The hidden opportunity in your PDF downloads

Posted on August 12th, 2009 by Marc Micheli | Filed under: Integrated Marketing, Investor Relations, Marketing News, Soap Box

If your company is like most these days, you have numerous PDFs on your Web site available for download. With this cost effective and user friendly tactic, many companies are missing the opportunity to let the PDF help close the sale.

Too often, the downloadable PDF is not professionally designed because you’re not investing in offset printing. Such treatment can lead to missed opportunities. When uploading documents in PDF format to your Web site, ask yourself, “What does my audience do with those documents, and are my PDFs doing their job?”

From investor relations to sales collateral, your PDF downloads provide a convenient means for potential buyers and investors to collect the information they seek.  But do those documents rise to the level of your corporate identity? Do they enhance your brand? Do they build your image? Do they sell?

When researching a vendor, product or service, buyers commonly collect downloaded PDFs and spit them out of the office printer for later analysis. Product information, whitepapers, spec sheets, company fact sheets, annual reports – they’re all being downloaded and printed as we speak. While offset printing volumes are being reduced, the office printer is alive and well.

So treat the office printer like another media channel. When your company’s material comes out looking superior to the others in the prospect’s collection, you’ve just jumped to the top of the stack.

Comments (0)

Tags: acquisition, affordable advertising, Annual Reports, branding, corporate-identity, distributor relations, Investor Relations, marketing, PDF design, PDF download, whitepapers

---

Newsletters help maintain positive perceptions, stability

Posted on January 23rd, 2009 by Marc Micheli | Filed under: Marketing in a Recession, Soap Box

Whether in a time of prosperity, a recession, or a tight labor market, never underestimate the power of a newsletter.

These days many successful companies are using a blog, sometimes thought of as modern version of the newsletter. However, a printed newsletter still achieves something the blog cannot: the perception of stability. It’s tangible, powerful, and influences purchasing decisions. That’s why Toyota Material Handling recently hired Ervin | Bell to redesign their newsletter.

In the example shown, Toyota Material Handling saluted the heroics of their employees and distributors during the 2008 Midwest floods. The affect of the printed piece is profound in ways a blog or online presentation cannot achieve.

Blogs, with the added dimensions of search optimization and immediacy, demand a different set of writing styles and conventions. While newsletter content is often usable as blog posts, your blog is generally best used for time-sensitive and more industry-wide relevant material with shorter story length.

Make sure your company is not simply migrating your newsletter content into your blog. They are different media and demand their own specialized style and practices.

Comments (0)

Tags: distributor relations, internal PR, manufacturing blogs, newsletters, public relations, toyota

---