Deadly diseases of white paper formats

by Gordon Graham, ThatWhitePaperGuy

Too many white papers are falling victim to a global pandemic.

Any afflicted white paper becomes so feeble it can't raise its voice in a crowd. Sometimes it's even trampled underfoot.

Let's look at six germs that afflict the format of a white paper, and what you can do about them.

White paper disease #1: Obnoxious registration form.

All the research shows that the more questions you ask, the fewer people register for a white paper.

Of course, you want to track any serious prospects.

But do you really need to ask their age, their budget, or how soon they intend to spend it? Are you actually planning to mail them something? If not, why do you need their street address? And what sector the firm is in? And how many employees they have?

People aren't stupid. They know you want all this information so you can assign them to the right salesperson as a "lead."

The only problem is, they're probably not a "lead." They're more likely just a "suspect" doing some initial research. And nothing turns off a suspect like getting a phone call from a salesperson 20 minutes after they download your white paper.

For maximum downloads, ask as few question as possible. "E-mail" and "name" and "title" and "company" are plenty to start with.

To protect your white papers against this deadly disease, leave a few blanks in your CRM software screens. As a result, your white paper will enjoy a much healthier circulation.

White paper disease #2: Boring, nondescript title.

Many people encounter your white paper in a list of search results, with only its title to tell them what it's all about.

How can any white paper with a boring title get noticed in a crowd?

Make the title lively. Use numbers and action words. Pitch it to a specific job title. Suggest that you have inside information. Add time-specific words like "now" or "today."

You can even combine all these tips to create a winning title like "7 Things Every IT Director Must Know to Protect Your Network Today."

But don't just slap an intriguing title on a tired document. Energize your white paper, so it delivers on its promise. Otherwise, its health will fail early on.

White paper disease #3: No summary at the start.

Just about everyone working today has too much to read.

If you don't include any introduction or overview at the start of your white paper, do you honestly expect everyone to read all the way to the end, just to find out what it's about?

Help your readers decide if your white paper is what they want by providing an introduction, abstract, or executive summary at the start.

Give them a one-page summary, and they will likely scan that much, and then decide whether to go on.

White paper disease #4: Too long for the intended audience.

If your white paper doesn't make an impression in the first two or three pages, it never will.

For most business people, five to six pages is ample. Technical people can tolerate a longer white paper that offers more detail.

But if you run on longer than 10 or 12 pages, you will likely lose your audience. This disease is sometimes called "verborrhea."

You can inoculate your longer documents against this threat by breaking them up into separate white papers of five or six pages each.

White paper disease #5: No action step at the end.

You've taken your prospects by the hand and led them through your whole white paper. Now, don't just dump them at the curb!

Walk them to their door. And tell them that you'd really like to see them again.

Set up a landing page, a webinar, an ROI calculator, or whatever you need to keep them interested. Build your white paper into a multi-step marketing campaign that draws prospects into your sales funnel.

If you don't, your white paper will lead a very short and unromantic life.

White paper disease #6: Written by the wrong person.

Many white papers today are written by people who never asked for the job: product managers, developers, or even salespeople pressed to "write up something about our product."

With no prior knowledge of what to include and what to leave out, these people are carriers of this deadly disease.

And with no previous training in how to build an argument and introduce compelling evidence to support it, they are not likely to create a vigorous, convincing case for your technology.

To prevent this, have your white paper written—or at least reviewed—by a white paper expert. They can make sure it isn't suffering from any of these deadly, but curable, diseases.

Written by Gordon Graham, this article appeared in the March 2007 edition of the WhitePaperSource Newsletter. To repost this article on your Web site, please e-mail your request to Gordon@ThatWhitePaperGuy.com.