Why you should include video in your next white paper

There is a good reason to include video in your next white paper. Your white paper reader is changing.

Today’s decision-makers are pressed for time and attention.

Like all of us, they’re distracted by social media, e-mail, workday interruptions, and way too much content coming their way.

They also face meetings, reports to write, decisions to make.

The result is that most executives are hard-pressed to find time to read a full-length white paper during the day.

This means that long, text-only white papers are becoming less and less effective. That’s where video comes in.

Add video to connect with your audience

Besides visual enhancements such as bullets, charts, graphics, pull quotes, and shaded text boxes, it’s time to consider using video to help connect with today’s “short-attention span” audience.

Whether it’s the novelty of the medium or just a way to avoid reading large blocks of text, using video along with a white paper provides a great vehicle to grab attention and deliver important B2B messages.

If you plan on adding video, you should keep them short, less than 5 minutes, and ideally less than 2 minutes per section of a white paper.

How to use video in a white paper

Here are some ideas of how to use short videos in your next white paper:

• Complement your Introduction with industry statistics or charts
• Insert a news story in your Challenge section to reiterate current events
• Add a video to your Strategy section to articulate your solution advantage
• Embed a video customer testimonial to add life to a case study
• Add a video to your Conclusion to reinforce your key take-away points

Many creative new B2B videos appear every day on YouTube.

I’m confident that a new generation of white papers incorporating video will change the landscape for the entire white paper medium.

Have you ever used video in a white paper? Send us a link to your video. If we feature it in a future post, you’ll receive a copy of White Papers for Dummies.

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