Digital Editions For The Finance Sector: An Enticing And Cost-Effective New Way To Communicate With Customers And Employees

Banks and other financial sector institutions are at the forefront of exploring new ways to engage with their customers and employees more effectively. For large, often multi-national organisations such as these, traditional hard-copy communications - whether promotional or must-have publications and data - can be expensive to produce and distribute; they also earn a black mark for the negative environmental impact caused by printing and snail-mailing on such a large scale. Reaching customers and employees by email gets round some of these issues, but the ability to grab and keep people's attention amongst the volume of messages they receive, solicited or not, is the marketing and communications Holy Grail.

Digital Editions, such as those created by YUDU Media, mitigate the escalating financial and environmental costs of producing offline brochures and newsletters, and at the same time provide appealing electronic documents that won't be immediately consigned to the junk email bin.

A Digital Edition is an electronic replica of a print publication – such as a magazine, catalogue or brochure – that can include Flash, video, audio and interactive features, combining the benefits of online and offline formats in a cost-effective way. Digital Editions can be consumed page by page like a printed brochure, while at the same time enhancing the experience by allowing users to interact with the rich, multi-media pages, as they are used to with a traditional website.

For banks and financial institutions, the benefits of digital editions are significant and many. It costs very little to reproduce a digital edition; and the significant print costs associated with glossy offline brochures and literature are eliminated.

Internal and External Communications

YUDU Media's finance sector clients include global banking giant RBS, PWC and Euromoney as well as well known hedge funds and financial market intelligence providers.

Royal Bank of Scotland produces a number of internal communication publications using YUDU Digital Edition technology. Stephanie Cook, Internal Communications Manager who oversees the production of Ethos, the Magazine for Global Banking and Markets said, "Our digital magazine is a fast and effective way to keep our staff all over the world informed of industry and company movements. It can be sent out in an instant and is a much greener option than traditional print magazines."

As security is a major concern for financial sector businesses YUDU's bespoke DRM protection tools are used to prevent documents being read or copied without permission. The system's analytics can also be used to scrutinise exactly what content is – and isn't – popular in the Digital Edition, assisting with editorial decision making.

Digital Editions can also be used to reach existing and potential customers across the world without increasing distribution costs, as an unlimited number of brochures can be distributed globally at no extra charge, offering an impressive return on investment. They can also form a key role in a company's internal marketing and communications strategy, providing staff with a more engaging experience than email.

Unlike their offline counterparts, YUDU Digital Editions are carbon neutral, helping businesses minimise their carbon footprint – excellent news for the environment and a very positive message in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility performance.

Warming the Sales Environment

Digital Editions also lend themselves to impulse action. For example, a bank can invite an existing or potential customer to browse a Digital Edition in exactly the same manner they've been accustomed to with a print brochure. They can then stir a user's interest by allowing them to access the rich media elements – such as Flash, video or audio clips – embedded in the Digital Edition. Finally, the content can contain a call to action – a link that takes the user straight to the relevant product's landing page on the bank's website, encouraging him/her to take action while they have fresh impetus. Similarly, communications to staff can be timely, relevant and completely up to date, while at the same time maintaining quality.

One of the really attractive things about YUDU Digital Editions is that they are incredibly easy to produce and require little technical expertise, which means there are no administrative or training overheads for banks to shoulder. The technology can turn flat brochures, magazines, annual reports, newsletters – in fact any printed materials into interactive Digital Editions in minutes, affording companies in the finance sector huge scalability in terms of mass production. Additionally the use of video in Digital Editions – such as a personal message from a CEO or sector analyst, is a particularly attractive feature to achieve and maintain reader interest.

Unlike sending documents as attachments, Digital Editions are sent via a link in an email so they never run the risk of being caught in spam filters. Furthermore, Digital Editions can be hosted securely on company intranets, affording a number of advantages. Firstly, it becomes an instant method of communication, allowing all those permitted to see the Digital Editions immediately and at the same time; and secondly, and perhaps most importantly for the fast paced finance industry, each Digital Edition uses a fixed website address, so that the content can be automatically updated without having to send out a new document or web address. In addition, because a Digital Edition is hosted, it doesn't need to be downloaded like a PDF for example, meaning very large files can be accessed quickly and easily.

The high quality of the Digital Editions lends itself perfectly to finance-related documents. They use crisp vector text, ensuring the text remains sharp irrespective of the text size or zoom level used. This means, for example, that pages containing large amounts of figures, small text and financial tables can be read clearly even if a very small font is used.

Consumers, businesses and staff in the finance industry expect excellent levels of service, quality products and engaging publications and communications in a variety of formats. YUDU Digital Editions play an important role in providing this and strengthening the finance sector's ability to reach a broad audience internally and externally. As pressure mounts to use ever-more environmentally sound and secure practises, digital editions are fast proving themselves as a ‘must have' alongside traditional websites.