If you treat your white papers as valueless, so will your readers

We tend to return to the topic of white papers fairly frequently, because – along with email – they’re pretty much the backbone of B2B lead capture and/or nurturing.  Our last foray dealt with what to do before starting to write one.

We’ve noted two major traps B2Bs can fall into with white papers:  either one will limit their effectiveness;  both together can be fatal…

• the paper is developed by someone simply chasing a goal check-off, with the thought process of “OK, everyone says we gotta have one of these, so let’s scrunch together some of our product brochures, give it a table of contents and call it a white paper.”
• the paper itself is of good quality, but it’s simply tossed into a “Resource Center” tab along with an email newsletter archive and a batch of external links.

Posting on ClickZ, Bryan Eisenberg sees the second type as the more common error these days.  Many sites, he says, “…utterly fail to merchandise their downloads.  If your website doesn’t treat your white paper as containing valuable information, your visitors won’t either.”

The problem actually starts by thinking of white-paper downloads as “free.”  On the contrary, says Bryan:  “You’re asking for something extremely valuable to both you and the visitor, their contact information.  To get this valuable information, you need to show the visitor the value of what they’re downloading.  So when they fill out the lead form, they feel they’re making a good exchange:  valuable information for valuable information.”

Doing it right

To help the cause, Bryan provides 12 tips for treating your white papers the way you’d like your visitors to treat them.  A few, concerning the paper itself, seem fairly basic:  give the paper an interesting (non-academic-sounding) title;  give it a nicely-designed cover;  and make it reader-friendly, by using headlines, subheads, bullet points, graphics, charts or screenshots.

The rest are things you can do on the offer/landing page to heighten visitors’ impression of the paper’s value, and hence the probability of actually getting that click on the download button…

• Tell them what they’ll get. “Write persuasive copy that not only informs people what they’ll learn from the download, but also what they can do with the information.”  Provide an abstract, table of contents, sample chart, key takeaways, etc.
• Give them an excerpt. Since so many white papers are poorly written, you can use this device to prove that this one isn’t.
• Prove that other readers liked it. A few well-chosen, credible testimonials will serve the same purpose as endorsements on a book’s jacket.
• Give them download details. “Let them know how many pages it is, how big the file is, what format the paper is in (PDF, DOC), etc.”
• Make it easy for readers to share. Give people an easy way to share your white paper, via social media, e-mail, or pass along …on the offer/landing page as well as on the thank-you page.  And don’t forget to add shareable links within the white paper itself.
• Reassure them. Don’t ask for too much information on your capture form, and let them know what will – and will not – happen with their personal information.
• Offer contact information. Some people may want to contact you immediately upon finding the white paper, so be sure your contact information is on the download page.  Others may be moved to contact you as they’re reading the white paper, so ensure that your contact info can be found there as well.

The final tip comes into play after the download… and that is to have an effective follow-up program. You put all that effort into developing a killer white paper, and followed all the merchandising tips above;  so it would be a real waste to just let those prospects lie there.  A well-structured nurturing campaign – explicitly building off your knowledge that the white paper was requested – will go a long way to recognize the increased expected value of those leads, and move them along toward a purchase decision.