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White papers: What is the state of white papers in b2b marketing?
Best Answer
- Recommended by:
- Chris Rechtsteiner,
- Mark McClure,
- pradeep Raj
The issue is that quantity has overwhelmed quality - there have been so many cheap throwaway white papers published and they are so commonly given away that nuggets of wisdom get lost in the torrent of words.
In my opinion, the real key is how to expose those nuggets - and whether a 'white paper' is really the best venue to do so. I'd suggest that in most cases, a shorter, more to-the-point, more web-centric format makes a lot more sense.
- Recommended by:
- Mark McClure
I tend to agree with Mr. Selland. There is a sea of white paper content available to the b2b buyer. Being able to find something of value is increasingly difficult.
Simply put, just because you can write a white paper doesn't mean you should.
If you can extract the brilliance or value of the idea you wish to communicate in a shorter, more easily digested form, do so. If you can't, that's fine, too. Just be sure that what you are leaving your audience with is something that they can share internally (and externally) and further increase the visibility of your value.
- Recommended by:
- Mark McClure
In this context, the marketing mantra that matters is "give to get." If a person or company wants to "get" readers and responders, for white papers or any other content, they have to "give" value to those readers and responders. And "value" means useful, actionable information, not blather about the content creator's solutions or services. White papers are just a delivery mechanism, like Webinars and blogs. If the content has value in a meaningful context, readers will read it and respond.
- Recommended by:
- Mark McClure
Interesting topic. For many B2B tech clients I’ve worked with, the white paper still proves itself empirically (downloads, time spent on page, repeat visitor to page) as a great way to educate less-ready leads and tell them about an emerging space, technology or service.
I agree with Dale that white papers should be ‘set free’ and not require a registration....and be focused on education as opposed to a specific product or vendor. Over the last few years as a copy writer, I’ve also tried to write shorter white papers with great sub-headings so the papers themselves are more digestible, skimmable – that way, the reader can quickly decide if they want to spend a few more minutes on the paper and dive into the content.
- Recommended by:
- Mark McClure
If you have the ability to create white papers that help your customers and prospects and also get you leads and build you credibility and trust then they still matter.
I've read hundreds of papers as an analyst and can say those that are full of substance and free of marketing spin, more academic and visionary (position papers), and as prescriptive and straightforward as a recipe (technical guides), perform the best against syndication goals.
Here are the top 100 that IT pros are downloading now: http://bit.ly/cT7796
I wouldn't say white papers are dead. I would say that their usefulness depends on the organization using them, their buyer personas and their goals for using them.
Arguments on both sides seem a bit biased.
I still enjoy reading white papers occasionally but rarely will give up registration information to access one. Most just aren't that enlightening and different any more, mine included!
Dale
It's still early days for video within white papers but here's a pioneering example.
http://www.intermec.com/ (registration required)
What I particularly liked was how the short video clips complemented the white paper's description of the various stress tests that factory floor mobile computers/phones must go through to meet customer expectations.
The presenters didn't go into any specific details of their phones, although I could see them being heated, dropped etc. They didn't have to. The technical overview of what a phone should go through (and why), along with the video content shot in their own testing facilities, was enough to build a degree of trust that these folks know what they're talking about.
And that was all in a white paper with no "sales puffery" - just useful information for anyone wanting to check out what it takes for mobile devices to make the grade in factory environments.
The only downside was the length of time it took the videos to stream from the company's servers after I clicked on the video link in the (pdf) white paper. It ranged from 30s to several minutes. Admittedly, I'm in Japan, but streamed video from US corp websites is normally OK.
However, their videos are also on YouTube which is another interesting avenue for the #video white paper" concept.
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White papers are still valuable. This said, they must be enlightening and compelling reads (as Dale and Michael both stipulate). Paul Dunay is on the right track when he says that a white paper should also provide 3 - 5 additional resources (like blog posts and articles or even a short, informative video.)
In B2B marketing, there's a double-edged sword. The mantra is to "set content free" but many organizations are still required to grow databases with opt ins. If you offer great meaty content for free, then require a fairly painless opt in to get more of the same caliber content in a paper, people will be more apt to register for and download it because you've set their expectations to anticipate more great content. You've built the "currency value" of your content so that registration is perceived as a mutual exchange of value - their opt in info for your great content. For many, the crux is the great content part.
Given the metrics on the Savvy B2B post, if your company sells to IT and IT wants, reads, passes along and bases purchase decisions on white papers, you need to give them what they want. Done well, white papers can still play an integral role in driving buying momentum.
One thing I'd add is that research shows most people will read a white paper on a computer screen. This said, why do so many white papers still use columns that require the reader to scroll up and down to read one page?
Given reading on the screen, Elizabeth's idea for shorter, skimmable papers has a lot of merit - as long as we remember that shorter doesn't mean less meat, it means more tightly focused topics.
Just a few thoughts.