White Paper Pundit

Featured FREE White Paper of the Week:

Title: From Numbers to Action: Improving Travel Program Management

Sponsor: Advito

Publication Date: July 2010

Sponsor’s Description: From Numbers to Action: improving travel program management through strategic KPIs and meaningful savings measurement. Travel program managers are increasingly being asked to measure their success against corporate objectives. This white paper by BCD Travel’s consulting unit, Advito, provides travel managers with clear guidelines for directly linking travel program performance with corporate objectives using strategic key performance indicators, or KPIs.

White Paper Pundit Comment: Normally I don’t like landscape oriented white papers, but this one seems to work for me. The format fits the many comparative tables, workflow diagrams, and callouts used in this paper. Unfortunately, since the page height is shortened, the size of the paper balloons to 34 pages, far too large for most ‘short attention’ readers. Nonetheless, this paper is a good example of how visual elements can be used to educate the reader to a complex subject.

Download Link URL: http://bit.ly/bB9EQx

Web Landing Page: http://bit.ly/atnhpP

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Welcome to the FREE White Paper List!

This list is a summary of the free white papers that have been posted during the past week on Twitter. Each white paper is completely FREE and does not require email registration or personal information. This is a great way to review white paper examples and learn new techniques from hundreds of white paper marketers. Simply click on the shortened URL link next to the file name and download the white paper.

1. HR Service Delivery with Case Management http://cot.ag/dzqY3i

2. The Impact of Social Media on Corporate Security http://bit.ly/atsAgF

3. Why driving while using hands-freecell phones is risky behavior http://bit.ly/c9pszL

4. Photometric Measurement of LED Luminaires http://bit.ly/cVrLOp

5. From numbers to action: Improving travel program management http://bit.ly/bB9EQx

6. Five New Workplace Issues That You Should Know About http://is.gd/drXVy

7. Why traditional CRM is not enough http://tinyurl.com/yh67kk2

8. IDC White Paper: Social Business Framework: Using People as a Platform to Enable Transformation http://ow.ly/2hMlX

9. FileMaker Go for the iPad iPhone & iPod Touch http://bit.ly/9HIuAG

10. Executive Search: Retaining Senior Executives http://bit.ly/99mfDj

11. Outstanding Brand Narratives http://bit.ly/d8G6cm

12. Moving Forward: Transportation and the Massachusetts Economy http://bit.ly/bP64L

13. HP White Paper: Configuration best practices for StorageWorks EVA and VMware vSphere 4 http://bit.ly/9c54jY

14. Adobe White Paper :”What’s new in InDesign CS5 EPUB export” http://bit.ly/bjFtf7

15. Retail Analytics: Competitive Differentiation http://bit.ly/9GNRp3

16. It’s a jungle out there http://su.pr/1FHUXQ

17. Single Fiber Pluggable Transceivers http://bit.ly/18Nsor

18. A Multifunctional Approach to Improve Monitoring Access in High-Performance Networks http://dld.bz/fXSK

19. Demystifying Slot Machines and Their Impact in the United States http://bit.ly/b3BQeh

20. The Psychology of Marketing http://bit.ly/cfTCow

21. An invitation to shape the Nature of England http://bit.ly/bksamZ

22. Bad Medicine: A Guide to the Real Costs & Consequences of the New Health Care Law http://shar.es/mMAg1

One of the tasks I look forward to each week is scanning Twitter seeking out Tweets that allow me to download free white papers without registration requirements. The papers I uncover are used to populate my FREE White Paper List that is posted each and every Friday.

This week, I uncovered a very disturbing white paper from an organization called mobileStorm that marks a new low point in white paper marketing. The document is called, “How the Casino Next Door is Getting Ready to Kick Your A**: Why It’s Time to Get Real About Mobile in Casino Marketing”.

Now I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday. This organization has obviously used this provocative title in the hope that it will garner greater attention for their solution strategy. Their assumption is that the use of a shocking word out of the professional mainstream will peak reader curiosity and create an increased incentive to download and read the white paper.

