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Look Big with an E-Brochure

In my never ending quest to find a more affordable (read cheaper) way to make an impressive impact on potential clients, I have once again come back to the idea of creating an electronic press kit. There are several names for this kind of document, eBrcohure, Online Brochure, etc. put I think it serves the functions of a traditional press kit and most people have an idea of what is contained therein.

I have been fine-tuning my new 2010 e-press kit for the last few days. Of course it needed to be updated and freshened up since the rebranding earlier in the year. As many of you know who work with me or have read my books, I believe that your practice image should be attended to frequently. Check your own website “last updated” field now. If you haven’t updated your site in the last few months then I assume that you haven’t been doing anything noteworthy, that you haven’t helped win any cases or you might be out of business. Alas, that is the stuff of another post.

This week I want to identify some basic steps in creating an eBrochure or an e-press kit for your Legal Nurse Consulting or Life Care Planning practice.

Three things of note:

1. If done well, a  practice feature like this can impress clients, reduce printing costs and raise your level of professionalism to that of very larger consulting firms.
2. If done cheaply or with a poor aesthetic, it can backfire and make you look small, unfocused and technologically inept.
3. If you don’t have a clear practice goal, brand image and an impressive website—attend to those items first. A press kit shines the spotlight of what you already have. If your website isn’t better than your competitors work on that first and make this part of your future marketing plans.

If after reading the above notes of caution, you still want to continue then let’s get started.

The following steps outline the basic tasks required to establish your own LNC/LCP electronic press kit.

Step 1: It’s important to determine what the contents of the kit will be. A standard, offline press kit outline should suffice, and might look something like this:

• General Brochure – Brand Image
• Product/Service-Specific Datasheet (S)
• Company Background
• Management/Staff Biographies
• Praise Sheet: Industry Awards, Recognitions, Customer/Member Testimonials
• Select Press Releases
• Case Study
• Digital Artwork (As Applicable): Logo, Screen Shots, Product Photos, Head Shots, Etc.

In terms of your e-Press Kit, think about the items that you have in digital format that are similar to the items listed above. If you have a traditional full color print brochure then you probably have an e-version available to you already, just contact your designer. If you created the brochure yourself you can still work with it. Use some of the popular word processing programs to edit, refine and develop your brochure so that it is ready to deliver in an e-format.

Step 2: “Create” (or have someone create) an electronic letterhead template using high-resolution (300 dpi) design elements, onto which all of the above-outlined content will be placed. Microsoft® Word and/or Adobe® Acrobat® are nice applications for this template creation. Offering electronic press kit materials in a format that appropriately represents your brand and practice image through visually appealing design. Make sure that the e-Press kit prints well without pixelation and blurring and that your design gives the package of materials a feel of continuity. Ask yourself… are all critical elements in making a professional impression?

All the materials should be similarly branded to match your practice feel and convey the image you wish your potential clients to see. If you choose to do this yourself, take time to choose a template that matches well with the current branding items you have in place. If you get started and find that your image doesn’t really convey a message at all, then stop; reassess your practice goals, your practice niche and marketing plan. You may find that you need an image makeover. Don’t fret—LNCs and LCPs come to me every day with this request. It doesn’t always require a complete overhaul or a lot of expense. Take the time to do this right. You don’t want to shine a spotlight in a dusty corner.

Step 3: “Create” your materials in terms of the quality content and writing. I do not suggest just cutting and pasting from your website. It still needs to feel like a brochure that drives them to your website to learn more about your practice. Don’t try to include everything in your press kit. It’s like an appetizer to the meal. Ensure any references throughout the kit to Web site URLs and/or e-mail addresses are valid and active hotlinks that, once clicked, will either take the reader directly to the referenced Web site, or will launch his/her e-mail client. This is simple to do using Adobe Acrobat® and some newer versions of Microsoft Word.®

Step 4: Insert the prepared content onto your previously designed electronic letterhead template, saving a differing file name for each piece of collateral material such as “biographies”. Be sure you keep a “blank” copy of your electronic letterhead template available at all times, serving as the basis for all other, newly added kit materials. Also, be sure to check for proper formatting and, as goes without saying, spell check!

Step 5: “Lock” the document to maintain design and content integrity. Once your individual press kit files have been created in your word processing editor or other desktop publishing software, it is recommend that you create un-editable versions of these kit materials. You can do so by converting your file to an Adobe Acrobat PDF file, which is a format that both maintains the visual integrity (design) of your file and renders it un-editable by those receiving it. PDF files are quite visually appealing, and the Adobe Acrobat reader software is becoming quite ubiquitous. If you choose not to save your files in a PDF format—STOP! If you leave it as a Word document, several problems arise with this. First, it can be changed by anyone. Secondly, any images, embedded hotlinks or attachments will not position correctly when I open it in my browser and finally, it looks unprofessional. Use a locked PDF format but make sure you allow for printing.

Step 6: Zip it! If you have created your e-press kit with multiple files, you might consider zipping all of them into one single file named “XYZ Legal Nurse Consulting Press Kit”. Not only will this compress the size of the files being transmitted making upload and download of the materials speedier, but it also allows the recipient to easily save the multiple documents into the desired location. Do note that this will require the recipient to have the requisite software to unzip your materials, so take your audience makeup into consideration. It’s a safe assumption that most people will have such software, but some may not.

Step 7: Upload it! Once created, your ePress-kit can be sent via e-mail as needed/requested and/or can be made available for self-service download from a Web-based pressroom – or both, which I recommend. An online press kit on your website could circumvent the “e-mail attachment not being able to be opened obstacle” by availing both HTML and PDF versions of the digital kit materials. You can even go a step further in terms of capturing critical contact information from potential clients through an “add to mailing list,” “newsletter request,”

Step 8: Send it! Way too many times I have worked with clients to create documents that never get used. Find opportunities and mechanisms to use your new ePress-kit. For example, have it readily available on your Blackberry or iPhone to send it when you meet potential clients at the courthouse or in the hallway. I frequently send mine in this manner. Make it easily available on a noticeable page on your website. I do like to send mine with a personal email, so I do not subscribe to this method myself but its all personal preference.

It is also important that you don’t send your e-Press-kit without first letting your target client know what the attachment is. If they don’t know it’s coming, many will simply delete it to avoid catching a virus. One way to avoid that is to create a standard introduction to run in the message pane of your e-mails. Consider the following example:

Subject: XYZ Legal Nurse Consulting Press Kit, as requested

Dear [Name],

As per our conversation, please find attached XYZ Legal Nurse Consulting e- press kit materials for your review. These materials are provided as Adobe Acrobat PDF files. If you do not have the Acrobat Reader software required to view and print these materials, you can download the software online free of charge at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html. Also, if required, you can access each of these press kit files on our website located at http://www.xyzLNC.com/presskit.

If, after reviewing these materials, you have further questions and/or would like to schedule a case review with one of our certified Legal Nurse Consultants, please get back in touch with me and I will make the necessary arrangements. I appreciate your interest in XYZ Legal Nurse Consulting and look forward to working with you. Thank you in advance.

Regards,

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