Secrets from the Data Cave: April 2014

Welcome to CRCs monthly series of articles on all things techie: Secrets from the Data Cave! (For those who dont know, the title references our room fondly referred to as the bat cave where data staff can geek out in an isolated setting.) Here well be offering you a fascinating sneak peek into the cave, with the latest updates & tips on what were implementing here at CRC!

April 2014: Building Online Brochures for Dummies

Lets be frank: print advertising is going the way of the Dodo bird (RIP Mr. Dodo). Pamphlets, flyers, and brochures received in the mail(or in-person from a persistent kiosk salesperson while youre walking through the mall, just trying to get your coffee fix) typically end up in the recycling bin or in a giant stack on your dining room table.

You know you have a pile like this at home, admit it!

So, whats a better way for companies and organizations to effectively spread the word about their services and products?

Drumroll, please

I present to you, Simplebooklet. This handy website allows you to easily build online brochures (or booklets, as they call them) in a matter of minutes. Even the most HTML-illiterate person can make a brochure without pulling their hair out, as the process is 100% click-and-choose with no code-writing involved.

I signed up for a free trial, which gave me 10 booklets that will be available online for 14 days. You can upgrade your account to the Hero service, which for $48 allows your 10 booklets to remain available online for a year. The Client Manager account gives you 30 booklets and 5 client accounts at a cost of $120/year. Or, choose Full Service where you supply a digital version (PDF, Word document, etc.) of your material and they transform it into a booklet for you (price available on request from Simplebooklit).

You can design a booklet from scratch (which isnt as difficult as it sounds!) or use one of their several templates including Top 5, which highlights the top benefits of your products and services. I experimented with the Business Overview template to create a quick Carson Research booklet. This is just an elementary example of what you can do the possibilities are nearly endless! The site allows you to make a minimalist, muted brochure, a vibrantly-colored one full of images, or anything in-between. And, as you work out the style that fits your needs, every time you edit the booklet it will automatically update it wherever you have shared/posted it.

And good news for data heads like us. Simplebooklit allows you to check the analytics how many views your booklet has had, and how many social media shares so you can be sure that your electronic brochure has not ended up in the internet garbage dump.

Try your hand at making a booklet and let us know what you think!