Such an assumption would be dead wrong.

The reason this strategy will ultimately fail is due to a fundamental misunderstanding about the role and perception of white papers in the solution awareness building process where first impressions are as important as the viability of the solution itself.

White papers are serious business tools used in that decision making process. They are akin to a virtual salesperson representing your firm in the business environment. How would you feel if a salesperson was making off-colored language with a prospective business customer on their initial sales call? I’ve encountered such individuals during my enterprise career, and let’s just say that person or their firm never got to second base.

White papers are not seen as casual documents to wile away someone’s time time during a lunch break. When a decision maker is ready to download and read a white paper, they are at a point in the decision making process to seriously evaluate and consider implementing particular solution or strategy. Everything is on the line with the marketer at this stage. The quality of their research, the logic of their solution advantage, the design and formatting of information, and yes, the words that are used in that white paper all become part of that first impression.

When a marketer stoops so low as to use an unprofessional and provocative word such as “A**” in the title of their white paper, it is akin to shooting yourself in the foot before you’ve had a chance to get that foot in the front door. I can only assume that the first impression a C-Level executive decision make will make of this particular marketer will be one of a crude, unprofessional firm that does not warrant any serious consideration for their business.

So the very attempt at being provocative in this case, will ultimately backfire for this organization causing more negative than positive publicity. Unfortunately, some companies have to learn things the hard way. The sad reality is that once you have established a negative impression, it’s very hard to undo that going forward.

So my recommendation for mobileStorm is to save the shock words for your next Friday Happy Hour while you’re having a few beers with the sales team, and not with a white paper title that your potential customers will use to form a first impression.

Title: Intelligence, Intuition, and Information

Sponsor: Thomson Reuters

Publication Date: July 2010

Sponsor’s Description: Transforming data into intelligent information is one way of dealing with the increased volume and velocity of inputs to the decision making process. We introduce the Thomson Reuters Hierarchy of Information Needs to explain how the curation, contextualization and channeling of trusted information provides professionals with the knowledge to act. We believe that this framework will be valuable for planning future investments in our information services and solutions to benefit customers.

White Paper Pundit Comment: This white paper provides an excellent example of how a white paper design can take a page from annual reports and bring a level of professionalism to the presentation of enterprise information.

Download Link URL: http://bit.ly/atHK5B

Web Landing Page: http://bit.ly/9rpfo5

_________________________________________________________

Welcome to the FREE White Paper List!

This list is a summary of the free white papers that have been posted during the past week on Twitter. Each white paper is completely FREE and does not require email registration or personal information. This is a great way to review white paper examples and learn new techniques from hundreds of white paper marketers. Simply click on the shortened URL link next to the file name and download the white paper.

1. A framework for social learning in the enterprise http://bit.ly/b4N93m

2. 802.11n: Next Generation WLAN. http://bit.ly/b6YWLr

3. Configuring Kerberos Authentication for MS SharePoint 2010 http://bit.ly/cdhVJ2

4. Analog to IP Video Migration Strategies http://tinyurl.com/2fbsc95

5. What’s new in Adobe InDesign CS5 EPUB export? http://bit.ly/91iJhY

6. Setting the VOC Threshold http://ow.ly/2e4XI

7. The Power of Project Learning with ThinkQuest: http://bit.ly/aVme4s

8. Social Media Means Serious Business http://ht.ly/2dhTH

9. THE VALUE OF A FACEBOOK FAN: AN EMPIRICAL REVIEW http://tlk.tc/IbN

10. The Hidden and High Costs of Decentralized or Home-Grown Workflow Management http://ow.ly/2btWh

11. Intelligence, Intuition, and Information http://bit.ly/atHK5B

I’ve talked at great length on this blog about the subject of eBooks vs. white papers. In fact a recent blog post discussed this very subject which has garnered a significant number of reTweets on Twitter. Over time, many white paper marketers seem to be taking greater liberties in distributing their white papers in landscape orientation as opposed to the traditional portrait orientation.

