Situation: Most “units have a website (sometimes two or three) of their own. New to the company and search engine savvy, it’s been hard if not impossible to find information on my company or it’s other subsidiaries. I tried to search for each of the sites but little luck and realized if I am having trouble I am sure many others feel the same. Corporate’s website does not connect the units sites anywhere. I’ve requested the info from corporate IT & ecommerce directors and get nothing. I honestly think they aren’t sure themselves.

Each unit has initiated the sites at different times and many management changes ago. Many sites are outdated because people get too busy with daily operations and there is no push from corporate. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The process is a cumbersome to make even the simple text changes.

I want to write a white paper with the purpose of addressing the marketing potential of combining & aligning the websites. Corporate has hired new directors for marketing and are clearly trying to make an effort to sharpen their image to customers and our shareholders. I see a real strength and benefit in updating the current sites to project a strong and dynamic corporate company but I don’t feel the marketing department views a “web presence” the same. In fact the company has little focus on their own web presence and is not an IT company. It’s hard to justify the need for improvement in this area because of the costs & “headaches” that come along with creating a person in the corporate office to focus on this need. Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions on approach or know others with the same problem? Thanks again for having such a great resource! –V.

Thanks for the complement. Most certainly the white paper should be unique from the content you already have.

A key question to ask is why are you writing the white paper? To generate leads, help close a sales, etc.

A white paper should be very focused on your target audience and should be valuable to them. You might benefit from checking out this link—this would be a wise investment on your part.

Mike

As a user of white papers myself, I get frustrated when the paper I am reading is a collection of material I’ve already read from other sales literature or tech sheets. Which leads me to…

I’m writing a white paper about one of our products. We have several other pieces of literature about the product, but nothing I would call a white paper. Do I include everything, even if it is likely the reader is has seen or will see the same information in another piece? If not, what is a good approach to take to decide what to leave out and how to direct the reader to this information in case he or she does not have it?

We’re implenting a more purposeful approach to producing marketing material, so this problem will be minimized in the future. However, it’s what I’m working with today.

You know, writing a blog comment for a community of writers is a bit intimidating!

Michael

This study provides some different insight than the MarketingSherpa one. First, it reveals the number of white papers downloaded. It also provides some insight into what to avoid with product-focused content. In many ways, it complements a KnowledgeStorm study that came out earlier this year.

Mike

From a sales perspective, it seems to me that its usually the influencers or decision makers that are reading white papers — director-level people at the most. They’re not something a CIO normally reads in full, so I like to spend time creating an abstract that’s targeted at that higher-level reader.

(CIOs of very small companies would be the exception, of course, since they’re usually doing triple duty.)

The CIO of companies in which IT is not the core business really have it tough. They’re always caught in the squeeze between cutting costs and keeping order and delivery processes running smoothly. So when I’m doing an IT white paper, I like to tune the abstract for the ears of the beleagured CIO.

I want the guy to give the paper to one of his folks and say, “Hey, this sounds like a solution for us. Go check it out.”

Michael