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Four pieces of advice on how to get a better and more engaging annual report and CSR-report

1. Make sure the basics are covered

Logo, layout, infographics and pictures should always be appealing and align with the company’s communication. A professionally designed and produced report increase the likelihood that your important stakeholders will want to read it. If a great first-hand impression is followed up by a good reading experience where storytelling and design strengthen each other, fascinate and arouse curiosity, the stakeholders will automatically read further and remember more.

We would love to spar with you on how to make your annual report or CSR report spread your messages and support the brand personality you want – and help you build an image library with inspiring and beautiful photos that can be used all year on all your communication platforms.

If you need a more simple solution we can also help you design a Word template, that will enable you to add or change content right up till the deadline.

2. Decide on a technological level and make the best use of it

Most companies publish annual reports and CSR reports as pdf-files on their websites and only print a limited number of copies. You can use the digital possibilities to create a more engaging reading experience with animations, videos and even audio.

You can also switch to ePub optimized for smaller screens or jump directly to micro websites, enabling you to link directly to specific content from social media, help the readers find the most interesting content for them – and track what people actually read, so you can focus and optimise your communication effort.

3. Identify what you wish to highlight

Are you particularly proud of certain results? This is where most of the visual effort should be put in with specially designed infographics, animations, videos etc., making them extra eye-catching and easy to remember.

For the publication “State of the Nation”, we designed an animated infographic, which catches the eye and highlights the problems with massive loss of water in Denmark.

4. Consider the annual report as a part of the bigger picture

Annual reports and CSR reports are published once a year 🙂 At BGRAPHIC we love to advise you on how to get most out of the money you invest in your reports:

In the short term, inspiring infographics and content can be reused to create positive attention on social media and increase the likelihood that your press releases will be picked up by journalists.

In the long run, infographics, pictograms etc. can be used to improve other parts of the corporate communication. Infographics with great results can enjoy a long life on your website, company presentation (e.g. PowerPoint, Prezi, and brochures) and as a part of employer branding.

See examples of infographics and pictograms BGRAPHIC has made for various customers. These can easily be used in various communication- and marketing materials or be parted up in series of smaller infographics suited to social media.

You are always welcome to call us, if you are inspired, want to hear more or wish that we help you optimize your next annual report or CSR report 🙂

Read more:

Is it difficult to convince management to prioritise the annual report? Read our four tips on how you convince management to spend money on better communication and design.

Are you considering a micro website? We recommend WordPress, but if you want we can easily produce websites on other platforms.