Pigeonholing White Paper Terminology
Sometimes I think bloggers can get so anal with their perspectives on white papers that they miss the ‘forest for the trees’, and discount certain words that have been proven to work in the marketplace.
The latest salvo comes from a blog called the Technology Evaluation Center (TEC), a white paper library website. Their post entitled “White Papers – Not so Black and White“, lists the top 10 most ambitious white paper buzzwords of all time. I’ll get to this point later.
For a website that specializes in promoting white papers, the blog post takes a somewhat condesending view of the medium:
“However informative it may be, ultimately a white paper is a cleverly written sales pitch—a pitch containing certain buzzwords that gloss over the practical realities of their solution.”
Here we see yet another naive perspective that correlates selling to a “dirty word”. What TEC hasn’t realized (which strikes me as odd for a white paper library website), is that white papers ARE considered one form of selling and that this process is actually welcomed, not shunned, by business readers that depend on them.
If a reader is truly interested in solving a particular business problem, the process of presenting factual information that shows why the solution is best at solving that problem is what a white paper does best. This is the essence of selling. What business executives have determined is that this passive approach is just as viable as more conventional selling techniques such as personal visits, webinars, telemarketing, tradeshows, or advertising.
Oh yes, and what is their view of the #1 most ambitious white paper buzzword? Why “solution” of course! Funny that they should pick this word since they used the word in their quote above. Sometimes I think the word “solution” has become the Rodney Dangerfield of marketing. It gets no respect.
I’ve already discussed my perspective of this flawed view of the word “solution“. You can re-read my perspectives by following this link.
So rather than being picayune and finding faults with particular words, let’s work on how businesses can use the medium to promote their products and bolster it as a key part of the overall selling and marketing process.
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December 6th, 2007 at 9:40 am
The point that I’m trying to make here is that the word “solution” is used so frequently by vendors and marketers alike, that it’s lost its true meaning—or value for that matter. In essence, I am simply addressing the abuse or misuse of terminology here.
Sure, white papers are used for a sales purpose, but if the terminology isn’t used properly or the vendor is heavier on the sell rather than providing useful information, then they lose their impact of what makes them valuable to the customer in the first place. In my opinion, a solution is a “this can fix it” type of word. Unless a software vendor can ascertain—without a doubt—that their software, system, or product can “solve” all of a business’ system issues, then I feel the use of the word “solution” is misrepresented.
Let’s call it what it really is… a “tool”; not a “solution”!
December 6th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Hi Sherry,
Thanks for your comments, but I have to disagree with your replacement word.
In technology circles, the word “tool” has a very specific meaning relating to software development. Since the majority of white papers produced today fall into the technology camp, the use of the word tool in a business white paper could be misconstrued when read by technical professionals.
I don’t agree with you that the word “solution” has been abused or overused. It is a given. When a business problem is presented in a white paper, the logical conclusion that the reader will assume is that there is a “solution” to that problem.
To attempt go out of our way to find a replacement word all for the sake of being unique will only confuse the reader. Sometimes the shortest path between two points is a straight line.
Jonathan