Easy methods to Write White Papers Prospects Need [Templates + Examples]

What Does A White Paper Look Like?

Your white paper must be simple to navigate. Sections ought to naturally lead into one another. Use formatting to make your white paper skimmable, and graphics to attract consideration to the important thing factors you’re making.

Listed below are the important thing parts white papers sometimes have:

1. Title web page
2. Desk of contents
3. Govt abstract
4. Introduction
5. Sections and subsections
6. Graphics, charts, and/or sidebars
7. One-pagers
8. About your organization
9. References

Align Your White Paper To Strategic Enterprise Values

1. Know Your Viewers

“Write for pay scale, not demographics.” That is what Jimmy Daly, co-founder of Superpath, wrote in an Animalz article. Pay scales outline how tactical or strategic the data must be to enchantment to your goal reader:

Which means your goal reader wants several types of data throughout the identical subject relying on whether or not they’re a pacesetter or an implementer. Leaders want technique and frameworks to assume inside, whereas implementers want hands-on techniques and instructions.

To study extra about your audience, we suggest studying:

1. Easy methods to Discover Your Goal Viewers
2. Easy methods to Create a Advertising and marketing Persona

2. Know Your Enterprise Experience & Strengths

White papers are a type of thought management — content material that positions your corporation as a good supply in your trade. They provide the likelihood to spotlight your strengths.

However, how have you learnt what topic areas your corporation excels at? Carry out a SWOT evaluation.

Throughout a SWOT evaluation, you establish the strengths, weaknesses, alternatives, and threats your corporation faces. You possibly can persist with the strengths and alternatives if you carry out one to establish your experience.

Take into consideration the matters you realize extra about than your competitors (strengths), and brainstorm topics your competitors doesn’t cowl (alternatives).

3. Select A Matter That Intersects Viewers Wants & Enterprise Strengths

For one of the best likelihood of white paper success, select matters that your corporation makes a speciality of that your viewers additionally cares about.

At CoSchedule, we name this method the content material core. It balances your focus between visitors and promotion.

Once you use the content material core to determine in your white paper matters, everybody wins. Your prospects get content material they need to learn, and also you unfold the phrase about your corporation.

And that mixture results in your supreme prospects getting extra data about your product, taking them by means of the advertising funnel.

4. Analysis Your Matter

Begin with inside analysis and collect all proprietary data that helps your subject. This contains:

• Outcomes out of your purchasers or prospects, like buyer success tales
• Unpublished buyer interviews
• Anecdotes out of your gross sales and customer support groups
• Viewers surveys (for instance, our advertising statistics report relies on a survey we ran)
• Quantitative knowledge out of your consumer base (for instance, Mailchimp makes use of their consumer knowledge to publish e-mail advertising benchmarks)
• When you’ve got the time and sources: your personal analysis research (Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media Studios has a incredible information to get you began)

Then, leap into exterior analysis. This can rely in your trade, however listed below are some preliminary factors to begin:

Be aware of all the things that aligns together with your subject. Proper now, you possibly can’t know which knowledge factors or examples you’ll use, so it pays off to maintain monitor of something fascinating.

5. Outline The Downside Your Viewers Wants To Clear up

Return to the viewers analysis you carried out in step one and consider issues your prospects face that your white paper subject might clear up. By understanding the problems your prospects have associated to your subject, you’ll be capable of current your white paper as the answer.

Ask your self these questions to seek out issues associated to your subject that your viewers faces:

• What data gaps does my viewers have on this subject?
• How does this subject problem my viewers of their enterprise day-to-day?
• What worries in regards to the future does my viewers have associated to this subject?
• What troubles does my viewers have implementing this subject of their enterprise?

6. Outline The Resolution Your White Paper Offers

Now that you realize the problems your prospects face associated to your subject, you possibly can create an angle on your white paper. Take into account how one can share data about your subject to resolve your viewers’s drawback.

Let’s take a look at how Deloitte presents an answer in its 2022 Retail Trade Outlook white paper’s introduction.

It begins by presenting the issue: Retailers must maintain reworking their companies within the face of pandemic-fueled change.

Then, it gives the answer of informing retailers about 2022 tendencies to allow them to maintain their companies on the appropriate course sooner or later.

Plan Your White Paper Writing & Formatting

7. Write Key Factors In A White Paper Define

Go away notes for your self to quote references and sources. Writing from a content material define helps you’re employed quicker and crush author’s block.

Right here’s methods to construct your white paper define with the analysis you probably did thus far:

1. Headline: Begin with a working model that describes your subject; you possibly can all the time polish it up later. CoSchedule’s Headline Studio might help!
2. An govt abstract: A placeholder for a brief description of what your white paper is about. Add key factors right here so you possibly can construct your abstract later.
3. Introduction: What’s the hook that may draw your readers to maintain studying the white paper? What are the primary ache factors and matters you’ll cowl?
4. Part subheadings: Every part is a degree that helps your general argument or a step within the course of you’re presenting. Their subheadings ought to clearly introduce them.
5. Subheading content material: Listing the subpoints you are making in every part and any supporting data that you just got here throughout in your analysis.
6. Conclusion: Summarize your key takeaways. If it’s acceptable, you would possibly take into account including a call-to-action right here, too.

