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| Interactive Brochures on CD |
| - Bridging the Offline and Online Worlds |
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Imagine this. You're sitting at your desk one day and the mail comes. You glance through the pile and see a self-mailer that's colorful and appears to have a CD inside. Being the curious type and seeing that the CD came from your association/industry, you pop it into your CD drive and wonder what next.
You're greeted by a video of the association president speaking directly to you on sweeping changes in your industry. Next you see a few menu choices and you start to learn new things about topics that have peeked your curiosity.
This CD is known as an interactive brochure and it's extremely appealing because it provides a total interactive experience that is directed by the viewer.
There are many ways you could use this compelling marketing tool. For a professional association, we created a CD that educated prospective and current members about the many products and services available for sale. These items were searchable and contained links to an e-commerce store on the web. The CD also included a video message from several of the association's executives.
For a trade association, a CD was produced featuring an overview of their web site re-launch and included highlights of what members and non-members could now accomplish online.
While the technology of CD-ROM is not new, an interactive brochure delivered via CD is fast becoming a great bridge between the offline and the online worlds. There are a few reasons for the fast adoption of CDs as a marketing tool. First, people now look to their computer for information presented in an exciting format, but they're often frustrated to see choppy videos delivered via the web. Also, people now have multimedia-equipped computers, are more knowledgeable about receiving CDs via mail and don't fear viruses from a CD.
Let's compare the benefits of interactive CDs with their cousins in the offline world (printed brochures) and the online world (web sites). |
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| Best of offline: |
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Grabs attention - as with any direct mail piece, CDs can be sent proactively via US mail to a targeted mailing list. The novelty of a CD makes them stand out in the mail. |
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Targeted delivery - mailing lists are more established than email lists and offer superior targeting via demographic selects. |
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Retention - as a physical item, CDs are retained for future reference. |
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Fast read - the printed CD jacket can highlight benefits right away without opening the mailer. Additionally, the CD can be imprinted with your marketing message. |
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Hand-outs - the CD can also be distributed as a hand out at tradeshows as well as delivered as an insert in a magazine. |
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| Best of online: |
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Richer experience - animation and sound bring your message to life. |
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Interactivity - people can choose what they need. |
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Feedback - your target can take surveys and inquiry for more detail. |
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Dynamic content - since your CD can link to your web site, you can keep your information fresh and avoid having your CD become dated. (e.g. the price list content might be pulled live from your web site). |
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Once you develop the content of your CD, you can have this same interactive experience available via your web site. You might choose to create a "high speed" option off your opening page with the same content as the CD.
In the case of interactive brochures on CD, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. The CD not only takes the best of both the offline and the online world, it can include powerful videos that don't always work well for many web connections. The power of videos has been proven since television first appeared as a mass medium.
Think about the company that sent the most CDs into this world as a marketing tool - America Online. While AOL could have mailed a printed mail piece and asked people to call for their free CD, they took a more direct approach. There's no reason your association can't leverage this same technique to grow membership, sell non-dues revenue items, and reinforce the value of your association through powerful video messaging.
If you would like to receive a copy of an interactive brochure on CD and/or more information on this topic, email your name and address to dave@trackmktg.com. |
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