I think such a marketing move is a catastrophic mistake, and I believe that all white papers should be in portrait orientation instead of the landscape orientation found with most eBooks and presentations.

Portrait orientation (8.5″ x 11″) is considered a standard format for most business documents that should apply to white papers as well. On occasion marketers have created white papers in landscape orientation (11″ x 8.5″) as a way not only to be creative, but also to establish a unique differentiation for what has certainly become a crowded white paper field. One of the reasons for this rise has to do with the familiarity with PowerPoint presentations, another common landscape-oriented document in the enterprise workplace.

But as landscape oriented white papers increasingly dot the business landscape, our relationship with information presented in that orientation also changes. Allow me to explain.

The document on the left is a recent example of a landscape oriented white paper that was promoted on Twitter. At face value, the first impression one makes of such a document is that of a presentation or an eBook but not a white paper. As a society that holds so much weight to first impressions, such a first impression can impact reader interest and content credibility which can extend to whether the document is effective in generating a sufficient number of ‘warm’ leads and ultimately, closed sales.

When marketers use a landscape orientation rather than a portrait orientation for their white papers, credibility suffers. Think about it. Do you read a presentation in the same way as a presentation or casual eBook? Do you view the content in a presentation with the same degree of authority and credibility as you would if the same information was formatted in a traditional portrait-oriented white paper?

From my standpoint, the answer to these questions is a resounding NO!

As a result of this radically different format, business executives expecting a traditional white paper will tend to look at this information less credibly than if the same information had been presented in the more traditional portrait orientation.

Distributing white papers in landscape orientation also creates content challenges in the formatting and positioning of critical business content such as  background information, problem identification, and solution assessments. Since the document is turned sideways, the narrow 8.5″ length houses the primary content. As a result,  there is less space to provide critical business information on any single page. The amount of content that would normally fit into one single portrait-oriented page, must now accomodate several landscape pages. The greater the number of pages the reader must read, the greater the amount of time it will take, and the greater the likelihood of workplace distractions that will interrupt that reading process. When this occurs, the ability for that reader to assimilate essential business messages is more challenging.

To ensure the integrity of the white paper medium, Portrait orientation should be considered a standard part for all white papers. It is a format that has been and will always be a part of the medium and one that business readers simply expect when they download a white paper. While I’m certainly in favor of modernizing the traditional white paper content from all text to text and graphics (that serves as the basis of my book, “Crafting White Paper 2.0“), there are certain things such as page orientation that should not be altered going forward.

After all, would you submit your resume for your next executive position in a landscape format? Unless it’s a position for a Creative Director, I don’t think your prospective employer would look at such a move in a positive light. The same should hold true for the white paper medium as a whole. Save the landscape orientation for your next seminar presentation, or your next eBook on Aboriginal fashion design.

Title: Extending Email to Social Networks

Sponsor: Alterian

Publication Date: July 2010

Sponsor’s Description: Within this white paper, we will give you the power to leverage the increasing reach of your subscribers and continue to grow your audience by combining email and social media.

White Paper Pundit Comment: I like the clean lines and professional design in this white paper. It provides a good example of what I call a next-generation “White Paper 2.0″ design strategy. The features that stand out with this white paper include: Hotlinks to Social Media embedded in the footer section, color-coordinated callouts, screen shots in a two-column format, and front cover design elements (the sweep graphic) included on each page. When I discuss how white paper design needs to parallel annual reports, this white paper serves as an excellent example!

Download Link URL: http://bit.ly/cvgEb8

Web Landing Page: http://bit.ly/9hEIq6

_________________________________________________________

Welcome to the FREE White Paper List!

This list is a summary of the free white papers that have been posted during the past week on Twitter. Each white paper is completely FREE and does not require email registration or personal information. This is a great way to review white paper examples and learn new techniques from hundreds of white paper marketers. Simply click on the shortened URL link next to the file name and download the white paper.