Use our white paper template for the best option to construct your white paper define.

8. Get Inspiration From White Paper Examples

Need to get impressed by white paper examples that work? Try the listing under and see how people like Apple, Amazon, and Vox Media method their white papers.

9. Stylize Your White Paper Doc

Use this planning and outlining stage to additionally map out graphics, charts, sidebars, and one-pagers.

You are able to do this with textual content packing containers, tables, and web page breaks within the Phrase doc. This fashion, you’ll have placeholders instead of visuals you’ll add within the design stage in a while. This can assist you to form your writing based mostly on the skeleton of your white paper’s ultimate look.

Moreover, use this step to regulate the looks of your fonts and headers. In Microsoft Phrase, right-click the fashion you’re utilizing, click on Modify, and choose totally different headings or paragraphs you need to replace.

10. Write The White Paper Title

Greatest white paper headlines are those who join your subject with an final result your reader craves.

A robust headline contains:

• Phrase steadiness: a mixture of widespread, unusual, emotional, and energy phrases
• Size: optimized for visibility and click-throughs on search engines like google and social media
• Sort of headline: forms of headlines embrace ‘“why” headlines, how-to, and query headlines
• Readability and skimmability: simplified for simple studying and understanding at a look

Begin by itemizing headline choices. Try these headline formulation and templates and these 73 (!) methods to put in writing a profitable headline.

From there, leap into Headline Analyzer Studio and examine your strongest headline choices in opposition to recommendations. Use the phrase financial institution to strengthen these headlines and choose your favourite to make use of in your white paper.

11. Write The White Paper Introduction

Your introduction bridges the promise out of your headline and govt abstract with the important thing factors and sections of your white paper.

Greatest introductions assist the reader:

1. Really feel like they’re in the appropriate place, studying the appropriate white paper based mostly on the issue they need to clear up
2. Get a high-level overview of what you’ll cowl
3. Show you do have the solutions they’re on the lookout for

Use your introduction to tease upcoming sections and contact on the info, sources, specialists, and authentic analysis you’ll use to make your factors.

12. Break Up White Paper Content material With Subheadings & Subsections

Every subsection ought to make a definite level, like defining a step of a course of or making a selected argument.

For those who’ve researched and outlined your white paper in an organized means, writing your white paper subsections needs to be comparatively simple.

As you write, you would possibly discover a niche in your analysis or a subsection that may very well be added based mostly on the narrative you’re growing. If that occurs, make a remark and are available again to it in direction of the tip of your writing to fill these gaps.

13. Embody Knowledge & Visuals

Is there knowledge or an thought that might be finest introduced visually?

Mark any segments that might profit from a visible asset. You’ve marked some potential spots in your define, so now that you’ve got your draft, get particular in regards to the precise visuals you want.

Suppose:

• A graph or chart of an essential knowledge level
• A one-pager with a key statistic or quote
• Comparability tables
• Customized illustrations

14. Recap The Downside & Resolution In Your Conclusion

Whereas white papers are a sort of promoting collateral, they usually have a softer call-to-action than most others.

When your reader reaches the conclusion, they’ve simply gone by means of plenty of data. Your conclusion ought to recap your white paper’s drawback and resolution to drag all of it collectively and drive them to motion.

Going again to Deloitte’s 2022 Retail Trade Outlook white paper, you possibly can see a abstract of the issue and resolution in its conclusion.

As you replicate on the retail insights you learn within the white paper, the conclusion reminds you that retailers nonetheless face challenges, however additionally they have alternatives. It strikes you ahead by explaining how you should utilize the data you simply realized to maintain shifting towards the longer term.

15. Proofread & Edit

Together with your first draft achieved, it’s time to overview and edit your work—or hand it over to your editor, in case you have one.

First, examine the mechanics: grammar errors, spelling errors, passive voice, and related points. Instruments like Grammarly and Hemingway are helpful right here.

Then, dig deeper to examine the circulation of your white paper and the energy of the factors you’re making. This contains:

• Objective: Does the content material fulfill its promise? Does it reply all of the questions your reader may need?
• Construction: Is the construction optimized for engagement and completion?
• Information: Is all the things factually correct? Double-check info, statistics, hyperlinks, and sources.
• Understanding: How simple is your writing to grasp? If there may be language or jargon your viewers could not perceive, be aware it and take into account options. This may be corrected with a easy search on Thesaurus.com.

Be aware of any components it is advisable reposition, phrase otherwise, or make clear; when you undergo your complete doc, leap into these edits. Seize some extra enhancing suggestions right here when you want them.

Now You’re Prepared To Write A White Paper

You made it—you’re able to analysis, plan, write, design, and promote an distinctive white paper.

Observe this course of to construct a bit of content material that may serve your advertising and enterprise objectives for a lot of months and years to return. Don’t skip the promotion and repurposing efforts to make your work go a good distance.