I recently read a blog post about how to use white papers for lead generation and the big debate was whether or not to gate your white paper with a web form or to have a call to action at the end. What if there was a middle ground. What if you could still query your white paper readers, like a web form, but have it at the end, middle or wherever, of your content that way you are asking for your readers information after they have been engaged with your content.
THERE IS A SOLUTION OUT THERE!
PDFSalesLeads, coming October 2009 does exactly what is described above. PDFSalesLeads is a PDF lead generation tool that embeds a form within your PDF white paper so you can query your readers while they are engaged with your content. Here is the BEST part, the form stays with the PDF white paper so you are able to obtain all the lead information from who ever the PDF white paper is passed along to…its the POWER of PASS ALONG!
PDFSalesLeads is the future of marketing your PDF documents. From one marketer to another, using web forms is a thing of the past…if you really want to obtain more qualified sales leads you are going to try PDFSalesLeads, the ROI will present itself immediately! Right now they are offering a FREE NO RISK TRIAL…check it out www.pdfsalesleads.com
White papers have become established as a cornerstone for most lead generation campaigns, and the content format continues to be one of the most successful response drivers during the recent economic downturn. For example, the 2009 Media Consumption Report from TechTarget showed white papers continued to be the top content source (cited by 66% of respondents) buyers turn to when evaluating new technology.
The content format also continues to have strong viral impact—one with 93% of buyers passing along up to half of the white papers they read/download, according to InformationWeek’s Best Practices Research Series on white papers. However, in order for white paper offers to stand out and succeed in a crowded field of lead gen offers, cutting edge marketers are realizing the need to stand out from the crowd by trying new approaches and integrating outside tools and tactics to optimize their content messaging.
Turn your white papers into lead generating machines, checkout PDFSalesLeads…a new lead generation tool for your PDF content!
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.
The hype over Web 2.0 seems to have simmered down but there’s still a great deal of excitement in the B2B marketing community about what can be achieved using new online media. With the effectiveness of cutting-edge tactics remaining unproven, though, many marketers are clinging to their old online methods.
W
here does this leave PDF? Well, when streaming video, blogs and so forth started to take hold, some commentators predicted the death of the white paper. In spite of this, PDF documents like white papers, case studies and data sheets remain vital tools for many B2B marketers, especially in the technology sector.
The fact is that, by allowing marketers to distribute traditional print-style materials online, PDF offers something very valuable that no other format can match. Furthermore, with today’s enhanced PDF technology, there’s no reason why electronic documents can’t engage prospects in a Web 2.0-style interactive experience.
There are great things that can be done, using Flash technologies, to turn PDF into an interactive document format. If marketers can get access to simple tools that leverage these technologies, they won’t have to choose between traditional techniques and interactive media – they’ll have the best of both worlds.
