Showcasing your 2017 Achievements: Which Method is Right for You?

With a new year, comes a new achievement. Now is a great time to show off accomplishments from 2017 and what you hope to achieve for 2018. Nowadays, there are so many options for sharing this info, and there isn’t any wrong answer, but here are a few methods that can be used:

Annual Report

The original forms of an Annual Report were essentially a bound book that got sent to only the necessary individuals, like the Board of Directors, investors, etc. If your company is big enough then this is an extremely impactful way to distribute the information. With so much digital media, anything analog can become very memorable quickly. Even if your report is just a small couple of pages magazine-esque booklet it can stand out. Obviously, this would be the most expensive option as there is design time and cost, production cost, and distribution cost. 

Example:

Here is a great example of a well designed bound annual report by Google. Click through to see more images of the report.

Recap Video/Webpage

Digital format annual reports are great as they are extremely easy to distribute and share with people, giving the information a broader reach. Two formats that give you a wide range of creative freedom are a webpage or a recap video. Both of these formats require design and production time as well, but they are much more easily sent to individuals once they are finished.

Examples:

Every year MailChimp creates a great digital annual report. They haven't put out the 2017 one yet so be sure to keep your eyes peeled, and in the meantime click through to look at all the amazing work they put into the design and interactions of their annual report.

Kickstarter also created a really great web based experience for their 2016 annual report!

Recap Email

Recap emails are a great method for sending yearly recaps to audience members, but it requires a list of individuals for who you must have email addresses. The other difficult part of using emails is that email can be fairly restrictive because there are so many different email viewers and internet browsers. For a recap email, anyone familiar with email marketing clients like MailChimp or Sendgrid can make an email, but it is still best to have a designer's help. Once the email is designed, there is no true production time.

Example:

Uber used emails to recap each customer's year anniversary, but the same thing could be done for an annual recap.

Social Post

The simplest way to share an annual recap is to make a social media post. That can be in an image or text to share with your audience. A lot of annual recaps are fairly extravagant, but they don’t have to be. Sharing the info this way is more about open and honest communication with the viewers.

Sharing recaps with customers, investors, friends, and family is a great way to help build trust and to show your own accomplishments. 2018 has just begun, so there is plenty of time to make an annual recap, go have some fun with it and show people what you achieved in 2017!