How White Papers Can Position Your Business as the Go-To Source for Industry Knowledge

In the past, a whitepaper was a term of art used to describe an official report generated by a government body. Over time, it came to describe a document that is informative, thought-provoking, and authoritative. Typically, these documents are anywhere from three to five thousand words in length, and they tackle a specific problem, providing in-depth research and proposing a specific solution. Very well-researched, these papers use logic, facts, and statistics to support their premise but underneath it all, they are a valuable marketing tool to help drive interest, establish your company as an authoritative source, and keep customers coming back to your site, driving inbound traffic.

Crafting a Whitepaper that Strengthens Your Authority

For many business-to-business (B2B) marketers, whitepapers are a premier way to introduce products and services while positioning the business as a trusted connection. And that connection is critical to growth in sales, since the B2B buying cycle is notoriously complex.

Most B2B customers take their time before committing to a partnership, with 77% performing an in-depth analysis of the potential return on investment (ROI) in advance of purchasing. Interestingly, 62% of these potential buyers claim that their decision to purchase is based completely on digital content, with the same percentage making that decision on online content alone.

Half of these prospects will take a look at eight pieces of your digital content throughout the buying process, and they tend to trust information from articles over ads, with 71% preferring to see eBooks and whitepapers. However, not just any whitepaper will do for strong conversion numbers. Your whitepapers must not only be inspiring and insightful, but it must be filled with unique, actionable information that brings real value to the table.

How Whitepapers Differ from Other Long-form Content

Whitepapers are long-form content that describe, analyze, and present a solution for a complex issue that your potential customers are facing. In general, they are text heavy, but they also include strong design elements and a selection of charts, data, and infographics that can help explain the issue and/or solution.

Whitepapers differ from other long-form content, such as eBooks, because they drill deeply into a very specific subject or problem, while eBooks tend to cover broader topics. For example, if you wish to explain, “What is Content Marketing?” an eBook would offer a good long-form content vehicle to explore this topic. However, if your topic is “How to Create an Actionable Content Marketing Strategy for Accounting Firms in 2023,” then a whitepaper is a better resource.

Comparing Ebooks and Whitepapers

Ebooks

• Friendlier tone

• More general

• Requires less time/expertise

• More graphics

• Easier to read

Whitepapers

• Formal tone

• Very specific

• Requires more time/expertise

• Fewer graphics

• More technical

Both eBooks and white papers will appeal to your customer’s sense of logic and help develop a feeling of trust and confidence in your business’s abilities.

The Structure of a Good Whitepaper

Whitepapers are highly technical documents, but they should still flow easily to help clients sort through complex ideas and information. For that reason, whitepapers must be carefully planned and written using a specific structure:

The Abstract
A whitepaper’s abstract helps to summarize the main idea behind the paper, giving readers enough information to get a gist of the paper to determine whether they want to read further. For that reason, your abstract should grab attention, be easy to read, and be concise.

The Title
Like any piece of content marketing, the title should be attention-grabbing, while clearly illustrating the subject of the paper.

The Landing Form (Registration)
One way to generate leads is to collect email addresses in return for high value content, such as whitepapers and eBooks. After your prospect reads the title and abstract, they should be offered a landing page or pop-up with an opt-in form that gives them access to the paper.

Table of Contents
Your whitepaper’s table of contents should not only allow readers to immediately find information of interest, but the section headings should also give them a clear understanding of the paper’s flow in just a glance.

Introduction and Problem Statement
This is the introduction of the problem at hand, defining the issue and introducing factual evidence. Here you can include any infographics or other data visualizations to assist with breaking down information and making it easier to digest.

Solution Statement
After the problem is outlined, you can showcase your company’s solution to the problem, along with any expertise or evidence.

Summary
Finally, summarize the paper is a readable, actionable way, including the solution.

Call to Action
If you wish, you can outline how your company is instrumental in solving problems such as those presented in the paper and place a strategic call to action in the final paragraph.

Writing Whitepapers is a Skill — and CopyScripted Has It!

Not just anyone can write a compelling, marketable whitepaper. Not only are whitepapers technical, but they must be written in a way that is customer-oriented and easy to understand. It seems contradictory, but the best whitepapers combine many attributes — technical expertise and good language, diction, and flow.

At CopyScripted, we have a team of subject matter experts who can easily research and write all types of papers, reports, eBooks, and in-depth articles. Not only do our team members have specific niches of expertise, but they are also all experts in content marketing and writing — the perfect mix to create whitepapers that resonate with your audience — and get results. Contact us today to find out more about how you can use whitepapers to grow your credibility and your customer base!