What do you mean by white paper? Yeah, I use it to fill my copier.

There’ been a lot of chatter in my world lately about Internet marketing’s buzzword and secret weapon – white papers. And yes, they are referring to something other than what you use to print copies.

So what exactly are white papers and how can they help your business?

Here’s the skinny:

According to Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL), the term originated in government when referring to official, authoritative and informative documents. As such, white papers used for marketing purposes had best provide valuable information or else could work in reverse and discredit their source.

There are various methods for communicating information on the Internet including website content, blogs, and online articles. But what differentiates these mediums from white papers is a narrowly defined problem/solution for a targeted audience segment.

So, let’s presume your company developed a more efficient method for, say, adding (white) paper to your copier. By writing an official paper on the process, and sharing that information with the interested public, you’ve accomplished three major marketing wins:

1. You’ve positioned yourself as the expert (and subliminally have given potential customers a reason to contact you when a need arises,
2. You’ve most likely enhanced your SEO by cross-referencing and linking your white paper to your website and vice versa, and
3. You’ve provided a good will service that may leave readers wanting more if written properly – another reason to contact you.

But, writers beware: readers are smart people, too. They can smell a sales pitch from a mile away. To keep your material authentic, OWL recommends the following:

“If you advertise before convincing your readers of the truths of your argument, they are more likely to be turned off.”

Thanks for tuning in,

Natalie

Source: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/