What is a White Paper?
A White Paper combines the elements of an article or report and a brochure or promotional booklet.
The main purpose of a white paper is to generate sales leads and inquiries about a company’s products and services.
White papers are focused on a generic solution to a particular problem. No mention of the product or service by name early on.
This appeals to the idea that people don’t want to be sold to while they are seeking solutions to their problems.
Only in the last 1-3 pages is there information about your company’s specific product or service that provides the solution your customer is seeking.
The call to action is usually limited to providing contact information of the marketing personnel of your company’s products and services.
By explaining the science behind the solution in a way meaningful to the customer, white papers are written in a style that is implicitly persuasive.
There are three types of white papers, one for each step in the buyer’s journey, from being unaware of your company’s solution to comparing your company’s solution with those of other providers, to those ready to buy. perhaps wanting to negotiate the amount of outlay (price). See Three Types for details.
What Makes White Papers Work So Well
What makes white papers work so well is that they explain the science behind the solution in the most generic manner. There is no mention of your product, service or company until the last page or two.
Your customer does not feel like being sold but perceives your company as having experts in the field relevant to the solution they are seeking and will more likely contact your company’s sales department.
Your company representative would then focus efforts on exactly which solution would best suit the customer’s needs.
| A survey by Marketing Sherpa asked nearly 1,400 IT professionals indicated: 89% said content has an impact on preference of technology vendor. 57% said white papers influenced their buying decisions. 71% prefer white papers to other marketing content. 69% of prospects who like your white paper will pass it on to colleagues.Source: Maddox. Kate, “Study looks at value of online content” B2B. 10/10/05, p.3 Huff, Dianna, “How to Syndicate Your White Papers” Marketing Sherpa |
Alternatives to the term ‘White Paper’
Since the purpose of a white paper is to deliver information to company decision makers, they’re often called something else – including but not limited to:
- Special Report
- Technical Review
- Guide
- Information Package
- Prospectus*
*Popular for promoting companies as investment opportunities.
These documents are available from a capture page on a company’s web site where the reader enters name, company name, position with the company, email address, phone number (best time to call), etc.
The data collected is used as sales leads or inquiries to follow up on.
The typical call to action is usually providing contact information of the company’s sales operations. However it is best practice to provide a valuable service as part of the sales appointment. This is usually a form of analysis or consultation on some critical matter.
Read the post “A More Effective Call to Action” for details. Click on the link in the right sidebar.