I came across this blog post from Brian Carroll, When is a “free download” no longer free?, which spoke about how people were tired of having to fill out web forms in order to read “free” content and then after reading it they would get bombarded with sales calls, whether or not they found the info valuable.
This is a perfect example of why docmterics offers a nice balance between web forms and open content. Marketers and readers both walk away happy. Docmetrics allows you to place a customized form inside your document. This allows you to tease / qualify / entice your readers before asking them for personal data (a refreshing give and take relationship). In other words, you are allowing your reader to gather an understanding of what you have to offer before they identify themselves. If what you offer solves their problem, they will be inclined to provide their contact information and the in-document form is a great way to facilitate this interaction. In either event (submit or skip) the reader will always receive your content. This is critical. Allowing your reader to “skip” the form will lead to better quality leads i.e. why fill in bogus data when you can skip the form entirely?
There’s a great article on marketers surviving the downturn on Sherpa’s blog this week titled, “SherpaBlog: Sequoia Capital Advises CEOs to Rely on Marketing to Survive Downturn”
One of the key ways to surviving the downturn and being ahead of others is to always be able to gather more actionable data about your target customer. One of the tips that Anne Holland gives is truly key, “Improve measurements company-wide so you know what to cut and what to invest more in.” I would take that tip one step further and also say that improving ways to measure your outreach efforts through your current content collateral will give you a head start over your competitors.
Being open to new ideas is very important to everyone at Vitrium Systems. This openness is what has allowed us to prosper as an innovative PDF technology vendor. It’s also the reason we started this blog: it is vital for us to be actively involved an online conversation with our peers, colleagues and customers.
In the spirit of openness, we had a competition at our Vancouver office, to see who could come up with a name for the blog. Marketing assistant Michael Hobkirk had the winning entry. We feel that “The PDF Lounge” captures the spirit of what we want to provide: a welcoming place to discuss issues surrounding PDF technology and PDF content.
So, relax, make yourself at home and please feel free to join in the conversation. Over the coming months, we’ll be posting regularly on issues like content-based marketing, lead generation, Digital Rights Management, compliance, PDF forms and much, much more. Remember to check back regularly and – most of all – get involved!
