As a supplier, you provide partner-ready content to Channel Partners to build and promote business engagement and conversation. Content is meant to support and facilitate the promotion of a company, product, or service. It comes in many forms: audio, text, PDF, video, images, and more. It informs and interests readers.

Library content is valuable to your partners and is found under the Browse Collateral tab in Zift123. Partners can preview, download, and/or customize content available in the view. All content may not be available to all partners. Not all content is available for preview or customization (co-branding). The supplier will determine what content is available to partners when creating content. 

Downloadable content usually takes the form of Sales and Marketing enablement tools- reference materials to help the partners be successful, while co-branded content allows the supplier to increase engagement, improve open rates, and improve lead generation. By adding downloadable or co-brandable content to campaigns, suppliers are able to gather data in one place for all the marketing activities around a specific product or service that is offered.

In this article, we provide directions for creating templates for PDF content that can be co-branded by partners.

Contents

1. Create Adobe Acrobat content using form fields. See form fields directions.
2. Create, Edit, and Publish a template in ZiftMarcom
3. Customize and Distribute using Zift123
4. Best Practice for Print Media Design

Create Content in Adobe Acrobat

• Create the Adobe Acrobat PDF document using fields.
• Create a thumbnail image (127 pixels tall) of the cover using screen capture software.
• Click on the attached PDF to see an example.

Note: You must have the Professional version of Adobe Acrobat to create fields.

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Add Co-branded (Print Media) Content in ZiftMarcom

Create co-branded content templates for your partners. Adding standard fields to your templates will improve usability but partners can create fields when the template does not meet their specific needs. Refer to these directions for adding email assets.

How to Create Co-branded (Print Media) (PDF) Content

The template for content must be created first. After the template is created, you can customize the template or add additional fields.

1. From Content > Marketing Activities, select Create New.
2. Select a content type from the drop down. In this example we use email but you could choose any other type such as website plugin, print, workflow or custom activity. Choose Print when adding PDF documents.
3. Add the Details for the PDF
   1. Internal Name: Internal name of the email/activity.
   2. Display Name: The name partners will see. Make it descriptive and easy to remember.
   3. Description: The description should be a short summary of the purpose of the activity and any top level information the partner would need to know to select it. This should be a strong sentence or two and is your chance to "sell" your partner on using this content.
   4. Scroll down to PDF and upload your PDF document.
4. Select Submit Request.
5. Select OK when you receive the message that an email has been sent to Zift Services. The print media will display in the list of content.

How to Edit a Print Media (PDF) Content in ZiftMarcom

Now that the print media (PDF) asset is added,customize it with filters, fields, and images.  Editing allows you to add and map the variables (fields) in your document to the fields in ZiftMarcom. Common fields to add are Partner Display Name, Partner URL, Partner Email, and Partner Display Name.

1. From Content > Marketing Activities, select the print media to customize.
2. Select Edit Details to setup the filters, fields, and images.
3. Partner Filters: Select Partner filters to limit access this content. It can be used for regions, products, or partners. Select how to want to limit this content. A best practice is to limit it to yourself or a test account to test the content. 
4. Fields: Setup the Fields. You can add the logo or editable text fields that exist in the PDF. The field name in Zift must be the same as the field name in the PDF. Mark the fields Available for personalization so that partners can personalize the content in Zift123.
5. Thumbnail: Upload the PDF thumbnail that you created previously.
6. Save.
7. To preview the document, select Edit Content.

Publish the Content in ZiftMarcom

Now that the content is created and customized, you are ready to publish the content. Publishing makes it available to Partners in Zift123.

How to Publish Co-branded (Print Media) content in ZiftMarcom

1. From Content > Marketing Activities, select the print media.
2. In the print media (PDF) details, select Publish. The content is now available in Zift123.

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Customize and Distribute in Zift123

How partners can personalize content in Zift123. See How to Personalize Content. 

1. Log into Zift123
2. From Collateral > Browse, select the print media (PDF).
3. Select Customize.
4. Select Edit
5. Select Personalization to upload a partner logo and contact information.
6. Select Apply.
7. Select Save and Next.
8. For distribution, highlight and copy the the link. You can use the link in emails, web plugins, etc.

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Best Practice for Co-branded Collateral (Print Media) Design

• Thumbnail size: PDF thumbnails should be 127 pixels tall
• Partner Logo
  • Place the logo in either the upper left corner or the footer.
  • Allow for ample white space around the logo so that it stands out. Partner logos should not be placed on colored backgrounds unless you are using a transparent background image.
  • When possible use images that are transparent.
• Contact Fields
  • Contact fields can be placed on any page with proper room and spacing.
  • Most contact fields are stacked vertically, because with a horizontal layout you need to consider field size limitations.
• Font Formatting
  • Specific fonts must be used for the form fields. Use the fonts provided by Acrobat for proper PDF display.
  • For visual consistency all the font sizes and text colors should match the body copy.
• Designated Back Pages - You may want to provide a blank page at the end of the PDF for your partners logo and contact fields. Providing a designated back page, encourages use with ease of design, layout, and consistent placement of customized fields.

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