Apr
21
This post will discuss the Top Ten Mistakes in Writing White Papers. Items #5 and #6 are today.
Mistake #5 – Not using thought leadership
Generally, white papers are used in two manners: excite prospects about current products and establishing your long term credibility. Short-term often dominates the long-term, to the detriment of the company.
Most companies want more sales today. Who doesn’t want that?
Unless you are constantly churning out new products, it becomes hard to maintain a constant flow of short-term ‘excitement.’ At some point, your product innovation pipeline will slow, and you’ll be out of tricks.
Thought leadership white papers offer information that is relevant, applicable, and interesting to your core audience. The information is to help the market set vision, solve a problem, or educate on upcoming problems. The most effective use of this technique is applied repeatedly over time.
Thought leadership, if done properly, creates a unique position for you. New prospective customers will start to visit your site for information before they begin their search.
Initially, a thought leadership paper may have lackluster results. Over time, a thought leadership initiative will generate more leads. More importantly, the leads will be higher quality and will be closer to closing.
Mistake #6 – Skipping the headline
Writers don’t really want to spend time on the headline. They think that after countless hours of researching, writing, and editing, the headline should describe the topic, not be ‘catchy.’ They believe that the content will carry itself. On some level, that seems reasonable.
This situation happens often in the technology field. The writer constructs an elaborate, long-winded headline explaining the content of the paper. Those papers are usually the ones that don’t get the read.
You should realize that most people, like you, are pressed for time. They make a split second decision about your paper, including it’s worthiness to them, it’s relevance to them, and it’s quality.
The headline is the first rung in the decision making ladder. It serves one purpose: to get your reader to move further into the paper. If the headline is dull, you’ll likely find yourself being passed over.
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[...] wrote about the headline being one of the biggest mistakes people make in white papers. I continue that thought [...]