Engage your audience with long-form digital content
If you are involved in marketing or business, you’ve likely grappled with the question of how to lead in creating long-form digital content. Duplicating your print strategy may seem like the easiest answer — if so, this post will show you how you’re missing out. At Lucidpress, we’ve learned a bit about long-form digital content creation, and what does and doesn’t work. Here’s how you can have a positive experience in making the switch to native-digital documents.
1. Use modern software for modern projects
Even people who don’t understand the backend of technology want the end products to work for them. There is a large market you can engage with interactive documents that are native to the web. A PDF may be online, but it might not offer all the opportunities that another platform can. Online software lets you tell your story in a magical way. Transport your audience to your event with immersive image galleries. Link to the product you’re selling with one click for the end user. Cloud-based layout editors like Lucidpress are ideal platforms for creating digital magazines, newsletters, and product catalogs. Here’s why:
- Increased control: Make it easy for your readers to scroll through your document. You have control over image galleries, links, and layout.
- Save time: Instead of coding a time-consuming HTML newsletter, simply send your readers a link to your multipage doc. This medium is versatile — you can promote your brand with digital magazines on many social media platforms.
- Have more fun: Not only is the experience seamless for end users, but content creators love making long-form documents with cloud-based software tools. They’re easy to learn and highly collaborative.
2. Choose an editor and templates that just work
You may have a blog or a website for your business. But unless you’re a professional designer, it’s too easy to create something that doesn’t resonate with your audience. When you make the transition to digital magazines, the experience is going to be cleaner and more fun to interact with.
Using a software program that comes with professional-grade templates takes the guesswork out of making a modern, intuitive digital magazine. With user-friendly tools, the editor experience won’t have you banging your head against the keyboard. What you see on the canvas is what your readers get.
3. Find layouts that aren’t grandfathered into the 21st century
We’ve all encountered documents that clearly weren’t designed for a digital medium. As anyone who has tried to read a three-column PDF on a smartphone knows, it’s not enough to throw up a print document and expect it to work for mobile users. Adopting print conventions in the digital sphere leads to poorly laid out webpages, with unclear menus and cluttered design. It doesn’t take long for readers to suffer from information overload. Create content with mobile viewers in mind. Start with digital templates that are sized to be perfect for viewing on iPads and mobile phones. Native-digital design means that your viewers stay in your document longer and take away a better brand impression. Unlike a static page, they can take immediate action by clicking links to your site! Going digital means one less step to money in your pocket through increased sales and subscribers.
4. Select typefaces and images that resonate
Does it feel like other people have a better starting point? When you’re breaking into a market, you want to replace expensive software with an all-in-one solution. Unless you’re a professional graphic designer, you may be stumped by which fonts to use in your advertising. Pick a design program whose fonts aren’t stuck in the 1990s. Although you’re likely targeting a digital market, almost every business needs print materials. It can be difficult to meet both needs at once. Maybe you’ve downloaded a great-looking image online, but it looks grainy in your brochure. Maybe the serif font you’ve been using for handouts isn’t easy to read on a screen. Different mediums call for different approaches — try using templates that are customized for specific use cases (for example, digital yearbooks or print posters). Designing for your end product means that the final result not only looks better, but that your brand will be respected no matter how it’s encountered.
5. Engage your audience with a radically different approach to marketing
Ultimately, all your work is for nothing if people click away from your document. It’s difficult to engage customers with an approach that mimics the print universe or Web 1.0.
If you’ve ever browsed a Pinterest board, you know that digital media can be uniquely engrossing, as you scroll through page after page of beautiful, social, interactive images. When it comes to managing a brand strategy for a savvy, mobile-using audience, you have to find a tool that’s modern. The interactive elements in Lucidpress are a natural fit for professionals looking to be at the forefront of digital marketing. When you use image galleries, scrolling text, and videos, your audience will find that they can’t tear themselves away.
Sign up for Lucidpress or try our digital magazine template to start engaging your audience today.
Originally published at www.lucidpress.com.
