Blogging is the top strategy in today’s content marketing campaigns. However, a blog sometimes can’t provide the depth of knowledge you’d like. White papers could be the solution. Yet white papers can be intimidating, and not all customers may want to share contact information to access them. What’s the solution to creating a white paper your prospective customers want to read?
If you want to improve your content strategy to include white papers, follow these five rules:
1. Define the greatest problem faced by your consumers
What does your company want to address? Say you’re a company that provides business IT services — you’re not just providing support for network issues; you’re helping businesses streamline multiple parts of their operations and their communication with the outside world. When choosing your white paper topic, don’t explain how to diagnose network errors. Instead, focus on communication breakdowns and tech-related operational issues, and on how system errors can significantly impact business productivity.
2. Make it visionary, not reflective
The white paper should address the problems affecting your target audience and how your solution will resolve them if they take the next step with your company. Normally, you don’t want to write a white paper that only explains the problem or presents multiple options for the consumer. The reader wants one clear solution, and if you articulate the problem effectively, you should be able to lead the customer toward the next step in the sales process.
3. Conduct thorough research
You want to give your readers a comprehensive understanding of the problem and solution. Because they will likely absorb only a fraction of what they read, you’ll want to include both breadth and depth of knowledge for the reader to digest. Conduct interviews, quote other publications covering the same topic, and present different perspectives when addressing the problem to provide more comprehensive data your readers can use. Use this research to make a stronger case for readers to use your product or service.
4. Find the balance between professional and easy-to-read language
You don’t want your white paper to be too technical for your consumers, but you also want to convey an authoritative tone on the topic. Avoid industry-specific jargon, and use professional terms rather than conversational language. When you write your white paper, think of the tone you would use when speaking with a business associate or a customer over the phone.
5. Edit for content and context
Grammar mistakes aren’t the only thing you need to proofread for. When you review your white paper, does it answer all the questions you set out to address at the beginning? Does it have a clear structure that readers can easily follow and contain the information they need most? You may want to rework or reorganize some of your content after writing the first draft to provide more clarity.
