White Paper World 46: August 22, 2024
- Quick tip: How to write better lists
- You asked: Do white papers work in B2C?
- White paper sample: An excellent B2C guide
- Meet the author: Helen McCrone
9:30 minute read. 17:14 minute listen:
Quick tip: How to write better lists
3 minute read.
Every white paper includes a list or two.
No wonder. They have many benefits:
- Lists help us compare and contrast items
- Lists gather together a lot of data
- Lists can be scanned at a glance
Designers and UX researchers have known for decades that lists are a good way to “chunk” info into shorter pieces.
Those short chunks build comprehension and boost recall.
So lists are a vital element in any B2B content.
But are you making your lists as effective as possible?
Here are four tips to help you take charge of your lists.
Tip 1: Reorder your draft list
If you’re like most writers making a list, you just jot down items as they pop into your mind.
So the results often look unplanned and unfinished.
Instead of communicating at a glance, your list can make a reader pause to wonder what you’re trying to say.
For example, here’s a first draft list.
Our software runs on all popular operating systems:
- MacOS
- Linux
- Windows
- ChromeOS
What does this order mean?
Was the product created first for MacOS and only recently ported to Windows? If you use Windows, does this list give you any confidence?
Here’s how I would rearrange this list.
Our software runs on all popular operating systems:
- Windows
- MacOS
- Linux
- ChromeOS
The second draft is organized by installed base, with the most popular OS at the top and the least popular at the bottom. How sensible!
Always reconsider your first draft to see if you can make your list more clear.
Tip 2: Default to alphabetical order
If you have a jumbled list that you can’t figure out how to organize, use alphabetical order.
You can’t often go wrong by putting your items in order from A to Z.
This is how I usually start arranging any list of items. I recommend you do that as well. Make alphabetical your default arrangement.
Then no one will waste time wondering if there’s a secret message buried in your list.
Tip 3: Choose the order that fits the material best
But sometimes, A to Z isn’t the best way to organize your list.
Here are some other methods with an example of when to use each one.
Click here to download a PDF of this table for your reference.
| Order | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Alphabetical | A to Z | Names in a directory |
| Categorical | Types or groups | Products in a store (Clothing, Electronics, Home, etc) |
| Chronological | —First to last —Old to new | —Company milestones —Product releases |
| Frequency | Common to rare | Items in an FAQ |
| Geographical | —Near to far —Far to near | —Offices starting with HQ —News from global to local |
| Hierarchical | —Top down —Bottom up | —Employees from CEO down —Military ranks from private up |
| Importance | Most to least important | Key features of a product |
| Numerical | —Big to small —Small to big | —Top 100 companies by revenue —Units of data from bits up |
| Priority or Risk | —High to low —Low to high | —To-do list —Simple things to try |
| Process | First to last | Steps in a production process |
| Value or Cost | —High to low —Low to high | —Items from premium to budget —Items by cost |
Tip 4: Tell readers your method
Don’t make your readers guess how your list is arranged.
Tell them explicitly how you set out each list. That only takes a short phrase.
For example, the three or four words in bold are all you need:
Here are the top 10 questions our support team gets in order of frequency:
Our significant donors for the year, in alphabetical order, include:
From start to finish, there are four main steps in this process:
The top 10 companies in our niche by last year’s revenues are:
See how brief that can be? Yet it can save your readers a world of guesswork.
Conclusion
So those are my four tips on making better lists:
- Reorder your draft list
- Default to alphabetical order
- Choose the order that fits the material best
- Tell readers your method
By applying these tips, you can transform your lists from chaotic jumbles into powerful structures that enhance your B2B content.
You asked: Do white papers work in B2C?
4 minute read.
Can white papers be effective in B2C marketing?
You know what I think?
Consumers don’t want to read, they just want to shop.
To be less glib, we can visualize different buying decisions as a five-step pyramid. From the bottom up, these include:
- Impulse buys like candy or gum
- Routine shopping like groceries or gas
- Small B2B purchases like office supplies
- Considered purchases like a car, boat, or house
- Major B2B buys like software or equipment
The higher up the pyramid you go, the more time, money, and people are involved. And the more likely a white paper is useful.
But on the lower levels for most consumer purchases, no white paper is needed.
That’s my answer in a nutshell.
If you want more background, here are some further notes.
Impulse buys
This covers things like candy, gum, and magazines. People just grab those as they pass through the checkout.
Maybe we saw an ad. Maybe we’re a little hungry. We make those decisions in a split second with no need to read.
Routine shopping
This covers things like groceries and gasoline.
Nobody reads much before buying a loaf of bread. At the most, some people read the nutrition labels.
Before spending a few hundred bucks on gear, some read reviews in Consumer Reports or Wirecutter.
But more likely, we ask our friends or watch some videos.
We tend to seek out reviews and testimonials more than company-produced materials like white papers.
So white papers aren’t effective for consumer products.
The products don’t cost enough to justify the investment, and most people don’t want to read before they buy anyway.
Small B2B purchases
This covers things like office supplies, tools, and even PCs.
If you’re just buying another box of paper clips for your office, you don’t have to do a lot of research.
Small B2B purchases are more like routine consumer shopping.
Companies buy the same office supplies they always buy, from the same place they always shop, probably Amazon or Staples.
And no white paper ever comes into it.
