Write White Papers Clients Need [Templates + Examples]

What Does A White Paper Look Like?

Your white paper must be straightforward to navigate. Sections ought to naturally lead into one another. Use formatting to make your white paper skimmable, and graphics to attract consideration to the important thing factors you’re making.

Listed below are the important thing parts white papers sometimes have:

1. Title web page
2. Desk of contents
3. Government abstract
4. Introduction
5. Sections and subsections
6. Graphics, charts, and/or sidebars
7. One-pagers
8. About your organization
9. References

Align Your White Paper To Strategic Enterprise Values

1. Know Your Viewers

“Write for pay scale, not demographics.” That is what Jimmy Daly, co-founder of Superpath, wrote in an Animalz article. Pay scales outline how tactical or strategic the data must be to enchantment to your goal reader:

Because of this your goal reader wants several types of info inside the identical subject relying on whether or not they’re a pacesetter or an implementer. Leaders want technique and frameworks to suppose inside, whereas implementers want hands-on techniques and instructions.

To study extra about your audience, we suggest studying:

1. Discover Your Goal Viewers
2. Create a Advertising and marketing Persona

2. Know Your Enterprise Experience & Strengths

White papers are a type of thought management — content material that positions your enterprise as a good supply in your trade. They provide the likelihood to focus on your strengths.

However, how have you learnt what topic areas your enterprise excels at? Carry out a SWOT evaluation.

Throughout a SWOT evaluation, you establish the strengths, weaknesses, alternatives, and threats your enterprise faces. You possibly can stick with the strengths and alternatives once you carry out one to establish your experience.

Take into consideration the matters extra about than your competitors (strengths), and brainstorm topics your competitors doesn’t cowl (alternatives).

3. Select A Subject That Intersects Viewers Wants & Enterprise Strengths

For one of the best likelihood of white paper success, select matters that your enterprise makes a speciality of that your viewers additionally cares about.

At CoSchedule, we name this method the content material core. It balances your focus between visitors and promotion.

Once you use the content material core to determine in your white paper matters, everybody wins. Your clients get content material they wish to learn, and also you unfold the phrase about your enterprise.

And that mixture results in your splendid clients getting extra data about your product, taking them by the advertising and marketing funnel.

4. Analysis Your Subject

Begin with inner analysis and collect all proprietary info that helps your subject. This consists of:

• Outcomes out of your shoppers or clients, like buyer success tales
• Unpublished buyer interviews
• Anecdotes out of your gross sales and customer support groups
• Viewers surveys (for instance, our advertising and marketing statistics report relies on a survey we ran)
• Quantitative information out of your consumer base (for instance, Mailchimp makes use of their consumer information to publish e mail advertising and marketing benchmarks)
• If in case you have the time and assets: your personal analysis research (Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media Studios has a unbelievable information to get you began)

Then, bounce into exterior analysis. This may rely in your trade, however listed here are some preliminary factors to start out:

Be aware of the whole lot that aligns together with your subject. Proper now, you’ll be able to’t know which information factors or examples you’ll use, so it pays off to maintain monitor of something attention-grabbing.

5. Outline The Drawback Your Viewers Wants To Clear up

Return to the viewers analysis you carried out in step one and consider issues your clients face that your white paper subject might clear up. By understanding the problems your clients have associated to your subject, you’ll have the ability to current your white paper as the answer.

Ask your self these questions to search out issues associated to your subject that your viewers faces:

• What data gaps does my viewers have on this subject?
• How does this subject problem my viewers of their enterprise day-to-day?
• What worries concerning the future does my viewers have associated to this subject?
• What troubles does my viewers have implementing this subject of their enterprise?

6. Outline The Answer Your White Paper Gives

Now that the problems your clients face associated to your subject, you’ll be able to create an angle in your white paper. Think about how one can share data about your subject to resolve your viewers’s downside.

Let’s take a look at how Deloitte presents an answer in its 2022 Retail Business Outlook white paper’s introduction.

It begins by presenting the issue: Retailers must preserve remodeling their companies within the face of pandemic-fueled change.

Then, it gives the answer of informing retailers about 2022 traits to allow them to preserve their companies on the fitting course sooner or later.

Plan Your White Paper Writing & Formatting

7. Write Key Factors In A White Paper Define

Depart notes for your self to quote references and sources. Writing from a content material define helps you’re employed quicker and crush author’s block.

Right here’s find out how to construct your white paper define with the analysis you probably did to date:

1. Headline: Begin with a working model that describes your subject; you’ll be able to all the time polish it up later. CoSchedule’s Headline Studio can assist!
2. An government abstract: A placeholder for a brief description of what your white paper is about. Add key factors right here so you’ll be able to construct your abstract later.
3. Introduction: What’s the hook that can draw your readers to maintain studying the white paper? What are the primary ache factors and matters you’ll cowl?
4. Part subheadings: Every part is some extent that helps your total argument or a step within the course of you’re presenting. Their subheadings ought to clearly introduce them.
5. Subheading content material: Listing the subpoints you are making in every part and any supporting info that you just got here throughout in your analysis.
6. Conclusion: Summarize your key takeaways. If it’s applicable, you may contemplate including a call-to-action right here, too.

