|
It turned out his firm was looking for six technical white papers (~65 pages) for an upcoming trade show.
And that's not all. To leave time to promote his company's presence at this show, he wanted all these papers done in three to five weeks?!
I told him that didn't sound possible.
But I took the time to join forces with another tech writer in Toronto, and we proposed doing his two most important white papers,
up to 30 pages, in time for the show in two months.
 |
|
That wasn't what he wanted to hear. So I didn't get that project, and I'm glad.
I figure it was doomed to fail.
Don't scramble to throw together a whole pile of white papers just a few weeks before a trade show.
|
I've done white papers that way, and it's not recommended.
White papers are supposed to be well-reasoned, thoughtful documents.
Working in a rush usually leads to dull titles, weak logic, poor graphics, typos, and sloppy design.
That's not the image your company wants to convey.
If you have to scramble, focus on one or two key documents, not a whole clutch of them.
That gives you time to review drafts, prepare illustrations, and publish these documents properly.
Any less, and you're really going to be cutting corners... unless you have a huge team to delegate to,
or a huge budget for outsourcing.
Of course, my prospect had neither.
Sure, trade shows are important.
But you don't need all your white papers ready to hand out at your booth.
Just create a good set of titles and a dummy cover for each one.
Then take requests for a selection of white papers your visitors can get over the next few weeks.
After the show, create the most-requested white papers first. And reconsider doing the papers nobody requested.
Remember, the more times you "touch" a prospect by sending them another white paper, the more chances to draw them into your sales funnel...
especially if each of your white papers has been done with care, and not in a mad rush.
To repost this article on your Web site, please e-mail a request to
Gordon@ThatWhitePaperGuy.com.
|
