{"id":727,"date":"2014-06-13T14:15:09","date_gmt":"2014-06-13T14:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/?p=727"},"modified":"2024-02-19T12:05:04","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T17:05:04","slug":"how-to-clone-a-white-paper-for-multiple-audiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thatwhitepaperguy.com\/how-to-clone-a-white-paper-for-multiple-audiences\/","title":{"rendered":"How to clone a white paper for multiple audiences [with example]"},"content":{"rendered":"
6-minute read.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n But what if you have two or three different audiences, in different roles or sectors?\u00a0How can you engage them all?<\/strong><\/p>\n Sure, you can always write a separate white paper for each audience.<\/p>\n But what if your client or company can’t afford that?<\/p>\n This means creating a slightly different version of the same master document for each different audience.<\/p>\n This strategy can be a win-win-win for everyone.<\/p>\n For a white paper reader<\/strong>, cloning creates content aimed right at them.<\/p>\n For a white paper writer<\/strong>, cloning gives you a competitive advantage over other writers who don’t know how to do this.<\/p>\n You can supply two or more white papers for only a little more work, and a slightly higher fee.<\/p>\n For a white paper sponsor<\/strong>, cloning generates better-targeted content for less time and money than doing multiple standalone papers.<\/p>\n So cloning a white paper can make everybody happy: reader, writer, and sponsor.<\/p>\n And it’s not hard to do, if you plan it from the start. Here’s how.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cloning an organism in a lab requires many steps with fancy equipment.<\/p>\n Cloning a white paper also takes a few steps. But it doesn’t require any special software; you can do it with Word<\/strong> or GDoc<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Here are those steps in brief:<\/p>\n That sounds like a lot of steps, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n But every time I do it, it’s easier than you might expect.<\/p>\n Here’s an example that I actually did, to show you every step in more detail.<\/p>\n I once prepared a set of white papers for a point-of-sale software maker.<\/p>\n This company has three audiences:<\/p>\n Each audience had a slightly different size and scope. But they weren’t so different that the client could justify doing three separate white papers.<\/p>\n That’s why I suggested we create one white paper and then clone it to generate a slightly different version for each audience.<\/p>\n You obviously want to cover pretty much the same topic in each clone. So develop an idea that works for every segment.<\/p>\n For example, my client and I came up with this title:<\/p>\n Seven Tips to Build Better Profits with Today’s Integrated Point-of-Sale<\/em><\/p>\n Since most restaurants struggle to be profitable, this headline appeals to everyone in that space. So far so good.<\/p>\n We brainstormed, I did some further research, and we ended up with seven concrete suggestions that fit this topic.<\/p>\n The only problem: Six out of seven suggestions applied to all three audience segments. But one didn’t.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A typical bar in a restaurant suffers 25% loss through over-pours, giveaways, \u00a0and theft. So the two papers for table-service restaurants could cover how to control costs on alcohol.<\/p>\n But fast-food outlets don’t pour booze and don’t have those losses.<\/p>\n For those readers, I researched something more relevant to them: ordering screens for the cooks. These screens show numerous orders at a time, faster and more reliably than using paper slips.<\/p>\n So the cook can add ketchup to three burgers in one go and save a few seconds.<\/p>\n That became tip #7 for the fast-food version of the white paper.<\/p>\n Now draft your white paper, remembering each audience as you write.<\/p>\n But don’t try to juggle a set of different documents. That will only waste your time and threaten your sanity.<\/p>\n To stay efficient, work in one master file.<\/p>\n If you have alternate tips, write them all in the same master file.<\/p>\n So what if you end up with two tip #7s like I did? That’s a lot easier than having two or three different files to manage.<\/p>\n Hint:<\/strong> The key is to try to constrain any differences to as few places as possible. Then highlight any differences in yellow to spot them quickly in any pass.<\/p>\n One good example is when one audience has slightly different jargon, when they call people or things by different names.<\/p>\n This could come up in many ways:<\/p>\n Ideally, you can get around these differences by creating a set of alternate phrases that work in any version.<\/p>\n For example, in my three clones, two segments had managers. But the independents were generally family-owned.<\/p>\n So I wrote “You should” for the family-owned independents, and “Your managers should” for the chains.<\/p>\n I just typed in both versions of that text: “You\/your managers should”.<\/p>\n Beyond that, 85% of the text was the same in all three versions. This deliberate approach made all my further steps faster and easier.