Today’s marketing is impossible without the most efficient tools of representation for the brand, company, goods, and services. Anything can happen when it comes to customer decision-making. To attain desirable ordering and purchasing decisions from your target audience, you need to utilize every approach in digital marketing.

Many marketers are focused on video marketing with detailed webinars and how-to guides to increase brand reputation and generate more leads. Although white papers are still vital for reporting on education, onboarding, explaining different phenomena, theory of operation and performance, benefits, and prospects.

What Are White Papers?

It is a common misconception that written-word reports are not the subject of end-user interest. According to the Demand Gen report, about 71% of purchasers used white papers in 2018 for their decision-making purposes. It goes without saying that this documentation is best to demonstrate the company’s expertise and represent the B2B marketer’s product in an easy-to-understand way.

White papers contain key information about the goods, services, and mode of operation of any strategy or conception in action. Illustrations, infographics, charts, tables with statistics, and imagery help to fully disclose basics and peculiarities. That is why sharing information using white papers is considered one of the most powerful tools for lead generation. It also increases end-user decision-making through the full extent of authoritative data.

White Papers as a Lead Generation Tool

In the context of marketing, white papers have become a powerful lead generation tool. They attract prospects and are essential for the second stage in the sales funnel. White papers are used for capturing leads. That is why the creation of practical guidance that suits the specific needs of your target audience is a must, along with other lead generation practices such as:

• Email marketing (by means of email newsletters, conversational marketing, and other approaches);
• Social media marketing (lead generation together with growing the brand’s audience);
• Story-telling (lead-generating videos, stories about employees’ experiences and work culture);
• Regular blogging (creating helpful content and lead magnets, adding CTAs and lead forms to blog articles).

Remember that B2B lead generation is based on approaches that convince potential consumers that the product or services offered by the company or brand are worth their attention and will likely become the best choices among others in their niche. White papers force leads to convert into standing customers because:

• They are qualitative and well-thought-out educational marketing tools.
• White papers increase the trust and authority of the company or brand.
• This documentation includes figures, guides, and descriptive content essential for decision-making.
• White papers solve complex issues potential users face in the first stages of the product/service introduction.
• This is the most effective way to represent the innovative conception and special features of the service or product while comparing it to the competitors’.
• White papers are a great alternative to the traditional ads and sales pitches people are tired of.

Additionally, white papers are among the most shared content formats for peers and staff members. Both B2B companies and employees get helpful insights with the help of these corporate documents. With blog posts and case studies at the top of sharing-friendly marketing insights, white papers are up to par with webinars and infographics.

6 Tips and Hacks on How to Create High-Converting White Papers

It is worth noting that lead-generating white papers are those that hit the target and bring hot leads in the B2B market. To make them efficient for your business as essential lead generator tools, follow the tips on creating high-converting white papers.

1. Define Your Audience

The main audience of white papers is business decision-makers. This category of readers includes both buyers and partners for the company’s scaling and improvement of brand performance. Along with the external audience, tech decision-makers are the largest group of users to target. These are users who are searching for a specific solution to their challenges and needs.

Additionally, the audience strives to learn something or get additional information about the service or product with the help of the white paper. This group is considered the additional or secondary audience. But to increase the lead-generation properties of your white papers, you should meet the educational expectations of the readers and convey useful information.

Related: ABM Best Practices: Selecting and Profiling High-Value Accounts

Types of White Papers

There are three types of white papers to take into consideration. They are backgrounder, number list, and problem & solution. All of them differ according to their content and application areas. Backgrounders are suitable for product descriptions, service benefits, and comparisons with competitors’ offers in the current market. Because of this, this type of white paper is usually used for launching products by companies that have already gained some brand reputation in their niche.

The number-list white papers are about conveying messages with easy-to-read points that contain the main information. Number lists can be presented in a FAQ section with answers or a list with tips and hacks to help potential customers avoid any challenges with the product or service. The number-list white paper examples are reports or similar pieces of content in:

• E-newsletters;
• Blogs;
• Сase studies (after the text).

Problem & solution white papers aim to advocate that the product or service of the company is the best choice on the market with regards to the range of opportunities and problem-solving tactics they provide to consumers. The main application of problem & solution white papers is to educate the audience. Additionally, the company can improve its recognition and reputation on the market and generate more leads. The last type of white paper is recommended for lead-generating marketing.

It goes without saying that before you design a white paper, you need to define the audiences who will read it. First, let’s divide all the potential consumers according to the three types of white papers:

• Backgrounder — The general public, partners, and multiple companies
• Number List — The general public (especially blog readers)
• Problem & Solution — The general public (leads, potential buyers), employees to onboard, partners

All three types of the above-described white papers are optimal for education and communication with the general public. But the most cross-functional formats are problem & solutions for B2B marketing and lead-generating campaigns.

Note that the target audience might not only be purchasers. Your white paper can attract investors, partners, and potential high-level executives (team members and individual employees). Right after you have chosen the type of consumers, you will help with decision-making issues, and it is high time to decide on a white paper, the format, and its topics.

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