I hope it shows that I spend a great deal of time researching these posts, even to the extent of taking reading matter with me on a weekend away. Whenever there’s half an hour or so when there’s nothing on TV and I don’t want to seem greedy by being the first to breakfast, out comes the laptop, and I brave the looks from my wife.
Like many, I am reluctant to use unknown Wi-Fi connections and tend to download a few articles before leaving home. I can’t be the only person to do this, yet many websites seem to put obstacles, whether intentionally or not, in the way of those who copy and paste their articles.
When it comes to a quick read on the latest trends in email marketing, it is frustrating to find that some text has converted to white, most of the images are too large, and the fonts are all over the place.
Some have cracked it though. A number give various options for a reader. Many companies allow the article to be emailed so you can send it to yourself for downloading later.
One aspect of note was that, when I copied an article from a training website, there was no logo, no internal links in the text for lead generation, and not even a mention of how to subscribe to their email marketing list. You don’t want clutter, but you want them to remember from where they got it.
Your blog and articles, especially how-to and reports, are valuable assets and you need to wringing every last bit of value out of them. If they are still current and of interest, they can still be exploited.
One company offers well-produced pdf downloads of the majority of their well-researched reports. One can copy and paste them, and with few formatting problems, but a pdf gives a convenient, and familiar, user interface. Their design adds a bit of credibility for the company. All this on one condition.
To receive the pdf one has to provide an email address. The promise is that it will not be used for anything other than authenticating other downloads unless the person specifically asks for any other facility. It should sound familiar to anyone in email marketing, but I’ll describe the landing page.
There are a few boxes to choose, all left unticked. Firstly, there’s ‘Register only’. Second there was notification of further reports, followed by enewsletter subscription.
The pdfs have a few logos dotted about, and the name of the company is on every page, as you would assume. That apart, the advertising is impressively subtle, with references to other reports produced by the company, all with a hotlink. Nowhere are there any references to the company’s email marketing list subscription, but click on a hotlink and you are asked if you’d like the advantage of selected offers, tailored for someone just like you.
It’s all very laid back despite it being the start of the marketing funnel. As a lead generator, is it very smooth.
