Catalogs have been the main sales collateral for decades and have proven themselves as powerful tools that increase sales and help businesses grow. And as catalogs developed, they have become much more than simple lists of goods—catalogs are now effective marketing tools that are perfect not only for direct sales but also for raising brand awareness and promoting products and services.
Let’s talk today about the engaging examples of catalog marketing so that you could choose the approach that suits you best. We’ll start with defining what catalog marketing is all about in the first place.
What is Catalog Marketing?
Catalog marketing is a form of direct marketing that allows a company to sell products and services from a printed or online catalog. Consumers can buy directly from the catalog sender by phone or online using the information in the catalog.
There are several types of catalogs that you can use in your marketing campaigns, let’s dive right into learning more about them.
Full-Line Catalog Marketing Example
Best for: Listing a whole line of products and services with all possible variants and configurations
Full-line catalogs are one of the most traditional types of catalogs used by manufacturers, retailers, and customers. Such catalogs list every individual product, service, and configuration a business has to offer so that a reader can quickly reference it to get the info they need.
Check out the example below: Victoria Plum, one of the UK’s fastest-growing online bathroom retailers, showcases their grand collection in a catalog. Their catalog, created with a digital catalog creator, allows them to put useful buttons (neat violet circles on the pages) that lead to product pages where clients can buy everything they like right away. What’s more, the company added outbound links leading to articles with design tips and tricks. This gives their customers a deeper understanding of how to design and furnish their bathrooms and decide what looks they like the most. Plus, the catalog can be easily shared via link, QR code, posted on social media, or embedded into a website, making marketing much faster and more effective.
Check out a video where Schréder, a leading outdoor lighting solution provider, revolutionizes the way the company distributes its catalogs by turning them into interactive digital flipbooks with the help of FlippingBook, a digital catalog maker.
Promotional Catalog Marketing Example
Best for: Promoting special selections of products, holiday offers, new lines of products and services
Promotional catalogs are the most popular ones, you probably see them everywhere and use them quite often yourself. These sales catalogs feature a specialized selection of items offered by a single brand. They could include the promotion of a new line of products, special offers, holiday, seasonal, and any other specially-curated selections.
Every holiday gives you an amazing opportunity for creating lovely holiday gift catalogs. It’s a great way to promote your product selections. To give you an example, see how ANDA Present Group, a company that provides printing services in the promotional gift market, highlights their Christmas gifts with the help of cute enticing GIFs and links to purchase the products right away.
Another example of a promotional catalog is one by Moore & Giles, a luxury leather company that designs and develops innovative natural leathers for a variety of industries. They presented their new leather bags and accessories collection in their catalog. Adding a pop-up image gallery allows them to show the items in their catalog from every angle. Your readers will love this immersive shopping experience, and your products will sell like hot cakes! Plus, useful video tips and outbound links help clients learn more about the products and purchase the ones they need in no time.
Informational Catalog Marketing Example
Best for: Educating and informing about the company, its values, news, and products to come
Informational catalogs are usually text-heavy and are intended to educate or provide information on a given topic. They can provide valuable info for employees or for customers. For employees, this could be a welcoming or training handbook that your company uses internally. For customers, this could be something like a magazine that outlines the details of your company’s latest news and how it will impact your services or products offered.
Such catalogs are used mostly to create a consistent brand image that is easy to recognize and that will encourage customers to choose you over a competitor.
Flip through this online catalog, made by Food Huggers, a company that creates tools that make it easy to adopt sustainable practices at home. In their catalog, the company highlights their brand aesthetic and values and shows a new line of products with the help of pop-up image galleries as well. Plus, they add links to short and fun videos on the pages of their catalog, making the reading experience even more interactive. So this catalog serves both informational and promotional purposes and looks absolutely lovely!
Check out our video on how to enhance your catalogs with interactivity and wow your readers right away!
That’s it! We hope that our catalog marketing examples will inspire you and help you decide what catalog marketing strategy suits your goals best. Good luck!