1. Extending Email to Social Networks http://bit.ly/cvgEb8

2. The State of Enterprise Open Source SW After the Oracle Acquisition of Sun http://bit.ly/cjSdYx

3. Social Media for B2B Marketing: http://bit.ly/bl9i1s

4. IDC White Paper: The Business Case for Ruggedized PCs http://bit.ly/bViC7T

5. Enterprise Appalachia Enterprise Benchmarks http://bit.ly/96mQzS

6. Windows 7 made easier with Citrix XenDesktop http://bit.ly/dsC20U

7. Putting Social Software to Work in Your Business: A Journey Toward Enterprise 2.0 http://tinyurl.com/3xqcy4k

8. The Digital Buyer Rules in the 21st Century http://bit.ly/9ubVzQ

9. MDS 3.0 and RUG-IV Implementation:Are You Really Ready? http://bit.ly/9mH1u4

10. The Case for Bank Loans in Rising Rate Environments http://bit.ly/9nHcYV

11. Coverage Issues After The Oil Stops Flowing http://bit.ly/9W4Eet

12. Leveraging SharePoint to Optimize Your Search Engine Rankings http://bit.ly/cHVin1

13. Harvard White Paper: Sexting:Youth Practices and Legal Implications http://bit.ly/d9U54c

14. Mobile Retailing Blueprint: A Comprehensive Guide for Navigating the Mobile Landscape http://bit.ly/9WojYJ

15. Oracle Solaris and Sun SPARC Systems: Integrated and Optimized for Enterprise Computing http://bit.ly/coqTW6

16. Understanding Carrier Ethernet Throughput http://ow.ly/28pB3

17. Equity and excellence: Liberating the NHS http://bit.ly/btcWnB

18. The currency shock absorber http://bit.ly/cXmL9U

19. HP White Paper: Service health in the age of virtualization and cloud computing http://bit.ly/cXmL9U

20. Mobile Interactivity http://bit.ly/baNIkN

21. Franchisee Website Solution: Build or Buy? http://bit.ly/d0vB5K

22. How eBook Catalogs at Public Libraries Drive Publishers’ Book Sales and Profits http://bit.ly/boYLBQ

23. Virtual Impact: Internet’s Effect on How Companies Look for Candidates http://bit.ly/dkhYYK

24. Complex Trauma in Childrenand Adolescents http://bit.ly/aENt4F

25. iPhone Privacy – http://bit.ly/6ECMiC

26. Crowdfunding and Growth Platform  http://scr.bi/d95WTc

27. Spend visibility; using an on-demand service to deliver rapid business value http://bit.ly/a5N74d

28. A Multifunctional Approach to Improve Monitoring Access in High-Performance Networks http://dld.bz/fXSK

For some strange reason, people seem to respond well to analogies as a way to better understand a complex concept.

For example, when I talk to prospective customers about the white paper development process, I like to make an analogy between the role of a blueprint when building a house and the creation/use of an outline when writing a white paper draft. Since no self-respecting home builder would ever dream of building a house without the use of a blueprint, this analogy immediately positions the outline as a critically important guide in the white paper production process.

Analogies can also be used as an important marketing advantage that helps your reader better understand complex concepts either in the problem assessment or solution advantage sections of your white paper.

For example in a recent white paper on the topic of peer leadership coaching, I made the comparison between 1960′s mainframe technology and the advent of the personal computing as comparison between older, conventional ‘competency-based’ leadership training and the newer peer-leadership coaching:

In many ways the evolution from ‘competency-based’ leadership training to behavioral based peer leadership coaching can be compared to the evolution of corporate information over the past 40 years. While mainframes originally provided exceptional access to powerful shared computing power, the advent of the personal computer brought the power of the mainframe to each individual desk, creating the single greatest increase in productivity since the dawn of the industrial age.

Similarly, today’s internally controlled one-size-fits all training program is no longer able to deliver the type of value-based curriculum that empowers and develops individual leaders at all levels, and that is why many fail to deliver on the promise of generating a ready leadership base.

By using an analogy that most business executives can relate to, namely the distinct advantage of the personal computer over the mainframe computer, the reader can ‘warm up’ to the idea that peer leadership training will provide a comparative advantage for their business.

Here’ the bottom line: The use of analogies in your white paper allows your target reader to better understand an unknown concept by leveraging something that they already know. The stronger your analogy, the better the reader will understand the message you wish to deliver.

When applying analogies, use the most pertinent analogy possible to facilitate this learning and discovery process. In doing so, you will find that your idea reader will be more comfortable when it comes time to tout your advocated solution or strategy.

Title: Design Build: A Competitive Advantage in a Precarious Market

Sponsor: Cawley Architects

Publication Date: February 2010

Sponsor’s Description: In today’s economic climate with a vastly different lending environment, unstable construction costs and stringent development standards, a fail-safe strategy is essential to stay ahead of the pack. The need for quick, concise, cost-effective design and construction services has never been more important.

White Paper Pundit Comment: I like this white paper a lot. It combines every element of the white paper 2.0 strategy very well. All elements are unified under a purple theme that integrates several attention generating elements. Large fonts, shaded text boxes, large bullets, and simple, easy-to-understand concept graphics allow the reader to quickly assimilate key messages. This is another great example that white paper writers need to save in their favorites folder.

Download Link URL: http://bit.ly/dn7Q92

Web Landing Page: http://www.cawleyarchitects.com/whitepaper.php

_________________________________________________________

Welcome to the FREE White Paper List!

This list is a summary of the free white papers that have been posted during the past week on Twitter. Each white paper is completely FREE and does not require email registration or personal information. This is a great way to review white paper examples and learn new techniques from hundreds of white paper marketers. Simply click on the shortened URL link next to the file name and download the white paper.

1. Power Troubleshooting and Optimization for TIBCO®ActiveMatrix® BusinessWorks™ http://bit.ly/bkDDYt

2. Microsoft White Paper: Cybersecurity for Open Government http://bit.ly/akJQqN

3. Social MediaMarketing in theAge of Connectivity http://bit.ly/cWguhD

4. Accelerating time-to-insight for midsize companies using in-memory analytics http://bit.ly/a1J78Q

5. How Document Management Benefits Accounts Payable http://bit.ly/97lTvm

6. Effective and Efficient Distributed, WebBased Document Capture Architecture http://bit.ly/baxc2q

7. Design Build: A Competitive Advantage in a Precarious Market http://bit.ly/dn7Q92

8. Engaging Employees in Times of Uncertainty http://ow.ly/286nV

9. Mobile Payments in Europe http://bit.ly/bfXUwf

10. The Mobile Enterprise: Moving to the Next Generation http://bit.ly/9CD1IO

11. Getting Things Done with Gmail http://bit.ly/9mTOnO

12. Environmental issues with Printing http://tinyurl.com/3a5klmb

13. Attracting Students to Business & Commerce http://bit.ly/9FQ36m

14. An Introduction to Portable CMMs http://bit.ly/cMSBRW

15. Performance Mgmt: How Talent Mgmt Tech Helps Fast-Track and Sustain a Hi-Perf Culture http://go2see.it/aqn

16. SCCM and App-V Integration http://su.pr/31KXML

17. Improving the Student ExperiencetoIncrease Career College Revenue http://bit.ly/bBN7Yy

18. Franchisee Website Solution: Build or Buy? http://bit.ly/d0vB5K

19. Mobile Interactivity http://bit.ly/baNIkN

Do the number of columns in a white paper enhance its readability or is it merely used to enhance the credibility of mediocre content? That seems to be one question that many people ask when they plan the design and layout of their white papers.

Why do people choose a multi-column design, is there an inherent advantage to it? Today it seems that white papers typically fall into either a one or a two column design.

One of the reasons that people choose a two column format is its similarity with newsletters, newspapers and magazines. Most magazines and newspapers use either a two and three column format, and for many companies, this concept bleeds over to the area of white papers.

