Marketing collateral is created to share with your customers different facets of your products, using product guides and brochures. Often these can also be downloaded from your website in the form of PDF, Excel, Word or PPT. They help in nurturing accessible communication while providing your customers with the relevant information.
But what happens if a customer can’t read your product brochure or any marketing collaterals?
Over 1 billion people worldwide live with a disability. The challenges of people with disabilities are real and the business opportunity they represent is large.
And when your marketing collaterals are not accessible to people with disabilities, you exclude a large segment of population who could be your potential customers.
Types of Marketing Collaterals to be made Accessible
Today, with various types of marketing collateral, an organization has limitless possibilities to market their products, services or brand contributing to the success of the business. Blog posts, Landing Pages, White Papers, Brochures, User Guides, E-books, Video Blogs or Vlogs, Case Studies are some types of marketing collaterals that are used by organizations to communicate information about their brand.
While the possibilities are many, most organizations overlook the large audience of people with disabilities. When you think about the marketing collaterals that you use in your organization, ask yourself:
- Can they be found easily (to open or download)?
- Are they readable?
- Can they be understood?
- What format are they in?
Remember, it’s not just about providing the marketing collaterals in alternative formats. The focus should be towards ensuring and encouraging inclusive communication and integrating accessibility into your overall marketing communications than treating them as a separate channel.
Why make Marketing Collaterals Accessible?
Legal Requirement
Section 508 requires all government agencies that receive federal funding or are contracted with a government agency to have accessible websites, and that requires any attachments such as Word, PDF, PowerPoint, Excel documents or multimedia on your website to be accessible. While Section 508 applies to the federal level, many states across the world have adopted similar laws to accommodate the people they serve. So, making sure your communication is inclusive is very important to avoid potential risks of legal action.
Larger Market
Providing accessible documents is not just about regulatory requirement, but it also enables you to drive your business growth. Targeting a larger pool of potential customers would enable your business to grow by showing your customers that you are aware of their needs and are working towards ensuring inclusive communication to better cater to them.
Enhance Brand Perception
By ensuring accessible marketing collaterals you are making it easy for everyone to experience and understand your brand and invest in your product, service or brand making it essential in today’s world and moving forward. Taking conscious efforts to make your marketing collaterals accessible will help cement you as an ally to people with disabilities. This would help brand perception and help showcase that ‘inclusion’ is not just a keyword to you, but in fact, it is something that is deeply entrenched in your company values.
Differentiate yourself from your competitors
Your commitment towards providing accessible communication will set your business apart from your competitors. Accessible marketing collateral makes it easy to access your marketing content and thus attract a wider audience.
At 247 Accessible Documents we can support you to ensure that your marketing collaterals are accessible irrespective of whether you use PDF, Word, PowerPoint or Excel. So don’t wait, schedule a meeting to discuss how to ensure your marketing collaterals are inclusive & accessible.
