We’ve developed a checklist of sorts to walk you through the process of content generation – this should help you avoid making it a real chore. We recommend that you consider using PDF documents as they are a good platform for your branding and your message.
PDFs are universally accepted and displayed and are not dependent on the type of machine or operating system used by the recipient. Access and content can be controlled through a variety of security features and this helps to ensure that the ‘look and feel’ – as well as the content – of your document will be preserved.
OBJECTIVE So it stands to reason that the first thing you need is an ‘objective’. What do you hope to achieve? What’s your purpose? What do you want to do with your content? Do you want to: sell it; use it as an incentive to encourage someone to take action (sign up for email, register their details etc); use it to introduce a new service or product; give it away as a free report or white paper; or bundle it with a service or product as a bonus offer. Your objective for the PDF will suggest what it needs for content, design and how you will distribute it.
CONTENT You need to carefully consider who will receive your PDF and develop the content for them. It must be meaningful and relevant to them and satisfy some need or address an issue which they face. Ideas of possible sources of content which you can adapt include: blog posts; hints and tips you have shared; frequently asked questions; user guides; or service or product specifications.
DESIGN There are many design elements to consider for your PDF. Whatever you choose, it should complement your content, not completely overshadow it. Yes you need the design to grab the viewer’s attention, but it shouldn’t make digesting the content difficult; in fact, there’s a lot design can do to make the content more accessible. Things you’ll need to consider include: layout (portrait or landscape, background images, text boxes etc); cover image; white space (to balance against text); headers and footers; call outs; highlight text; and graphics.
DISTRIBUTE There are a lot of places online that you can choose to distribute your PDFs from; you should consider your message and your audience carefully and select the most appropriate place(s) to share your PDFs from. These may include: website; blog post; an opt-in page, social media (Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc); with a product; or via email. Wherever you decide to send your PDFS from it should be relevant to your objective and appropriate for the receiver.
If you have any questions about developing effective branded content and using PDFs please contact Marie on 07793908983