We may be living in a digital age, but that doesn’t mean physical branding is dead.
Every day, customers receive dozens of marketing emails, see hundreds of banners, and have to skip at least one annoying video ad. All this digital overload adds up, making marketing customers can actually touch unexpected—and engaging.
When you’re creating a marketing plan for your small business—and don’t have the budget to outbid bigger competitors—branded business stationery offers an accessible way to stand out. While everyone else is going digital, there’s never been a better time to invest in physical branding—to connect with your customers beyond the screen.
But there’s no one-size-fits-all stationery strategy for small businesses, and depending on how your business operates, some might work better than others. Before you can decide what type of stationery your small business should use, you need to know what options are out there. From office paper supplies, pens, and other potential swag, stationery comes in a lot of different forms, with different file type requirements for printing.
Here are a few examples to help you choose which best suits your business:
Letterhead Paper
Probably the first thing that comes to most people’s minds any time stationery is mentioned, letterhead paper is one of the most versatile office supplies you can buy. This type of stationery usually features your company name and logo (sometimes along with contact information) and can be used across a variety of documents. From contracts to letters and invoices, letterhead paper is the jack of all trades for small business stationery. If you invest in only one type of stationery, make it letterhead.
Invoices and Receipts
While you can use your letterhead paper to create invoices and receipts, you can also get invoices and receipts specifically designed for your brand. Featuring more of your brand colors, fonts, and design style throughout, these create a cohesive post-purchase experience for your customers.
When you’re just starting to build brand recognition, you need all the exposure you can get (before, during, and after purchase) and invoices or receipts are a great way to do that—with a document you know your customers will see.
Compliments Slips
If you’re looking to add a bit of branding, without also reminding customers that they need to pay you, you might want to consider compliments slips. These slips contain the same information as letterhead (name, logo, and address) along with the phrase “With Compliments”—hence the name. By adding a small note to the slip, you can use it in place of a formal letter when sending over something like product samples or additional information to potential customers.
Folded Note or Flat Card
If you want to be a little less constrained during your customer correspondence, try branded folded notes or flat cards. For both of these options, you can customize the front with your company colors, name, and logo, then use the blank space inside or on the backside to write a personal note to your customers (or soon to be customers).
For ecommerce businesses, these notes are a great way to make your product feel more like a present. If you’re running a services business, try sending out cards and notes to thank clients—while also encouraging repeat business and referrals.
Business Cards
The humble business card is far from obsolete. If you’re interacting with your customers in person—say in a brick and mortar shop—you better have business cards on hand. Aside from giving customers a concrete way to remember you, they also make it easy for customers to pass on your contact information to people they may know. For small businesses looking to boost word-of-mouth growth, let your business card do the talking.
But even if you aren’t working directly with customers, including your card with ecommerce orders or handing it out at industry events can help spread the word on you are and what you do.
Envelopes
Now, direct mail might not be the coolest marketing channel, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t effective. For businesses with a local customer base, sending out letters can be a quick and easy way to keep people up to date on the latest news, events, or sales.
Of course, those letters need to go somewhere, which is where branded envelopes come in. Letting the receiver know who their mail is from (before they even open the envelope) builds brand awareness, from right inside the mailbox.
Envelope Labels
If you want to save time putting a return address on every one of those letters, custom envelope labels can speed up the process. For large-scale sends—like invitations or ‘thank you’ notes after an event—letter labels speed up the process. With these on hand, you can spend less time writing in your ZIP code and more time working on your other marketing efforts.
Folders
Not every piece of small business stationery has to do with customers. For small businesses seeking investment, you’ll likely need to go through a few rounds of presentations with your potential funders. While these presentations will probably be at least partly digital, providing a branded folder to hold all the essential information makes it easier for your audience to remember that one very important thing you mentioned halfway through your talk.
But folders can also be used when you’re wooing potential customers and don’t want your sales materials getting scattered in the back of their car. In general, if you’re working with multiple takeaway files, you’re going to want a branded folder to keep it in.
