Following on from our current theme of content marketing ideas, this week we look at an extension of the whitepapers idea: technical guides.
There are many opportunities for looking at slightly ‘left field’ forms of marketing. In the world of technical marketing, when a company offers technical advice gathered from years of development and practical experience, it is seen not as a sales pitch but an altruistic gift, yet one that is closely linked to the sponsor’s brand. Yes, of course all this information can be uploaded on a website and listed by Google, but our experience is that even a small printed booklet is still given and received as a 'gift'.
A guide booklet is a subliminal sales tool, but unlike a whitepaper (which focuses on a single subject), a guide extends to the complete topic surrounding the advertising message you want to distribute. The guide is created in a style that explains a technology in easy to understand terms, with sufficient history to provide a background, but not so much to be boring.
All new product ranges, technical solutions or services are ideal subjects for a guide booklet project. While avoiding specific references and ‘catalogue entry’ descriptions of products, the guide will provide a canvas of background information to b-2-b specifiers and buyers and gently explain about why previous technologies have developed to the logical point that describes your product’s unique benefit.
Of course, the guide uses plenty of subtle yet direct references to the products being sold, but in non-specific terms 'Fig 5: A typical example of a waterproof digital widget', or 'Graph 7: Comparison of energy efficiency of the traditional and the new technology…’ Using a combination of technical and journalistic copywriting techniques, the guide booklet can have many marketing benefits. In addition to the primary means to introduce a new product, or range of products or services, it can also help to promote your company as a caring, generous corporation, and most importantly be a sales tool with the all-important retention value.
There are many opportunities for looking at slightly ‘left field’ forms of marketing. In the world of technical marketing, when a company offers technical advice gathered from years of development and practical experience, it is seen not as a sales pitch but an altruistic gift, yet one that is closely linked to the sponsor’s brand. Yes, of course all this information can be uploaded on a website and listed by Google, but our experience is that even a small printed booklet is still given and received as a 'gift'.
A guide booklet is a subliminal sales tool, but unlike a whitepaper (which focuses on a single subject), a guide extends to the complete topic surrounding the advertising message you want to distribute. The guide is created in a style that explains a technology in easy to understand terms, with sufficient history to provide a background, but not so much to be boring.
All new product ranges, technical solutions or services are ideal subjects for a guide booklet project. While avoiding specific references and ‘catalogue entry’ descriptions of products, the guide will provide a canvas of background information to b-2-b specifiers and buyers and gently explain about why previous technologies have developed to the logical point that describes your product’s unique benefit.
Of course, the guide uses plenty of subtle yet direct references to the products being sold, but in non-specific terms 'Fig 5: A typical example of a waterproof digital widget', or 'Graph 7: Comparison of energy efficiency of the traditional and the new technology…’ Using a combination of technical and journalistic copywriting techniques, the guide booklet can have many marketing benefits. In addition to the primary means to introduce a new product, or range of products or services, it can also help to promote your company as a caring, generous corporation, and most importantly be a sales tool with the all-important retention value.
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