It is 2023. And every now and again we receive requests to create a gated whitepaper or report which needs to be delivered as a PDF file. PDFs have long been the default for the industry. This previously made a lot of sense. They look pretty much the same on every device you view them on. You can download a PDF as a file and save it to your device. You can print it if you want. Because of this, they psychologically feel like a valuable thing – a gift, even.

But times have changed, and we think the eBook PDF is ready for a rethink. Because let’s be honest, the reading experience does kind of suck.

And it is used to engage with target audiences via digital channels. 

Here are some arguments why you should ditch the PDF and use your website instead.

Experience

Most of the target audiences in the B2B tech world use desktops in their daily work and business related internet browsing. 

That’s one of the main arguments which I often hear in support of the PDF scenario. Because PDF is not a responsive format and let’s be honest – to read one on a mobile is difficult, so most people think this is not an issue. But statistics show a different picture. It also needs to be downloaded and saved on a local device, which makes it unusable out of the box on different devices. If you want to save it in cloud storage, it requires extra effort. It is difficult to share it with somebody else. The PDF is also static, which is quite limiting in terms of creative and interesting representation of the information in it. 

Think of animated graphs, tables or even the loading of the different parts of the content. It is definitely not interactive, which makes it less engaging. 

PDFs are also not an integrated part of your website. You need either to open them in a new browser tab/window or to download them and use some PDF reader software. To go back to the website, the user needs to make another extra effort. Once it is produced, you can’t update it without the need to send it again and to expect somebody to download it again. PDFs date fast. Nowadays people spend less and less time analysing the information they see and the 15 sec TikTok videos are just the tip of the iceberg. So, when you spend time and money on a creation of great and useful content, to serve it in a format which requires way more effort than others is strange.

Lead engagement

PDFs create a black box in your buyer journey. A PDF is not easily measurable, nor trackable, beyond initial click-through. Unless you are investing in a content experience platform, it’s hard to know how much of your PDF has been read, or where people have bounced from it on an aggregate level; gems of intent data you don’t want to miss, to close the feedback loop from your content.

Directing prospects to your PDF means you are taking your audience away from your website, leaving a gap in your analytics. You just hope they will return to read something else. 

Picture this: You’re keeping tabs on how people behave on every page of your eBook. You’re tracking everything – which pages they come back to, which ones they skim over, what topics they find fascinating, and which sections they skip. It’s like having the superpower to fine-tune your content, make it super convincing, and watch those results roll in.

Guess what? You can totally pull this off by using web-based interactive materials, not those boring old PDFs. It’s the key that unlocks all that data magic and lets you rule the content game!

SEO

Well, when PDF was created, the internet wasn’t a thing. That’s all you need to know about it. So, you spend money, time and talent on creation of something and you miss a golden opportunity to take the maximum benefit of it. Imagine you’ve got this awesome content idea  — it’s super interesting, share-worthy, totally matches your ideal customer’s profile. People would even give up their contact info just to get their hands on it! And the best part? You know it could rank high on Google.

BUT… Yeah, there’s a “but.” You’re thinking of turning it into a PDF that’s locked away behind a gate, not easily accessible to those Google web crawlers.

There’s a smarter move. If you go for web-based white papers and reports, you can keep them private for the public, yet still let those web crawlers read and index its contents. Organic traffic all the way.

You see, these authoritative long-form documents are gold for organic growth because they’re packed with well-researched info that perfectly matches what people are searching for. So when someone clicks from Google to your white paper, they’ll need to give up their deets. Bottom line: Make interactive web-based materials to score leads and boost your website’s domain authority all at once. It’s a win-win!

Ease and cost of creation

PDFs are created page by page. It just takes time. Depending on the number of pages, you can choose Adobe Illustrator or Adobe InDesign to design it. Once I was even asked to create a report, using Figma… It is possible, but it is also time consuming. And besides, Figma creates enormously heavy PDFs, so it is not an option, trust me. After completing the design, you’ll likely need to integrate the document into your website, possibly implement proper gating with form and download functionalities, and establish a mechanism to synchronize lead information with your CRM. Unfortunately, these processes can cause considerable delays, potentially leading to missed opportunities for views and conversions.

On the contrary, if you decide to use an eBook, you need to create a custom template, just like those you use for the pages on your website. Then you basically need to copy and paste the texts, perhaps to upload some images, graphs or light SVG animations. You can add videos. You can edit it and change texts, images and grahics yourself, without depending on a designer for such basic things. You develop it once and after that you just reuse it every time you release a new eBook. In a long run the cost of design and development will drop. The delivery time will shorten. 

In today’s content marketing game, pieces like white papers and reports are very important and are great tools. The process involves multiple steps that impact both you and your audience. As you guide visitors through your marketing funnel, each step can either be a success or a potential obstacle.

Now, here’s the catch: Using PDFs is not the way to go. It weakens your marketing efforts in three crucial ways. First, it excludes a significant portion of your audience, limiting your reach. Second, it provides limited data for you to improve your strategies. And third, it creates unnecessary friction, deterring potential leads from engaging with your content.

Fortunately, there is an easy solution – go for web-based content. Not only will your content become more effective, but it’ll also be easier to create. And the best part? You’ll capture leads that might otherwise slip through the cracks. It’s a win-win for your marketing success!