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How to Create an Interactive PDF (And Why You Should)

May 3rd, 2023 by Kendal Rodgers
Digital flipbook shown with the page turning next to an embedded video, soical post, and upload tray

It’s no surprise that people increasingly turn to online content for reading the news, interacting with friends, working, and shopping. In fact, 96% of people have increased their online video consumption, and more than 80% of the American population purchases products and services online. With all that time spent online, consumers are also demanding more interactive, immersive digital experiences versus the old days of one-dimensional photos and text.

From highly stylized Instagram Stories to interactive artificial intelligence tools, consumers want memorable experiences delivered in the palm of their hands. For creators, marketers, business owners, and professionals, this means delivering more robust content for customers to engage with instead of static landing pages or slide presentations. Unique, compelling digital content should be a focus of every business as digital transformation races ahead.

When you elevate online content with digital publishing, you also increase your reach, boost your engagement, and drive measurable results. Let’s explore how you can take static marketing materials and more to the next level with an interactive PDF creator through Issuu.

Who Should Use an Interactive PDF?

There are an endless number of uses for interactive PDFs, also known as Flipbooks — from sales pitch decks to shoppable gift guides to event flyers and beyond.

For creative professionals like artists, photographers, architects, illustrators, and videographers, interactive PDFs do justice to your stunning design work. Instead of living on a static landing page, potential customers can check out your designs in a dynamic, page-flipping format that makes your pixel-perfect visuals stand out.

For marketers hosting events, launching sales, running campaigns, and creating collateral, interactive PDFs increase engagement with target audiences and keep them focused on your content without any distractions. Instead of getting lost in pop-up chats or banners, readers can stay immersed in your specific message and brand.

Business owners and their teams can create flyers, sales catalogs, training documents, pitch decks, and presentations before instantly transforming them into interactive PDF Flipbooks. One-dimensional slide decks can get boring. Engaging digital content helps drive home important communications like sales pitches, company updates and announcements, quarterly business results, branding guidelines, and more.

For all types of users who create and publish content for their business and marketing efforts, it’s frustrating and time-consuming to create a single piece of content on multiple platforms. For example, you might create a flyer in InDesign, host it through a website builder, then measure results elsewhere. To boost productivity and efficiency, utilize an all-in-one digital transformation and publishing platform with built-in analytics to make data-driven decisions about content.

The Benefits of Interactive PDFs

When considering an interactive PDF solution, Issuu integrates directly with top design tools like Canva and InDesign for stunning visual creation and then takes static files to the next level with robust features like Links, Videos, Fullscreen Sharing, no-code Embedding, and more — in just a few clicks. But the benefits don’t stop there; take a look at what interactive PDF Flipbooks can do for you.

1. Reduced Costs

The average business uses 120 tools in its marketing tech stack. Printing and production are also expensive and don’t allow for extensive sharing and repurposing. Save money with high-performing digital content that will reduce the number of platforms you’re paying for, can be shared widely with various supporting assets, and can be repurposed into different formats.

2. Increased SEO Benefits

More than 25% of internet users select the first result in a search on Google, so ranking high in search queries is incredibly important for discoverability. SEO is an “always-on” marketing tool and Issuu’s interactive PDFs are optimized for search engine indexing. Boost the likelihood that new prospects and customers can quickly discover your content. 

3. Optimized for Social

Today, your content has to reach audiences across different channels and you know how time-consuming it is to create and then promote content for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and beyond. With the Social Posts feature, you can easily create attention-grabbing posts for your audience, saving you time and resources. Boost them even further by putting ad money behind the posts or activating your network to re-share.

4. Understanding Content Performance

One of the biggest challenges for marketing teams and business owners revolves around measuring content performance. Analytics can be murky, making it hard to see the full-funnel picture of how a single piece of content influences the buyer’s journey of awareness, consideration, and purchase. Statistics help you make data-driven decisions in real time, optimize your content strategy, and understand the value of a Flipbook in driving tangible results.

5. More Memorable Brand Experiences

How often do you engage with a piece of digital content that has videos, fullscreen viewing, clickable links, and more? Your business has the opportunity to stand out with a one-of-a-kind piece of content, creating a unique and distinctive brand identity.

How to Create an Interactive PDF

In just a few clicks, create a compelling interactive PDF that tells an engaging story.

  1. Upload your content to Issuu, or export an existing design using Issuu’s integrations to Drive, Dropbox, InDesign, and Canva.

  2. Watch your design instantly transform into a page-turning Flipbook!

  3. Enhance your Flipbook. Embed videos, customize your display with logos and background colors, and get a fullscreen sharing link to capture your audience’s attention.

  4. Focus on distribution. Sharing across channels is easy with Issuu’s drag-and-drop Social Posts builder, mobile-optimized Articles, email GIFs, and more.

Now, watch your Flipbook steal the show! Automate and supercharge your content creation, and let your brand stand out with one-of-a-kind digital marketing.

It’s time to take your digital content to the next level in just a few clicks. Explore Issuu today, and see how you can transform one-dimensional content into an engaging experience for your customers.

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