12 Steps to Great White Papers

A white paper is the important marketing collateral that can generate sales leads for your business. Although the objective of a white paper is to generate sales leads, it is not a sales brochure. The purpose of a white paper is not to sell. White papers are supposed to educate prospective customers, and give them insight on how to solve their business problems. The following guidelines will help you write effective white papers to promote your business:

1. Determine the audience: The audience of a white paper is prospective customers. These customers could be playing various roles in their organizations. Before beginning to write your white paper, you need to determine the audience type or user roles that your white paper is targeting. For example, a technology white paper could be for Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) and Information Systems Managers, while business white papers could be targeted to Chief Executive Officers, Chief Financial Officers and Chief Operating Officers. It’s important to know the audience because, because typical characteristics (or attributes) of audience types determine how your white paper will be read. This in turn determines the writing style for white papers (more on that later).

2. Determine the Purpose: The single most important purpose of a white paper is to educate your prospective customers, and provide them insight on how to solve their business problems using your recommended approach or solution. In a way, you are motivating the customer to take action – to call for a demo or request more information. When you educate customers, you are no longer just a vendor trying to sell something. You become a partner, who understands your customer’s business, therefore you enjoy more credibility and trust, which in turn generates rapport and can help you get your foot in the customer’s door easily.

3. Think out the Central Message: Now that you have identified the audience and purpose, it’s time to think out the central message of your white paper. What is the bottom-line message that you are trying to get across? For example, your white paper could talk about (i) implications of an important trend in the client’s industry, (ii) describe how a solution functionality helps solve business problems, (iii) demonstrate thought leadership by proposing a new way of doing things, (iv) showcase solution implementation and its benefits, (v) compare your solution with your competitors solution. These are some pointers that will help you think out the central message for your white paper.

4. Determine White Paper Type: Once you have the central message, it’s time to think out the type of white paper that best suits your message. Typically, there are five types of white papers. (i) An Industry Trends white paper talks about the various business trends and the impact of the trends on your client’s business, and how the client can convert the trends into opportunities or reduce the risk of challenges. (ii) A Functionality Description White Paper describes how a solution functionality can help solve business problems. (iii) Thought Leadership White Paper presents a paradigm shift from the traditional way of doing things and proposes a new innovative way of getting things done. (iv) Proof of Solution White Paper showcases your solution implementation and its benefits. (v) Competition Eliminator White Paper compares your solution with competition solution, brings out the benefits of your solution and helps pre-empt competition. Each of these have their own set of information elements and structure, and their own unique writing styles.

5. Prepare the Outline: The Outline of the white paper determines the message flow. The outline is a listing of the major chapters of the white paper. In short, it is the table of contents. Well-developed outlines naturally lead readers to the next section and have maximum impact. While developing the outline, also keep in mind that all readers may not read the white paper end to end. Therefore, each section or chapter should stand out and make sense independently. For example, the outline for a white paper that describes solution functionality could be – Business Overview, Business Problem, Solution Overview, Solution Description, Solution Feature and Benefits, etc.

6. Think out the Content: With the outline in place, you can now think out the content for each chapter. Put down points against each chapter heading of the outline. Take your time to do this exercise. Put your thinking team to work, conduct brainstorming sessions. Remember clarity of thought leads to clarity of writing. Don’t rush into this exercise. Take your time. The more time you spend in this design exercise, the more effective your white paper will be.

7. Write: It’s now time to start writing content for the white paper. Use a persuasive writing style. A persuasive writing style persuades, excites, and motivates readers. How do you write persuasively? The rule of thumb is empathize with readers business problems, speak their language, use terms that they can relate with. These writing techniques get readers hooked on to your white paper. Avoid adjectives and sales jargon. Provide facts. And most importantly, don’t ridicule or criticize competition. Remember you are writing a white paper to educate and inform. It’s not a sales brochure.

8. Localize Chapter Headings: Chapter headings in white papers should be interesting, so that readers would want to read further. For example, instead of “The Proposed Solution” as a chapter name, write “Improving Cash Flow with Automated Billing”. The latter is more interesting, has better impact and gets readers to read further.

9. Give the White Paper a Meaningful Title: White Paper titles are very important. The title determines whether the white paper will be read or not. Don’t call your white paper “A White Paper”. Give it a meaningful title. The title should contain a statement that readers really care about – a business pain or a big business benefit. The sub-title should complement the title. The sub-title sums up the essence of the white paper in one concise phrase.

10. Add Credibility with External Information: External information such as customer quotes, performance data from research agencies, external product reviews, benchmarking results, metrics and quantifiable benefit statements add credibility to the white paper.

11. End with a Call to Action: White papers should always end with a call to action. If the information in the white paper is interesting enough, readers will be curious to know more. That curiosity will turn into a sales lead for your business. It’s a good idea to end the white paper with a call to action for readers. For example, you could ask readers to call you, visit a website, attend a seminar, drop a mail, etc. If your white paper is written well, then the call to action is the easiest to achieve, because readers are excited and curious to know more.

12. Review, Publish and Propagate: Once the white paper is ready, it’s time to get it reviewed by an expert. If possible also hire an editor to edit the paper for language and writing style. It’s essential that your white paper follows a persuasive tone and does not contain spelling errors. Spelling and grammatical errors are credibility killers. Once the white paper is ready, you can publish it on your web site, distribute it through email, and use other sources of white paper propagation on the internet.