Innovating Email List Marketing

It’s a simple fact: not enough companies consider white papers when crafting their lead generation strategy. This is a mistake because white papers offer that important asset which compels potential customers to take that first step with your company. If something is holding your back from adding white papers to your lead gen arsenal, this is the article for you.

Five white paper do’s and don’ts

1.White papers have to be boring. This myth comes from the fact that the original white papers were used for engineering, but today it couldn’t be further from the truth. A lead generation white paper should never be dry or boring. It just has to be instructional by nature (otherwise it’s an ad.) Catchy covers, provocative titles, and juicy content are all great secret weapons for making your lead generation white paper a success.

2.White papers have to be agnostic. Contrary to popular belief, a white paper does not have to be objective.  A white paper can be instructional while still making a case for something. The difference is white papers rely on tangible support to back up the claims. Think of a newspaper editorial. The columnist usually takes a position, but then uses current events, statistics or quotes to back up their point. White papers should take the same approach.

3.A white paper has to be heavily branded. This one is tricky. Say you write a white paper on “The increasing loopholes in airport security.” You’ve got great statistics, quotes, and images, and your paper is one hundred percent accurate and factual. But then you add your boilerplate at the bottom, something akin to “White paper published by Titi TSA-approved security locks.” All of a sudden your perfectly factual white paper looks biased and suspect-even though it’s 100% true. For this reason, it doesn’t always pay to plaster your brand all over a white paper the way you would with a banner ad or email creative. In some cases it is even better to sponsor a third party, such as Forrester or ISM, to write the white paper for you.

4.Anyone can get great results from a white paper. Not really, actually. White papers work best for B2B organizations with a less-known product. No one wants to read a white paper about Honey Nut Cheerios, but they would like to read one about TaxSmart, a new tax service that tells you how to spot a good tax planner. A white paper works best when introducing people to a new service or product that is generally a mystery to people, like technology, sales negotiation, or 401K planning.

5. A white paper isn’t a marketing tool. Having read all this, you may be asking, “well, how is this really a marketing tool for me?” It’s true that a white paper doesn’t always  have the obvious brand-building aspect as a banner ad or print ad, but it offers something that could potentially be even more powerful: leads. In order to get the white paper, people must fill out a registration form with their contact information and sometimes detailed demographic information. At the end of a white paper campaign, you end up with the name and contact information for dozens of people who have shown an interest in your industry-score! Needless to say, this addition of leads to your sales pipeline makes a white paper a fantastic marketing tool, one that benefits both you and your potential customer.

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assets, lead generation, white papers