Here's what I mean: these are forms of marketing that are often overlooked as forms of marketing. I see all sorts of business cards that seem to have no purpose other than giving me contact information.

Yes, that is one of the goals of a good business card, but only one of the goals, and not necessarily the most important goal. Yet so many people don't pay any attention to the marketing side of their business cards and do nothing but give me contact information.

This is also true of catalogs but in a different way. Catalogs are meant to hand people a large selection of products that they can order from their home. Many companies view this as the primary goal, and so they make catalogs that are little more than just a list of products and that's it.

But catalogs are also meant for marketing. You aren't getting the most out of your catalog printing if you're failing to understand the marketing side of things.

Don't just show people the products but do it in an interesting way. Have strong visuals and powerful descriptions that go beyond simply giving people information about the product.

How do you describe products in your brochures and postcards and how do you do it in your catalogs? Is it any different? Are you focused more on the technical details with your catalogs while doing it in a more stylized fashion with your brochures?

Go for the stylized in your catalogs. Do everything you can to make your products visually striking and interesting to read about in your catalogs. This is about marketing. Each time a person opens up your catalog they should be encouraged to buy through the choice of words you use and the ways you put your products on the page.

Just the layout of a catalog can do wonders to promote certain products and greatly increase your sales in certain areas. If you have a few products you want to focus on more than others than give them more room to work with in your catalogs.

Maybe one product needs a full page or at least half a page while another only needs a small box near the bottom of a page? And yes, all of this will take a lot more time for you when it comes to designing, but the benefits will be more than worth the extra costs.

Don't let those extra costs stop you from making the best catalogs that you can. The better your catalogs are the better you sales will be from them. And really, most companies don't release catalogs that often, so make sure every time you do you're handing people something memorable.