Any business owner will tell you that being prepared and organised makes a great first impression.

And nothing looks worse than fumbling with loose, dog-eared documents when you’re trying to impress at a seminar or a sales pitch.

You need every part of how you present yourself to be consistent – from your body language and your speech to your clothes and your documents.

We can’t tell you how to dress. But we can help you send the right message with your literature.

Presentation folders are a professional and impressive way of presenting information, storing documents, and projecting the right image for your business.

They’re also a chance to show off your company’s branding – and your clients are more likely to keep and carry around a slick, well-designed folder than a bunch of assorted flyers and brochures.

So when should you be using a presentation folder?

Here are 5 of the most useful ways you can make the best first impression for your business:

1. Presentations, Seminars and Trade Shows

Leaflets and brochures are a great go-to option for presenting information at a seminar or trade show.

But presentation folders can make things easier for your prospects by giving them one single package that contains a huge amount of your most important information.

By arranging your materials in a pre-packaged folder, you’re able to control their experience when they’re leafing through. You can help them discover your business and its services in the best possible order, without overwhelming them.

They’ll have a handy vehicle to help them keep and carry all of your materials for the entire event – and it definitely doesn’t hurt if they spend the whole day displaying your brand to everyone they walk past!

On top of that, presentation folders give your prospects an immediacy and convenience that other businesses often ignore:

While your competitors are giving out the address of their website, you’re giving people an offline version of everything they need to know – and you’re putting it right into their hands when they want it.

2. Welcome Packs

In the hospitality industry, welcome packs are a convenient and impressive way to greet your customers in to your holiday park or hotel – while giving them all of the important information they need during their stay.

Instead of giving them a selection of flyers for local businesses (or hoping they’ll read the health and safety posters), you can give them everything they need in one simple and professional package.

It’s a great way to create the best possible first impression: especially when you use a folder with your company’s branding.

But it’s also a great way to add a little personal touch to their stay – showing your guests from the moment they arrive that you’re thinking about their experience and their convenience.

3. Training Materials

When employees are starting a new job or working through a new training programme, having all of the information to hand can make digesting and learning much easier.

In fact, 91% of millennials said they prefer paper

to computers when they’re studying.

So if you’ve got new workers or employees in training, give them a paper-based training manual in a professional, branded presentation folder. You might find that they get to grips with their new role a lot faster than with a purely digital training programme.

4. Sales Tools

Having a product brochure or a leaflet is great. But it does have its drawbacks.

When you add new product lines or change your prices – or even when you run a time-limited offer – it becomes an expensive hassle to keep printing new leaflets and brochures.

But with a presentation folder, you can easily slip in new inserts to keep your offers up to date (at a fraction of the cost).

You can even personalise each sales pack to suit your prospects’ needs with different targeted inserts, making them the perfect tool to accompany your sales pitch.

5. Information Packs

In some industries or situations – such as medical professions or property industries – it’s absolutely crucial that huge amounts of information can be kept organised and filed together.

When patients need their medical records (or home-buyers need to study legal documents) they need a way to keep their important materials together in one place, as well as keeping them ordered and protected.

A professionally printed and branded presentation folder offers the ideal solution for keeping all of these kinds of documents safe and organised – as well as giving customers a physical reassurance that they’re in safe, capable and professional hands.

Tips for great Presentation Folder design

You might only need a relatively simple folder design for day-to-day office work.

But if you’re planning to use a folder to woo a business client, you’ll probably need some extra features to give it a professional touch: things like lamination, extra-thick paper or card, or high-quality branded colours and logos.

When you hand over a well-designed, branded folder, you automatically make a better first impression. And that means your clients are more likely to give your materials the attention they deserve (and keep your folder around for longer!)

Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your presentation folder printing:

Every folder should:
• Define who you are or what you’re presenting
• Entice the reader to look inside
• Direct the reader to your important contact information
• Comply with legal requirements (such as copyright laws).

For an extra-special professional touch, you can add:
• Lamination to the outside cover. Printing dark colours along the folds may result in cracking – so avoid using lamination on the inside if the folder’s colours are on the dark side.
• Slots on the pocket to hold a business card
• Foiling, spot UV, or embossing to your logo or other design elements.

When designing a folder, you should always:
• Use the correct size folder design template
• Design in a CMYK colour profile
• Use branded and complementary colours
• Keep all of your important information 5mm away from the edge of the folder and die cuts
• Keep all text at 7pt or above (for legibility)
• Use high-quality images at 300dpi – avoid using images saved from the internet, as they won’t have the quality or resolution you need for things to look their best in print
• Proofread all of your text: for grammar, spelling and clarity

At Print-Print, we offer high-quality professional presentation folder printing and design to help impress your prospective clients and keep your documents safe and organised.

If you’d like to see a presentation folder up close, you can request one of our free sample packs, which comes with loads of examples of other types of printed products (such as flyers and business stationery).

Or if you’re in a hurry, you can get in touch with one of our team today for a free quote – reach us on 01952 850 730 or email sales@print-print.co.uk.

Katie Angilletta

Katie Angilletta is a digital marketer working for Print-Print Limited, promoting business and building your brand through quality print marketing.

If you’re interested in small business promotion then please get in touch hello@print-print.co.uk