What's the diff between a white paper and a case study?

by Gordon Graham, That White Paper Guy
 

Many people are not clear on the differences between white papers and case studies.

But it pays to know the difference, and how to use each one most effectively.

After 30 years in technology, I've come to the conclusion that white papers and case studies are the two most powerful, most convincing and most cost-effective marketing materials that any company can ever produce.

Sure, sending out e-mails may be cheaper.

But you can't keep using the very same e-mail for a year or two, like you can a good white paper.

And you can't recycle the contents of an e-mail in more than a dozen different ways, like you can a good case study.

So what's the difference? This table sums up some of the key factors.

By the way, I use "offering" here to mean any product, service, methodology or even philosophy.

	Case Study	White Paper
Focus	One customer's experience with an offering	Business and/or technical benefits of an offering
Message	"This customer had a big problem... and solved it with our offering"	"Here's how our offering can help you" or "Here's how it works"
Length	1 or 2 pages	6 to 10 pages
Production values	Slicker look: color photos, multiple columns	Plainer look: color graphics, most often one column
Lifespan	~1 year, then check with customer	1 to 2 years, then refresh or rethink
Cost	$1,000 to $2,000	$3,000 to $7,000
Time to do	~3 weeks (or more)	~6 weeks (or more)
Difficulty	Faster and easier (less research)	Slower and harder (more research)
Approvals	External & internal	Internal only
When used	Later in sales cycle	Earlier in sales cycle
Why used	To reassure prospect	To explain offering to prospect

The beauty of case studies...

I believe that case studies are the most cost-effective piece of marketing literature that any B2B company can produce.

For $2,000 or less, a business can commission a professionally written, beautifully designed, magazine-quality case study.

This document will be reassuring to any prospect working in a similar industry or facing a similar challenge.

For more on writing case studies, see this article on how to get best results from a case study.

The power of white papers...

White papers are the heavy guns of any marketing campaign.

Like a "smart bomb," a good white paper can deliver your message right to the conference table where the decision-makers sit.

For $3,000 to $7,000, a company can commission a wonderfully argued summary of the business and technical benefits of their offering.

This document will be educational for any prospect seeking to understand an offering. And it will likely be passed up and down the food chain at their company.

That's why I write a steady stream of white papers: They get results.

The trick, from a marketer's point of view, is to know the difference between case studies and white papers, and to use each type of documents to back up your sales efforts in the best possible way.

To repost this article on your Web site, please e-mail a request to Gordon@ThatWhitePaperGuy.com.