A whitepaper, (in Spanish, blank paper), is a document that is structured in the form of a guide and that serves to explain a topic, problem or solution. It is characterized by its educational content and the guided learning it provides to readers. Whitepapers are manuals with instructions and key features that relate to a specific topic.
In this sense, The objective of a whitepaper is to delve deeper into a topic and teach others how to use a specific tool or platform. Whitepapers are widely used in inbound marketing, especially in those brands with a B2B business model, that is, brands whose potential clients are other companies in the market. Whitepapers are created with the intention of helping others solve their problems, through material that can be easily downloaded from any technological device (cell phone, computer, tablet, etc.).
What are whitepapers for?
The whitepapers They serve to gain credibility and authority within a given community since they are the result of an investigative process that shows how qualified the members of a company are to produce that level of knowledge. On the other hand, they also serve to educate rather than sell, attracting the natural attention of potential buyers, who can become your leads.
The whitepapers They serve the purpose of accompanying your readers through the different stages of the buyer’s journey since they can provide all the information your readers need to recognize, consider and decide about something. In other words, whitepapers focus on the needs of your consumers and represent strategically oriented guides towards the phases (recognition, consideration and decision) of the buyer’s journey.
The whitepapers They serve to convert visitors to your content into sales opportunities. Since they identify with your blog posts, they will want to download and access your research and documents. How do they do it? By clicking on a CTA (strategically positioned on your website or social network) and filling out a form with some of your personal information.
In this way, they can access the downloadable material either on the thank you page or in their email inbox. At the same time, whitepapers serve to build a solid database for your company, where each of your potential clients gives you permission to send them relevant information related to the whitepaper.
Differences between ebook and whitepaper
It is very common for people to confuse these two terms, thus avoiding getting the most out of them. First of all,An ebook is a book in digital format that is offered to Internet users for free or for a fee, usually through a download on the Internet. Although it shares with whitepapers, acting as a content offer and providing useful and valuable information for readers (in downloadable formats), they differ mainly in the way in which they are structured.
While whitepapers represent academic guides and user manuals, ebooks can present stories, events and less formal texts. They are organized by indexes and chapters, while whitepapers have a more instructional approach. Whitepapers are characterized by their formal and centralized writing on the same topic. Ebooks, on the other hand, tend to be more user-friendly and easy to read.
If you want to create content that is exclusive to an academic audience (not like ebooks that tend to be more open about their audience) choose to make a whitepaper. However, ebooks, given their similarity to books, tend to be longer than whitepapers. Ebooks have a length that can reach up to 200 pages, while whitepapers do not exceed 20. The former, by exhibiting a more accentuated editorial work, rely strategically on graphic resources, on the other hand, whitepapers are They are characterized by their minimalism in terms of presentation and design. They are usually made up of large paragraphs of text.
How to get the most out of a whitepaper?
In the inbound marketing methodology and content marketing, whitepapers have been positioned as excellent content offers. They are mostly used in the conversion stage, where the goal is to convert a visitor into a sales opportunity. In this sense, to take advantage of a whitepaper, it is necessary:
Create an attractive CTA
Calls to action are links to external links that inbound marketing specialists suggest placing within the content. The objective is to make a call to action (as indicated in its Spanish translation) in which they invite readers to carry out a specific task. For example, “Download our basic SEO guide here” is an ideal CTA, first because it includes a verb at the beginning that specifically explains what action visitors are going to perform and second because it has a keyword that is specific enough to tell the reader what you will get in exchange for your click.
In this sense, your mission should be to develop a CTA that not only has these two characteristics but also is positioned naturally within the content, has an appropriate size and contrasts with the rest of the information. An attractive call to action will make you take advantage of your whitepaper because it starts the conversion process that you need so much to obtain sales opportunities.
Develop a form with key questions
After the person has entered the external link to access the whitepaper, a form must automatically appear as a prerequisite for downloading. In this way, the whitepaper is nothing more than an excuse for you to collect important data from your potential clients, build more accurately profiles of your buyer personas and generate a lasting future relationship with them.
In this form, try to ask: name, surname, company or organization where your visitor comes from, email, position and telephone number (optional). Providing this data will allow your visitors to finally receive the whitepaper (the SEO guide), either through an email or a thank you page that contains the download link.
Spread the benefits of your whitepaper on social networks
Although conversion processes are generated most of the time from a blog post, social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are also favorite channels to disseminate and promote your academic content. In this case, the links that connect your followers to your form (landing page) will be disseminated through publications on social networks that are visually attractive.
Within inbound marketing, where the main objective is to empower and voluntarily attract buyers, giving away content offers is an excellent strategy to give valuable information to your potential clients. Remember that regardless of the content format you use (whether ebook or whitepaper) and at what stage of the buyer’s journey you apply it, it is about providing enriching experiences to people and establishing a close relationship with them. Knowledge compels those who know how to take advantage of it.
