Having a distributable portfolio is crucial for people in property who want to secure funding for their next project. From my discussions with property investors and developers, most leverage a digital portfolio in PDF format.
PDF does the job…but there’s a much better solution with less frustration, more engagement and potentially more funding opportunities.
First and foremost, a PDF is a static document, meaning that the content inside it cannot be easily updated. Every time you add to your portfolio, pivot your strategy, or rebrand, it’s back to the PDF to be manually updated with the new information, which can be time-consuming, tedious, and potentially has a cost attached to have a designer edit it.
Then it’s a matter of redistributing it! Firing off repeat emails, WhatsApp messages, and possibly even social media (which I’ll get to in a minute, as you can’t directly share a PDF on Instagram).
And while doing all of that, making sure it’s small enough to be sent without it taking 9 years for a prospective Angel Investor or VC to download.
Another disadvantage is that PDFs are not easily accessible on mobile devices. Everyone today is using their smartphones and tablets to browse the internet and a PDF, unless designed specifically for mobile, is not easily viewable on these devices.
Enter a new formatting type, the microsite!
Think of a website but condensed into one or two pages maximum – freely available from anywhere, fast to load, looks incredible, and it’s digestible on your prospective Angel Investors’ phone when they’re yachting in Saint Tropez.
No attachment to download, just one link.
We all love engaging content. We love videos. Which is why we love social media and do well marketing our property businesses on those platforms. Sadly, PDFs cannot provide the interactive and engaging experience that we are all used to from social media and the web.
A microsite allows you to showcase your portfolio in a more dynamic and engaging way, with high-quality images and videos, animations, springboard links to social media and your direct contact information.
And when you want to update it, it’s fast, instantly live, and the shareable link never changes.
So when was the last time you saw someone share a PDF on Instagram? Exactly. It’s impractical. And when there’s no alternative, your portfolio is now by default non-existent to your followers. Link to your microsite from your Instagram bio and at the touch of a button your always up-to-date content is accessible to potential investors 24/7.
Solutions…
There are many website builders available (for free) to put together a microsite, upload your portfolio content, your images and get the ball rolling.
If you have an existing PDF portfolio, you have all your content ready to go.
If you’re working from scratch, you will need to think about information hierarchy and how you will structure your portfolio to make it appealing to Angels and VC before you upload it.
Many free website builders have templates you can customise, and the expenses will be minimal, such as securing a domain name and hosting.
If you already have a website – consider the microsite as a separate ‘landing page’ to condense all of your key data in one easy to read, digestible place for Angels and VC’s who simply don’t have the time or desire to read through the other 7 pages on your website. In fact, you don’t want them heading off to other pages and getting distracted!
Faster engagement and consumption = faster decision making.
Need some tech help?
If you’re looking for something more hands-off, I regularly design, build and maintain marketable property microsites designed specifically to speak to Angels and VCs and to get them to reach out to you.
We’re now in an age that it’s so easy to build a simple microsite, you’re doing yourself a disservice of time and money to stick with PDFs as your preferred method of distributing why your property business deserves their funding.
PDFs launched in 1992. It’s now 30 years later and the format hasn’t changed much.
I think it’s time to move on and leave a lasting impression using a microsite to secure some funding, don’t you?
Rich Devenport
Studio Key / @prop.designer
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