Posts by Gordon Graham
White papers and… the polar vortex?!
If you live in the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest or Canada, you probably experienced a tough winter. Snow fell like crazy and the temperatures plummeted. Cars didn’t start, flights and trains were cancelled, meetings were postponed. Even mail wasn’t delivered in some places. Niagara Falls froze over, as shown above. That’s rare. And some notable…
Read MoreSo you have to write a white paper…
Got a white paper project on your hands? But you’re not sure where to begin? Here’s a quick-start guide that explains all the basics, and points to some handy resources to help you avoid the most common pitfalls. Why go back to basics now? We’ve covered some advanced topics recently, so we wanted to change…
Read MoreThe most influential white paper in history
Why the Bitcoin white paper is the most influential white paper in history.
Read MoreIs it bigger than a breadbox?
Have you ever interviewed a someone who says they have “no metrics” for your case study? Perhaps your source never had to justify their purchase, so they didn’t keep any formal metrics. That means they have no numbers to show how much your offering helped with their business problems… and no numbers you can use in…
Read MoreWho do you trust for a white paper source?
White paper writers often ask me, “What makes a good source?” That’s a great question in today’s era of “fake news” and “alternative facts.” Deliberate falsehoods are being spread from many sources: social media chatbots, agents of foreign governments, clickbait creators—not to mention vendors lying about their products. Because of all this deceit, a recent…
Read MoreA few of my favorite things; a look back at 2017
Here’s a few of my favorite things from 2017. After all, there’s more to life than white papers. One of the habits of highly effective people is to “sharpen the saw.” That means taking time off to refresh and renew yourself. [Tweet “Take time off to refresh and renew; you can start with some of…
Read MoreWhat’s a good topic for a white paper?
I get that question a lot. One good answer is, “anything that’s hot right now.” And that hot topic should refer to something that’s relatively new, relatively complex, and relatively expensive. This rule explains why I recently heard from four eight 13 16 24 prospects launching new cryptocurrencies—something like Bitcoin. What makes cryptocurrencies so hot? …
Read More11 ways to grab attention with a white paper
What are some tips and tricks for grabbing a reader’s attention with a white paper? I recently answered that question on Quora. There are many things you can do to help get a white paper noticed, ranging from the cover to the structure to how you write the content. Here’s a more detailed answer, expanded…
Read More16 possible ways to structure a white paper
You’ve probably heard my concept of the three “flavors” of white papers. But within these three, there are many different ways to organize a white paper. Here are 16 possibilities, which I’ve extracted and expanded with thanks from one of my favorite books, Presenting to Win by Jerry Weissman. Weissman is a former New York…
Read More12 steps to great white paper project management
A white paper project is a complex undertaking, with many moving parts. Here is a 12-step program, of sorts, for effective white paper project management. We’ve learned all these lessons through painful experiences with white papers that went off the rails. A few were never even completed, despite my best efforts. So consider these best…
Read More