Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Presenting Print Collateral As Flash Turn Pages

Posted by Levon on 6/17/2014 at 1:07 PM ET 1500 Points
I have been looking at Flip Book technology in order to convert print collateral into viable user friendly turn pages online that read like magazines and are more dynamic. I am sure you have seen this technology with some of your favorite magazines and brochures. It looks like a PDF but with some animated function such as ability to flip pages like a traditional magazine from front to end, the ability to embed videos, and dynamic images. They can get really fancy.

There are so many options available in this medium — so I thought I would turn to my trusty marketing piers and ask what has worked for them the best. Would like the ability to:

-Convert a library of brochures, flyers and traditional print media and make it available online on our website and beyond
-Embed these on website pages perhaps in a lightbox style
-Send links in emails for prospects to view
-Want it to be SEO friendly so it gets picked up by the search engines like a optimized PDF.
-Dynamic so that it displays beyond the desktop to mobile devices
-Easy to use and create

Willing to look at both conversion software to do it in house vs a service which will convert for me. Both are options that I will consider. Just want the best bang for the buck as well as it to be very effective at helping customers choose us over competition. Awarding some major points here. Hope to hear from my fellow piers.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by mgoodman on 6/17/2014 at 2:41 PM Accepted
    I do not have first-hand experience employing the technology as a marketer, though I have certainly come across it as a consumer. I would just caution that, as the old saying goes, "the tools don't make the carpenter."

    If the technology helps tell your story better, then it could be a great idea. But if it's just for "sparkle" you might be better served to focus on the story or essence of your message. In the end customers are very smart, and they are not fooled by slick presentations. They are convinced to purchase because they expect their lives to be improved by the real value in a product or service, not by the novelty of a presentation format.

    I'm not suggesting that you walk away from FlipBook technology, only that you ask yourself -- as you may have done already -- whether the technology is immediately relevant to delivering your message or if it is just some slick eye-candy that will increase your costs, suck up valuable budget, and in the end not deliver any increase in [perceived] customer value.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 6/17/2014 at 2:59 PM Moderator
    FWIW, Ad Age newspaper/magazine recently introduced page-flip technology to its online version. It looks slick and works very well. But everyone I've discussed it with remarks that either (1) they still prefer the hardcopy/dead-trees version, and/or (2) the content is still the same old Ad Age stuff ... and only the format has changed. Hardly a compelling endorsement IMHO.
  • Posted by saul.dobney on 6/17/2014 at 6:31 PM Accepted
    Watch out for Flash. Not every device can show it, so you'll have to have something that also shows html5. I'd also try out the idea on some customers. It's very easy to over fancify a webpage and some people get put off by techno-bling that slows down the experience they want and fashions online change rapidly. Maybe an app might be more current?
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 6/17/2014 at 7:20 PM Accepted
    Great points above.

    If you can do this and make the content stand apart from your other content, you create a unique user experience. Perhaps even an experience that subscribers would pay for. FlipHTML5 does this without Flash, and it's free:

    https://fliphtml5.com/free-flip-book-maker.php
  • Posted by Levon on 6/17/2014 at 7:30 PM Author
    This technology started off as Flash based, but it has become much more advanced and flexible due to mobile device technology requirements ---> in the age of Tablets. Thanks for the link to Fliphtml5 -- will check it out ----> looks the most promising so far. If anyone else has any other technologies they have used -- please post. Your generous advice is most appreciated.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 6/18/2014 at 8:51 AM Accepted
    Just yesterday I was reviewing a site that had their online magazines as flip books. And my user experience was it was a misfit. While I could flip the page, zoom in, search, etc. - it got in my way of trying to read/skim articles and especially frustrated my attempts to download them for later reading. My hunch is the format is best appreciated by a certain type of reader - one that likely has a tablet, and wants to sit back and casually read the material. And if you determine that's not your demographic, your effort is likely to frustrate more than impress. As a minimum, allow someone to print/download the document to read it offline at their leisure. If you can create an adaptive experience - one that adjusts the UI based on the screen/browser/user preferences, then you could fine tune the experience (and learn what people actually use) - if analytics are supported.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 6/18/2014 at 8:11 PM Accepted
    I ran a magazine with both print and online versions. For the online versions, I used issuu.com, scribd.com, and yudu.com for flip book versions and also provided a downloadable PDF. I think all 3 allow you to embed the literature on your site, but I didn't use this. Scribd.com also allows people to read on an iPad or similar, as it does not use Flash (the other 2 did not work on iPads).

    But, what has been said about people wanting print versions held truth in my case. Looking at broad numbers, 62% of my readers were with the print version, 18% downloaded the PDF and 20% used one of the 3 flip readers.
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