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Quick tip: Position your white paper draft for reviewers

Did you ever get a big PDF in your Inbox with a terse note asking, “What do you think?”

What do I think?

  • I’m think I’m busy.
  • I think I already have more than enough things to think about.
  • I think I want you to go away and stop bothering me.

Sending your reviewers your white paper that way can get a grumpy reception.

After all, reading a 10-page draft will take at least 30 minutes of their precious time.

More likely 60 minutes, if they really answer a lot of high-level questions:

  • Does it hit the mark?
  • Does it sound like the company voice?
  • Does it go into areas that it shouldn’t?
  • Or does it skim over areas it should go into?
  • Is it ready to release?
  • If not, how can we make it better?

No wonder most reviewers take what I call “the worm’s eye view”?

They pick out a typo or two in triumph. And that’s about it.

One simple thing that will help your reviewers

Happily, any B2B writer or marketer can do one simple thing to help your reviewers immensely.

You can “position your draft” for them. In other words, tell them the purpose of the document, and who it’s aimed at.

You only have to cover two things:page showing Purpose and Audience typed at start of white paper

  1. The goal or purpose of the white paper.
  2. The audience it’s aimed at.

Put those right at the top on the front page of the draft. That way, they can’t miss it.

Some real-life examples

Here’s how I summed up these items at the start of three actual white paper drafts.

Each paper is on a different topic. But the same approach worked every time.

 


For a white paper on employee resilience during Covid

sample white paper coverGoal: To generate leads for keynote speeches and corporate training on resilience

Audience: Decision-makers worried about employees’ ability to bounce back from the pandemic. All ages from 30 to 65. More likely women. Titles include CEO, CFO, CIO, Owner, President, or VP.

Some run the local offices of larger organizations, with titles like Administrator, Director, Manager, Partner, or Meeting Planner.

 


For a white paper on a new approach for CIOs

Purpose: To provide helpful guidance for senior IT managers on what they can do to act more like IT service brokers

Audience:sample white paper cover with positioning

  • IT decision-makers with titles like VP of IT, Director of IT, Director of Virtual Infrastructure
  • Mid-market companies with $200 to $1 billion in sales (Fortune 1000+)
  • Men aged 40 to 60 with a Computer Science degree and perhaps an MBA who are facing pressure to “do more with less” and focus on business growth instead of simply “keeping the lights on”

 


For a white paper to attract business brokers

Notice how you can include further notes to guide reviewers.

Purpose: To generate leads for a franchised business brokerage

Intended readers: Business buyers, commercial real estate agents, downsized middle managers, and dissatisfied professionals looking for a new opportunity. Men or women aged 35 to 55 who are unfamiliar with the business broker concept.

Other noteswhite paper sample with positioning

—Do one version for both Canada and USA, but use American spelling

—Refer to both Canadian and American financial plans such as RRSPs/401(K)s

—Use equivalent statistics from both countries

—Include the history and future of the business brokerage industry

 

 


happy white paper reviewer at his desk

Conclusion

You can’t make your reviewers’ lives any less hectic.

But you can make your request for a review seem less random.

By using this simple tip, you can help your reviewers understand what that 10-page PDF is all about… and help them get started on their review.

 


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About Gordon Graham

Worked on 323 white papers for clients from Silicon Valley to Switzerland, on everything from choosing enterprise software to designing virtual worlds for kids, for clients from tiny startups to 3M, Google, and Verizon. Wrote White Papers for Dummies which earned 60+ 5-star ratings on Amazon. Won 16 awards from the Society for Technical Communication. Named AWAI 2019 Copywriter of the Year.

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