The power of a whitepaper: 5 reasons why your brand needs them

Whitepapers are a powerful B2B marketing tool.

Whitepapers can be a highly effective core asset for content marketing campaigns. They are powerful documents that present lengthier content, designed to fulfil a range of marketing and communications objectives. The type of whitepaper – long, complex and technical, or short, straightforward and punchy – ultimately depends on what you want to achieve.

Below, we discuss the five core objectives of a whitepaper, and how the style and presentation of your writing will change depending on your goals.

Engage 

For any brand, the first priority is to grab your audience’s attention. Perhaps you’ve just launched an exciting new product, or maybe you’re trying to promote a service to your potential client-base. A whitepaper can be used to make your audience aware of what you’re selling. It should capture, engage, and increase the number of individuals looking to your brand.

When creating a whitepaper with a purpose to engage, the focus must be on presenting content that is eye-catching and accessible. A lengthy PDF document outlining every detail of the service you’re offering will most likely deter your time-poor audience. Instead, an illustrated document with stand-out headings and arresting infographics could be a good option for securing initial interest.

It’s also important to consider the channels you might use to ensure your potential client-base see your whitepaper. Promoting excerpts on social media with an attached link is an effective way of engaging interest. Or perhaps a print-out document should be made available for your audience to pick-up while on the go.

Educate 

Once an audience has been secured by your brand, a whitepaper can also be used to educate your customers. You might want to provide details about an innovative service offered by your company that is more than just selling something new. Or perhaps you’re looking to explain a changing law concerning your stakeholder group.

Before the term ‘whitepaper’ was adopted by the marketing profession, its original purpose was focussed on educating readers about UK government policy. It was a document produced by the government, setting out proposals for future legislation, so that interested or affected groups could learn about the changes ahead of discussion in parliament.

If educating your audience is the aim, this might be where a lengthier, more complex  PDF document is required. The chances are your customers are already engaged, so now it is about conveying the information they seek clearly and thoroughly. Populating your whitepaper with graphs and tables is one way of presenting your findings to your audience.

While the focus is not – as previously – on securing your audience’s engagement with catchy headlines, it is important that an informative document is still accessible. Avoid using jargon and ensure that, while instructive, your writing does not read as patronising. 

Influence leading to action 

Whitepapers can provide opportunity for organisations to influence their readers. This is subtler than engaging and educating. It could include encouraging your target stakeholder group to lobby the government against damaging legislation. Or your whitepaper might lay out research findings for interested parties to repurpose for related aims.

Rather than content being used to sell your organisation, it instead provides opportunity for subtler persuasion.

Inspire debate 

Your whitepaper could also be used to inspire debate amongst your readers. It might be that it details an aspect of thought-leadership designed to prompt discussion within your sector. For this purpose, you would want to draw on some of the presentation guidelines for engaging and educating, such as using arresting headings to inspire strong feelings in your readers, as well as setting out research thoroughly through graphics and data.

Writing a whitepaper designed to prompt debate also provides opportunity for brand honesty, such as highlighting any challenges in your industry or discussing the adverse effects of the current commercial climate. In this case, a simple document outlining your findings could be more effective than populating a whitepaper with bold fonts and images.

Demonstrate (it’s a branding opportunity) 

It’s important to remember that whatever the purpose of your whitepaper, it can bring rich opportunity for building credibility. They show off the expertise of your company and if it does not result directly in sales leads, it can indirectly establish you as an expert in your field. Readers of your whitepaper will expect it to represent your organisation, and its content should be set out clearly and professionally. And always ensure you conclude your whitepaper with a CTA (call to action). It does not have to be ‘salesy’, but should direct your audience to the next stage.

For more information, see our resource on ‘How to write and publish a whitepaper’.

Do you need a whitepaper to support your marketing campaign? Contact us today. We are always happy to meet face to face or virtually.

If you need support to write engaging, audience-driven content for your B2B brand or agency, contact Copestone today.