An essential asset of digital publishing is the ability to offer your audience exclusive content. While private publications can help you keep internal documents confidential, they can also help you create a stronger relationship with your readers, clients and future customers.
In this article, learn about the benefits of exclusive content and tips for your publishing strategy on Calaméo.
BUILD YOUR BRAND
Certainly, your digital publications are a powerful tool for informing your audience. But don’t underestimate their power to enhance your brand, too. Limiting the availability of your content can concentrate the link with your brand. For instance, you may wish to keep your publications on Calaméo private. But you can still make them easy to browse on your own website with our embed feature for private publications.
In addition to convenient embeds, you can also take advantage of opportunities to enhance your exclusive content with interactive content and custom branding. As a result, your digital publications will be 100% you.
In recent years, focusing on subscriptions has been a strong trend in digital publishing and exclusivity is a key factor. By offering content that only subscribers can access, you can tempt casual readers to sign up, establish contacts and encourage your audience to keep returning.
The flexible Subscribers feature provides a built-in solution for publishing subscribers-only content on Calaméo. First, secure exclusive publications behind a log-in window. Next, assign each subscriber a unique user name and password to use for access. In short, the first step to creating a great subscriber experience is exclusive content.
SUPPORT SALES
Personalization is already the next big thing in digital marketing. Recent studies have shown that when used well, it can help boost sales online. In fact, more than two-thirds of customers expect a personalized experience.
Those numbers are just one reason why you might want to consider tailoring your sales material to individual clients. Take a little time to customize your brochures, presentations and proposals. Then, publish on Calaméo and share with your prospects via private URL.
💡TIP: To generate a new private URL for your publication, open the share window and click on “Renew private URL.”
REWARD LOYALTY
Because everyone loves perks. And your audience is no exception! Investing in some exclusive, privately published bonus content will surprise and delight your most dedicated followers. For example, you might offer an extra magazine issue, sneak peek at upcoming events or flyer with special deals. Publishing on Calaméo ensures that your bonus content looks great in a fun format. Plus, direct downloads let fans enjoy it even offline.
No matter how you choose to publish exclusive content, measuring its performance should be part of your strategy. Calaméo’s advanced statistics contain valuable data to help you analyze the success of your private publications. For more details on where to start, check out our quick guide to digital publishing KPIs.
On Calaméo, you can publish and share up to 50 private publications—absolutely free. Get your free account and start creating exclusive content today.
Have you ever seen an advertisement and immediately known which company it belonged to, even if you didn’t glimpse the name? Chances are you recognized certain facets of that company: special fonts, taglines, logos, and color combinations that belong unmistakably to a brand. These elements, and more, make up a brand’s identity. All visual and editorial aspects of a brand’s identity are determined by the brand’s style guide.
On the Calaméo blog we have talked about logos, brand identity and brand image. Next up? Brand style guides, sometimes called graphic charters or brand guidelines. In this article we will discuss the ins and outs of this important document, so let’s dive in!
First thing’s first: what is a brand style guide? A brand style guide is a document that governs all the visual (and sometimes editorial) elements of a company that make it recognizable and unique. It also explains when and how to use these elements. Simply put, a style guide is the key to all communications!
These guides ensure that there is no confusion when it comes to what the brand’s content should look and sound like. Using the guide as a reference, all company communications are consistent across channels and mediums. The style guide can be as detailed as you like; typically, larger companies have more comprehensive style guides because they are more likely to use a wider range of communication channels, and they appear in more places (television, print, online, etc.).
Who creates the style guide?
The creation of brand style guides is best left to professionals. However, it’s a collaborative process: graphic designers or design firms will work with you to create a style guide that suits your company and fits your brand identity. You must decide who you are, your values, and the image you’d like to portray to the world.
Why and how should you use a style guide?
A brand style guide is essential for your company’s brand identity. In order to maintain clear and cohesive communications across all channels, a style guide is the ultimate reference. Internal documents such as slide decks and employee newsletters, external communications such as advertisements or social media posts, plus everything in between: all of this content must look similar and adhere to your brand identity. To achieve this consistency, companies must have a brand style guide. Otherwise, logos may appear in the wrong colors and dimensions, there won’t be a uniform look to your communications, and your tone will be all over the place. Any communication that comes from the company, both internally and externally, should use the style guide as a reference.
What is included in a style guide?
