How to Use White Papers to Promote Your Business

Historically, white papers were used by academic and research institutions to discuss ideas, studies, and research results, educating the reader in the process.  However, businesses have realized the benefits of using white papers to educate their customers too.  Many different types of businesses, both product vendors and service providers, can use white papers as a marketing tool.  Before writing a white paper, it’s important for you to understand what a white paper is and its purpose and place within your marketing strategy.

What a White Paper IS and IS NOT

A white paper is meant to be an educational tool that readers can use to learn more about an industry issue.  It is not a mechanism to blatantly promote your product or service.  That sort of approach is reserved for cut sheets and marketing materials.  A white paper should have the “appearance” of non-bias, although it is acceptable to provide information about a company, product, or service as a way of providing a solution to the issues described in the white paper.  A white paper generally contains about 5-10 pages.  Anything smaller is better classified as an article, and anything longer runs the risk of being too long to hold the reader’s attention.

How a White Paper Fits into Your Marketing Strategy

Before writing a white paper, there are two factors that need to be clarified: the purpose of the white paper and the audience of the white paper.  Is the goal of the white paper to drive the reader to your web site, to call a representative for more information, or to entice the reader to buy a specific product?  Understanding the goal of the paper is critical to the paper design and development process.  The goal is to craft the paper in such a way that the reader is gently guided to the intended response.

The audience of the paper is also critical to the content development.  The white paper may be general, and can be useful to all customers, or may be focused on a specific customer segment.  If the audience of a paper is technical personnel, a different approach and terminology are needed as opposed to a general consumer audience.

Finally, the delivery mechanism of the paper is also critical.  White papers can be printed and included in hard copy marketing material, delivered via an email list, or used as a permission marketing reward on a web site.  Determining who the audience is and how the audience receives the information also guide the writing process.

Now What?

Now it’s time for the writing process to begin.  Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series, where I describe the actual white paper writing process.

Confused or overwhelmed by the white paper process?  I can help you decide if a white paper can help your business, and I can help you develop a successful white paper for your business.  Please contact me to learn more!