20 top tips for white paper designers
First time ever designing a white paper? You can make that a smash hit or a total flop. It’s as simple as that. White paper readers don’t demand anything fancy. They just want a document that’s easy to scan, easy to read, and professional. If you give them that, they’ll likely scan it to pick…
Read MoreWhen clients “ghost” writers: Advice for both sides
A marketing person asks me to do a white paper for their company. They’re excited to have me on their team. Using my time-tested method, I deliver an executive summary. The client approves it with no reservations. They pay my first invoice. I expand the executive summary into a full-length draft. It’s the right length.…
Read More5 reasons white papers are challenged: our data and stories
Let’s compare a white paper to a dessert soufflé. Done right, a soufflé is an extraordinary dessert that gets people talking. But making a great soufflé takes skills, the right ingredients and an oven in tip-top shape. If you’re missing one of these factors, your soufflé will fall flat. By the same token, publishing a…
Read More6 reasons white papers fail: our data and stories
Not every white paper that’s started ever gets finished. In fact, our data shows 1 in 6 white papers fail. At That White Paper Guy, we recently analyzed 300 of our own white paper projects going back to 1997. We were shocked to discover that 50 of these white papers—1 in 6—were abandoned and never…
Read MoreHow many white papers are "enough"?
B2B marketers often wonder: How many white papers should our company publish? How many white papers are really “enough?” The correct answer is “that all depends.” One of my clients asks me to write a white paper every time his sales force comes up against a serious objection. The more objections, the more white…
Read More18 must-do’s to promote a white paper
So you wrote a white paper. Now what? Now it’s time to get it in front of your target readers. And that means doing promotions. There are lots of ways to promote a white paper. In fact, my book White Papers For Dummies includes a list of 40 possible promotions. But not every tactic works for…
Read MoreTips on using dictation software to write
Whether you’re a marketer or a writer, you need to get text out of your mind, onto your screen, and into a file several times a day. Most people do that by typing. If you’re fast, you might get 60 words a minute. But you can talk 2.5 times that fast, at something like 150…
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 More12 steps to great white paper project management
A white paper project is a complex undertaking, with many moving parts. Here are 12 steps to an effective white paper project. We created each of these steps after going through a painful experience with a white paper that went off the rails A few were never even completed, despite my best efforts. So consider…
Read MoreCrossing the chasm with effective white papers
This is a tale of two white papers, and the companies that planned them. It shows how an effective marketing strategy can help you to create an effective white paper. And it shows how an ineffective marketing strategy can hinder your best efforts to create a good white paper. Along the way, we’ll review a few…
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