Use our white paper template for the best solution to construct your white paper define.

8. Get Inspiration From White Paper Examples

Wish to get impressed by white paper examples that work? Try the checklist under and see how people like Apple, Amazon, and Vox Media method their white papers.

9. Stylize Your White Paper Doc

Use this planning and outlining stage to additionally map out graphics, charts, sidebars, and one-pagers.

You are able to do this with textual content bins, tables, and web page breaks within the Phrase doc. This fashion, you’ll have placeholders rather than visuals you’ll add within the design stage in a while. This may allow you to form your writing primarily based on the skeleton of your white paper’s last look.

Moreover, use this step to regulate the looks of your fonts and headers. In Microsoft Phrase, right-click the model you’re utilizing, click on Modify, and choose totally different headings or paragraphs you wish to replace.

10. Write The White Paper Title

Greatest white paper headlines are people who join your subject with an final result your reader craves.

A robust headline consists of:

• Phrase stability: a mixture of frequent, unusual, emotional, and energy phrases
• Size: optimized for visibility and click-throughs on serps and social media
• Sort of headline: forms of headlines embody ‘“why” headlines, how-to, and query headlines
• Readability and skimmability: simplified for straightforward studying and understanding at a look

Begin by itemizing headline choices. Try these headline formulation and templates and these 73 (!) methods to write down a successful headline.

From there, bounce into Headline Analyzer Studio and test your strongest headline choices towards recommendations. Use the phrase financial institution to strengthen these headlines and choose your favourite to make use of in your white paper.

11. Write The White Paper Introduction

Your introduction bridges the promise out of your headline and government abstract with the important thing factors and sections of your white paper.

Greatest introductions assist the reader:

1. Really feel like they’re in the fitting place, studying the fitting white paper primarily based on the issue they wish to clear up
2. Get a high-level overview of what you’ll cowl
3. Show you do have the solutions they’re searching for

Use your introduction to tease upcoming sections and contact on the information, assets, consultants, and authentic analysis you’ll use to make your factors.

12. Break Up White Paper Content material With Subheadings & Subsections

Every subsection ought to make a definite level, like defining a step of a course of or making a particular argument.

In the event you’ve researched and outlined your white paper in an organized method, writing your white paper subsections ought to be comparatively straightforward.

As you write, you may discover a spot in your analysis or a subsection that might be added primarily based on the narrative you’re creating. If that occurs, make an observation and are available again to it in direction of the top of your writing to fill these gaps.

13. Embody Knowledge & Visuals

Is there information or an concept that might be greatest offered visually?

Mark any segments that might profit from a visible asset. You’ve marked some potential spots in your define, so now that you’ve your draft, get particular concerning the precise visuals you want.

Suppose:

• A graph or chart of an vital information level
• A one-pager with a key statistic or quote
• Comparability tables
• Customized illustrations

14. Recap The Drawback & Answer In Your Conclusion

Whereas white papers are a kind of promoting collateral, they typically have a softer call-to-action than most others.

When your reader reaches the conclusion, they’ve simply gone by numerous data. Your conclusion ought to recap your white paper’s downside and resolution to drag all of it collectively and drive them to motion.

Going again to Deloitte’s 2022 Retail Business Outlook white paper, you’ll be able to see a abstract of the issue and resolution in its conclusion.

As you mirror on the retail insights you learn within the white paper, the conclusion reminds you that retailers nonetheless face challenges, however in addition they have alternatives. It strikes you ahead by explaining how you need to use the data you simply realized to maintain transferring towards the longer term.

15. Proofread & Edit

Along with your first draft executed, it’s time to evaluate and edit your work—or hand it over to your editor, in case you have one.

First, test the mechanics: grammar errors, spelling errors, passive voice, and related points. Instruments like Grammarly and Hemingway are helpful right here.

Then, dig deeper to test the circulation of your white paper and the energy of the factors you’re making. This consists of:

• Objective: Does the content material fulfill its promise? Does it reply all of the questions your reader may need?
• Construction: Is the construction optimized for engagement and completion?
• Information: Is the whole lot factually correct? Double-check information, statistics, hyperlinks, and sources.
• Understanding: How straightforward is your writing to know? If there may be language or jargon your viewers could not perceive, word it and contemplate options. This may be corrected with a easy search on Thesaurus.com.

Be aware of any elements it’s worthwhile to reposition, phrase in a different way, or make clear; when you undergo the complete doc, bounce into these edits. Seize some extra modifying ideas right here if you happen to want them.

Now You’re Prepared To Write A White Paper

You made it—you’re able to analysis, plan, write, design, and promote an distinctive white paper.

Comply with this course of to construct a chunk of content material that can serve your advertising and marketing and enterprise objectives for a lot of months and years to come back. Don’t skip the promotion and repurposing efforts to make your work go a great distance.