That’s why your company shouldn’t do without white papers

The white paper is one of the most effective means of public relations for companies. It serves to convey knowledge in a compact and intensive manner and presents your services to customers in a clear manner. High quality content is important here.

White paper: modern knowledge transfer in practical eBook form

Anyone who spends a lot of time on company websites will often come across download links for white papers. The small eBooks with around five to fifteen pages provide information about a specific topic and present the reader with the products and services that the company offers as a solution to an existing problem. The language is rather simple and direct, but the transfer of knowledge always takes place at a high technical level.

For a successful white paper, all technical details must be correct. Companies in the IT industry in particular rely on the white paper to explain their services to customers. The focus of the short text is the customer’s problem and the company’s approach to solving this problem. Why are our products and services best suited for this?

Anyone who reads the white paper should get a positive impression of the company’s competence and be convinced that they have found the right partner for their task. The white paper is therefore usually written by an employee who is very familiar with the subject. The download is then linked to the company blog or website.

Integration into the newsletter sent by email is also typical. Readers can also find the download link here. In this simple way, the text can be distributed quickly. The goal is clearly defined: What the opening rate is for the email is the download rate for the white paper. We want as many interested parties as possible to download the eBook onto their hard drive.

White papers are not advertising

Although so many companies have long since successfully used the white paper in their public relations, there are still misunderstandings regarding the concept of the texts. A white paper is definitely not advertising, but rather a factual text. The transfer of knowledge is always the priority. Under no circumstances would a loud tone of voice be appropriate here.

In the B2B sector, white papers are among the most successful downloads. They are aimed at readers who have little time but still want to find out more in-depth information about a topic. The length of the white paper is perfect for this. It is longer than a simple blog post and can therefore provide more information and details. At the same time, it is not as long as a normal book.

Although the white paper is not an advertising brochure, the products and services that a company offers are still included. But here everything revolves around functional descriptions, case studies and theoretical applications. What can I do with a company’s products and why do I need it? The white paper conveys this information in a factual style.

Today, white papers are part of a successful content strategy

White papers have been around in the computer industry since the 1980s. From the very beginning, they served to explain technical innovations and always placed high demands on quality. It’s no different today. Companies benefit from this product in a variety of ways.

With a good white paper you can position yourself as an expert in a specific area. They show the reader that you know the subject best and have penetrated the problems most deeply. Competitors who do not offer a single white paper quickly appear significantly less competent.

The white paper offers the almost unique opportunity for a recipient to spend up to fifteen pages dealing with a specific company and its work. Receiving so much time from potential customers is not a given. Of course, this requires that the white paper be well written and encourage further reading on every page.

Readers of eBooks enjoy sharing them with others. And that is definitely what you want with this free download. In addition to the pure downloads on the website, there are also the files sent by readers to each other via file attachments. This often makes it possible to achieve a high level of distribution for successful white papers.

In addition, search engines reward the publication of white papers. Google is not interested in advertising messages, but in high-quality content. And this is exactly what the white paper provides. The reward is often a significant improvement in ranking when new white papers appear regularly on the company website. Important here: The word white paper should already appear as a keyword in the title of the eBook.

And of course the white paper is one of the best ways to generate leads. At the end of the white paper, the author has the opportunity to provide contact details so that the reader can obtain further information about the products or decide to purchase straight away. It is also popular to refer to the company’s newsletter and ask you to subscribe there after reading the text.

This is how the white paper can be successfully created

It should now be clear that a white paper is extremely valuable for a company’s public relations work. But how do I create such a white paper?

In any case, the basic requirement is that the writer has excellent knowledge of the topic. In order to increase the quality of the text from the outset, it is worth using existing material. If the company runs a blog, articles published there are ideal as building blocks for an eBook.

If the creator collects several thematically related blog articles for the eBook, he almost automatically receives an structure for the text. Each blog article could then function as an independent chapter in the white paper. In this way, it is possible to generate a successful white paper from existing content in the blog.

It will then be published on a landing page. Potential readers should be able to find these easily, so a little SEO is necessary. The best eBook is of little use if it doesn’t find any readers. If possible, the company uses all of its available channels, such as social media, to promote the white paper.

And it shouldn’t just be a single work. One white paper is good, several white papers are better. And even better is the regular publication of corresponding eBooks. These illuminate the company’s performance from constantly changing perspectives. This is how the company is most likely to inspire customers with its own offering.