{"id":14485,"date":"2022-10-26T00:00:27","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T04:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/?p=14485"},"modified":"2023-02-25T23:07:16","modified_gmt":"2023-02-26T04:07:16","slug":"white-paper-world-11-october-26-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/white-paper-world-11-october-26-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"White Paper World 11: October 27, 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
If you didn’t see my post last year, you’re in for a treat.<\/p>\n
That’s when I realized that getting ready for Halloween is a lot like sponsoring a white paper.<\/p>\n
And kids dashing house to house looking for goodies are a lot like B2B prospects.<\/p>\n
So I invite you, if you dare\u2026 ring my doorbell to discover five things white papers have in common with Halloween.<\/p>\n
Muaaaaahahahahaha!<\/p>\n
Check out this classic Halloween article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n I disagree.\u00a0<\/strong>Here’s why.<\/p>\n Say you’ve lined up an interview with the VP of R&D for a white paper you’re working on.<\/p>\n There are plenty of dumb questions you could ask a busy manager like that.<\/p>\n Here are the three main types.<\/p>\n \u2014”What does the company do?”<\/p>\n Check the website in advance and get a clue.<\/p>\n \u2014”What does your team do?”<\/p>\n If their team has a common business name like HR, IT, Marketing, R&D, Sales, or Technical Support, it’s obvious what they do.<\/p>\n \u2014”How long have you been with the company?”<\/p>\n Check LinkedIn<\/strong> before your interview.<\/p>\n \u2014”When was the company founded?”<\/p>\n Check About Us on their website.<\/p>\n \u2014”Where are you located?”<\/p>\n Unless LinkedIn doesn’t show the answer, you might get away with this for an ice-breaker.<\/p>\n But most Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) don’t have a lot of time for chitchat.<\/p>\n \u2014”How do you spell your name?”<\/p>\n \u2014”What’s your job title there?”<\/p>\n \u2014”What’s your e-mail?”<\/p>\n \u2014”What time zone are you in?”<\/p>\n The worst thing you can do with an SME is waste their time. So don’t do it.<\/p>\n Do your homework before your interview starts.\u00a0If you can’t find the answers online, ask the white paper sponsor.<\/p>\n One of the highest compliments any SME can pay an interviewer is to say, “That’s a good question!”<\/p>\n That means your question made them stop and pause.<\/p>\n You may have asked about:<\/p>\n If a SME says that once or twice during your interview, you’re doing very well.<\/p>\n So ask smart questions and make the most of your time with your SMEs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I really dislike the question, “Where do you find clients?”<\/p>\n For starters, it’s the wrong question.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And here’s a fresh take on why from my colleague Linda Formichelli<\/strong>.<\/p>\n I wrote earlier about her wonderful app, The Brainstorm Buddy<\/strong><\/a>, the\u00a0world’s first tool that verifies your content ideas\u2014and offers customized tips on how to improve them.<\/p>\n I’m using The Brainstorm Buddy to evaluate ideas for blog posts and newsletter topics.<\/p>\n Believe me, it works… and it would work for a white paper too.<\/p>\n Her related blog<\/a> features many helpful articles.<\/p>\n So with Linda’s permission, here is a chunk of her post “The 1990s-Era Strategy for Getting More Freelance Writing Work in 2023<\/a>” that I found most illuminating.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I love how she describes pitching and prospecting the way we did it in the 90s.<\/p>\n Then she sums up the two big problems that prevent writers from doing the work they should to find new clients. Read on to see two marketing misconceptions that Linda points out can hurt you, a lot…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Writers have been trained to believe that the best freelance writing jobs are out there somewhere, lying around in a forum, on a job board, or on social media. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n And all they have to do is find out where those jobs are hiding and pick them up.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n So instead of finding, qualifying, and pitching to great clients, writers get sucked into spending all their time scouring:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n “Inbound” is the strategy of attracting clients to you. That\u2019s what all the fuss over SEO is all about: It gets people to come to your website.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing wrong with inbound marketing… except that it gives shy, scared, rejection-phobe writers an excuse to not put themselves out there.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n After all, why reach out to prospects via e-mail, LinkedIn<\/strong>, postal mail, or phone when you can obsessively tweak your website all day? <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Why risk rejection when you can spend hours creating a lead magnet?<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n The problem is, inbound marketing is a long game. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n It can take many, many months to build up your online presence, authority, and reputation enough to start attracting clients to you.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Thank you, Linda, I couldn’t have said it better myself!<\/p>\n If you look in all the wrong places, and you never approach any prospects directly, you won’t likely have enough clients.<\/p>\n The rest of Linda’s article has some great inspiration on how writers can get moving with marketing. Check it out here<\/a>.<\/p>\n To me, the right question is not “where” to find clients. It’s “how” to find clients.<\/p>\n I have some advice on that. Here’s a free checklist\u00a0I developed that shows\u00a0the most useful outbound and inbound marketing tactics for any B2B content writer.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Remember, outbound means you call them. My advice is to choose three tactics you can see yourself doing, with at least one from outbound and one from inbound.<\/p>\n The second page of this checklist shows a practical example of how Sally gets to work building her client list.<\/p>\n That link again is Checklist of Marketing Tactics for B2B Content Writers<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n To help inspire you to use that checklist, you can win a free book.<\/p>\n Go through the checklist, and send me the three tactics you will use for the next three months: November, December, and January.<\/p>\n Ideally, I’d like to see a plan like Sally’s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n E-mail your answer to me at\u00a0Gordon AT thatwhitepaperguy.com.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Our dedicated accounting team (plus our two cats) will select one answer at random.<\/p>\n Then we’ll send the selected entrant a free copy of The Content Marketing Handbook<\/strong><\/a><\/em> by Bob Bly… an excellent guide packed with tips on writing different types of content. (See my full review here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n And even if you don’t win the book, you will be a big winner by taking a more practical and realistic look at your own marketing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Think about the next three months…<\/p>\n November is a great month to get rolling with some new marketing, while there’s still time to catch the tail end of “the fall rush.”<\/p>\n December is a great time to say “Happy holidays.”<\/p>\n And January is an excellent time to pick up new clients looking to create some ambitious content for the coming year.<\/p>\n So give this checklist a try and see what happens.<\/p>\n You have nothing to lose and many new clients to gain!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you liked this e-newsletter, please forward it to a colleague interested in white papers.<\/p>\n You can see all the previous issues here: www.thatwhitepaperguy.com\/newsletters\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/h2>\n
Quick tip: Don’t ask dumb questions<\/h2>\n
Some people say, “There’s so such thing as a dumb question.”<\/h3>\n
Dumb question #1: Anything way too open-ended<\/h3>\n
Dumb question #2: Anything you can easily find on the web<\/h3>\n
Dumb question #3: Any basic info you should know before your interview<\/h3>\n
The best possible question to ask<\/h3>\n
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\n<\/h2>\n
This just in: Where do you find clients, again?<\/h2>\n
Problem #1: Writers believe clients are \u201cout there somewhere\u201d<\/span><\/h3>\n
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Problem #2: Writers feel they can rely on inbound only<\/span><\/h3>\n
Free help to level up your marketing<\/h3>\n
\nInbound means they call you.<\/p>\n
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October Book Giveaway:
\nWriters, level up your marketing!<\/h2>\n
\nThat\u2019s all for this time<\/h2>\n