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Blog Bling
Nov
29
Using White Papers to Reach Small Businesses
November 29, 2006 | Anita Campbell
The traditional wisdom has been that white papers are better suited to reaching enterprise and corporate decision makers, but less effective for reaching small businesses. For small businesses, the tools of choice have been less formal vehicles, such as short articles of under 1,000 words.
But white papers are changing. And as they change, I have come to believe that properly-done white papers can be extremely effective in reaching small biz decision makers.
Today’s best-of-breed white papers are shorter, less theoretical and more practical. They are likely to be how-tos or educational in nature.
They are viral in effect, too, due to the ability to distribute them easily over the Web, resulting in an electronic PDF that can be forwarded on with a few mouse clicks. Recent Marketing Sherpa research found that 69% of prospects who download and like a white paper will actively pass it along to colleagues.
If you are marketing any kind of a technology product, or a product in a new category that defies easy description (such as the new virtual switchboard/voice mail services), or anything that requires educating the prospect as to WHY they need your product or service, then well-done white papers can be very effective to reach small businesses.
This Marketing Sherpa article (hurry while it’s still open access) is a terrific compilation of insight into how to create great white papers and use them in your marketing mix.
It even addresses one of my biggest peeves when it comes to white papers: the white paper that is pure sales pitch and nothing of value. What could be more counterproductive than making someone go through a long intrusive registration process, with 2 different emails to respond to, only to get a useless sales pitch? In the end the reader feels negatively inclined toward your company.
