Apr
7
This post will highlight the Top Ten Mistakes in Writing White Papers. Today’s post includes #3 and #4.
Mistake #3 – No clear path for follow-up
What happens when someone finishes reading your paper?
Do they close down the .PDF file and then move on to something else? If your paper made even a small impression on the reader, most readers will want to learn more.
What is the next step you want people to take?
There should be clear action sequence that the customer should follow. Most people have a very loose approach when it comes to follow-up actions. They leave the paper as is and expect the sales team to follow up with the downloaded paper. Usually, this translates to potential sales slipping by.
Your actions can be varied. You could have them: go to a landing page, send an email, place a phone call, download a software demo. Something. Just make sure you tell them where to go.
If you don’t give the reader a clear idea of where to go, you are leaving the sale to random chance. By specifically telling them the next step, you guide the reader along, putting them one step closer to purchasing.
Mistake #4 – Not knowing the reader
How well do you know your reader?
You can probably tell me the title, the industry, and a few company names. That’s not enough. You need to know enough about the reader so you can create a connection with them.
Many companies use market research and sales date to broadly define their audience. The difficulty is, similar job titles are often commonplace, but the responsibilities are vastly different. Depending on the industry, the core job requirements could be different. By using broad strokes of data to define the audience, you are missing salient points about the reader.
You should have a great understanding of your reader. You should maintain detailed information that relates to job title, industry, specific duties, etc. You should know her job responsibility, know his hardships, and the worries on their mind. Who does he report to? What does he manage? What creates pressure and stress for him? What is his approval process? There are many, many more.
This understanding will allow you to focus on the reader and will create a stronger connection. When you know the reader intimately, you will produce better information and write in a way that is clear and concise. The best white papers create a deep, strong connection with the reader.
Apr
7
This post will highlight the Top Ten Mistakes in Writing White Papers. Today’s post includes #1 and #2.
Mistake #1 – Turning the paper into a sales pitch
By far, the most common mistake white papers make is launching into a sales pitch. This pitch is the main reason why a prospect stops reading.
People view hundreds of advertisements in a day – on the web, TV, radio, billboards, newspapers, magazines, and so on. Whatever the medium, there is always an ad. Because of this bombardment of messages, the average consumer has become very adept at one thing – ignoring the ads. When the white paper starts into a sales pitch, the reader goes into their default operating mode of ignoring you.
Your white paper should educate the reader. You can help explain to the reader a new trend or methodology, solve a problem that they currently have, or present a new way of solving an old problem.
But don’t start off by selling them. As soon as they start to smell a pitch, they leave and go somewhere else. Most probably to your competitors.
Remember this – they are trading a small piece of their time to read your paper. Don’t jeopardize that gift by jumping into a pitch. They have given you a portion of their time, so you should give them new information. Return their gift of attention on your paper by providing something in return – education.
Your first goal is to educate.
Mistake #2 – Confusing company information with customer interest
Today’s harsh truth of commerce – most people are buying your product to help themselves, not to help you. Sure, the purchase helps your sales, but the customer could care less about that. They want your product because it helps them solve some issue.
So don’t begin your paper with company information. Front-loading a white paper with 3 pages of company information history is ego-centric and off-putting. As people take interest in your company, discuss information related to the issues, not information about you.
Imagine this date scene. A young couple on a blind date visit a nice, semi-romantic restaurant. As the appetizers reach the table, the man launches into mindless dribble about hard drives, gardening, computing performance, investment strategies, monster trucks, and his company information. What happens next? When he looks up from his plate, his date has her head down on the table. She passed out from boredom.
Many companies want to be portrayed as professional. They have a tendency to launch into information about themselves – why they are the best, how their product is the best, and how they are better than the competition. People don’t want to hear about you, they want to hear about themselves.
There is nothing wrong with putting information about yourself. Just create a separate section of the paper to hold that information – at the end.
Apr
7
Following versus Leading
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I’ve seen some companies put out white papers immediately after their competitors do. Sometimes, it’s like clockwork. And, most of the time, the content is similar.
Company A – Widget Creatablah
Competitor #1 – My widget paper with a slightly different, yet similar spin. (It’s better than the rest.)
Competitor #2 – No, no , my widget paper with yet another slightly different, yet oddly similar spin. (No, no, ours is better.)
Want to stay ahead of the curve? Ask your customers.
Apr
7
White papers have one fatal flaw.
They require someone to read them.
Organize the release of your white paper in a timely matter and you can take advantage of human nature – people consume information in chunks.
Before you start your next campaign, go to your local trade mag’s website and see what’s up on the editorial calendar. Write a white paper related to one of the topics on that calendar. When you release the white paper in coordination with the calendar, and you’ll have incidental leads from people who are searching for more information that topic. (It works both ways – the trade pub will get traffic from you also.)
Apr
1
A white paper should be part of a much larger campaign in your sales cycle.
Whatever other online marketing you are doing – ads, datasheets, case studies – you should try to tie everything together.
Ultimately, you should have a lead generation process, in which the different stages of the buyers are given a different type of information. If you don’t know your prospect’s buying process, you run the risk of either overloading or underloading the customer during the buying process.
Apr
1
Ideas for white papers
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The topic of a white paper is often a major discussion. It should certainly be customer-centric, rather than you-centric, but how do you know what to write?
Here’s one way to get ideas -
Email your sales team and ask them how many customers they could call and solicit feedback. Ask them to send a quick email requesting permission for a senior product manager, or whoever has recognition in your company, to ask for feedback on a new topic for a white paper.
Gather those emails and have the product manager send an email requesting the following information: “What is the one problem plaguing you in your industry/job/role.” Or, “What is the one thing you would like to see in new products in our industry.”
Take the responses and tally them up. The responses should provide a great starting point for topics.
Some important points to remember while you are doing this exercise:
- You must ask for permission first. Don’t spam your entire email list just to get topics for a white paper. Let me repeat, do not spam anyone.
- Your salesperson should have an existing relationship with the person. It’s fine if they haven’t bought your product or service yet, but they need to have a relationship. Some customers who don’t really have a good relationship with a customer or prospect, so they need to be left off the list for a survey.
- Don’t have your salesperson send out the request for topics. This isn’t a jab at sales, but the request might be misinterpreted as some type of sales pitch. You’ll get a much better response if it comes from a product expert or other management person
- Don’t send out a list of pre-approved topics. Ask an open-ended question for topics. When you send a list of ideas, you run the risk of (a) overlooking a potential topic and (b) having the person hastily respond just to answer the email.
The end result? What will happen after everything is tallied? You will have a common, repeated concern show up in the responses. This common response is the number one thing on your customer’s mind. Write about that topic.
Apr
1
Knowing your audience
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Do you know who is reading your white paper?
The audience you are writing for can make the difference between someone reading your paper and it getting deleted.
Different readers have different requirements when it comes to information. The type of information, the presentation of the information, and the key takeaways of the papers are all dependent upon your audience demographic.
Before you start, there are a few basic things you should know before you start writing:
Who is the audience?
What is their title?
What are their biggest constraints in their job?
Which of their problems is your white paper solving?
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Putting the time into understanding your audience will increase your research time, but will bring higher returns in the end. Why? By understanding your audience, you will be focusing your thoughts and your concentration on a unified demographic. The paper will be written for a real person, rather than a generic, ephemeral model buyer who you hope will purchase your product.
The stronger a connection you make with the buyer, the greater the chance of a follow-up interaction.
