I hate furniture stores. As soon as you walk through the
door, salesperson pounces. Then, even if you say you’re just looking, they
follow you around, pretending to polish tables or simply lurking behind the potted
plants.
As the state of most of my furniture attests, I often leave
without buying because they make me so uncomfortable I can’t really enjoy the
shopping experience.
So it is with any almost any complex sale – or at least
those where the amount to be spent is perceived as a significant portion of the
budget. (When I do buy furniture, I buy furniture intended to last!) In the
early stages, when the buyer isn’t really certain what he or she is looking
for, they want an experience that allows them to self-educate without being
hounded by an over-eager sales rep.
For many complex B2B sales, this situation calls for a white
paper.
If you’re thinking of creating one, or having someone else
(like me) create it for you, here are 6 tips that can help you produce a
compelling piece.
1/ White papers don’t
have to be white. Scratch that. Perhaps it’s better to say they shouldn’t
be white. Gone are the days when you can have your engineers knock one out in
Microsoft Word in an afternoon. To stand out, today’s white papers need to be
as aesthetically pleasing as they are educational.
2/ Use your messaging
as a guide, but leave your product at the door. Your messaging says a lot
(or at least it should) about what matters most to your prospects. Like all
collateral, the white paper should be guided by your messaging. However, to
break in too early with a product message makes you no better than the
furniture salesman peering out from behind the potted plant.
This is probably the biggest mistake I see my high-tech
clients make. Left to their own devices, the technical staff takes over and
they create something that is more akin to a technical brochure. Some even go
so far as to include product specs!
At the end of the day, a white paper should read more like a
magazine article. If your audience is highly technical, think American Scientist. If more
business-oriented, think Forbes.
3/ Title is critical!
Journalists know this. That’s why they create titles that draw you in whether you’re
perusing search engine results or standing in line at the supermarket. X tips for doing whatever works exceptionally
well for pieces that are a bit lighter, like this post, but they also work well
for heavier topics. Here’s an example
from the solar energy industry written for energy executives.
4/ Your product
manager may not be the best author. As a former product manager, I hate to
disparage my own kind. However, too many PMs, especially those managing highly
technical products, get so lost in the bits and bytes that they forget how to
speak to anyone who isn’t an engineer. If your target audience sits in the
executive suite, you will want a writer who can bridge the gap between product
features and ROI. Notice
the ROI message in the title of the last piece I shared.
5/ They don’t have to
be long. A lot of my clients come to me with a set number of pages in mind.
While that helps with estimating, remember that a white paper can easily be as
few as two pages. On the other hand, it may be as many as six or eight if the
subject warrants it.
6/ Include plenty of
whitespace. While the paper may not
be white, you want to include plenty of whitespace to increase readability. You
don’t need as much whitespace as the average product brochure, but nor should you
cram every little nook and cranny with content.
If you have any questions about creating white papers that
resonate, reach out to me either below or via email at Melissa@melissapaulik.com.
