White Paper's Role
From one
perspective, their purpose is to share technical knowledge and business information with
others in the same field; for example, CIOs who are interested in how web services can be
used with Ecommerce applications.
They are
also used as collateral material for presentations at industry conferences, promotional
drives, seminars and other such events.
From a
business viewpoint, a white paper is used to generate publicity,
especially when a company is starting out and trying to get media attention.
If a
company is working on an innovative area or solutions for a specialized audience, these
white papers can be very effective in demonstrating the company¡¯s achievements.
It is
worth noting that the main difference between an IT white paper and, for example, an
academic research paper is that the IT company¡¯s writing will tend to be more
guarded¡ªso that competitors don't learn too much and steal their ideas.
The
writing style of white papers tends to be formal, direct, and business-like.
However,
they tend to avoid ¡®marketese¡¯¡ªthat unique brand of marketing writing that makes
outrageous product statements and comes with over-the-top claims to greatness.
Supporting Sales & Marketing
White
papers are also used to support the sales strategy, in particular, when introducing a new
product. It also provides valuable collateral material for the Sales and Marketing team
when they are meeting clients. It is something they can leave with the client who can
refer to it at their own leisure.
Sales
focused white papers tend to include:
1.
Market analysis: this will discuss potential buyers; the
most important business drivers; typical customers broken out by demographics, regions,
sectors etc; and abstracts from leading market research companies that support the
solution in the white paper.
2.
Implementations of the product/solution supported by quotes from the
client. This section details the client¡¯s business objectives, technical obstacles, the
solution that was implemented and how it benefited the company.
3.
Product analysis: this includes tables, charts, and
graphs about the solution. All the technical specifications are distilled down to a few
pages in an easy-to-read format.
4.
USP details of the Unique Selling Points supported with persuasive
arguments that differentiate it from the competition.
Use your white papers as tools
in your marketing arsenal and influence those in the decision-making process.
¡¡
Your Thoughts?
What are your thoughts on this? Drop me a line at ivan at klariti dot com |