Proposal Covers
When you’re presenting proposals—either for investors or customers—you’ll want to put a proposal cover on it. These will make your presentation look more professional and your proposal look more thoughtful. After all, you likely took time putting your proposal together—the way you present it should reflect that.
Notebooks
Not every piece of stationery needs to be something your company provides the content for. In fact, sometimes you might want the opposite. Branded notebooks make a great swag item for both customers and employees. Since a notebook is something they’ll likely write in every day, you’ll get a lot of brand exposure—both for the person you gave it to and to anyone they might meet with.
Notepads and Sticky Notes
If you’re not sure whether your customers are the notebook type, you might want to consider notepads and sticky notes. Both offer the opportunity for your company to come through in the clutch when your customer needs to remember something important. If you’re really lucky, that sticky note will end up adorning their desk for weeks, as they continue to put off booking that dentist appointment.
Stickers
Sometimes stationery doesn’t serve a purpose—sometimes it just looks good. Stickers are a prime example of where looking good can be all it takes. With the right sticker design, customers and employees alike will proudly display your branding on their laptops, notebooks, water bottles, and just about anything else you can stick a sticker on.
Planners and Organizers
But it’s alright if you’d prefer your small business’s stationery to be more practical than fanciful. More structured than notebooks, planners and organizers offer your brand a chance to become an integral part of someone’s workflow. They’re also less likely to sit in a box of branded notebooks acquired from other swag bags, since most planners are created for a particular year.
Albums and Scrapbooks
Alternatively, if you want your stationery to skew more sentimental, give albums and scrapbooks a try. For something like this, consider your audience carefully. A photography studio will have better luck with photo albums than a catering business, and a crafting business will likely have customers who are happier to see a scrapbook than a bookkeeping business.
Pens and Pencils
Beyond paper and books, business stationery can also include the tools you use with them. If you’ve ever found a pen in your purse from a business you haven’t visited in years, you’ll understand the long-term branding impact these items can have. If your business attends events or conventions, having branded pens on hand to write notes on business cards you hand out (or to supply to underprepared event-goers) will help you make the most of your brand’s presence.
Pencil Cases and Pen Pots
All those pens and pencils need to go somewhere, and pencil cases and pen pots are that somewhere. Not only do both serve a useful purpose for anyone who’s ever gotten a little overzealous while collecting free company pens, but these also ensure your brand is the first thing they see—before choosing whatever branded pen they’ll use that day.
Desk Accessories
Other desk accessories, like organizing trays, file boxes, card cases, and even staplers all have an important role to play in the stationery ecosystem. Knowing a bit more about customer lifestyles and how you fit into it can help you choose which would make the most sense for your brand to provide. If your small business offers strategic consulting services to other companies, you might want to spring for the full desk accessory set. But if you’re crafting artisanal candles, an artistic paperweight might make more sense.
If you don’t want to go all-in on desk accessories for your customers, decorating your own office with branded desk accessories can show a little company pride to any visitors that might be stopping by and to the employees working there.
Stamps and Embossers
Last but not least, stamps and embossers. If you want to quickly turn any business stationery into branded stationery, you can use one of these options. Allowing you the flexibility to decorate anything from your product packaging, to your thank you cards, and postcards, stamps and embossers are a good pick for small businesses in a pinch.
Using Your Small Business’s Stationery
Now that you know all (or at least most) of the stationery options available to you, you may already have a few ideas in mind for which ones will work best for your small business. As you start to choose which stationery you want to purchase (and whether you want to buy it for your customers or yourself) keep one thing in mind: use.
If you or your customers won’t get any use out of a particular type of stationery—however cool it might look—don’t buy it. Small business stationery can be a great way to build your brand from the ground up, but only if people actually see it. And with a small business marketing budget, every penny and every impression counts.
So take a minute to ask yourself whether you’ll actually need compliments slips, or if your customers are the type to appreciate stickers. Only choose stationery that you need—to guarantee your brand gets noticed every time.
