White papers posted online on targeted business-to-business Websites can boost brand awareness, establish a company’s credibility, and generate hundreds of leads. A Bitpipe survey conducted two years ago found that 94% of respondents had downloaded at least one white paper over the previous 12 months—and 59% had downloaded more than 10 white papers.
Still, not every white paper is effective. A paper that is overly promotional, poorly written, or flat-out dull may hurt your brand more than help it. The following guidelines can help ensure that your next white paper achieves your desired results.
1) Be informative.
At this stage, prospects want to learn about new solutions to their business problems, not the features and functions of your product. You can, therefore, win over prospects with an educational white paper that describes the business problem your product solves, current options and why they might not be unable to address the problem, how new technology offers a superior solution, and the benefits of the new solution.
2) Address a specific target audience.
You’ll achieve a much higher response if your white paper speaks to the needs of a particular audience.
Which audience?
Ask your best sales directors and account managers whom they need in the room and what they say to each person when selling your solution. Use this information to create separate white papers that address these people individually.
For example, many companies require a committee of IT and line-of-business managers, such as the chief financial officer, purchasing manager, distribution manager, and manufacturing plant manager, to weigh in on technology-purchase decisions. A white paper for the IT manager would address how the solution improves productivity for end users and IT, enhances compliance and auditability, reduces IT total cost of ownership and business costs, and supports the existing IT infrastructure. A paper for the CFO or the finance director would stress how the product reduces costs.
Alternatively, your sales force might go after companies in different vertical industries, such as financial services, telecommunications, government, higher education, life sciences, and energy. A paper geared at financial services companies would need to talk about ROI payback. One for government and transportation companies should describe long-term benefits, such the flexibility of the solution and whether it can stand the test of time.
By writing white papers for each audience, you build trust by demonstrating your company’s understanding of their unique requirements.
3) Use titles to grab attention.
When you create a white paper to generate leads, you need a compelling title to grab readers’ attention. What makes for a great title is one that presents a clear, concrete benefit.
For example, “XYZSoftware: Delivering the Leading Business Process Automation Solution” is too self-promotional. A better choice would be “Filling Business Process Gaps: A New Approach to Enhancing Business Performance.” This title promises useful information rather than a sales pitch.
The title might also include specific, tangible benefits or advice, such as “Top 10 Secrets to…”; “Tips and Techniques for…”; “Best Practices for Successful…”; “Identifying…”; and “Preventing…”
If you plan to post your white paper on an online archive, industry studies have found that the following practices improve response:
• Avoid clever plays on words. Stick to titles that are easy to scan with clear, nonsalesy wording.
• Keep titles short. Shorter titles are downloaded more frequently than long ones. If your message is complex, break up the title into two parts using a colon.
• Check search marketing statistics and make sure your title includes the precise words that your prospects search for.
4) Bear in mind that quality is a competitive advantage.
Most decision makers who download technology white papers download several at a time. So if they’re downloading your white paper, chances are they’re also downloading your competitors’. Make sure, then, that your white papers have a more compelling title, better content, superior readability, and a more attractive design.
If you succeed, you’ll be rewarded with a greater chance that your white paper will be passed on, enhancing your viral marketing efforts. Indeed, the Bitpipe study cited above found that 67% of respondents forward white papers they like to colleagues and supervisors.
5) Consider outsourcing production of your white paper.
A recent MarketingSherpa study found that while 82% of high-tech marketers use white papers for lead generation, only 13% have a budget for their development. This means most companies develop white papers inhouse.
Yet, the study continues, white papers produced inhouse frequently lack the objectivity that customers require. They can be poorly written, and employees’ closeness to the product may preclude them from adequately explaining the importance of the solution from the prospect’s perspective.
MarketingSherpa concluded that vendors that do allocate a budget to creating well-written, educational white papers have a real opportunity to gain competitive advantage.
Cheryl J. Goldberg is principal of Goldberg Communications (www.CJGoldbergCommunications.com), a strategic marketing communications company based in Cary, NC.
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