3 Tips to Write a Killer Marketing White Paper

Content is the new darling of marketing. Everywhere, there seems to be a new blog post about a hot topic, ranging from product development to sales to the super-goal "marketing content on marketing content."

But if you are mainly using written content to promote your business, you probably want to think about mixing the depth and breadth of the material you are publishing. If each part of the content you write is just another 800-word blog post: introduction, nut nut, statistics, quotation, conclusion, readers will get bored with the formula rather quickly. What you need, at least occasionally, is to sink your teeth into something a little more sophisticated.

Consider adding a technical marketing document to your content marketing mix. Writing a technical document is no different than writing a blog post, except that there is more than that. It's longer, it includes deeper research and expert opinions, and often has graphic elements to make it more eye-catching and attractive.

A blog post can easily be read and forgotten in a few minutes. A white paper? Not that much. Here are three strategies to write a good one.

Address clients' real pain points

If you want to engage readers with your technical document, the first step is to address a topic that people really care about so that they are motivated to read.

The best strategy for this is to address a real pain point in people's lives, writes Gordon Graham in "8 Tips for Writing White Books (Hint: Do not Call It a White Paper)". What problems do your clients (whether current or future) experience? How can you help address them? Graham, author of White Papers For Dummies, says that if you can answer this, you can turn those potential customers into legitimate customers in a very short time.

"Consider Tom the plumber," offered Graham as an example. "The problems he finds include leaking pipes, clogged drains and clogged toilets. And what causes them sometimes? A DIY job went wrong. What happens if Tom publishes a little report called "5 home plumbing jobs you can do yourself and 3 that you should leave in the hands of a professional?"

Graham suggests that if you want to interact with readers, choose a topic that is relevant to your daily life and present it in a way that offers valuable information or advice. Then, mention anywhere you can (your emails, your blog, your Facebook page, etc.) that your technical document provides content that can make a big difference.

"You can not be sure how much your readers will know," says Gibbons. "Even if you are in the same general industry as you are, you may not know all the technical terms you use every day, avoid jargon and keep your sentences relatively short, in a document that is supposed to convey information in a clear and precise, it is not condescending to use a fairly simple English, it is only common sense ".

Inspire action

Ultimately, your goal with a technical document is to inspire readers to take some kind of action. Maybe they want to choose the phone and request their product immediately, or perhaps have more modest goals, such as getting them to follow on social networks. Either way, you need your role to push people in the right direction.

What you can do right now

Writing an excellent technical article is a strategy that should not be missed to advance your marketing plans. The mix of full content and deep content can take your content marketing to the next level. Here is how to start.

Identify the pain points that your clients encounter in their daily lives. Be sure to address those pain points directly with information and advice.

Write with the appropriate tone for your audience. You may need technical information for more complex issues, but you also want to be able to relate to it.

Remember that your goal is to inspire actions in your reader, whether the action is the purchase of your product or service or the monitoring of your business on social networks. Guide your reader towards that action with your white paper.

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