Six ‘Attention-Getting’ White Paper Elements
Attention is something that is in short supply these days, and getting shorter given the current workload of most corporate executives.
That’s why the text-only, left-flush paragraph-oriented white paper just won’t cut it. Today’s busy executive just doesn’t have time to sit down and read ‘text-only’ white papers from the Introduction to the Concluding Summary. To get a piece of their valuable attention you must add one or more of six key ‘attention-getting’ elements to your white paper to ensure that your reader notices those important value-added solution messages.
Here are the six attention-getting elements in the order of importance:
- Executive Summaries
- Concluding Summaries
- Callouts/Pull Quotes
- Graphics (such as business, concept, and workflow)
- Bullets
- Shaded Text Boxes
Why is Executive Summaries the most important element you can add?
A well-executed Executive summary should encapsulate the ENTIRE white paper in one single page. It should also be written LAST not FIRST. That way you can pick out the most important points made in the paper and add them to the final Executive Summary.
The Executive Summary also honors the valuable and short amount of time that today’s frenzied executives can devote to reading solution-oriented material. It says to the reader, “I understand your situation. Here’s something that will give you an idea of what’s inside this white paper and allow you to decide whether it is worth the investment of your valuable reading time“.
I’ll be discussing this subject and each of the other five elements in my upcoming seminar on February 18th, entitled, “Ensuring Your Papers Appeal to Business Executives” as part of the 2009 White Paper Success Summit. This presentation will provide you with everything you need to know to format your white paper in a way that will appeal to the way that business executives read critical information.
I will also be answering your questions on the subject at the White Paper Source online forum. See you there!
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