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Your white paper is going in my trash bin (Part 2)

4/2/2019

(Psst! You can read Part 1 here.)

I’m still not going to read your white paper. Know why? So many reasons. Let’s continue to alphabetize them…

Insipid prose. Your white paper informs, but it’s dull, flat. You want my attention? Give me something I’ll enjoy reading.
Jarring self-promotion. A too obvious effort to hawk, rather than inspire and inform.
Killing me with technical detail. I can look up the minutiae if I’m interested: Use your white paper to tell me why I should be interested. Why does this matter to me and my business goals?
Lacking insight: Not enough substance to justify my effort. Tell me something I don’t already know, and make it something I can use right now.
Meandering structure: You tried to cover too much, instead of focusing like a laser on the stuff that matters.
Over-inflated claims, without enough data to back them up.
Padding. My time is precious, thank you. Tell me what I need to know. Keep it lean. Make it practical.

Your white paper asks a lot of me: You want a half hour of my undivided attention? Earn it.

That means doing the legwork in advance. With close coordination between marketing, editorial and business line owners, a well-planned white paper can reel in readers and keep them engaged. Be clear about your goals. Identify the right voices. Then work with a writer who can deliver a trusted authorial voice.

Say what? Find the right expert voice for your next white paper

3/18/2019

To stake a thought leadership claim, you’ve got to say it like you mean it -- and also be able to back it up. That means your white paper needs authoritative voices, expert sources who can speak to both technical issues and business needs. Whose voices will you highlight?

Internal SMEs – Your own subject matter experts know the product and should know your customer too. They’ll understand the pain points and be able to articulate solutions. Keep them on the straight and narrow – not too technical, not too self-promotional – and they’ll be the driving force for your white paper.

Supplement with external experts. These may come from academia or from the analyst/researcher community. They can validate trends and offer corroborating stats and data to back up your SME claims. Existing customers also fall into this category and can be mined for case studies and first-person experiences to give authenticity to your white paper.

Published sources may include industry reports as well as newspaper and magazine accounts that help to illustrate business trends. Source material should be no more than a couple years old and should be drawn from well-known, reputable publications.

Your white paper is going in my trash bin (parts A-H).

3/11/2019

Why aren’t I going to read your white paper? So many reasons. Let’s alphabetize them!

Absence of hard numbers, facts, tangible proofs
Buzz words litter the landscape, lacking legibility
Credibility is questionable, with sketchy sourcing and a tone that lacks authority
Driving leads is transparently your only goal; it’s too self-serving
Engaging the audience with wit, candor, clarity – or failing to?
Format fail. Where are the graphics, boxes and bullet points to help us find our way through the morass of text?
Garbled headline loses me before I’ve even gotten started
Half of this would have been plenty: Pare down the padding and hone what’s left

Solvable problems? Absolutely. We’ll reiterate our by-now boring theme, on the grounds that you cannot overstate the obvious. (O = Overstating the obvious? Lol!)

The solution is…planning.

White papers shine when marketing, editorial, business line owners and other stakeholders all come together ahead of time to lay the ground work, establishing the rationale and determining the key elements of success. Know where you are going and how you plan to get there.

Seeing = believing: Using infographics to boost your next white paper

3/4/2019

Words, words, words. Then suddenly: Pictures! In a content-heavy white paper (and they should be content-heavy!) a solid visual can help readers find their way. More than just a break from all those dense paragraphs, a graphic element can actually shed a new and different light on the subject matter, expanding the reader’s understanding in new directions.

But you've got finesse it. Love pie charts, love them! But an infographic ought to be something more. Think of it as visual storytelling. And how best to tell that story...?

Keep it clean: An infographic should be easy to access, a visual treat that can be readily understood. Minimal text, bold lines, lots of white space. Tell the story with big numbers, clean images, simple icons. Don’t clutter up the space or try to say too much.

Watch for flow: A winning infographic leads the eye. Rather than a single visual block, an infographic tells a story, guiding the reader to an ever-expanding awareness. This should happen naturally and intuitively, typically from top to bottom. That’s the “flow” that every designer tries to build into his or her work. The narrative journey is what distinguishes a powerful infographic from just another bar graph.

Where credit is due: Discreetly, but quite visibly, call out the sources for your data. This can be done with an asterisk and a simple citation in small print, but it’s important that it be done. Sourcing gives the infographic weight and credibility: It’s the validation that makes this more than just a pretty picture. Your white paper seeks to convey authoritative knowledge; your infographic needs to back up that message.

Like pulling teeth: Make your next white paper tedious and painful

2/25/2019

Looking to make your next white paper an excruciating experience for all involved? We’re here to help!

Set unreasonable timelines: Give your SMEs little to no advance notice, forcing them to gather their thoughts on the fly. Demand instant turnaround from your writer and then dump the whole thing on the production people just days before you plan to launch.

Overreach: Craft a white paper that addresses every pain point, that promotes multiple solutions and endorses a wide range of new approaches. Leverage this opportunity to bury your potential client in alternatives and options; inundate them with data.

Don’t plan: If it sounds like a good idea it probably is. Just run with it. Don’t sweat the details: Subject matter, spokesperson, timeline, distribution, it’ll probably all come together. Dive right in and sort it out as you go.

Alternative approach: Must we really? Very well…

Set a realistic timeline, leaving ample time for SMEs to prep and allowing for revisions on the back end.
Keep it trim and tight. Narrow the focus to a single business proposition, a compact range of pain points and a specific solution set.
Over-plan. Plan it to death. Know what you’re doing and how you intend to do it before setting the wheels in motion.

