White Paper Pundit

During a recession it’s natural for any business to review their existing costs and new find ways to reuse existing resources in an effort to lower those costs. But companies need to weigh cost savings with marketing effectiveness. Repurposing may be a good strategy for recycling waste products, but it isn’t very effective with a white paper marketing program. When it comes to recycling marketing materials, the use of white paper templates is one alternative that many companies often consider.

Templates are application files that can be purchases on the open market when a business doesn’t have the internal resources to create them from scratch. Today you’ll find template files for web pages, brochures, annual reports, case studies, business plans, proposals, and yes…white papers.

Of course the use of a colorful white paper template is better for your business than creating one based on a plain, black and white default word processing page. But the regular use of standard templates for your white paper has other negative repercussions that white paper marketers should consider:

1. A Lack of Individuality – The white paper template that you purchase has probably been used by hundreds if not thousands of other businesses. Customers that see two different companies using the same template results in a lower perception of both. As a result, many of these customers perceive that if the template has been borrowed, could the white paper content also be borrowed as well? What would the impact of such a perception be on your organization and brand?

2. Greater Market Confusion – Some templates are designed for specific industries. For example, Microsoft supplies brochure templates as part of their Microsoft Office template library. Real estate is one example. If you’re in a different industry, and you use a real estate template, what will your customer think? The negative impression on your business would quickly erode any cost savings if a customer see your template used for a real estate brochure or document.

3. Topic Repetition – If a company uses the same template over and over again for several internal white paper topics, creates greater customer confusion. Since we often look at a cover design and associate a topic with that design, seeing the same template used for several different topics, tends to confuse the frequent reader. Since most of us have a ‘short attention’ span, we judge documents (especially white papers) based on their cover. If we see one cover design used with an entirely different topic, we tend to think that we’ve already read that white paper. If you use the same template over and over again, your customer may be passing on newly published papers, and as a result, you may be missing out on new marketing leads.

Here are several alternative suggestions that will help you avoid the ‘template mentality’:

1. Treat Design on Par with Content – The investment in a high quality, unique design will pay for itself many times over with new business leads. Customer will notice your design allowing you to distinguish your white papers from those of your competition. Think about it. When you are handed an plain, text white paper and one that includes a professional design, which one did you choose to read first?

2. Tailor Your White Paper Design to Fit Your Industry – Some industries are more conservative than others. The legal, financial, and medical industries are great examples. To appeal to this segment, choose a design that compliments that target industry. For example you can design a white paper for the medical industry that emphasizes a greater portion of white space, but includes a professional border design, colors, and imagery that appeals to that industry. The same holds true for legal, financial, pharmaceutical, or other professional industries. Enclosed below are three different white paper designs: Food Services, Real Estate, and Enterprise Software. Each one has unique industry focus, yet all maintain a professional white paper ‘look and feel’ that engages the reader from the start.

3. Leverage Clip Art to Engage Your Reader – White paper graphics are more than simple business charts. Photographic clip art enhances reader affinity and makes a stronger connection between the marketer and the reader. If your white paper targets enterprise business readers choose images that feature corporate executives. Use the same strategy for a small business white paper or a vertical industry paper. For example, the white paper page below discusses the topic of transportation emergency preparedness and uses clip art to further engage the reader with the solution-oriented content:

4. Iconize your White Paper Library - Rather than listing your white papers in a simple text format, create small hyperlinked icons of your white paper cover so that your reader can visually distinguish one from another. By executing simple changes such as changing the color, image, or border design, you will eliminate the potential for topic confusion. To see an example of this strategy, please visit my case studies samples page.

By incorporating custom designs with your white paper rather than using industry standard templates, you will clearly differentiate your white papers from your competition, further engage your reader, and create the best environment for subsequent ‘call to action’ that results in stronger lead generation.

After all, when was the last time you felt truly ‘engaged’ after reading a white paper that used a garden-variety template?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 2:26 pm and is filed under Design & Format, WP Marketing, WP Opinions, White Paper Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.