Listen up businesses!  The white paper is here to stay and it’s only getting more important.  Or so says a brand new study by Eccolo Media.

I covered the main take-home message of their last report earlier this year.  But this new study has some amazing findings covering everything from the influence of white papers compared to other marketing tools, how they are shared, their ideal length and when they are used in the purchase cycle.

I outline the key findings below.

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InformationWeek recently released a report titled, “Tech Marketing: Best Practices Research Series: White Papers: How to Maximize the Use of White Papers in Your B2B Marketing and Sales Process.” Yes, that is a mouthful, but so is the report. It full of great facts about the marketing power of white papers.

Here is my summary:

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There has been a literal smorgasbord of recent studies on the power of white papers in the last few months.

This one is fresh from MarketingSherpa’s 2009 Business Technology Marketing Benchmark Guide.

There is SO much gold in this report that i’ll be making multiple posts related to it.

But first, a little gem: Do readers respond better to specifically targeted white papers?

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White papers are essential marketing tools for businesses during a down economy.  Why?  Because lead generation programs become essential during times like this.  In addition, prospects are more resistant to sales hype.

A recent study examined the importance of different types of collateral among buyers.

“White papers remain the most effective piece of marketing collateral, with 86% of respondents finding them moderately to highly influential in the purchasing decision,” found a new Eccolo Media study reviewed in B2B Magazine.  When asked to rank order the importance of white papers, case studies, podcasts, videos and brochures, survey participants overwhelmingly ranked white papers as the most important collateral they use when making buying decisions.

In the same edition of B2B Magazine, white papers were mentioned as critical marketing pieces in two additional articles.  Here are the highlights:

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When thinking of purchasing a product or service, what do people search for when they use search engines or visit the company website?  A new study reveals the kinds of things people are looking for and the important role of white papers.

A joint study by Google and TechTarget, called the The Google/TechTarget Research Project, examined the search patterns of information technology professionals during the purchasing process.  While this is specific to technology professionals, much insight can be applied to other professions.

Here’s what you need to know:

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When opportunities start drying up, businesses focus their marketing efforts on creating valuable content.  This was recently affirmed in a new study by Junta42. And, it turns out white papers are still an important marketing tool.

The study conducted last month found the following, “Even in tough economic times, money is still flowing into content marketing initiatives… More than half (56%) of marketing- and publishing-decision makers plan to increase their content marketing spending for 2009 (31% increase significantly, 25% increase slightly). Only 13% plan on decreasing their content marketing spending (9% decrease slightly, 4% decrease significantly)” (more…)

A recent study by IDG Research revealed some interesting findings regarding how businesses use white papers in the decision making process.

The report identified five stages of the decision making process, which are general education, business case development, implementation scenarios/evaluations, shortlist creation and final decisions.

The role white papers play are outlined here:

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Are you wondering whether white papers still have pull as a marketing tool?  Well look no further.

TechTarget has released it’s Media Consumption Benchmark Report, a very comprehensive analysis of white papers as a marketing tool.

Rather than make you comb through 47 pages of details, I have highlighted the key findings here: (more…)

Just arrived back from the MarketingProf’s convention with a fresh new study in hand from MarketingProfs Research Insights.

What’s interesting about this study is the examination of white papers in relation to B2B sales leads.

What follows is a detailed review of the findings:

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According to a new study by B2B Magazine and Junta42 Match, about a third of marketer’s budgets are spent on custom content creation.

Among that portion of the budget, half is spent on white papers.

Joe Pulizzi of Junta42 said, “Business marketers continue to invest more in their own content marketing, but knowledge of the industry or the practice doesn’t seem to have budged. Clearly there is a need to educate marketers looking to deliver relevant and compelling content to their customer and prospect base.”