White Paper Pundit

Your white paper introduction is one of the most important sections of your white paper. Whether you use an Executive Summary to precede your introduction or use your introduction as the first page, it represents the start of your serious content presentation with your target reader.

The degree that your introduction engages your reader serves as the “make or break” point for the rest of your white paper. If you fail to engage your reader from the start, there is a lower likelihood that its subsequent content will also be read and understood. On the other hand, if you incorporate several visually engaging elements in your introduction, you increase the likelihood that your target reader will become further engaged and read the remainder of that white paper. This is your ultimate goal, since you want your reader to ultimately assimilate your key solution/value messages.

Here are some ideas to create a more compelling and engaging Introduction section in your white paper:

1. Create a Compelling Heading - Rather than having the simple and overly used heading “Introduction“, use a more compelling title such as “A Decade of Growth: The Evolving Outsourced Services Industry“. With a heading that is directly related to the content, your reader will be able to anticipate key Introduction messages and become engaged by them.

2. Add a Sidebar Callout – A callout (also known as a ‘pull quote’) is a portion of the white paper content (such as a sentence) that is especially pertinent to the topic and also important to the reader. Because callouts are featured in a separate area outside of the page content and typically use a larger font, it is one of the first things noticed on the page. The sentence you choose for your callout should be directly related to the Introduction and one that will build credibility with the reader. A quote from a leading industry analyst or a statistic that points out an important industry trend is a great selection for a sidebar callout. An example of a good callout might be:

“The market for 128kb WEP data encryption is expected to grow by 34% over the next four years within the enterprise business services marketplace“

3. Tie the Heading to the Callout – The callout you select should reinforce the introduction heading. Since the example in #1 discusses a “decade of growth” choosing a callout that validates how the industry had grown over the past ten years would create a more engaging introduction section that further engages your reader.

4. Add a Business Chart – If your answer to #2 is an industry trend, you will have a better chance of engaging your reader by adding a business chart to validate your text message. Skim readers (ones that quickly flip through your white paper) will typically stop and notice a business chart as opposed to a paragraph of text information that looks the same as every other paragraph. If your reader is engaged by a colorful business chart, they are more likely to read the information associated with that chart.

5. Highlight the Bottom-Line (optional) – You can substitute the callout in #2 with a shaded text box to highlight a bottom line message, such as the most important point that validates your claim in the introduction section. For example, if your white paper dealt with the issue of network security, a bottom line message in your introduction might be:

“Businesses that use 128kb WEP data encryption with their wireless Wi-Fi networks have a 86% lower likelihood of being penetrated by an unauthorized user or hacker.”

By encasing this message in a shaded text box also increases the chances that your target reader will notice this message, and become more engaged by the content on the introduction page.

So if you want your white paper to be more successful and generate a number of high quality leads, add as many of these visual elements to your white paper introduction as possible to further engage your business reader.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 1:39 pm and is filed under Design & Format, WP Components, 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.