From 1992 to 2010, the number of new products introduced each year in the U.S. grew from 
about 15,000 to more than 45,000, according to data from the USDA’s Economic Research Service. Since then, the number has continued to rise, which means it’s becoming increasingly difficult to attract new customers and develop a loyal customer base.
Most companies understand that there are two key elements to drawing attention to their product and positioning it as the “better choice” compared to competing products: developing a solid brand and providing a product that’s easier to sell and easier to use. That means offering dealers, sales staff and end users with useful documentation that's easy to reference. Accordion folders help manufacturers achieve that goal. Here's how:
By its design, an accordion folder:
- Provides plenty of surface area to enable you to include color and other graphic elements as well as your company or product name and logo (elements that marketing and packaging studies have shown are important for successfully promoting a product);
- Offers compartments that allow product dealers to learn all about your product and brand so they can promote it to their customers more effectively;
- Enables consumers to find helpful information about using or installing your product as well as information about troubleshooting and contacting customer support when necessary;
- Lets you highlight useful features and cross-promote other items by including flyers, brochures or data sheets in their own pockets.
Here are just two ways an accordion folder can be useful in developing your product’s brand recognition:
Dealer kits
One of the primary purposes of the dealer kit is to provide marketing information that can make it simpler for the dealer to market your product to potential buyers. In essence, a dealer kit is like a mini crash course in marketing that’s focused squarely on your product and the benefits it offers to consumers. The pockets of an accordion folder make it easy to divide this information by specific need, use, feature or specific customer profile attributes so targeting potential customers is easy.
A dealer kit could contain useful information about the manufacturer as well as the brand. For instance, providing company background information not only helps you strengthen brand recognition for your company and its products, but it also helps the dealer promote your product more effectively and helps your company appear more established, reliable and trustworthy, critical factors in building a loyal customer base.
By providing well-organized information about your product, you make the dealer’s life easier too, which can translate into better positioning and promotion of your product at the retailer level. Dealers promote hundreds of brands, and taking the simple step of organizing your product information and offering it in an easy-to-use format can go a long way toward establishing a positive relationship with that dealer.
Product specification kits
“Spec” kits typically offer more technical information about your product that makes troubleshooting and maintenance simpler and more straightforward. Form a marketing perspective, an accordion folder that acts as a spec kit may also offer information about individual components or design elements, including the unique benefits they offer to consumers (especially in comparison to competitors’ products), with each component or element in its own pocket for easier access.
As new product updates are made, information about these updates can also be provided to the dealer and filed in a pocket of the original product folder, making it easy for a dealer to demonstrate upgrades and compare them to previous iterations of a product. In addition, knowing where to find update information can be useful in troubleshooting, especially when an update involves a software upgrade or patch.
Ideal product supplement
Learning to identify a brand by its supplemental packaging and logo is something we learn at an early age; in fact, one study from Stanford University showed that even preschoolers had learned to associate McDonald’s packaging with tastier food. In that study, preschoolers said food wrapped in a McDonald’s wrapper tasted better than the same food wrapped in a plain wrapper. Imagine how that influence develops over time, and you have an idea of how critical branding is in promoting your product, including branding supplemental materials. Using accordion folders positions your company as one that's helpful and organized while also providing an ideal platform to build brand recogni
From 1992 to 2010, the number of new products introduced each year in the U.S. grew from about 15,000 to more than 45,000, according to data from the USDA’s Economic Research Service. Since then, the number has continued to rise, which means it’s becoming increasingly difficult to attract new customers and develop a loyal customer base.
Most companies understand that there are two key elements to drawing attention to their product and positioning it as the “better choice” compared to competing products: developing a solid brand and providing a product that’s easier to sell and easier to use. That means offering dealers, sales staff and end users with useful documentation that's easy to reference. Accordion folders help manufacturers achieve that goal. Here's how:
By its design, an accordion folder:
- Provides plenty of surface area to enable you to include color and other graphic elements as well as your company or product name and logo (elements that marketing and packaging studies have shown are important for successfully promoting a product);
- Offers compartments that allow product dealers to learn all about your product and brand so they can promote it to their customers more effectively;
- Enables consumers to find helpful information about using or installing your product as well as information about troubleshooting and contacting customer support when necessary;
- Lets you highlight useful features and cross-promote other items by including flyers, brochures or data sheets in their own pockets.
Here are just two ways an accordion folder can be useful in developing your product’s brand recognition:
Dealer kits
One of the primary purposes of the dealer kit is to provide marketing information that can make it simpler for the dealer to market your product to potential buyers. In essence, a dealer kit is like a mini crash course in marketing that’s focused squarely on your product and the benefits it offers to consumers. The pockets of an accordion folder make it easy to divide this information by specific need, use, feature or specific customer profile attributes so targeting potential customers is easy.
A dealer kit could contain useful information about the manufacturer as well as the brand. For instance, providing company background information not only helps you strengthen brand recognition for your company and its products, but it also helps the dealer promote your product more effectively and helps your company appear more established, reliable and trustworthy, critical factors in building a loyal customer base.
By providing well-organized information about your product, you make the dealer’s life easier too, which can translate into better positioning and promotion of your product at the retailer level. Dealers promote hundreds of brands, and taking the simple step of organizing your product information and offering it in an easy-to-use format can go a long way toward establishing a positive relationship with that dealer.
Product specification kits
“Spec” kits typically offer more technical information about your product that makes troubleshooting and maintenance simpler and more straightforward. Form a marketing perspective, an accordion folder that acts as a spec kit may also offer information about individual components or design elements, including the unique benefits they offer to consumers (especially in comparison to competitors’ products), with each component or element in its own pocket for easier access.
As new product updates are made, information about these updates can also be provided to the dealer and filed in a pocket of the original product folder, making it easy for a dealer to demonstrate upgrades and compare them to previous iterations of a product. In addition, knowing where to find update information can be useful in troubleshooting, especially when an update involves a software upgrade or patch.
Ideal product supplement
Learning to identify a brand by its supplemental packaging and logo is something we learn at an early age; in fact, one study from Stanford University showed that even preschoolers had learned to associate McDonald’s packaging with tastier food. In that study, preschoolers said food wrapped in a McDonald’s wrapper tasted better than the same food wrapped in a plain wrapper. Imagine how that influence develops over time, and you have an idea of how critical branding is in promoting your product, including branding supplemental materials. Using accordion folders positions your company as one that's helpful and organized while also providing an ideal platform to build brand recognition.
