Why does my business need a white paper? And what is a white paper anyway?
This is the one question I get asked more than any other when I talk about my services, because while most business owners are at least aware of what blogs, case studies and web copy are, white papers are a bit of an unknown. And honestly I think that’s a shame, because when done properly, a white paper can be an amazing tool for your business, and it gives you a great piece of marketing collateral to use time and time again.
So let’s give you an introduction to the world of white papers.
What Is A Whitepaper?
In a nutshell, a white paper is a research report or guide that solves a problem. They’re usually longer pieces, since you need more time to really get into the meat of the issue, so they can range from 3,000 words to over 10k in some cases. And with all of those words, you have the chance to really dig into the background of the issue, the impact it has, and some of the solutions (including yours, obviously). Some people call them different things – guides and eBooks are common names for them too – but the idea is the same. It’s a nice long piece that’s fleshed out, polished and packed full of information.
White papers are used to educate readers, bring light to an issue, or showcase a new perspective on how something should be done. And they are also one of the best pieces of marketing collateral your business can have on hand. White papers are considered to be the most influential form of business collateral, and 76% of business owners have used white papers as part of their decision-making efforts.
And the great thing is, your white paper doesn’t have to be a big advert for your business. In fact, it shouldn’t be! A white paper should largely be impartial, looking at the facts around the problem and presenting a number of different reasons for it and solutions the reader can try. At least one of those solutions should include you, but you shouldn’t be the focus of the white paper. To give you an idea, a few of the white papers I’ve written recently have been about:
- The environmental impact of flooring
- Corporate mental health and wellbeing
- How your brain responds to admin tasks
- The benefits of RPA to your business
- A recruiter’s guide to keeping your new employees
You can probably guess what each of those businesses does by the title of the papers, but out of around 7,000 words each, only around 500 were a direct promotion for the company. Instead, they used their white papers to showcase their deep knowledge of their profession and create confidence in the reader that they can help.
What Can I Use It For?
So, once you have your nice shiny white paper, the next question is how on earth do you use it? After all, it isn’t the kind of document you can just upload on your website and expect people to jump in and read. You need to put some thought into where and how to use it. The great thing is, white papers aren’t just informative, they’re really versatile too! With one white paper, you can:
- Put it behind an information wall, so you can build an email list of engaged prospects to reach out to.
- Break it down into several blog posts to share over the months.
- Give it away as a lead magnet to draw in new prospects.
- Send it to prospects who are ‘on the fence’ about using you.
- Upload it to your website, and create a landing page to direct people to.
- Send it in an email newsletter to your current clients.
- Post teaser sections on social media to draw in new prospects.
And if you’re feeling creative, there are dozens of other ways you can use it. At the end of the day, a white paper is there to show off how much you know and encourage people to work with you, so the further you can distribute it, the better!
What Makes A Good White Paper?
Length: Generally a good white paper should be no fewer than 6 pages including illustrations, charts, and references. Depending on how much detail the topic requires, they could be anywhere between 12 and 50 (though they aren’t usually that long!)
Structure: White papers shouldn’t be a long rambling wall of text. There is usually a title page, a table of contents, short summary, introduction, several pages talking about the problem, another several pages about the solution, and ideally a section offering an example of how your company used that solution to achieve results, finishing off with a conclusion.
Density: White papers are typically much denser than your average blog post. They shouldn’t be easy to skin read, and often readers will end up reading them more than once to make sure they get every ounce of information out of it.
Format: PDF in portrait orientation (8.5” by 11”).
Style: Your white paper should reflect your brand voice in style, but it also needs to be well written, well edited and taken fairly seriously. I’d also recommend hiring a graphic designer to make it look great with a page layout, images, fonts and colours.
So, do you think you’re up for it! Don’t worry, most business owners aren’t! The reality is most business owners just don’t have the time to invest in such a big project, which means it will sit on the back burner for a very long time. That’s why I recommend you outsource this particular piece of content to a professional. At Eleven Eight we’re very experienced in all forms of white paper writing, and can handle every aspect from the initial research, writing, editing, proof reading and polishing. So after a simple conversation, you will have a wonderful white paper land in your inbox ready to go.
If you want to find out more, or want to see some examples of our work, please do just get in touch.