Hint: Remember the three questions to tell if a product needs a white paper. Is it new? Is it complicated? Is it expensive? Office supplies get a No to all three. So they don’t typically justify any white paper.
Considered purchases
These include the most costly purchases someone might make as a consumer: a car, a boat, or a house.
Or a critical decision like arranging for a medical procedure or picking a home for an elderly parent.
For a considered purchase, some people read. But we don’t often read anything resembling a white paper.
Instead, we take the car or boat out for a spin.
For a house, we talk to the real estate agent and the neighbors.
For a medical problem, we talk to our doctor.
Perhaps we read stories from survivors or books from the growing ranks of celebrity doctors.
To evaluate nursing homes, we check out brochures and make a few visits.
In all these considered purchases, I don’t believe most of us see anything that resembles a white paper.
Your doctor may slide an article across her desk and advise you to read it (see below). But that’s rare, right?
Major B2B purchases
These cover things like enterprise software, materials, equipment, or services: anything big that a business needs.
By big, I mean anything with a price tag of $100,000 or more.
These are complex sales that involve numerous people and stretch for weeks—the complete opposite of an impulse buy.
Around the table making that decision, you find C-level executives doing serious research, number-crunching, and arguing.
Any salesperson would love to get into that room to present to such high-powered people. But they can’t.
So a white paper is a vendor’s way to get into that room, to present the best research and most persuasive argument wrapped in the most compelling language.
For any writer who wants to do white papers, B2B is where the action is.
But what about policy papers?
“But wait!” you may say.
“What about influencing attitudes? Shaping legislation? Aren’t white papers used for those?”
Right. And we can call those “policy papers.”
So a writer might specialize in something like water treatment and get asked to write a policy paper for a government department or environmental group.
Occasionally one of those reports might be aimed at consumers.
But the bulk of that writer’s work will be for companies that make products or services that cities or companies can buy.
In my experience, at least 80% of all white papers are for big-ticket B2B products.
The rest are split between governments, non-profits, and think tanks trying to influence policy-makers and decision-makers.
Very few white papers are aimed at consumers. But a few are: Keep reading for one fine example!
White paper sample: An excellent B2C guide
1 minute read.
In 2019, Florida Eye Specialists asked for a two-page guide on “everything you need to know about cataracts.”
Content writer Helen McCrone soon realized that a comprehensive guide would take more than two pages. And the client agreed.
Click the thumbnail to see the PDF
“I imagined a cataract specialist talking to an older patient who’s just been told they have cataracts,” says Helen.
She suggested “a professional, conversational, and reassuring tone. That was super-important for this topic.”
The resulting piece is like an FAQ with 14 questions on everything from “What is a cataract?” to “How long does it take to recover from cataract surgery?”
It’s chock-full of useful info, without a lot of medical mumbo-jumbo.
“You have to use words that the audience understands,” says Helen. “You can’t avoid some terminology. But you do have to phrase it in a way that they understand.”
This piece ticks all my boxes for a white paper
- Compelling title? Check.
- Photo of the intended reader on the cover? Check.
- Front matter, namely a table of contents and introduction? Check.
- Useful and informative main body? Check.
- Infographics and charts? Check.
- Clear call to action labeled “What’s Your Next Step?” Check.
- About the company? Check.
- A tasteful amount of branding? Check.
- No selling? Check.
I find this piece excellent in every way.
But this is for regular folks, not executives. So Helen was smart to call it a “guide” and not a “white paper.”
The takeaway? Don’t get hung up on labels. Focus on delivering the goods, whatever you call ’em!
This little gem proves that white papers can work their magic in the B2C world too. Who knew eye surgery could be such a page-turner?
Meet the author: Helen McCrone
1:30 minute read.
The author of that B2C white paper has a fascinating story of her own.
B2B copywriter Helen McCrone
Originally from the historic UK town of Hastings (yes, 1066 and all that) Helen McCrone never dreamed of being a writer.
She didn’t even go to university.
Instead, she trained as an accountant and worked in business for many years.
During that time, she was a number-cruncher, providing financial reports and advice to executives in all different departments.
But in her early 30s, she decided to shake things up.
“I moved to Holland on my own,” Helen says. “I got a good job and moved, even though I didn’t know the language at all.”
Working as a financial controller in the Netherlands, she gradually picked up the language.
And then she made another big change: She ditched accounting and retooled as a business English teacher, Dutch-to-English translator, and copywriter.
Her background helped her land gigs for banks, financial regulators, and government tax departments.
Then love came knocking on her door. She met her future husband, an American, and moved with him to the U.S. more than a decade ago.
Living the writer’s life
Today Helen lives in Florida, where she turns out B2B content for clients in subject areas like manufacturing and logistics.
“I do very little B2C work. It’s nearly all B2B,” she says.
Helen’s past helps her today. For example, she can talk readily with B2B executives.
“I worked with production managers, R&D managers, sales managers, the whole gamut,” she says. “And that experience has been useful in my current job.”
Because she has met so many execs, she’s never intimidated by someone with a C in their job title.
Even her personal experiences have been helpful.
Her husband, sadly, lost his sight two years ago, so Helen has dealt with many eye doctors. Her husband even had cataract surgery, and then later, corneal replacements.
So when the cataract project featured above came along, she was already acquainted with that world.
Congratulations on a fine piece of work, Helen, and many more to come!
That’s all for now
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And good luck with all your writing projects!
Gordon Graham
That White Paper Guy
