Should You Write a White Paper?
When businesses want to deliver helpful information to their audience, their immediate expectations is that they should write a white paper. While a white paper can be a valuable asset to your content marketing plan, this isn’t the best approach for all businesses. It really depends on the situation whether or not this is the best approach. Here is a look at some information that will help you decide if a white paper really is the best way to deliver the information to your audience.
Understanding What Your Audience Wants
The first thing you should do if you’re considering writing a white paper is to get to know the types of information that your audience will want and how you suspect they would like it delivered to them. You need to make sure you are in touch with your audience. Otherwise, you could spend all this time writing a white paper that will never be well received. You want people to read the white paper, have them find the information valuable, and use it to further your band.
It all starts by being tuned in to what your audience wants. Keep in mind that some types of information is much better off presented as a white paper. So, if you find that your audience wants research-heavy content related to your product or service, it could very well be that they will embrace a white paper if you launch one. The whole process starts by getting to know your audience.
Understand How a White Paper Adds Value
Did you know that a white paper could add value to your brand image? Even if your audience isn’t quite reading the white paper, or you are getting fewer downloads than you anticipated on the white paper, this isn’t to say that you shouldn’t have launched it. A white paper can position you as a thought leader in your industry. It’s all about perception. If the fact that the white paper exists improves people’s perception of your brand and indirectly leads to sales, then it would have been worth it.
Before writing it, carefully consider all the pros and cons. Understand that there are ways a white paper can add value for your brand without directly leading to sales. It could boost your brand image and lead to other intangible benefits.
Know that You Can Repurpose a White Paper
Let’s say you launched a white paper and it wasn’t as well received as you had hoped. Well, all that work doesn’t have to feel it has gone to waste. You can repurpose the content and use it on your site, either as part of your static pages, or turned into articles for the blog. In fact, even if your white paper is a success, you should still leverage it while the information is relevant. After all, it took a lot of your resources to put this together, you should take advantage of all that work.
A white paper can be a great addition to your content marketing, but you need to decide if it’s worth it and helps you meet your goals. If it is, it can have a lot of amazing benefits!
Categorized in: Content Marketing
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