<\/p>\n When you have a draft ready to review, save several copies of your master document\u2014one for each clone\u2014each with a different filename.<\/p>\n Then you can scan through and remove the bits of text that don’t apply to that version.<\/p>\n This is far simpler than trying to manage multiple versions with niggling little differences.<\/p>\n For example, for my two tip #7s, I deleted the irrelevant tip from each clone.<\/p>\n Then I made a quick pass through the text, scanning for yellow highlights.<\/p>\n When I spotted one, I deleted part of the constructions like “You should\/Your manager should” and left in the other, as shown in the table.<\/p>\n With publishing software like Adobe FrameMaker<\/strong>, you can set up “conditional text” and turn it on or off to generate different versions of a document.<\/p>\n This is great for a 300-page technical manual.<\/p>\n But it’s overkill for a 10-page white paper. You want to set up a review process that’s quick and easy for everyone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Don’t make your reviewers read through every clone looking for the subtle differences. Highlight any difference so reviewers can quickly scan to find them.<\/p>\n For this set of three clones, I sent my client three separate documents in Word, with any alternate text highlighted in yellow.<\/p>\n All the reviewers marked up one version and then checked for yellow highlights in the two other clones.<\/p>\n That was simple and idiot-proof, for all of us.<\/p>\n You certainly want to give each clone a different name.<\/p>\n We explicitly named each audience with a different subtitle in the format “a special report for [audience].”<\/p>\n In full, those three titles were:<\/p>\n This is for the convenience of the publisher, to make\u00a0it easier to tell apart the different versions at a glance.<\/p>\n My client used a different graphic for each audience, as shown above.<\/p>\n For even more contrast, I suggested using a different color for each cover.<\/p>\n That way a sales or marketing person could quickly grab “the orange one” for the fast-food audience.<\/p>\n But my client wanted to use the same corporate colors on each cover. So be it.<\/p>\n The whole point of having multiple white papers is to reach multiple audiences.<\/p>\n So don’t line up all three on the same web page.<\/p>\n Create a separate landing page for each audience and promote each clone to its own audience.<\/p>\n This is what my client did, and they reported that those white papers worked well for each audience.<\/p>\n When you encounter a client with several audiences but not enough budget to create a unique white paper for each segment, try proposing this approach.<\/p>\n Most clients \u00a0will jump at this chance to reach all their audiences, especially when I say I’m not going to charge then 2X or 3X the cost.<\/p>\n I price three cloned versions at perhaps 25% more than doing a single white paper.<\/p>\n This benefits everyone. Readers get content aimed specifically at them.<\/p>\n As the writer, I deliver 2X or 3X the value for just a little extra effort.<\/p>\n And my client gets two or three papers for only a little higher fee than just one.<\/p>\n So everybody’s happy. Try it, and let me know how it works for you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Originally published 13 June 2014. Last updated 19 February 2024.<\/em><\/p>\nFair enough. Don’t you?<\/h3>\n
Why not “clone” one basic white paper?<\/h3>\n
The steps to cloning a white paper<\/h3>\n
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An actual example of cloning in action<\/h3>\n
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Step 1: Develop an idea that works for every segment<\/h3>\n
Step 2. Research the idea for each audience<\/h3>\n
Step 3. Write one master white paper with alternate phrases<\/h3>\n
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Step 4. Save a copy of the white paper for each audience<\/h3>\n
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\n\t Version<\/strong><\/th> Audience<\/strong><\/th> Differences<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n\n \n\t 1<\/td> Fast-food outlets<\/td> Your manager should<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n\t 2<\/td> Independents<\/td> You should<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n\t 3<\/td> Small chains<\/td> Your manager should<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n\t 1<\/td> Fast-food outlets<\/td> Tip on ordering screens for cooks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n\t 2<\/td> Independents<\/td> Tip on reducing losses from bar<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n\t 3<\/td> Small chains<\/td> Tip on reducing losses from bar<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n
\nStep 5. Make your “clones” easy to review<\/h3>\n
Step 5. Tweak the titles to engage each audience<\/h3>\n
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Step 6. Make a different cover for each version<\/h3>\n
Step 7. Promote to each audience<\/h3>\n
A win-win-win for everyone<\/h3>\n
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