Length and details may vary depending on the company, but a brand style guide is usually made up of the following visual and editorial elements:
Logo
Logos are a crucial part of a brand’s identity, its most visible identifier. Logos are images, texts, or shapes (or a combination of the three) in the company’s color palette that represent the company. A blue bird invokes Twitter, three stripes on a sneaker will certainly mean that they are Adidas, and a swoosh (both the shape and the word) is emblematic of Nike.
A company’s logo cannot be used haphazardly. The brand style guide should explicitly outline the exact colors and dimensions of the logo. Even the background on which the logo appears is specified in the style guide.
Take Calaméo’s logo, for example. The spacing and colors are exact: the dimensions around the lettering are determined by the height of the green accent, and the colors are specific to our brand.
There are other elements to consider. Do you have a slogan or motto with words as part of your logo? If so, you must clearly state where the slogan goes, how big it can be, the color(s) to use, and when to employ this version of the logo. There are many rules you must define in your brand style guide, especially when it comes to your logo.
Colors
Companies have specific brand colors, usually two to three, that they use in logos and branding. The style guide will include complementary colors as well. These colors all together are known as the company’s color palette.
Great thought and care go into a company’s color palette. There are even psychological tricks behind choosing certain colors that the company wants associated with the brand or product. They may want to demonstrate trust, youth, sophistication, or other descriptors.
The brand style guide should outline all the ways to find these colors: a visual representation of the color, HEX and RGB formats, and other formats if necessary. Rather than just “blue” or “red”, companies choose very specific shades of these colors that go well together and set them apart from other brands. These exact shades need to be used every time.
Examples of Calaméo’s color palette using the HEX values
Typeface
Another important element of the brand style guide is typeface. Typeface is the kind of lettering used in communications, which includes fonts. Does your company use only lowercase letters? All capitals? You must include the size, spacing, and color of your typeface in your style guide so employees know exactly how the typeface should look.
Work with a graphic designer to choose the best typeface for your company. Some brands even create their own fonts! Keep in mind that your typeface also reflects your tone– is it silly, serious, elevated? Your typeface must work well with the other elements of your style guide.
Images
Some brand style guidelines include rules about styles of images or photographs to use. These images must fit into the brand’s identity and remain consistent; you should not use a bright and airy photograph one day and then a dark and moody photograph the next. The rules could include using colors from the company’s color palette or desired emotions that the images should evoke (energetic, powerful, soothing). Images are available to download on sites like Getty Images, Shutterstock, or Unsplash, if your company does not have access to a photographer or photography studio to create your own images. However, make sure to check that you have the right to use the images.
Icons
Brand style guides may also include illustrations or icons. Consider the icons you see on a company’s website: a shopping cart to click on when you are ready to purchase or an envelope icon if you want to communicate with the company via email. These icons must be coherent across all platforms. Icons will, much like the rest of the elements of the style guide, reflect the brand identity. Whimsical, rigid, colorful, playful…your icons can express a lot about your brand!
A few of Calaméo’s icons
Tone
Your tone and voice give your brand a personality via the written word. Once you decide who you are, it should be easy to find your company’s tone The brand style guide may include different instructions depending on the channel– perhaps your social media tone will be slightly less formal than that of your advertisements, for example. The guide should include written examples so employees can see how to employ the tone in different situations. Think of the image you want to project, and stay consistent.
Applying your style guide to digital publications
So now that you know all about style guides, it’s time to apply this knowledge to your digital publications! Because digital publishing is a visual medium, consistent brand visuals make all the difference between an amateur-looking document and a professional-grade publication.
With Calaméo, you can personalize your viewer Theme, add your logo, and enrich your content yourself so that your digital publications match your brand identity. With our White Label feature for PLATINUM members, your publications appear in your name and image, without the Calaméo logo. Start your free trial today!
You’re not imagining it: everyone seems to be on vacation.From calm, sunny beaches to action-packed city breaks, getting away is everywhere. Although declaring that Millennials value experiences over things is already a cliché, recent research suggests that a cultural shift really is happening. McKinsey found in 2017 that spending on experiences has grown more than 4 times faster than spending on things.
