A white paper
is a marketing tool that allows you to efficiently acquire leads and develop customers. The role of white papers has become increasingly important as face-to-face sales activities have been limited to a certain extent due to the coronavirus pandemic, and online communication has become the main focus.
On the other hand, since creating a white paper requires know-how and resources, there are cases where the project fails before it is completed.
In this article, we will introduce a hack that will help you create white papers efficiently. Please see the column below for the white paper.
Types of white paper
First, limit the types of white papers. The white paper consists of four parts: a lecture report, know-how materials, implementation examples, and market research.
① Lecture report
This is a report that summarizes lecture materials and lecture contents projected at seminars and webinars held in the past. It is possible to approach leads who sympathize with your theme.
②Know-how materials
These are guidebooks that compile useful information and know-how for users. We hope to provide know-how that can provide solutions to the problems faced by users, and further raise their awareness of the issues.
③Introduction example
This is a document that summarizes case studies of companies that have already introduced our products and services. It is possible to convey the issues before introduction and the image of how it will be used after introduction from the same perspective as the user, which has the effect of gaining awareness of products and services and promoting comparative consideration.
④Market research
This is a document that summarizes the results of a survey on the actual usage of products and services and the awareness of target users. You can approach leads who are interested in your theme. You can also expect to gain recognition and traffic to the site by posting it on the press release site.
Whitepaper creation hacks
We’ll show you how to efficiently create a white paper. The key is not to create a white paper from scratch, but to devise ways to use existing materials within the company and turn them into a white paper.
① Lecture report
When it comes to summarizing the content of a lecture, it takes time to transcribe and compile it into text, and it also costs money to hire an outside writer. Lecture materials can be re-edited and created as a white paper.
Lecture materials are created with the premise that the speaker will explain the material, so when converting it to a white paper, be careful by adding text so that it can be understood only through the materials.
②Know-how materials
You can create a white paper by re-editing existing materials created by Customer Success for the purpose of sharing knowledge on how to utilize products and services for customers.
Since existing materials are intended for use with your company’s products and services, try to extract and summarize knowledge that can be commonly used with products and services other than your company’s.
③Introduction example
Creating implementation examples requires time and effort, including requesting, interviewing, and verifying the companies that have implemented the system. Case study content posted on product/service websites can be compiled into a white paper.
You can also reduce the effort by creating case studies without company names. Describe the company’s industry/business format, number of employees, business description, the issues the company was facing, how the product/service was introduced to solve the issue, and the effects obtained from the introduction. Masu.
④Market research
We compile a white paper for users by summarizing the results of online research conducted through market research and user surveys.
The results of the investigation will be made public, those with no problems will be extracted, and comments on the results will be recorded. If you also include a press release as mentioned above, you can expect increased exposure and traffic to your website.
Hacks for effective whitepapers
Once you have created a white paper efficiently with the minimum amount of effort required, we will show you how to make it even more effective.
① Titles that maximize CV (downloads)
If you want many users to
download
your white paper, consider the title thoroughly. There are four things to keep in mind:
- Is the title designed to be catchy and catch the user’s interest?
- Does the title match the target and white paper content?
- Are the expressions concrete and easy to understand using numbers and keywords?
- Are the benefits of reading the white paper communicated?
②Easy to read using illustrations and graphs
It is important to use illustrations and graphs to make white papers easy to understand and understand for users.
Reduce the amount of text per page by using horizontal slide formats as much as possible, and using illustrations and graphs to explain things that can be explained without using text. Also, make the text easier to read by increasing the font size, highlighting the words you want to emphasize, and starting lines after every 3 to 5 lines.
You can easily create them using illustrations and graphs using free tools such as Google Slides and Canva.
③Get business deals with CTA and company information
Compared to requests for information about products and services, it is difficult to immediately convert leads obtained through white paper downloads into business negotiations or projects. However, it is possible to increase the interest of leads immediately after downloading and guide them to the next action.
Specifically, we will improve the UX after downloading the white paper.
Post a CTA that matches the content of the white paper
Rather than posting product/service introductions, company information, and website links in the same way in every white paper, we change the CTA to match the content of the white paper.
Set CTAs that match the consideration stage of your target users, such as requesting information, requesting a quote, applying for a free trial/demonstration, free consultation, seminar information, etc.
Product/service and company introductions in line with the content of the white paper
We will introduce products and services as well as company information according to the content of the white paper. Estimate the psychology of the user reading the white paper and structure it so that they move on to the next action in a natural way.
summary
- The white paper consists of four parts: a lecture report, know-how materials, implementation examples, and market research.
- The key to efficiently creating a white paper is not to create it from scratch, but to devise ways to turn existing materials in your company into a white paper.
- There are three ways to make your white paper even more effective: 1) Create a title that maximizes CV (downloads), 2) Use illustrations and graphs to make it easier to read, and 3) Use CTAs and company information to gain business deals.
- By posting a CTA that matches the content of the white paper and introducing your product/service and company, you can increase the interest of leads immediately after downloading and guide them to the next action.