Top Mistakes in Writing a White Paper

At last, white paper secrets revealed…

Who Else Wants To Know The
Top 10 Mistakes
in Writing a White Paper?

You’re making at least 2 of these mistakes,
and it is probably costing you money…

by M. Kyle Craig –
Marketer, Writer, and Technologist

Author is M. Kyle Craig thewhitepaperplace.com

Dear Friend:

If you’re reading this, you must be using white papers in your marketing.

Right?

Right!?!?!?

I hope you are. They are a killer tool in any marketer’s arsenal.

They are perfect for building your guru status, lead generation, opt-in
bait, educating your prospects, and establishing yourself as an industry
leader.

But most people are doing it wrong. You probably are to.


This short primer will improve your white papers. You should
take these tips and start making more money and getting
more leads.

Hopefully you’re already using white papers in your marketing
plan.

If so, then you already know that putting a well-written piece in
front of a potential customer is an easy way to make a sale.

If you aren’t using white papers, well…

…you need to NOT read this… Close down the reader and you
need to go and start writing your white paper. Come back when
you have your white paper finished…

Take a few minutes to read through this list. You’ll learn some
things and improve your white papers.

Why use a White Paper?
( A few reasons.. )

- Creates focused attention on your product
Today, people spend their day ignoring ads, marketing messages, and all
the other interruptions that come at them. It’s call ‘ad blindness.’ Many
businesses would love to have a prospect focus on their product. That’s
what a white paper does – it creates focused attention on your product
from your potential customer.

- Answers common – even complex – issues about you
Because you have the reader’s attention, you can answer the most
common and the most complex topics about you, your company, and your
product/service. That is nearly impossible to do with an ad or an email

- Allows to you to quickly get inside the customer’s organization
Most white papers are PDFs. This digital format means that your paper can
be sent to multiple people inside your prospect’s company. You gain an
advantage because the more people learn about your product, the easier it
is to make the sale.


Mistake #1
Turning the paper into an advertisement

By far, the most common mistake you’ll make is launching into an
advertisement. This is the number one reason why a prospect stops reading.
People view hundreds of advertisements in a day – on the web, TV,
radio, billboards, newspapers, and magazines. It seems like whatever the
medium, there is always an ad. Because of this bombardment, the average
consumer has become very adept at one thing – ignoring ads. When your white
paper starts into a sales pitch, the reader goes into the operating mode of
ignoring you.
Your white paper should educate the reader. You can explain a
trend or methodology, solve a new problem, or present a new way of solving an
old problem.
But don’t start off by selling them. As soon as they start to smell a
pitch, they leave and go somewhere else. Most probably to your competitors.
Remember this - they are trading a small piece of their time to read
your paper. Don’t jeopardize that gift by jumping into a pitch. They have given
you a portion of their time, so you should give them new information. Return
their gift of attention on your paper by providing something in return – education.

Your first goal is to educate.


Mistake #2
Confusing company information with
customer interest
Today’s harsh truth - most people are buying your product to help
themselves, not to help you. Yes the purchase helps you by giving you more
sales, but the customer could care less about that. They want your product
because it helps them solve their own issue.
So don’t begin your paper with company information. Front-loading a
white paper with 3 pages of company information history is ego-centric and
offensive. As people take interest in your company, discuss information related
to the issues, not information about you.
Imagine two people on a date. A young couple sits down at a nice,
semi-romantic restaurant. As the appetizers reach the table, the man launches
into mindless dribble about himself. He completely ignores his date and starts
only talking about his accomplishments. What happens next? She’s bored. And
annoyed. There is no second date.
Many companies want to be portrayed as professional. They have a
tendency to prove that upfront - why they are the best, how their product is the
best, and how they are better than the competition. People don’t want to hear
about you, they want to hear about themselves.
There’s nothing wrong with putting information about yourself. Just
create a separate section of the paper to hold that information – at the end.


Mistake #3
No clear action path for follow-up

What happens when someone finishes reading your paper?
They close down the .PDF file and then they go back to their work.
Do you think they’ll come back to it later? They almost never do.

You should guide your prospect after they’ve read the paper. You need a clear
action sequence that the customer should follow. Most white papers have no
approach at all. They leave the paper as is and expect the sales team to follow
up with the prospect. Usually, this translates to missed opportunities and lost
dollars.
What exactly should the action be? It depends, your actions can be varied. You
could have them: go to a landing page, send an email, place a phone call,
download a software demo. Something. Just make sure you tell them where to
go.
If you don’t give the reader a clear idea of where to go, you are leaving the sale
to random chance. By specifically telling them the next step, you guide the
reader along, putting them one step closer to purchasing.

What is the next step you want people to take?


Mistake #4
Not knowing the reader

How well do you know your reader?
You can probably tell me their title, the industry they’re in, and a few
company names. That’s not enough. You need to know your reader so well that
you can anticipate their next move before they even make it.
Many companies use market research and sales data to broadly
define their audience. But two people could have similar job titles but vastly
different responsibilities. Depending on the industry, the job requirements could
be different. By using broad strokes of data to define the audience, you are
missing the smaller, more salient points about the reader.
You must have a complete understanding of your reader. You
should maintain detailed information that relates to job title, industry, specific
duties, etc. You should know her job responsibility, know his hardships, and the
worries on their mind. Who does he report to? What does she manage? What
creates pressure and stress for her? What is his approval process? There are
many, many more.
This understanding focuses you on the reader’s internal motivations
and creates a strong connection with them. When you know the reader
intimately, you’ll produce better information and write in a way that’s clear and
concise. It’s that connection that will ultimately lead to more sales


Mistake #5
Overlooking thought leadership.

