Meaning & use
collateral materials
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Meanings
nounpluralbusiness
printed or digital promotional items, such as brochures, flyers, and posters, used to support marketing or sales.
Grammar: Almost always plural: 'The collateral materials are ready.' The singular 'collateral material' is rare.
Patterns
- collateral materials for something
- produce collateral materials
- design collateral materials
The marketing team prepared collateral materials for the trade show.
We need to update our collateral materials before the product launch.
She designed brochures, posters, and other collateral materials for the event.
nounpluralbusiness
any supporting documents or items used alongside a main presentation or proposal.
Grammar: Often shortened to 'collateral' in business English: 'Send the collateral to the client.'
Patterns
- send collateral materials
- include collateral materials
Please send the collateral materials to the client before the meeting.
The proposal included charts and other collateral materials.
Common combinations
- marketing collateral materials
- The agency produced all the marketing collateral materials for the campaign.
- print collateral materials
- We ordered print collateral materials for the conference.
- digital collateral materials
- Digital collateral materials are easier to update than printed ones.
- collateral materials for a launch
- They created collateral materials for the launch of the new phone.
Synonyms and how they differ
- promotional materials
- A more general term for items that advertise something; 'collateral materials' is the usual business term in marketing departments.
- brochures
- Refers specifically to folded printed booklets, while 'collateral materials' covers many kinds of promotional items.
Word family
- collateral noun
- In business, short for collateral materials; in finance, it means property promised as security for a loan.
Commonly confused: collateral materials or collateral?
collateral materials vs collateral
In finance, 'collateral' means assets used to secure a loan, which is unrelated to marketing materials.
Practice
A company is preparing for a trade show. Which sentence uses 'collateral materials' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Collateral materials' are promotional items such as brochures and flyers. The other options confuse it with financial collateral or use it for everyday shopping.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “collateral materials”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.