Here are the top 5 ways business stationery can have a positive impact on your audience and help your business be memorable to keep people coming back to you time and time again:

• 1. Extends brand consistency (consistency, consistency!), once a customer experiences your brand through social media, your website or through a one on one experience you want to keep that momentum flowing. You can do this with a custom stationery piece like a branded notecard with a handwritten note.

• 2. Creates a high-touch experience – is the true definition of the ultimate hands on and “individual-centered” customer experience. This experience really highlights the individual customer and works to establish the trust factor along with giving them that individualized attention that helps in the current service model and for further retention. 

• 3. Makes your customer feel valued – who doesn’t want to feel special?  feel like their money is more than just a number in the banks? That’s what custom stationery can aid in that experience for your customer. Especially when you use that stationery coupled with a planned customer focused experience plan. 

• 4. Sets you apart from the rest – Having a unique experience will set you apart from others in your field and also associate a positive and exclusive vibe for customers who haven’t worked with you yet. For example an acquaintance shopped at Gucci previously well in the mail recent;y she received a super luxe booklet that had super stylized images of their line of new purses. While this is a very high-end example, when she received this her immediate response was wow this is special, they value my patronage, and I may stop in their soon because I love some of these images. 

• 5. Spreads your message – Stationery provides an avenue in which to continue to educate your audience on not just your offerings/services but the mission behind your brand. This allows them to further connect with your brand and see how they could potentially work with you in the future, if not now.

Now, with those examples in mind, here are the must-have pieces of stationery I recommend that every business should have: 

1. Business cards – even online business owners should have branded business cards. You never know just when you’re going to meet someone in real life, or need to include your business card with a customer’s order to help them remember just where they made that awesome purchase!

2. Pricing Guide – pricing guides are a great way to save time on the back end by giving your potential customers an introduction to you, your offerings and respective price points. This allows for the customers to vet if you are a good fit for you and for you to get quality leads and save the time of answering the all important question “How much do you charge?”. When this is branded this especially helps with the brand consistency and feel.

3. Welcome Guide – these guides play an essential part in establishing what you working experience will look and feel like. This gives you the opportunity to establish boundaries, set expectations and further convey what your brand and experience is all about. You can really inject personality into these guides and illustrate why your experience is unique. 

4. Business magazine – this is one that many don’t see often but I feel it is such a unique offerings and one that can be used to truly showcase your brand. This doesn’t have to be used just for fashion or image heavy businesses, but it can be used as a way to further educate your audience, showcase your brand/mission and really connect with your audience. These have the power to really wow; this is like the gucci example above.

5. Thank You/Postcards – saying thank you, remembering a special event or just expressing your appreciation is even better done on branded material and with a personal message. This is a piece that you can really put some personality and have some fun. Truly express in card form the essence of your brand.