This is the single worst practice in white papers today.
Executives from white paper syndication services plus many independent surveys all agree:
Readers hate sales pitches.
Why? Because a white paper is supposed to inform or enlighten a prospect by providing
useful information that truly helps them on the job.
Jumping into a sales pitch irritates prospects,
and can even kill your chance of staying on their vendor list.
If you're writing a brochure, call it a brochure: Don't call it a white paper!
Don't let ad copy and marketing-speak contaminate your white paper;
the results will be most unhealthy.
Every white paper needs at least one strong infographic that sums up its key points.
That's because nearly everyone understands pictures faster, and remembers them better, than text.
And don't just use the first graphic someone dumps on your desk.
Plan to edit and polish any illustrations, the same way you edit text.
Here are some things you can do to improve draft graphics:
By all means, avoid cheesy clip art. Forget photos of happy-faced keeners around gleaming board-room tables.
This is a terrible visual cliché. Simplify lines and boxes flying off in all directions, the way most engineers sketch things. Redo tired PowerPoints. Ask yourself: What is the main point of this picture?
Then make everything in the graphic add to that message.
Test out your graphics on some people in your target audience.
If they don't get it, go back to the drawing board.
Or ask a professional artist to clean up your graphics for you.
The health of your white paper hangs in the balance.
Just because your CEO says something is true and you dutifully write it down,
doesn't mean anyone else will believe it.
A white paper needs to build a solid case with concrete evidence:
facts, figures, names, dates, places, statistics from impeccable sources,
quotes from industry experts, and stories from ecstatic clients.
Without strong evidence, arranged in a logical structure, your argument is nothing
but re-circulated hot air, laden with germs.
If you skip all over with no overall design, many readers will not follow what you're saying.
Remember, there are tried-and-true rhetorical methods for building an effective argument.
Start with the familiar and link to the unfamiliar.
Start with the past, describe the present, and project into the future.
Start with an overview and drill down to the details.
Start at the beginning of a process and trace the way to the end.
Whatever you do, find an appropriate logical structure and then stick to it
throughout your white paper.
No one likes TLA that MTFD.
(Three Letter Acronyms that Make Them Feel Dumb.)
You certainly don't have to define terms like RAM or MP3 if they're well-known to your audience.
But you do need to define any company-specific terms or unusual acronyms that your
audience may not know.
Otherwise, this disease will have your white paper gasping for breath.
It's okay for a product manager or developer to jot down some notes for a white paper.
But then, find a professional writer or editor to polish up that text.
They can be from your own company, or from an outside firm.
If you don't, you can easily publish something that reflects poorly on your company...
and something that won't persuade any prospects.
Don't let this disease pickle the innards of any white paper that you need to get out there
and get some results.
Written by Gordon Graham, this article appeared in the
April 2007 edition of the WhitePaperSource Newsletter.
To repost this article on your Web site, please e-mail your request to
Gordon@ThatWhitePaperGuy.com.
|
