White papers have moved from government departments, through technical offices and into mainstream B2B life - providing an effective marketing channel for raising business profiles, getting known and building sales. ..
White papers are extremely popular within the B2B market, but to achieve success you have to ensure the subjects are:
- relevant to their target audience
- thoroughly researched
- the content is well formulated (providing structured, in-depth opinion supported by facts and figures).
It also needs to be expertly written - covering the issues and topics that affect your industry in an unbiased, objective and persuasive way.
Cleverly produced white papers can offer the opportunity to effectively promote your product/service solutions for known industry problems; this needs subtle handling if you’re not to appear sales focused. However, the primary aim should be to project your outstanding knowledge and experience to attract potential purchasers through offering useful, factual information that assists them - a process that will lift your credibility and allow you to start interacting with future customers.
An enticingly titled white paper will easily persuade people to sign-up to receive it or download it, thereby creating opportunities for early engagement.
White papers, as a marketing tool, are relatively inexpensive to produce, but you will probably need the help of professional writers. You assuredly have the technical knowledge in-house but it’s unlikely to be accompanied by the persuasive writing skills.
Between 12-24 A4 pages is usually adequate for most topics and will be seen as offering real value if the content is ‘up to scratch’. The good news is there are no real production costs – simply designed, downloadable PDFs work a treat. The only major cost will be the writer’s time.
Depending on your business sector, producing three to six white papers a year could create a real impact for you and your business.
Alternatively, you could consider opinion papers as a way of producing content. They don’t require the in-depth research necessary for white papers and require a lot less input – two to four pages will suffice with the right content. Opinion papers work through emotional engagement with the reader as opposed to the logical arguments expressed in a white paper. And if the subjects chosen and views expressed hit the right note they can provide a major business benefit. Subjectivity can have a stronger impact in opinion papers than objectivity and having a rant about a subject dear to the hearts of your target audience can be highly effective – especially if you hit the zeitgeist.
Of course, people need to know that these papers are available and PR can provide a great way to quickly inform your market about them as well as through e-mailing your contact list.