{"id":3923,"date":"2023-02-17T00:00:29","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T05:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/?p=3923"},"modified":"2024-02-17T15:23:29","modified_gmt":"2024-02-17T20:23:29","slug":"white-paper-writer-tip-1-stop-selling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/white-paper-writer-tip-1-stop-selling\/","title":{"rendered":"White paper writer tip #1: Stop selling"},"content":{"rendered":"

You must avoid the #1 problem with this format: Too much selling<\/h2>\n

The solution is\u00a0simple: Stop writing sales pitches and calling them white papers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sponsors, recognize the danger of inserting a sales pitch into a white paper.<\/p>\n

Stop pressuring your writers to include them.<\/p>\n

Stop shooting yourself in the foot!<\/p>\n

What’s the problem with selling?<\/h3>\n

\"Don't<\/p>\n

Survey after survey points out that no white paper reader wants a sales pitch.<\/p>\n

If a prospect\u00a0wanted your pitch, they’d just call up your 1-800\u00a0line and ask for a sales rep.<\/p>\n

But they seldom do that.\u00a0More often, they\u00a0search the Web for some help.<\/p>\n

Business people want useful information to help them understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision.<\/p>\n

Unless you give those readers what they’re looking for, your white paper will sink like a stone.<\/p>\n

Even though a few people\u00a0may download it, no one will read past the first page or two of a sales pitch. And, they certainly won’t pass it along to anyone else in their company.<\/p>\n

All the resources you spent to create that white paper will achieve nothing.<\/p>\n

In fact, you may infuriate a prospect so much they take your company off the shortlist of vendors to consider.<\/p>\n

Instead of helping you win sales, your\u00a0sales pitch can actually cost<\/strong>\u00a0you sales.<\/p>\n

Here are some tips to help white paper writers and sponsors stop using sales pitches.<\/p>\n

Stop\u00a0selling tip #1: Stop talking about your company or product<\/h3>\n

The tough fact is that no one cares about your company and how long you’ve \u00a0been in business and how many awards you’ve won.<\/p>\n

Your prospects only care about the problem they’re wrestling with now.<\/p>\n

If they want to find out more about your company, they can click “About Us” on your website.<\/p>\n

Instead, they clicked “Resources” or “Downloads” or that juicy title for your white paper that turned up in their Google search results.<\/p>\n

So stop yammering away about your company and your product. You have better places to do that than in a white paper.<\/p>\n

Tip<\/strong>: At the end of your white paper, include a short section “About the Company.” Use the same corporate boilerplate as in your company press releases. Keep it to half a page or less.<\/p>\n

Stop\u00a0selling tip #2: Stop saying\u00a0“we” and “our” and “us”<\/h3>\n

When you stop talking about your company, product, team, excellence, commitment to customer service, and so on, you naturally stop talking about “we” and “our” and “us.”<\/p>\n

That’s a good thing.<\/p>\n

Tip<\/strong>: Talk about “you” and “yours”, namely your readers and your prospects.<\/p>\n

Stop selling tip #3: Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes<\/h3>\n

\"photo<\/p>\n

The key to successful content marketing\u2014including white papers\u2014is to engage prospects around the problems they’re facing.<\/p>\n

That’s what interests them.<\/p>\n

That’s what keeps them up at night, and drives them to push a sales process forward.<\/p>\n

Tip<\/strong>: Before you write a word, find out everything you can about your target audience.<\/p>\n

Next, try to\u00a0think like them. Worry like them. Google like them. Then\u00a0write for them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more tips, see my article “Know your audience<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

If you have more than one audience, see my article
\n“How to write a white paper for multiple audiences<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Stop\u00a0selling tip #4: Ask yourself, “Who cares?”<\/h3>\n

A couple questions are ready to pop into every reader’s mind: “So what?” and “Who cares?”<\/p>\n

You must test every white paper topic you dream up with these tough questions:<\/p>\n