This post is by Michael Pollock, the original owner of Small Business Branding. Yaro Starak now owns and produces the latest content for this blog.
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One way to deliver value to your network is to create PDF documents they can download to their computer and print to read later. These docs can be articles, small ebooks, how-to’s, tip sheets, media files, calendars or anything you can think of that might have value to folks.
You can use Adobe Acrobat to create PDFs, but it costs nearly $300.00. I recently tracked down another program that sells for $79.95. It allows you to convert Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Publisher files to the PDF format.
The program is called Office Ready 3.0 Professional, and it also comes complete with over 500 Microsoft Office templates to make it easier to operate your business. Template sets include:
- Marketing
- Family and Home
- Stationary Labels and Cards
- Business Forms and Correspondence
- Staffing and Career
They’re currently offering a special that also gives you 3000 business and sales letters as part of the package.
The website, TemplateZone, is a great resource. In addition to the Office Ready Program, they offer a variety of templates, including:
- High Impact Email
- Business Plans
- Marketing Plans
- An eMarketing Suite
- and many more.
All the programs sell for under 100.00, and they certainly save a lot of time. I spent a couple of hours creating a PDF weekly planner from scratch. With the Office Ready Program, I was able to customize one of the Microsoft Word templates in about 15 minutes.
And by the way, if you buy one of their programs, you’ll also help me buy those new snow boots I’ve been needing (6 inches of snow here today). As a TemplateZone affiliate, I get a 15% commission.
There are a few templates that actually come with PowerPoint, but if these don’t suit your needs it is also possible to purchase business powerpoint templates online. Some companies will design templates especially for the purpose you need them for so that you can quickly and easily create presentations that look professional and contain all the information you want to include. There are a number of different companies that do this sort of thing, so if you don’t find what you are looking for at the first company you try, you can always check with another company.