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Skip the Writing, Just Lie About White Papers

By Michael Stelzner

Why write a white paper when you can just lie and claim to have one?

No one reads them anyway, and you benefit from the claim!

Right? NO!!!

This is the summary of a recent article by Hesh Reinfeld on MarketingProfs, called “Stretching the Truth Online Has Never Been Easier.”

In Reinfeld’s words:

On your Web site, add a page of white papers. This proves that you take an intellectual approach to your business. Now you actually don’t have to write these white papers. What I do is write one paragraph and then inform the reader he/she must sign up and get a 12-digit password to read the entire document. I know I never sign up for other people’s Web sites, so I assume most people won’t take the time to sign up for mine.

Is this guy serious? What say you?

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 28th, 2006 at 1:45 pm and is filed under Writing White Papers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

  • He is right about one thing -- companies make you jump through hopes to get papers and other offers. Then someone calls you and tries to sell you the product.

    I download white papers when researching articles and will put "copywriter" in the "title" field in order to help the salesperson "pre-qualify" me (by hopefully ignoring me). But I still get the calls.

    I know white papers are lead gen devices but sometimes I wish you didn't have to fill out tons of fields to get them. Or I wish the landing page had a field like, "What prompted you to download this paper?" so that I can write, "I'm writing an article and you have great info. No need for a salesperson to call!"
  • An interesting word in his article is the use of "you", as in the line:

    "Obviously you are not going to take the time to write these white papers."

    It's clear that Hesh comes from the old school that still believes that all white papers are written either by the business owner, CEO or some other internal expert. Does he also believe "you" should design your own website?
  • You know, if you read Hesh's article, it certainly comes off as if this is a way to get somewhere. It wasn't until I checked out his personal website that I determined he was a satirist. Don't you think there's some danger in expressing these types of views in such a prestigious site such as MarketingProfs?

    Sandy and Russell - thanks for your comments!
  • Russell Willerton
    Sandy's right--Hesh's comments are tongue-in-cheek. However, he makes a good point about how there is some amount of prestige associated with having white papers or having a blog (and being busy writing a book). In addition to being useful, white papers are definitely 'hip' right now, and lots of people want on the bandwagon.
    Hesh's satirical example does show that poor or even fake white papers provide only a veneer of professionalism. Smart customers will quickly figure out whose white papers have substance and whose are only there 'for show.'
  • No, the guy isn't serious--it's just satire so close to the edge of truth it seems real. There are probably people that do what he suggests with their e-mails and white papers, but "faking it" takes a lot of effort, too. I might as well spend that effort on the real thing.
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