Among these experiences, young adults are increasingly making travel a priority. 55% of US Millennials said they planned to travel more over the next 12 months, while 65% said that they were already putting money asidefor future travel. They’ll need to save for this major purchase. An international trip sets the average American traveler back $6080 and Millennials planned to spend just over $6800 on travel in 2018. An Expedia study examining these changes in the United States concluded that people “are increasingly changing their spending behaviors, saving strategies and even lifestyles to facilitate travel.” It’s clear that travel is here to stay.
The new normal
As travel has become a greater interest for many, the way we travel has changed. Travel agents, ticket booths and hotels compete with digital booking services, smartphone apps and AirBNB. Low-cost airlines have reduced leg room, baggage allowances and prices. Travelers looking for lunch are more likely to consult restaurant reviews posted online than to pull out a thick stack of trusted, dog-eared guide books from their backpacks.
Digital disruption has helped to reshape the role of travel media in consumers’ lives. The Internet provides countless sources of information beyond classic travel magazines and guide books, plus real-time access and instant sharing. But it has also made research more essential, curation more powerful and produced new opportunities for content to connect with consumers interested in travel. For all of these reasons, today’s best content strategies in travel find ways to bridge traditional publications and digital experiences.
Getting inspired
The first interactions with travel media occur during the “inspiration phase,” when getting away is still just a dream and people are open to new ideas about where to go. Social media is a key resource in this period. Posts on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest provide inspiration to 30% of all U.S. travelers. Younger users are even more likely to point to the influence of social media: Expedia found that 36% of “Gen Z” consumers have chosen a travel destination because of posts about it.
Although social media has become a critical channel for the broader travel industry, publishers are finding significant value in longer-form content. As the launch of Airbnbmagin 2017 suggests, traditional travel magazines offer a different kind of experience to digitally savvy travelers. Deeply reported stories, lavish photography spreads and expert advice can make a bigger impact than scrolling social media feeds.
With travelers going online for inspiration, it’s important to make this engaging content available without losing the qualities that make it special. Publishing travel magazines digitally is a smart a solution. Digital publications benefit from online accessibility while preserving a format perfect for maximum browsing.
Research assistant
Digital editions also let publishers create compelling multimedia experiences to connect with readers. A 2016 Google study revealed how persuasive video content can be as travelers move from the inspiration phase to planning their trip. Offering useful information about destinations is good business for travel brands: 67% of travelers are more likely to buy from a company that does, and online video helps 60% decide on where to go, what to do and which brands to choose.
External links play a big role in helping travelers in the planning phase, too. Younger travelers now consult more than 10 different sources when researching a trip, compared to just 3 sources in 2002. On average, they’ll click through 38 different websites before making a travel-related purchase. That means even traditional travel publications need to create digital links so readers can keep exploring. By curating reliable, relevant information into a single online resource, digital publications can serve as a hub for travelers to research their destination.
Mobile experiences
Once the trip is underway, digital travel media comes along for the ride. Thanks to improvements in Wi-fi coverage and the falling cost of data plans, many people stay connected throughout the entire time that they travel. As Internet access on airplanes has become increasingly common, for example, companies like Air France and SmartLynxare taking advantage of digital publishing to bring readers to their in-flight magazines online.
Travelers also seek out practical information on the ground, since not every detail of the itinerary is worked out in the planning phase. 3 out of 4 travelers aim to book some or all of their activities after arriving at their destination. That’s where city guides come in. Fast load times and mobile responsiveness for digital publications in HTML5 mean travelers can browse online using their smartphones, or download the whole edition for easy access on the go.
No trip would be complete without logging in to document the experience. According to Econsultancy, 97% of Millennials have posted a personal travel photo or video on social media. Travel publishers can harness their desire to share by creating a hashtag for users to add to their posts. Calaméo publisher Lonely Planet’s #lonelyplanetfr boasts more than 100,000 photos tagged on Instagram, while REEF Magazine’s #hamiltonisland has been used 410,000 times. These images can then be used in digital publications and social media to help reach users who are in the inspiration phase—driving traffic, growing audiences and converting new travelers.
Welcome aboard
All signs indicate that travel’s digital journey is only just beginning. As long as more and more people dream of exploring the world, new tools will help us get inspired, make plans and get out there. And although changes in the travel media industry may have moved pretty fast, big opportunities are continuing to develop. For publishers learning how to make the most out of both the digital space and traditional strengths, it’s time for takeoff.
Read this article in our 2nd issue of Calaméo Magazine, as well as many others on the theme of tourism:
