White Paper Pundit

When I see films of the typical business office of the 1950s, I feel like I’m watching life on another planet. The day-to-day events of that era seem somewhat sedate when the only pieces of technology in place at the time were typewriters and rotary telephones. I question how workers in that era would have fared in today’s fast-paced, high tech, networked, multi-tasking business environment.

In many ways, today’s frenzied business environment has made the process of creating effective business communications such as white papers much more difficult. The amount of available time and attention that today’s busy executive can devote to reading complex white paper information is much shorter than their counterparts had in the 1950s.

From my perspective, there are four factors that create an impediment for a ‘short attention’ executive to read detailed white paper information in today’s busy workplace environment:

1. Greater Workloads

While technology was supposed to make our lives easier, it has in many ways made it more difficult. Today, the expectations on what can be accomplished with technology is much greater than they were in the 1950s. A typical office worker is expected to crank out 10 times the workload in the course of an average busienss day, far more than could be handled by a 1950s counterpart armed with a typewriter. Rather than make our lives easier, it has only moved the needle that much more forward in workload expectation. In addition, workforce reductions as a result of today’s soft economic conditions, has doubling the workload for the remaining employees that are left to carry the ball. As a result, business executives have less time available for the reading task, especially with detailed information such as white papers.

2. More Workplace Interruptions

The office worker in the 1950s had to contend with a typewriter and a phone. Today’s vast communications assortment is increasing the number of messages, formats, and information sources requiring our immediate response. Cell phones, email, text messaging, and social media communications have forced us to read, assimilate, and respond back to the sender in an almost immediate fashion since most senders are also operating in a similar ‘time-sensitive’ impatient mode. The sheer abundance of messages and formats not only has increased the number of interruptions, but it has also lowered the priority for reading complex white paper information. In fact, as a result of this information onslaught, many executives never have chance to read detailed white papers, delegating that task to lower level managers for their input. As a result, a white paper that was developed especially for the C-Level executive never gets read by its intended audience.

3. Social Media Messaging

While Social Media is experiencing explosive growth with online business users and marketers, few see the impact that this new form of messaging has on our ability to read complex white paper information. As we become more accustomed to this form of short, quick, and succinct messaging, our desire to read extensive text-heavy information commonly found with most white papers will wane.

4. Traditional Text-Oriented Formatting

As the length of content is changing, so is the format. As social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn leverage non-text information such as audio, video, and graphics, our desire to sit down and read countless pages of left-flush text paragraphs will result in a further reader disconnect. This will become even more prevalent as new generations of younger business executives that already spend less time reading than their baby boomer parents, assume management roles.

What should white paper marketers do in light of these realities? To overcome these challenges, businesses and white paper marketers must incorporate a new series of elements designed specifically for the ‘short attention’ reader. You can read several suggestions by following this link.

FEATURED FREE WHITE PAPER OF THE WEEK:

Title: “Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks: Evolution, Impact, & Solutions”

Publication Date: August 2008

Sponsor: VeriSign, Inc.

Author’s Description: This is an informative white paper from VeriSign offering insights into the evolution of DDoS attacks, current and future threats, and comprehensive solutions. You’ll also read about the VeriSign® Internet Defense Network, a network-agnostic security solution that enables enterprises to mitigate DDoS attacks without having to invest in complex and expensive infrastructure.

Blogger’s Note: This white paper does a very good job describing the online threat of Denial of Service (DDOS) that has become part of our modern discourse, thanks in part to the countless numbers of news stories related to the issue. This white paper uses a very good Executive Summary, clear network diagrams, and a logical flow to educate the reader to the threat, and the security solutions necessary to thwart it. It also includes a technical glossary at the end to define technical terminology.

Download Link URL: http://bit.ly/O4OTo

Website URL: http://bit.ly/1JRtxs

_________________________________________________________

Welcome to the Friday 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 listed below is completely FREE and does not require either email registration or any other personal information. This is a great way to review several white paper examples and learn new techniques from hundreds of white paper marketers. Just click on the Shortened URL link next to the file name and download the white paper.

1. USB – Ubiquitous Security Backdoor http://is.gd/2BuOf

2. Using Municipal Wireless to Enhance Public Safety http://bit.ly/TtR1E

3. Using Book Awards to Boost Your Book Sales http://tiny.cc/xClc8

4. Managing Work Related Upper Limb Disorders http://bit.ly/uwTkl

5. How to Measure Glass/Plexiglas” http://bit.ly/1n5P4P

6. Getting the Most Greenhouse Gas Reductions for Our Money: http://bit.ly/s6OCf

7. VeriSign White Paper: Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks: Evolution, Impact, & Solutions http://bit.ly/O4OTo

8. PROPANE: Exceptional Energy http://bit.ly/ntkR

9. Solving the Problem of Broken Bed Communication Cable Pins http://bit.ly/EF4An

10. Opportunistic Investing in Single Tenant Properties http://bit.ly/tMEIN

11. Trading Card Game Industry White Paper http://bit.ly/FxO4

12. THE NEW ECONOMY: The Great Recession is Ending – NOW WHAT? http://bit.ly/TikEX

13. Protecting Your Brand Online: The New Marketing Imperative http://is.gd/2A9NE

14. Greening the Food Shopping Experience http://bit.ly/2zAL30

15. Response to Wall Street Journal Article on Monte Carlo Simulations http://tinyurl.com/l6d2kd

16. KEEPING IN SYNC WITH CONSUMERS WHO ARE RE-THINKING THEIR HEALTHCARE http://bit.ly/57iZ8

17. Regulation and Oversight of the U.S. Insurance Marketplace http://bit.ly/j1pF2

18. How to Tell Anyone Anything Coaching your Service Team to Success http://bit.ly/F5UYF

19. Cisco White Paper: Educating Tomorrow’s Green IT Workforce http://bit.ly/1KENug

20. Nonprofit Social Network Survey Report http://idek.net/R4H

21. Maximizing Profit Per MegaByte http://tinyurl.com/nxwyd6

22. The Rise and Rise of Mobile Broadband http://tinyurl.com/n62vzr

23. Oracle White Paper: Improving Profits with Supply Chain Collaboration http://ow.ly/lgRH

24. Education that Works: Ideas for Sacramento http://ow.ly/ljZw

25. IBM White Paper: ClearCase Registry server Performance Enhancements http://bit.ly/jAa0D

26. Cost control and beyond: The CFO’s agenda for corporate travel http://bit.ly/LzcWf

27. ITIL in a Recession (Service Mgmt.) http://ow.ly/lj9h

28. How to Manage Sales for Predictable Revenue http://bit.ly/fkMgj

29. Oracle White Paper: Earned Value Lite: Making Earned ValueManagement Work for Every Project http://bit.ly/2pnwPy

30. Providing Profit Generating Systems to Dealers. http://bit.ly/zRD3k

31. Achieving Control: The 4 Critical Success Factors of Change Management http://tr.im/x3Ej

32. Does your laptop hate you? http://ow.ly/l3LC

33. Playing Dirty: (How cyber criminals make money by stealing gaming credentials) http://is.gd/2x1Kx

34. HBS White Paper: Do Friends Influence Purchases in a Social Network? http://bit.ly/fhRh5

35. 10 Key Steps to Effective Succession Planning http://cli.gs/10vuXQ

36. Best Practices in Green IT http://bit.ly/2QcvSZ

37. How to Promote the Value of Online Training Within Your Organization http://ow.ly/l60D

38. An Introduction to Sales Management http://tinyurl.com/sales-mngt

39. Reducing stress in the classroom http://bit.ly/qG8mw

40. The 5 questions your clients are asking http://tinyurl.com/lzz4wm

41. The Unified Physical Infrastructure Approach http://tinyurl.com/nlxwy6

42. How Fortune 1000 companies are Harnessing the Power of Social Media http://ow.ly/knYd

43. Online Marketing Strategy: Kick-starting Your SEO Program http://bit.ly/o9Nwx

44. Realizing Opportunities in Challenging Times http://tiny.cc/5g6Km

45. Best Practices In Virtual Events http://bit.ly/3CjxEu

46. Marketing to Hispanic Americans http://bit.ly/ZnPCT

47 Strategy to Action in 6 days: http://bit.ly/Cvfgy

48. Social Studies 101: Deconstructing the Social Media Revolution. http://bit.ly/PdUbw

49. BM White Paper: IBM ISS global filter database content analysis technology http://ow.ly/lBnt

Sure, Twitter is a great way to update your friends with updates on what you’re doing. But according to a recent survey from eMarketer.com, over 80% of all Twitter tweets of this nature are thought of as “pointless babble”.

On the bright side, one statistic from this survey shows that approximately 8.7% of all Tweets have some form of “pass along value”. Considering that Twitter is the fastest growing Social Media site, and now enjoys over 7 million users (as of February 2009), that 8.7% is a big number. I believe that white papers hyperlinked within Twitter tweets constituted a fairly big chunk of that ‘pass along value’ number.

(Source: InHouse Assist LLC: “The Sum of Social Media – Is It All Just Hype?”)

But how can you maximize the exposure and effectiveness of your white paper using Twitter along with other Social Media sites? Here’s my short list comprising five methods you can apply:

1. Create a Compelling Blog Post: Prominently feature your white paper in a blog post by telling your audience what they will gain by registering and reading your white paper.

2. Post that Blog with Re-Tweeting in Mind: Add a buttons and links to your blog post that makes it easy for readers to Re-tweet your white paper on Twitter.

3. Leverage Blog Sharing Sites: Add your blog post to blog sharing sites such as BizSugar.com, Sphinn.com, and Reddit.com. If readers like your white paper they will create their own Tweets for it. When you see that your white paper has been Re-Tweeted by others, Re-Tweet those posts so your followers can notice them as well.

4. Tweet Weekly RePosts: Change the title of your post and Re-Tweet your post weekly for the next month. For example, instead of saying “White Paper: Best Practices for Supply Chain Management”, post a new Tweet the following week entitled “Four Ways to Improve your Enterprise Supply Chain” and add the same link address to your blog post or PDf download representing that white paper. Stop after one month and give it a rest. You don’t want to overwhelm your audience.

5. Post to Free Publication Sites: Don’t forget free publication sites such as: Scribd, DocStoc, Slideshare, Gazhoo, Yudu, and WhitePapers.org. They may not have the following as other fee-based syndicators, but hey, they’re FREE!

If you keep up this routine on a regular basis, you’ll begin to gain a loyal following of readers that will increase the ‘pass-along’ audience for your white paper.

Oh, and by the way, don’t forget the Friday FREE White Paper List posted each Friday on this blog. It’s the only way to review all the white papers that have been posted on Twitter each week and learn new techniques that can improve your own white paper.

The comparison between freelancers and agencies is a discussion that has been conducted since the dawn of the industrial age. In just about every facet of business marketing and operations, businesses have always made the comparison between the two entities based on a variety of factors such as cost, creativity, and effectiveness.

Recently, an article appeared in SalesVantage.com by a white paper marketer Steve Hoffman, entitled, “Who Should Write Your Next White Paper: Freelancer or Agency?”. While the article may appear to be an unbiased view of the topic, in reality it is written by an agency owner that is skewed towards the agency viewpoint. The article includes a table showing a one-to-one comparison between freelancers and agencies on several key issues such as: Price, Quality, Response Time, and Availability. Of course, the answers in the Agency column tend to skew that perspective, but who can blame him for the attempt anyway?

In reality, all agencies are alike, and a key factor is the number of people involved in the actual production process. In most agencies this can involve a minimum of three or four, and as many as several hundred within a moderate sized advertising agency or Public Relations firm. Of course there are both benefits and drawbacks with both alternatives. While fewer people mean faster responsiveness and lower cost, it also translates into fewer resources and less choice. Alternatively, the greater the number of people involved, the greater the pool of talent and resources but the higher the cost and the greater the chance for miscommunication, procedural mishaps, lost information, and longer development cycles.

As someone who has worked with advertising agencies in a previous life as an enterprise business manager, I can tell you that given the choice between an advertising agency and a creative freelancer, I would always choose the freelancer first. Why? Here are several benefits that I encountered using creative freelancers for creative services that can easily be associated with the task of white paper development:

1. The Lack of Bureaucracy – It’s a simple fact that in any situation where multiple people are involved, the greater the number of procedures, opinions, and communication issues that can give rise to potential conflicts. With a freelancer you are dealing with one person who can cut through the additional layers of management, procedures, and control. In today’s rapidly-paced business environment where time is greater than money, the direct route will always be a more effective and efficient process.

2. Faster Responsiveness – The old adage “one throat to choke” seems to fit. With an agency you often go through a receptionist or administrative assistant and possibly others in order to get to the person assigned to the task at hand. With a freelancer you pick up the phone and speak with the actual person doing with work on the first ring. When you’re in ‘eleventh hour’ hurry up mode, this is a huge benefit. If something goes wrong, there’s no finger pointing to assign the blame. The freelancer lives or dies based on the quality of his/her work.

3. Greater Cost Effectiveness – Just as in any workflow senario, the greater the number of people the higher the cost. In this soft economy when cost has become an important factor, it can mean the difference between either having a white paper on board to support your marketing programs or not having one at all.

4. Solution Familiarity – One of the reasons most companies don’t like using external resources is having to train them on solution attributes, advantages, and benefits. When you are dealing with a single feelancer, that person often becomes intimately familiar with your needs, procedures, and solution attributes. This comes in handy when you are producing multiple projects. Once you have completed one project with that individual, the familiarity with the solution makes the development of subsequent projects that much easier. That can’t always be said when multiple people are working on your project as with an agency, that can often have a higher level of turnover.

5. Flexible Creativity – When I dealt with advertising agencies, there was always this feeling that complete creative submission was required as part of the plan. You were ruffling the agency’s creative feathers when you suggested that you either didn’t like the direction the were going, or had your own creative ideas. I never felt that way with freelancers. Like Burger King, most were happy to have the work and were completely willing to “have it your way“.

Clearly advertising is completely different from white paper development. But certain principles as I have listed here remain the same. The question is what is going to yield the most effective white paper on both a creative and cost basis? In the end the customer will vote with their wallet, and based on the number of freelancers that are creating white papers these days, that vote seems quite clear.

What’s your experience with either agencies or freelancers? I’d like to hear your perspective on the issue.

FEATURED FREE WHITE PAPER OF THE WEEK:

Title: “Towards a Healthier Europe: How innovations in eHealth can improve medical care, increase efficiency, and create new jobs.”

Publication Date: August 2009

Sponsor: Microsoft Europe

Author’s Description: eHealth is defined as the application of information and communications technologies to the healthcare sector which stands out as a way to improve service and raise efficiency. As a technology company, Microsoft shares the vision of enabling the modernization of healthcare, focusing on better outcomes, not on technology adoption per se but rather on its usability.

Blogger’s Note: This white paper adds a unique combination of 3-D callouts and shaded text boxes to draw attention to key portions of information. The colors associated with the cover design is replicated in two callouts that are used to further define and compliment the subject of eHealth.

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

Website URL: http://www.ehealthnews.eu/content/view/1706/65/

_________________________________________________________

Welcome to the Friday 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 listed below is completely FREE and does not require either email registration or any other personal information. This is a great way to review several white paper examples and learn new techniques from hundreds of white paper marketers. Just click on the Shortened URL link next to the file name and download. Enjoy!

1. Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud Architecture http://bit.ly/VwhK4

2. The EoPlex Approach to Powering Wireless Tire Pressure Sensors http://bit.ly/XzTNF

3. Document Management – A “Less Paper” Approach http://bit.ly/yra2h

4. Keep Your Kitchen & Bathroom Stain Free & Still Save Money http://bit.ly/Aixdb

5. Missing the Mark in Middle Market Outsourcing http://bit.ly/UcOFM

6. UK Govt White Paper: Eliminating World Poverty: Building our Common Future http://bit.ly/3wiWzu

7. Aligning Science Standards with Classroom Practice http://bit.ly/21BnVq

8. Work in Progress: Enterprise 2.0 http://tiny.cc/vGoyZ

9. Wave Energy Potential on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf http://bit.ly/L63rA

10. Lift without Loss http://bit.ly/1llA1F

11. Social Networks and Employment Law Are you Putting your Organization at Risk? http://snurl.com/qjmp1

12. SUN White Paper: Cloud Computing: Take Your Business to a Higher Level http://bit.ly/XCNUI

13. Oracle’s Top Ten Features for Large-Scale Data Warehousing http://bit.ly/f6BQi

14. Who Writes Linux and Who Supports It” http://bit.ly/EODQ8

15. Enterprise Disaster Recovery Planning: Calculating The Cost Of Downtime http://bit.ly/crPYl

16. School Bus Routing – Using ESRI Tools to Address the Problems http://tr.im/wHOx

17. Oracle White Paper: Lifecycle Space Planning: Aligning Your Store-Space w/ Overall Corporate Growth http://bit.ly/11xukx

18. Nortel White Paper: End User Insights: The REAL Value of Unified Messaging http://bit.ly/viJBq

19. Microsoft Europe White Paper: Towards a Healthier Europe http://bit.ly/nhERr

20. CANADIAN LAW FIRMS AND THEIR USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA http://bit.ly/VvNhF

21.TCP Rate Control and Alternatives http://bit.ly/tJ8QL

22. Ca rbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) http://bit.ly/19bvcH

23. Using Scenarios for Faster Development http://bit.ly/vlWiT

24. Benefits of Outsourced Medical Billing & Revenue Cycle Mgmt. http://bit.ly/ZkTnU

25. JBL White Paper: Achieving Optimum Line Array Perf. thru High Performance Horn-Loaded Modular Design http://bit.ly/3bXkRt

26. VarioTAP® Combining Boundary Scan and JTAG Emulation for Adv. Structural Test and Diagnostics http://bit.ly/15YIlp

27. SEO: What you Need to Know Now http://bit.ly/wFBZe

28. Virtualization, Choice and Flexible IT Consolidation http://ow.ly/kshe

29. The New Garage: The coming business model for the enterprise software industry http://bit.ly/6KDvc

30. Food Aid Policy CARE USA http://bit.ly/ERX4g

31. Surge Protectors & Earthing Systems for Traffic Cameras http://bit.ly/aicwN

32. Protecting Oracle Databases http://bit.ly/fdrh9

33. Small and Medium Enterprises in Taiwan, 2008-Summary http://bit.ly/4CX1Ws

34. Segmentation for Credit Based Delinquency Models http://bit.ly/uGN4j

35. Redundancy in Serial-to-Ethernet Communications http://bit.ly/409APT

26. eEye Digital Security: Remote Windows Kernel Exploitation Step into the Ring 0 http://bit.ly/XK6Zd

27. Interagency Policy Group’s Report on U.S. Policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan http://bit.ly/qF8DL

28. Human Genome Resources as an Open Source Tool for Advancement of Science http://bit.ly/2RvsEL

29. Chasing the Long Tail of Natural Search http://bit.ly/EFirf

30. National Park Service Guidance White Paper http://bit.ly/Ochs5

31. Relocation Appraisers and Consultants (RAC) http://bit.ly/zbivz

32. State of Ohio Internet Security http://bit.ly/cNVol

33. Copyright Law for the Digital Library: Framework of Rights and Exceptions http://bit.ly/cIcVA

34. Trajectory Sampling: http://bit.ly/10hnqe

35. Delivering Value with a Universal Commodity Parts System for Aircraft Manuf. and Air Carriers http://bit.ly/Njp1v

36. Laser Scanning or Digital Imaging: Which Is Right for You? http://bit.ly/2Fe05F

37. How to Measure ROI for Online PC Backup and Recovery http://bit.ly/xorPZ

38. Using Emulex HBAnyware Management Utility with PowerShell Scripts http://bit.ly/3dF9UZ

39. ‘One size fites all? Consolidating your Travel Program http://bit.ly/2zqREm

40. Achieving Powerful Online Success through Integrated Marketing Solutions http://bit.ly/zvgdA

41. Georgia Public Information Network for Electronic Services http://tinyurl.com/mlk8jp

42. Procurement Outsourcing – Not an All or Nothing Proposition: http://tinyurl.com/lt9sws

43. A White Paper on Java and Performance: http://bit.ly/3v4Dxm

44. Why Vyatta is Better than Cisco http://bit.ly/lLyKJ

45. Georgia Water Issues http://bit.ly/CIIn3

Mention the term “government white paper” and the words “creative”, “engaging”, “effective” and “colorful” aren’t typically used in the same sentence. In fact if you’ve ever had the misfortune of reading a U.S. Government white paper for a research project, you’ve probably realized that little has changed since the medium’s inception in 1922, almost 90 years ago!

A recent email message that I received from Apryl Parcher with White Paper Insider after her review of a recently published U.S. government white paper echoes what most people feel when they read one of these boring tomes: “My eyes glazed over after the first 3 paragraphs”.

Unfortunately, like a lot of things the government has attempted in the services category, pubic communications isn’t one of their strong points. If the purpose of a white paper is to deliver critical messages in an effective fashion to a target audience, then U.S. Government white papers have a long way to go to live up to that standard.

But don’t let U.S. white papers be the only measure of what can be done with government communications. All we need to do is look to at British government white papers as a model for what can be accomplished in this country.

Take a look at the two white papers below. The first is from the British Government on the subject of consumer debt and credit entitled, “A Better Deal for Consumers: Delivering Real Help Now and Change for the Future.”

As you can see from this white paper, it is designed from the start to grab reader attention, which is especially important given its consumer oriented subject. Enclosed are some of the elements that makes this white paper more engaging with their readers:

1. A colorful cover design.

2. Different fonts for titles, headers, and content text.

3. Photographs of the white paper authors.

4. Photographs, and colored shading at the start of each section.

5. Shaded text boxes to highlight important bottom-line statements.

6. A ‘Next Steps’ section that uses tables to present a timeline of activities and a ‘call-to-action’.

Besides being more visually engaging, this white paper does a good job targeting the consumer audience. Knowing that anything looking like a boring ‘all-text’ research document will probably be sent to the desktop recycle bin, the British have used design in this white paper to grab and hold reader attention that ultimately results in a greater desire to read it.

Now let’s compare the U.K. Government white paper to a recently published U.S. Government white paper entitled, “Financial Regulatory Reform: A New Foundation.” Here is what is wrong with this white paper, and why its format makes it difficult for readers to become engaged with its key messages.

1. A mono-font (one single font) orientation, Times New Roman, which gives the white paper an ‘administrative’ look and feel.

2. A lack of text formatting other than bold, italics, and underline.

3. A lack of any graphics, design, or color (other than the front cover).

4. A lack of shaded text boxes or callouts to draw attention to bottom-line messages.

5. A lack of section dividers that provide visual pauses for the reader.

6. A repetitive flow of information that quickly generates reader boredom.

7. The absence of any Concluding Summary or ‘call-to-action’ for the ‘skim reader’.

Since government programs seems to be an increasing part of today’s news, it would seem like a natural tactic to take a tip from our counterparts across the pond and revisit the way that the white paper medium is being used to convey critical messages to the general public.

If the U.S. Government were to use color, design, and formatting in their white papers in a similar fashion, I think that a greater portion of U.S. citizens would be reading them, and as a result, be better informed with many of today’s important public issues.

Cindy King, an expert in cross-cultural and international business marketing has a very interesting blog post related to this issue entitled, “European versus American White Paper Marketing“, where she compares how cultural differences between U.S. and European marketers translate into vast differences in white paper marketing and the presentation of business information.

But for God’s sake someone please tell Timothy Geithner to change the Times New Roman font!

Well, the votes are in from last week’s Twitter poll question, “Do Executive Summaries create an incentive or disincentive to read white Paper content?”. Here is how it came out:

By a 3-to-1 margin, voters indicated that they believe Executive Summaries create a greater incentive (48%) to read additional white paper content as opposed to a disincentive (16%). This response is echoed from the various surveys, analyst polls, and customers that I have encountered on the same subject.

But there is a caveat with these results. The second most popular response was “Unsure. It depends on how the Executive Summary is written”, which came in at 28%. What this says is that a poorly written Executive Summary can just as easily create a disincentive to read white paper content as well.

And who can blame the voters for feeling this way? Today, there is as much confusion as to what constitutes a well-written Executive Summary, as there is for what should go into a white paper. For example, take this portion of an Executive Summary page that was featured in a white paper on the weekly Friday FREE White Paper List:

As you can see, this Executive Summary is only ONE Paragraph! This is not only an insufficient amount of information to thoroughly educate a reader about what will appear in the white paper, but it also can have a significant impact with reader engagement. Other poorly written Executive Summaries that I have seen bare little difference from an Introduction page that can lead to greater reader confusion and distraction.

A well-written white paper Executive Summary should contain three important elements:

1. A One-Page Synopsis of the entire white paper that includes bottom line solution advantages. This allows the reader to determine if the benefits gained by the advocated solution will be worth the investment of their valuable and limited time to read the rest of the white paper.

2. An Orderly and Logical Flow of information from broad, high-level industry/market issues, to more detailed problem/solution oriented issues related to the topic. This process makes it easier for a business executive that may not be as familiar with the subject (such as a technical white paper), to either read the entire paper themselves or forward it to another employee/manager that is part of the decision making team.

3. Bottom Line Benefits translated into some form of monetary, time, or resource gain that can be spelled out in greater detail. This doesn’t mean giving away all your goodies up front, but it does mean enticing the reader to read the details behind those gains later in the white paper. For example you can say that implementing the solution will generate a percentage cost reduction in the Executive Summary, and explain the details behind that claim later in the solution section of the paper. Similar to the role of a good movie trailer, if an enticement is made up front, the viewer has a greater chance of seeing the entire film later on.

So if you want to engage today’s busy executive reader into allocating a portion of their valuable time to read your entire white paper, add an Executive Summary and improve your odds of making that happen.

If you’d like to learn more about Executive Summaries, stay tuned for my new book which will be released this Fall entitled, “Crafting White Paper 2.0: Designing Information for Today’s Time and Attention-Challenged Business Reader.”

FEATURED FREE WHITE PAPER OF THE WEEK:

(Click to Download)

Title: “The Role of UC Services in Building Lasting Competitive Advantage”

Publication Date: August 2009

Sponsor: AT&T Communications/Frost & Sullivan

Author’s Description: This white paper will explore how the unique benefits of unified
communications can help you address your business challenges. It will showcase two successful organizations that are already enjoying substantial benefits from unified communications, and it will provide recommendations to businesses looking to streamline their communications.

Blogger’s Note: Plus – Good use of shaded text boxes, and embedded business charts to reinforce key business messages. Minus – Callouts are used to promote AT&T when they should be used for highlighting important business messages on each page. Some pages have no callouts.

Download Link URL: http://cli.gs/1n4vJ

Website URL: http://bit.ly/kNZXJ

_________________________________________________________

Welcome to the Friday 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 listed below is completely FREE and does not require either email registration or any other personal information. This is a great way to review several white paper examples and learn new techniques from hundreds of white paper marketers. Just click on the Shortened URL link next to the file name and download. Enjoy!

