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Will AI replace white paper writers?

young man with robotic hand writing in notebook

Is there a future for humans to write white papers? Or is it just a matter of time before AI replaces all white paper writers and the bottom falls out of the market? Why should you waste your time learning a skill that’s going to be obsolete in a few years? This article, updated in…

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Will chatbots replace white papers?

chatbot on smartphone against cityscape

You’ve seen them. You’ve used them. Chatbots are everywhere now. And a whole new industry is springing up to write, code, and integrate chatbots into websites. That means loads of opportunities for writers who learn this new format. Nick Usborne, a co-founder of marketing agency Chatbot Forge, is a pioneer in this field who points…

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5 questions about branded original research white papers

Ever heard of branded original research? It’s an up-and-coming type of content marketing.  To create it, a brand surveys their audience to develop content for prospective customers. And, unlike some space trip to Mars, it’s not far-fetched fiction. Branded original research is a hot format that’s becoming increasingly popular for marketing managers across industries. What…

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6 reasons why video will never replace white papers

Surveys show that about 2 out of 3 B2B vendors use white papers. This number has stayed at the same level for the last 10 years. Clearly, white papers work. But even though I write white papers, I don’t claim that every last B2B company in the world should use them. There are some companies that just…

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"Cheat sheets" for white papers: a new format for you?

As a B2B marketer, you’re likely under pressure to empower your sales team with great content. Are your sales reps asking for something “short” they can hand out at a meeting or e-mail to prospects?  Your reps may believe customers don’t want to read lengthy pieces and would prefer something shorter they can quickly skim. This…

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Video and slide-share white papers: Do they work?

A colleague and I recently put together a talk on white papers done as videos and slide shows. Apryl Parcher is a white paper writer and social media expert from WhitePaperResults.com. Apryl and I wanted to respond to the new formats for white papers we’ve seen cropping up, especially videos and slide shows. We present a few…

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For white papers, size does matter

fingers holding tiny envelop

A client recently asked me to write some “mini-white papers.” Against my better judgement, I decided to try. I agreed to write 10 mini-white papers of 2-3 pages each on an array of topics for a technology vendor. That’s less than half the length I normally write. “Nobody reads long things anymore,” I was assured…

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