Product catalogues10 mistakes to avoid when creating or overhauling yours!

Much like a product launch, the catalogue is a major, absolutely essential tool for manufacturers in the construction and housing sector. It is THE resource your audiences (tradespeople, builders' merchants, consumers, housebuilders or specifiers) use every day to inspire their projects, plan their site work, prepare client meetings and so on. In short, an indispensable everyday ally for everyone! So in this article we take you through the 10 mistakes to avoid in order to guarantee the success of your product catalogue, whether you are creating it from scratch or giving it an overhaul. The goal: to put this communication tool at the service of your brand's success.

The objective is to transform a “product” communication medium into a high value-added “business” tool.

As the veritable “bible” of the solutions your brand offers, your catalogue needs to be well thought out, well structured and well produced to serve as an effective ambassador. An annual fixture for the brand, updated regularly: there is no doubt that your catalogue is a “heritage” asset! But a long-standing tool sometimes comes with long-standing reflexes. Let's run through the strategic and operational elements you simply cannot afford to neglect if you want to get this tool — so essential to your brand's success — right.

When it comes to catalogues, the biggest mistake would be to assume that because this tool is a recurring one (a hardy annual, so to speak), it is not as important as your latest communication campaign or your new website! Far from it! Your catalogue is embedded in your audiences' habits and provides a direct, highly effective transmission line to them — an annual rendezvous not to be missed. Yes, your catalogue is effective because it is part of their daily routine, but that does not mean you should rely on force of habit alone when designing or updating it: on the contrary, it needs to evolve to reflect the reality of your markets and your audiences, their practices and their expectations.

Bear in mind that your catalogue does more than trigger purchases: for your audiences, it is a distillation of your positioning and your brand identity, a highly effective communication vehicle for conveying messages that go beyond the product offering itself (your services, your values, your CSR commitments and so on).

A good catalogue is a crystal-clear, well-designed and well-ordered communication medium that gives your audiences clarity and guides them effectively. So no more endless litanies of data sheets and product pitches with no hierarchy: content needs to be structured, reading needs momentum, and the tone of voice needs variety. As an agency specialising in the construction industry, our role is to help you overhaul your catalogue in the most impactful way possible, turning it from a “technical” tool into a “business” asset. Don't panic: we are not here to strip out what already works well in your current catalogue. We are, however, able to support you in transforming it into a genuine marketing tool.

For communication and marketing teams, the catalogue is often a highlight of the year — but it is also a time-consuming project that comes back “whether you like it or not” year after year. With packed schedules and force of habit lending a hand, it is tempting to give it as little time as possible: be efficient, update it and move on to the next project! Yet it is essential to design it properly and, where necessary, to challenge it, devoting the time such a strategic communication tool deserves.

Once the marketing framework of your catalogue is settled, it is crucial to focus on its editorial design. This is THE key moment for turning your “technical bible” into a profoundly business-driven tool, dedicated to your audiences' needs. Structuring content, enriching it with customer interviews or tips, technical advice, good/better/best segmentation and more: the value added by editorial work allows you to build up your brand's “content” capital — and with it, its overall image.

The bonus: you can readily repurpose this content across other channels to maximise your investment (social media, newsletters, blog, etc.)

To contribute effectively to your brand identity, your product catalogue must be aligned with your brand guidelines — but it can also, why not, become a genuine space for graphic creativity. Once you approach the catalogue as a profoundly commercial tool, you quickly grasp how much value there is to be extracted from it. Some have already understood this and work with illustrators every year to create a sense of occasion, forging a bond with tradespeople so strong that some collect every single edition! Your catalogue is an everyday tool serving the pros: you may as well make it memorable!

Operational excellence is one of the guiding threads running through everything Convergence does. When it comes to product catalogues, that standard is more necessary than ever to guarantee a high level of quality sustained across the hundreds of pages your catalogue probably contains. Perfectionist support from the design phase right through to the final proof and print supervision: you should never expect anything less from the communication agency producing your product catalogue!

The catalogue is a highlight in the life of your brand. As such, it gives you the perfect pretext to communicate and create a sense of occasion. Depending on your budget and objectives, a wide range of tools can be coordinated within a multi-audience, multi-channel campaign to give your catalogue the place it deserves in your communication strategy.

It can never be said often enough: your sales teams are on the front line, in direct contact with your customers. Even though their role has evolved with the sector's rapid digitalisation in recent years, it remains essential to involve them in your thinking on the product catalogue. It will be their working tool, accompanying them day in, day out, and it is vital that they become convinced ambassadors for it. An objective all the easier to achieve if you involve them (on an occasional, targeted basis) in designing the document.

Omnichannel and connected: your target audience today is a profoundly digital creature. While your sales teams remain essential points of contact, your audiences now have countless opportunities to encounter your brand, particularly online. It is also a safe bet that part of your audience — younger and more connected — no longer wants to lug around a hefty paper volume. Either way, the right approach is clear: you absolutely must plan a digital version of your catalogue specifically adapted for digital devices, to guarantee its readability! No to the basic PDF and the traditional “flipbook”, yes to the enriched version that gives your customers a smooth, engaging reading experience!

You know the story: for three months you have been working with your teams and your communication agency on designing and launching your catalogue and, in the final days, as it nears completion, you rush through the proofreading, pressed for time. The result: a few days later, once the rush has passed, you realise your catalogue is riddled with typos and inaccuracies. To avoid this pitfall, our advice is simple: call on a specialist, well-organised agency that will bring in proofreaders from the very first proofs, easing the workload on the final version and guaranteeing you a flawless catalogue, in substance as in style!

You have no doubts about the commercial power of the product catalogue for your brand and you want to put every chance on your side to make it an impactful marketing tool that drives your results? You need a fresh pair of eyes to breathe new life and impact into your catalogue, without spending too much time on it? We have a solution: book a meeting with our project managers!