From Whose ‘Point of View’ Are You Writing?
February 14th, 2008, by Michael StelznerBlog writing is pretty casual, right? I can address you directly.
What about white papers?
I recently taught a class for MarketingProfs. Following the class, I received the following email from Jim:
I have quick question I’d love your thoughts on. It regards “point of view” when writing white papers.
Should they be written specifically to the reader that you are targeting — “By outsourcing XXX services, you benefit from….” Or, should they be written to be more general, “By outsourcing XXX services, mid-sized food manufacturers benefit from…”?
Excellent question Jim! Here’s my answer.
It depends on the author.
If there is an actual author name pegged to the paper, you can address the reader in the second person.
For example, I did this here. My opening lines:
So you’ve decided you need a white paper. What exactly should the objectives be? Will the paper be well-received? How long should it be? Who will write it? These and many other questions are common concerns that should be addressed from the start. The good news is you are not alone!
However, most white papers are sponsored by a company with no author. In these circumstances, it makes sense to speak in the third-person.
Thus, to rewrite my above example, it would read like this:
Once a writer decides to craft a white paper, critical questions must be considered. What exactly should the objectives be? Will the paper be well-received? How long should it be? Who will write it? These and many other questions are common concerns that should be addressed from the start. The good news is thousands of other writers wrestle with these very issues!
I think when an author name is absent from the paper, reader’s will be turned off by a company speaking to them directly.
What are your thoughts? Please share…
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February 15th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Nice rule of thumb there. Should simplify things a bit for me.
(And not to be a grammar cop, but it seems the headline is missing a “You”.)
February 15th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Don’t agree. Since the idea of white papers is to speak directly to a specific reader (i.e., job title), it feels perfectly natural to use “you” and “your” — with no loss of “professionalism.” Whether the white paper author is identified seems irrelevant to me. If the white paper readership is likely to be an eclectic audience, “you” probably isn’t a good idea.
February 15th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Hey Rick;
While it is true to speak to an ideal reader, no one likes to be engaged by anonymous figure or a corporation as ‘you’ in something as formal as a white paper.
It is rarely done in my profession. I’d love to see a good example of a paper without an author name and written in the second person.
The exception might be an example section of a white paper: “You go to the store and the clerk doesn’t give you the right change…”
But not, “When producing widgets, you must use care to ensure you don’t burn your fingers.” If there is no author and thus no authority, the white paper will not be as effective. Realize there is no “major publication” standing behind a white paper (like an article). The reader will likely think, “Who is this telling me to be careful??”
Alternatively if you said, “Widget designers often wear coated gloves to prevent skin damage…” No one would question that.
Mike
February 15th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
That’s a completely reasoned position but nope, still don’t see it that way. I find it difficult to believe that busy readers pay that much attention to who is talking to them. My guess is they figure it’s the white paper sponsor if they give it any thought.
So that leaves the question as a matter of experience and opinion, unless someone actually has done an A/B split of a “you” white paper versus one that’s third person. That would be an interesting but difficult-to-do test.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Hey Rick - Thanks for sticking by your position. We can respectfully agree to differ on this.
- Mike
February 15th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I’m good with that. And I never claim omniscience on Fridays.
February 15th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Hey Michael,
I think that addressing the reader as a “second person” may be more appealing to the reader or builds a sort of feeling to the reader that he is directly interacting with the author. I have just completed my first white paper, which may be published by my company with my name, if it is found to be good. But, I haven’t addressed the readers in the “second person style”. I am in a sort of dilemma after readhing your thoughts, whether I should change the style. I have identified my target audience in the first line of the white paper. So, I think that it makes more sense to address them in the “you” or “your company” style. Thanks a lot Michael for this thought.
Regards,
Mohan
February 15th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Hey Mohan;
It is generally not necessary to address the reader in second person even if you have an author name on the paper.
I would not change anything–it will only create more work for you.
Another advantage to third person is this: there may be multiple different readers (possibly a secondary audience) that read the piece. If you say “you” and they cannot relate, you lost them. If you mention the job title, you will not lose them as they will put themselves in the perspective of that job title and keep reading if they find the content of interest.
Mike
February 18th, 2008 at 9:44 am
I also think you have to take the tone of the white paper into account. I generally feel that articles and papers using “you” have a slightly more informal tone to them than papers that retain the third person. Since “you” is so often in sales copy, it’s conceivable that a white paper using the second person might have more of a “sales” feel to it than if the exact same paper were couched in the third person. It would make an interesting experiment, no?
February 18th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
This is actually a great way of putting it all down to where we can understand it. I like to write to an audience that pertains to my writing and not just to one person but I can see why someone would want to do this if the paper pertains to only one person.
February 18th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Hey Michael,
Thanks for your advise. I have decided to keep the white paper using the “third person” addressing format only, as you suggested.
Best Regards,
Mohan
February 27th, 2008 at 9:46 am
In any writing there are following parameters:
1) The originator
2) The addressee
3) The time of writing
4) The location
5) The connection from originator to addressee.
I guess, the answer lies in the output of these all inputs.
March 29th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I read the two examples — second person and third person — and the second person example is SO much more readable.
Most readability and usability professionals will strongly endorse second person writing. Why? It’s less wordy and more to the point. After all, the readers viewing the white paper, online or in print, want to feel the author of the white paper is speaking directly to them. And it doesn’t matter whether the author is named or not.
I personally cannot think of any example where third person verbiage is easier to read or more effective than second person verbiage.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:36 am
All of you guys are right. There is no wrong answers here because all of these response are based from own experiences right. For me, Point of view of every person is important in creating an essay. It is important that readers can easily relate with or make them feel that they belong to your essay. Create an essay in such a way readers feel the interaction between you as the author and readers as your audience.