Generally, white papers are used to educate prospects about
current products. This is short-term thinking – write a paper, get leads, make
sales. Most companies want more sales today. Who doesn’t want that?

White papers are also used to build your credibility over the long term. It’s called
‘thought leadership’. Thought leadership white papers offer information that is
relevant, applicable, and interesting to your core audience. The information
helps your customers understand your vision, solve a problem, or educate on
upcoming problems. This technique is applied repeatedly over time.

Thought leadership, if done properly, creates a unique position for
you. Prospective customers will start to visit your site for information before they
begin their search.

Initially, a thought leadership paper may have lackluster results.
Over time though, a thought leadership initiative will generate more leads. And
more importantly, the leads will be better and will be closer to closing.


Mistake #6
Skipping the subject headline

Writers don’t really want to spend time on the subject headline. You
probably don’t either. After you’ve spent countless hours of researching, writing,
and editing, the headline should describe the topic, not be ‘catchy.’ You want
the content to carry itself.
The problem with this is…
without a good headline, the number of people that will read your
paper is EXACTLY 2 – you and your proofreader.

You should realize that most people, like you, are pressed for time.
They make a split second decision about your paper, including it’s worthiness to
them, it’s relevance to them, and it’s quality.
The headline is the first rung in the decision making ladder inside a
the human brain. It serves one purpose - to get your reader to move further into
the paper. If the headline is dull, you’ll likely find yourself being passed over.
The best subject headlines are the ones that make the prospect thinking to
themselves: “Man! I’ve got to stop everything I’m doing and read this paper.
Right now!”


Mistake #7
Not re-using the content

You should be spending several hours of research and editing
before you begin to write. So that begs the question - Why would you take all
that time and then just it one time? Leverage your effort into other areas.
To get more return out of your time invested, re-use the content in
different forms. Psychologists have long recognized that different people have
different styles of learning.
Why aren’t you taking your invested time and using it to your advantage?

Here is a short list of follow-on items that could be quickly built using data from
a white paper:
- Special ‘member-only’ sections on your website
- Niche sites on the web
- Specialized landing pages
- Presentations
-Training classes for customers
- Datasheets


Mistake #8
Not respecting the writing process

The actual ‘writing’ part of a white paper is really only a piece of the
whole process. Yes, that’s right. I said ‘process’. Ironically, most people don’t
realize this. This is grossly oversimplified, but the process is :

Research -> Planning -> Writing -> Editing

Not many people realize that the great writers are also the most disciplined. It
takes more than a simple, “I’m going to write a white paper today.’ kind of
attitude.
Skipping these steps (or taking short-cuts) leads to ineffective work.
If you’ve ever had a white paper that has grown out of control or has lost its
effectiveness, then you probably aren’t using a process.
Shortcutting these steps will hurt you in the long run. It will show in
the content. And even if the readers (remember your prospects? The ones with
the money?) can’t quite pinpoint what’s wrong with the paper, they’ll know it
unconsciously. And then they’ll go somewhere else to buy.


Mistake #9
Misuse of jargon - Use it sparingly

You use jargon everyday. You use it at the bar, at the grocery store, at work,…
everywhere.
Jargon is the informal words (and phrases) that you use with your
friends and families. It has a purpose in social settings, but not in writing. Your
white paper should be professional and communicate clearly, without being
boring. There should be no jargon in a white paper.
But… in some cases, you should use jargon…
“What?” you say.

Jargon in social settings is used to create bonding and to show friendship
among the members. Jargon also is used to establish authority and expertise.
By carefully using jargon in your paper, you can subtly imply these factors in
your white paper. When you use jargon, you can imply that your
product/business is the best or you are the authority on a topic.
But it does need to be used carefully. You should always focus on
communicating clearly, but the more you are the expert, you more people will
buy.


Mistake #10
Thinking: “Our market is different. A white paper will
never work for us.”

I hate to break it to you. Your market isn’t different.
No, it’s really not. Believe me, everyone says that.

Sure there are some special details that only exist in your business.
But the simple fact of the matter is that human psychology doesn’t change.
Prospects respond to good information and they want to buy good products.
Using a white paper makes that happen.

Don’t fall into the trap that your market is different. Keep an open
mind and pull in new ideas from all areas. One good idea could get your over
your next big hurdle.

The principles of business, marketing, and customers still apply. Even if you
think your business is different.


About the author

M. Kyle Craig
Kyle Craig is a marketer, writer, and technology. He has been involved in over 40
product launches and has written in most vehicles, including from newsletters, articles, whtie
papers, press releases, web content, and blog posts. He is a marketing consultant that
combines online and offline methods in the marketing plan.

Email: kyle @ the white paper place {dot} com .
(Remove the spaces and replace the dot…)

This content is provided from thewhitepaperplace.com .


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