps to sell not just a product, but the company’s story.

The marketing kit does an excellent job as an assistant to the sales manager:

• prepares the ground for successful negotiations;
• increases the trust of potential clients;
• forms the company's image;
• strengthens your position in the market;
• demonstrates your advantages over competitors. 

In a word, MK works to “pump up” the brand. When might it be needed? Imagine your meeting with a potential client in his office. This is his first time dealing with you. He is interested in the product, but, first of all, he wants to know who you are? Can you be trusted?

And it’s one thing to show off your achievements, and another thing to hand over a beautifully designed Marketing kit, fragrant with fresh printing. The facts, accompanied by a stylish design that will be presented in it, will have a much stronger impression on the client.

MK helps turn a cold audience into a loyal one. Ideally, after this you should be asked for a commercial offer for the product/service. 

More and more companies are using this tool to attract new clients and partners. But the main mistake that businessmen make is the desire order a marketing kit without defining the exact target. Many people do this for show, just to keep up with others. And this obviously leads to the failure of the whole idea. 

Marketing whale structure

Once your marketer has worked on goals, audience needs and other aspects of the strategy, you can begin to develop a structure. 

Title page

The cover is the first thing the client sees. His desire to look through the whale right now or postpone it until later and completely forget about it will depend on how well it is developed. And even if there are golden benefits inside that no one else in the entire galaxy will offer except you, no one will ever know about it.

What should be on the title page:

• logo;
• company name;
• intriguing slogan.

Block "About the company"

Tell your client when and how the company appeared, what you do and why you chose this particular niche. Take a fascinating mini-tour through the history of your organization, whisper what the secret of success is and who was at the origins. 

Share the mission and principles on which your relationships with clients and partners are built. It’s good when it is possible to support what is said with numbers and facts (years, production volumes, number of clients and projects). To visually display the growth and development of the company, use infographics.

Getting to know the product line

In this block, the main thing is not to go too far: do not delve into the technical jungle and resist the urge to post the entire price list. This is a general acquaintance of the client with the list of goods/services. Tell us how you can be useful and what you offer in general.

Benefits of cooperation

Now it’s time to hook the client with benefits. This is the same slide where you can beautifully boast about your strengths and it will not look immodest in the eyes of the client. 

What they usually talk about here:

• saving the client's budget (cheaper than competitors);
• speed of order fulfillment;
• comfortable conditions for cooperation;
• fast delivery.

Documents and facts that increase confidence

It's worth posting here:

• certificates;
• licenses;
• tolerances.

Social proof:

• awards;
• publications in the media;
• certificates of participation in exhibitions, conferences, forums;
• letters of gratitude and reviews.

And yes, if your employees defeated the competing team at the industry football championship, it’s better not to talk about it in the marketing kit! It’s clear that you want to shout about it at every corner and you feel proud of your own! But it’s better to wait for a personal meeting with the client in your office and share this if the opportunity arises.  

Team

Share who is walking shoulder to shoulder with you towards success. Tell us how you managed to gather so many nuggets and talents into one team. It will be easier for your clients to say “yes” when they are confident that they are dealing with real professionals.

Cases

In words, of course, everything sounds like a song. But people need evidence, facts! The results of those who were ahead and have already used your services. Cases (examples of work with descriptions) do an excellent job of this task. 

Most often, the following algorithm is used to compile them:

• with what task and purpose did they come to you;
• what did you suggest;
• what they did;
• what result the client received (it is advisable to provide figures in the format of what was then and now and photographs).

Do you want to finish this block effectively? Place the logo of key and significant clients and partners. This is also one of the effective methods of convincing that you are worth working with! 

Contacts

In this section you need to indicate the maximum number of channels through which the client can contact you:

• office address;
• email;
• contact numbers;
• messengers;
• links to social network pages.

The more contact points the better! The fact that you have put down deep roots indicates that you are in the market with serious intentions and for the long haul. It has a calming effect.

"Is that all?" - You ask. 

Representing the size of real ocean whales, our marketing friend turned out to be the size of a modest dolphin!

In fact, this is the approximate structure of a marketing kit. And depending on the goals, it can grow significantly or, conversely, decrease. For example, you can add the following blocks:

• work scheme;
• greeting from the director;
• vector and development prospects.

In essence, an MK is a construction kit that you assemble depending on what tasks it has to solve.

In any case, a marketing kit presented to the client at a meeting will help direct the dialogue in the right direction and emphasize the status and authority of your company.

Sales presentation

What is the difference between a presentation and a marketing kit? And again the terms. 