Your next white paper should be more like a McDonalds Double Cheeseburger

2/18/2019

McDonalds’ annual sales top $22.8 billion. They must be doing something right! Your next white paper won’t replicate their magic mix (fat, salt and sugar) but there’s still a lot to be learned here.

How can your white paper be more like a double cheeseburger?

Readily available. McDonald’s is everywhere: If you have a hankering, you don’t have to go far. Make your white paper similarly ubiquitous. Interested readers can link to it from your web site or jump there from social media. The download is quick and easy, without a lot of gates to climb over.

Targeted. A fast food burger isn’t a filet mignon and it doesn’t try to be. It’s late night food, cheap food for hungry people in a hurry. A double cheeseburger knows its demographic and it serves a targeted purpose. A good white paper does the same, taking aim a narrow need and addressing itself to satisfy that specific craving.

Almost enough, but not quite. Thing about a McDonalds double cheeseburger is, it’s satisfying enough. You walk away feeling like you’ve eaten but at the same time, you maybe want a little more. A good white paper works the same way: It whets the appetite and invites the diner…er, reader to explore further, to take another bite of what’s on offer.

Three P’s of a winning white paper

2/13/2019

Struggling to get your thoughts in order? You’ve got all the makings of a winning white paper but the message isn’t as clear as it ought to be. The narrative is bogged down in the weeds, or lost in a fog of abstraction. OK, that’s fixable. Consider the three P’s: Pain, Pleasure and Persuasion.

Pain. What is your readers’ pain point? What problem are they actively struggling to solve? A white paper is more than just a product introduction, more than just a high-level industry insight. It should be pragmatic, hard-hitting. It should offer solutions. “Listen to us because we are going to make this better for you.”

Pleasure. Having thrown a harsh light on the problem, the white paper needs to bring to life a world of potential benefits. Real-world case studies are often the strongest tool for demonstrating the solution in action: “Here’s how your competitors are succeeding.” If these aren’t available, a detailed “what-if” can serve the purpose. “What if you did it this way?” Detail the practical business benefits.

Persuasion. When a white paper isn’t falling into place, step back and consider the tone. Are you merely informing, or are you building a business case? The strongest white paper makes a case through its content, structure and style. It’s always moving toward its unstated goal of persuading the reader that this is an Idea Worth Considering. Every paragraph should pass this litmus test.

Bonus P: Persistence. The white paper is only part of a larger marketing effort. Replay the message and amplify it via social media, video content, issue briefs, et al. Rather than mark the end of the discussion, let your white paper be an invitation to an ongoing conversation.

Like the plague: Three white paper mistakes to avoid

2/7/2019

What sinks a white paper? Lack of depth. Self-promotion. Poor planning.

Dive deeper. In-house expertise often drives the white paper -- and it should. Who knows your space better than your people? But a white paper needs depth. Back up the in-house voices with solid research, stats, details. Data = credibility in a white paper. Show you know your stuff by leveraging expert input in support of your theme.

Speak softly. Yes, your white paper is meant to generate leads, but consider the Scottish proverb: “Gently, genttly, catchee monkey.” It’s already got your name at the top and your authoritative, expert voice, so there’s no need to oversell it. Self-promotion makes for dull reading and provokes instant skepticism in B2B readers. Resist the temptation. Leverage your white paper to demonstrate your thought leadership. The rest will happen naturally.

Bring a map. Poor planning is a white paper killer. Know your subject and your sources before setting foot on the road. Develop a realistic timeline and a streamlined process for review and edits. Strategize distribution and plan for any follow-up communications. Without these pieces in place, white papers founder. A clear step-by-step plan, shared among key participants, will help drive successful outcomes.

Bang / buck: Leveraging the value of your white paper

1/28/2019

You’ve put time, effort and precious dollars into developing a killer white paper. Now turn it into a PDF, email it your boss and congratulate yourself. Margaritas for all!

No, wait.

Let’s talk about generating value. Let’s turn that hot-off-the presses white paper into a powerhouse business development resource.

Create a strong landing page. Dress it up with a bold graphic, sure, but focus on functionality too. Ease of access is key to driving wide distribution. Harvest names and emails, but don’t make them jump through hoops to get to the goods.

Promote. Plug the white paper in blog posts and on social media. Share not only with prospects but also with present clients and partners who may be in a position to pass it along. If it suits the subject matter, consider a short video or infographic pointing potential readers to the landing page.

Sell them on the value. Create snippets highlighting your content: Give readers a taste of what they will be seeing. Highlight the tangible bits here. “This paper tells you how to fix the leak!” Leverage the promise of value as a lure.

Speak up: Find the right tone for your white paper

1/21/2019

The impact of your next white paper might be determined by your tone of voice. Who’s speaking to the reader? Content reigns – what you say matters most – but consider how you say it. Find the style that suits your subject:

Authoritative: The classic white paper mode, a voice that speaks with certainty. It’s the standard for a strong B-to-B play and as mother always said, you can’t be overdressed for a party. When it doubt, trust the formal tone.

Collegial: A business-savvy voice that says, “I understand your pain and I’ll show you how to fix it.” A little more personal, a little looser but still utterly professional. It’s what you need when your white paper targets the business-line manager, rather than the C-suite.

Friend next door: A casual tone won’t carry most white papers, but there is the rare exception. For an audience with whom you’re already well-connected, the colloquial tone can actually help to cement the relationship, as it conveys a shared understanding and a common viewpoint.

Adam Stone