1. Making Social Networks Work for your Organization (Fundraising) http://ow.ly/jXPh

2. Creating a Culture of Integrity and Accountability http://bit.ly/4yUu1W

3. Aware Organizations http://tinyurl.com/rytgqq

4. Achieving Control: The Four Critical Success Factors of Change Management http://bit.ly/3ObaEG

5. Look before you leap into an equipment lease http://bit.ly/zbtzC

6. Unemployment Rate Could Take Decade to Return to 6% http://bit.ly/3GrNsL

7. Principles for allocation of scarce medical interventions http://bit.ly/a2IG9

8. THE ROLE OF UC SERVICES IN BUILDING LASTING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE http://cli.gs/1n4vJ

9. Using Multi-Criteria Decision Making to Improve Federal Fleet Acquisition Strategies http://bit.ly/12kLkz

10. Intelligent File Virtualization with Acopia http://bit.ly/B1JXo

11. Video Use and Higher Education: Options for the Future http://tinyurl.com/m7xxwx

12. Juniper White Paper: The Benefits of Router-Integrated SBC http://bit.ly/i380y

13. The State of the Talent Buying Industry http://bit.ly/BPhFu

14. E-Patients: How they help us heal health care http://bit.ly/3ok4p

15. Blue Ocean Strategy http://bit.ly/A74c7

16 Human Rights in North Korea 2009 http://bit.ly/2VwBpQ

17. Achieving The Paperless Office http://bit.ly/L3bTx

18. A Brief History of SaaS: Modernizing Enterprise Software http://lo.ly/2z

19. An Executive Briefing on Succeeding with Social Media by http://bit.ly/OD3B5

20. Understanding IBM Lotus Domino server clustering http://bit.ly/14Zgph

21. Social Media: Embracing the Opportunities, Averting the Risks http://bit.ly/SVoTS

22. Online Communities and Their Inpact on Business: Ignore at your peril http://bit.ly/ljH23

23. High Efficiency Toilets (HETs): Why “Flushing With Confidence” Is Here to Stay http://bit.ly/41722a

24. Why SAN Defragmentation is Needed Today http://bit.ly/2hKnSS

25. Juniper White Paper: ENERGY EFFICIENCY FOR NETWORK EQUIPMENT: TWO STEPS BEYOND GREENWASHING http://bit.ly/wHxdx

26. Mobile Advertising 2020 Vision (from Ogilvy and Acision) http://bit.ly/cmqKb

27. Why Postprocess GPS Data? http://bit.ly/Ltqhk

28. Managing Work Related Upper Limb Disorders http://bit.ly/eWQ20

29. The Finnish Health Care system: A Value-Based Perspective http://bit.ly/3xblOO

30. White Paper on Converged Communications http://bit.ly/2bLOt0

31. A Public Policy Discussion: Taking the Measure of the Stark Law http://bit.ly/U33a9

32. A Shorter and Sweeter Sales Cycle http://tinyurl.com/kv7fb9

33. Is Online Server Backup Appropriate for your Business? http://bit.ly/LeSpk

34. Service Alignment Through the CMDB and Service Catalog http://snurl.com/pbutn

35. The Tools of Engagement: Boosting Employee Commitment When Money is Tight http://bit.ly/Fhx5h

36. Cost-Effective Strategies for Online Workplace Training http://bit.ly/Q8s2C

37. Re-Inventing Embedded DB Tech for Embedded Sys & Devices http://tinyurl.com/n8p3wz

38. Accessibility Resources on the Internet http://bit.ly/L1Itz

39. The 5 steps of import costing http://ow.ly/jkZZ

40. IDC White Paper: Online PC Backup: Key Criteria in Selecting an Enterprise Solution http://bit.ly/RlurU

41. Personal Telepresence: The Next Generation of Video Communication http://ping.fm/9S3oj

42. Technology in Academic Program Delivery During a Pandemic http://bit.ly/MxqDG

43. 7 Steps to Delivering Project on Time and on Budget http://tinyurl.com/newjqr

Do you like or dislike Executive Summaries? Do they create a desire to read more information in a white paper, or do they provide a shortcut from reading detailed information? Please vote in this poll. Results will be shared in one week. Here’s the link:

http://poll.fm/13z6x

Thanks!

In today’s soft economy, marketers must make every white paper page count for either their clients or employer. Filling a white paper with frivolous or irrelevant information is not only a waste of limited marketing dollars, but also a waste of your reader’s valuable time.

Some white papers incorporate a History section which provides background information on how a particular business problem, challenge, or situation was realized in the marketplace. The purpose of this information is to provide a lead-in for a subsequent solution advantage section later in the white paper.

But do readers really care about the history behind a problem? While it may be an interesting read for history buffs, most ‘time-challenged’ business readers might not think so. Readers are more concerned with learning new ways to fix their particular business problems A.S.A.P. rather than understand how it came to be.

Present Tense = Case Studies

When it comes to solving existing business problems, readers are more interested with current issues rather than dealing with the past. In white paper language this implies the use of case studies.

Case Studies take real-life examples of an actual company that encountered a business problem and describe how that problem was solved through the implementation of the featured solution in the white paper. Case studies that are integrated into a white paper provides a ‘proof of concept’ that brings the solution discussion down to earth rather than leaving it at a purely ”theoretical’ level as described in a solution section.

Case studies also build reader affinity. After all, once you realize that you have a business problem, a good way to address it is to learn how another company of a similar size and scope solved their problem. While the addition of a case study may mean that your white paper may grow a little bit longer, the connection it makes with the reader provides a more effective ‘call to action’ (such as lead generation or customer contact) in the end.

So don’t live in the past. Use case studies in your white paper if you want to make a stronger connection with your reader on a ‘present-term’ basis.