One possible reason for a two-column format in a white paper is to give it an air of authority. The thinking here is that if looks more like something fresh out of Scientific American magazine or The Economist, the perception is that the information contained within the white paper is perceived as more credible. But in adding an additional column there is a downside, namely with the white papers’ “readability” and its impact the short attention reader.

When you place an image in the middle of a two-column page that spans the entire width of the page, the image breaks up the natural flow of the paper. The eye tends to look to the column to the right-top of the picture, instead of the column at the bottom left. As a result, the short attention readers’ cadence is disrupted, forcing them to re-read information over again.

In my case, I rarely use two columns (unless the client specifically asks for it) because I don’t want to introduce another element that will distract reader attention from the primary content and key messages in the white paper. It’s difficult enough to keep the “short attention span” reader focused, so why introduce anything that works against the limited time that they can devote to reading?

So in my humble opinion, save the multi-column design for your newsletters. Use a single-column design when you have important messages to deliver in a white paper. Your short attention reader will thank you for it!

What do you think? Do you use a two-column design? Why do you think it’s superior to a single column layout?

Title: Uniting the Worlds of Data and Voice

Sponsor: Mitel Networks

Publication Date: February 2010

Sponsor’s Description: This paper explains how the worlds of data and voice have evolved separately in recent years, and what has kept them apart for so long. But it goes on to describe how a leader in the world of data center technology, and another in the world of telephony, got together to do something that many thought impossible – to join the worlds of data and voice on a single virtualized infrastructure.

White Paper Pundit Comment: This white paper contains several examples of great concept graphics. I especially like the graphic on page 5 that illustrates Mitel’s business strategy. Unique graphics such as these are very effective in grabbing reader attention and engaging them to read about what the graphic represents.

Download Link URL: http://bit.ly/bVhk8z

Web Landing Page: http://bit.ly/aYV3l1

_________________________________________________________

Welcome to the FREE White Paper List!

This list is a summary of the free white papers that have been posted during the past week on Twitter. Each white paper is completely FREE and does not require email registration or personal information. This is a great way to review white paper examples and learn new techniques from hundreds of white paper marketers. Simply click on the shortened URL link next to the file name and download the white paper.

1. FY08 ARCHIVE MEDIA TRADE STUDY http://bit.ly/bHMZgW

2. MS Forefront: Business-Ready Security – Information Protection Solution http://bit.ly/aWDsUQ

3. “Asset pooling comes of age” http://scr.bi/cOurFS

4. A Review of School Readiness Practices in the States http://bit.ly/b87W2u

5. State of the Industry: Digital Ad Operations http://bit.ly/9pw48m

6. HP Case Study: It’s hard to simplify—but it pays http://bit.ly/aoFRNk

7. An Overview of Social Media Marketing http://bit.ly/cYPMpi

8. Internal co-creation through the construction of online Communities of Practice: http://bit.ly/bZTY0W

9. Google White Paper: Summer insights 2010: Taking advantage of seasonal opportunities http://bit.ly/d2DsPR

10. Uniting the Worlds of Data and Voice http://bit.ly/bVhk8z

11. Best Practices for Email Marketing http://bit.ly/cswlQf

12. The Engaged Web: “Guide to Web Marketing in a Post-Web 2.0 World” http://bit.ly/94loL8

13. New Data UncoversOpportunities in the IPO Market http://bit.ly/9SLAPG

14. 360i Point of View onSMS (Text Messaging) http://bit.ly/aTNYl9

15. HP StoreOnceDeduplication Software http://bit.ly/bGdQGr

16. Designing a Successful DNS Strategy http://bit.ly/aTzYAZ

17. The IBM Tivoli® Service Automation Manager http://bit.ly/b6sxb0

18. Intel Cloud Builder Guide to Cloud Design http://bit.ly/cYyGEI

19. Subtitling for Stereographic Media http://bit.ly/a7pv2G

Hewlett-Packard, currently at #10 on the Fortune 500 list, is clearly a leader in the technology sector. Their products and market dominance are only matched by a select few in what has historically been a highly competitive marketplace over the past 20 years.

