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by Gordon Graham, Editor, SoftwareCEO
That's why any new book devoted to building more understanding about white papers is welcome.
In "The White Paper Marketing Handbook"
renowned copywriter Bob Bly covers a lot of territory.
In fact, he ties together everything from direct mail to webinars with the concept of "edu-marketing."
(I prefer "content marketing" to this somewhat clumsy term, but that's a quibble.)
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In short, today's buyers are burned out on sales pitches.
So the best way to engage prospects, generate trust and draw them into your sales funnel is to give them
truly useful information.
In other words, the most effective tool for generating leads is content.
And the most popular marketing piece of this type is the white paper.
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This means that marketers need to start thinking less like sales people and more like publishers.
Ask yourself: What kind of unbiased information could you provide to your prospects that would help them on the job?
And how could you maximize the "halo effect" this would create, where prospects begin to see you less as a vendor
keen on selling them something and more as a trusted partner interested in their success?
For those just thinking about these issues for the first time,
Bly provides good guidance.
When he says that white papers are a combination of advertising and journalism, he's right on the money.
And his list of ways to prove the assertions you make in a white paper should be
tattooed on the back of every marketing manager's hand.
Here they are again for quick reference:
• Awards
• Benchmark test performances
• Case studies
• Customer testimonials
• Design innovations
• Number of users or installed systems
• Number of years in operation
• Reviews
• Third-party endorsements
After all, just telling people you have the best technology is
not persuasive; that's nothing but a sales pitch.
You have to prove it by creating a pile of credible
evidence built up from the items listed here.
Because of its far-flung content, this book will be useful to any marketing executive
responsible for all the campaigns that your company launches.
On the down side, this book includes a lot of issues that have nothing to do with
B2B technology.
For instance, marketing anecdotes about mouthwash, prescription drugs and carpet cleaning may not apply to your context.
And if you're a white paper writer, or a marketing person seeking the definitive guide
to writing a white paper, you may be disappointed by the lack of specifics in this volume.
For a detailed how-to approach, you're better off with
Mike Stelzner's book.
Still, Bly's book has a lot of useful ideas and we welcome any new resources
that can help anyone use white papers more effectively.
Copyright © Computing Technology Industry Association, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
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