A presentation is a tactical marketing tool, the purpose of which is to satisfy the client’s need here and now.

Let's look at the most common types of presentations.

Event announcement

Absolutely any events can and should be advertised:

• speeches by a famous business coach;
• entertainment show;
• psychological training;
• sports competitions.

The main emphasis should be on the significance of the upcoming event for the audience. Explain why the reader should attend it and which reputable individuals/companies are involved in organizing or supporting it.

Attracting investors

It is only at first glance that it seems that everything in this world has already been invented. But still, here and there minds appear that generate new inventions. But coming up with ideas is half the battle. And to bring a startup to life, as a rule, you need money. So the geniuses poke around in search of sponsors. 

And here a presentation comes in very handy, in which you need to remember to go over the main points:

• business plan;
• the amount needed for promotion;
• forecast of economic benefits for investors;
• market situation;
• level of customer demand for the product.

Product/service presentation

This is probably the most common type of presentation. It contains a large part of the description of the characteristics, benefits and results that the client receives from use. What product or service can be advertised using a presentation? There is no limit to your imagination: from a new fitness bar to maintenance of spaceships and submarines. 

Sale of an existing business

In this presentation, it is worth talking about how much you had to invest in opening the business, what its real cost is, the current profitability of the company and what the buyer can count on in the future. It wouldn’t hurt to share about the market situation and your closest competitors.

Rent of retail space

This type of presentation may be required by both the landlord and the tenant:

1. In the first case, it is relevant for new shopping centers. Of course, entrepreneurs are more willing to open in well-promoted shopping centers with a large customer flow.
2. In the second case, the presentation is ordered by a retail outlet that wants to rent square meters. As a rule, a “place in the sun” is located in a famous shopping and entertainment complex. And in order to get there, you still need to prove that the store is worthy of it and fits the general standards and style.

So what's the difference?

So, as we have already found out, a marketing kit is a tool that helps you get to know the company better, is part of its positive image and forms an image. 

But most importantly, MK does not sell anything directly. He works for the future (strategy). While the presentation gives results here and now.

Let's look at an example. Imagine you run a construction company that can do anything:

• do roofing;
• install plumbing;
• laying ceramic tiles;
• install walls, floors and ceilings.

And unfortunately, the client’s roof was blown off the other day (and how good it is, in the literal sense). A gusty wind blew away part of the roofing iron and now, after every rain, the ceiling weeps, and even above the system administrator’s office!

He needs the service today!

He would like a presentation now about what types of roofing work you offer. And you send a marketing kit about how wonderful and good you are. 

Do you think he cares about foreplay now?

Another thing is that if the client was only planning an office reconstruction and selecting contractors, then a marketing kit would help make a choice. And only then it would come to the price list and estimates for specific work.

5 mistakes to stay away from

They relate to both presentations and marketing kits. If you manage to pass each of them, consider that success is in your pocket:

1. Information overload. Remember, all people are lazy by nature, they don’t like to read a lot. And if you go into depth when describing your benefits or product, there is a risk that the client will gape and lose interest. Write only about the most important things. As they say, on a camping trip, even an ordinary needle has weight and takes up space. Every word must carry meaning.
2. False information. False reviews, exaggerated numbers, facts about fantastic achievements will scare anyone away. To avoid this, ask clients to leave real responses, encourage them, give a discount for this. If you are embarrassed to name the real number, don’t name it at all, switch your attention to a more significant advantage. You shouldn’t write that you recently celebrated your hundredth year on the market, when you haven’t even worked for a year yet.
3. Lack of differentiation from competitors. Surely your marketer has heard something about USP. Ask him to pay special attention to this issue. After all, if you have everything the same as a dozen of your competitors, how will you hook your client?
4. Illiterate design. If your marketing kit or presentation is eye-catching with an abundance of colors and different-sized fonts, don’t expect success. Each slide should be stylish, consistent, contain one semantic block, formatted text in the form of lists, and graphics. We talked about this in more detail in the article. "10 Rules for Creating Cool Presentations".  
5. Shooting of competitors. By exposing others as weaklings and incompetents, you certainly do not do yourself any credit. If everyone starts throwing mud at each other, your niche will turn from a civilized industry into the Odessa Privoz of the century before last! It is better to focus your energy and effort on improving your marketing strategy, product and staff qualifications. And then your good reputation will catch up with you!

We hope that the article was useful to you and you can easily figure out in which cases you need to order a presentation, and in which - a marketing kit. If you need professional help, our marketers and designers are always ready to lend a hand. Call-write!