But while their products may be legendary, their white papers have much to be desired. Instead of demonstrating marketing leadership, one walks away with a perception of HP as an enterprise organization with a disjointed white paper strategy. I certainly expect more from a leading top 10 Fortune 500 enterprise organization.

The most glaring mistake is HP’s insistance on labeling a wide variety of business documents as “white papers”. This is a common mistake that I see with many businesses that believe the addition of this label will attract scads of readers and generate countless numbers of warm business leads. Instead, these organizations often find that labeling ‘sub-standard’, non-educational business documents does more harm than good, bringing discredit that impacts future white paper marketing campaigns.

The first HP example (on the left) goes back to 2004, when they released this one-page white paper “advertisement” called, “Mobile and Wireless: Making Life Easier for the Small Business”, discusses mobile computing strategies for the small business market. What should have been simply called an article, position statement, or a ‘report’, is labeled an IT White Paper. Now call me foolish, but any self-respecting IT executive would laugh at the prospect of viewing this simple one-page document as a full fledged white paper.

This one page document also misses the most important point that makes a white paper a white paper, namely an in-depth case-building presentation on all aspects related to a topic such as industry background information, problem assessments, and a thorough discussion of how an advocated business strategy solves critical business challenges.

To accomplish this correctly, one must dedicate at least six pages, which a one-page document clearly cannot do.

The second example of HP’s spotty white paper strategy takes place at the other end of the spectrum with their large technical documents which they have also labeled as “white papers”. These papers weigh in anywhere from 10 to 20 pages, and contain very valuable information targeting technical readers such as CIOs and IT Directors.

This white paper called, “HP-UX 11i v3 Congestion Control Management for Storage“, presents an interesting conundrum for many high tech organizations. Can the label ‘white paper’ be equally applied to a business marketing document as a highly technical document?

My answer is, “not any longer”.

The label white paper today clearly resides in the business marketing realm. While white papers may have started off with a technical focus, its perception today has now changed and the term makes more of a connection with business professionals than technical professionals. My recommendation for HP and other tech enterprises is to give their technical documents another label such as “Technical Primers” or “Technical Reports” and reserve the label “white paper” for projects that have a clear business marketing focus.

Finally HP’s latest example, isn’t a problem with document labeling but instead represents an inconsistent white paper content strategy. The white paper that points this out is called, “Accelerate: Your Shift from Technology to Business Outcomes“.

This particular project looks like a failed attempt to fill empty pages and quickly get a white paper out on a corporate website rather than take the time to produce a valuable, educational document that will attract prospective readers, generate leads, and demonstrate HP’s market leadership. Half of the documents’ eight pages is devoted to content, which given the amount of white space on each page could have easily been condensed to about two standard white paper pages.

Other mistakes in this document include an Introduction on the front cover and the addition of a Table of Contents, an ‘old school’ element that is typically reserved for very large tomes in either the government or academic environment. To include a TOC here for such a short, business-focused document seems like a waste of valuable marketing real estate and a clear misunderstanding of the needs with today’s business audience.

Finally this white paper includes two short sections called, “Where the World is Headed” and “About this White Paper” where we learn that the author is another organization called, “Mainstay Partners”. Nonetheless, any organization that places its logo on the front cover of a white paper must take the heat when such a strategy fails, and in this case HP deserves all the drubbing it can get for such a lackluster white paper.

Here’s the bottom line: White papers today have become a critical part of any corporate marketing strategy. Business organizations can no longer afford to treat this medium as a ‘shot in the dark’. For any organization, especially a top 10 Fortune 500 enterprise to take such a cavalier and inconsistent approach to their white paper strategy needs to be taken to the marketing wood shed.

Each white paper that an organization produces must contain highly relevant and pertinent educational information that not only will attract prospective readers and generate leads, but also position that organization in a leadership role within their industry. To expect any less will result in reader dissatisfaction, impacting future white paper campaigns, marketing effectiveness, and brand perception.

HP may produce great hardware and software products, but they need to go back to the drawing board on their white paper strategy.