Are you a freelance writer? Have you examined the lucrative white paper market?

A new study out from WhitePaperSource reveals freelance writers have significantly increased their rates for white paper writing services since 2005.

The study, called the White Paper Writer Industry Report: Second Edition, found that many writers have increased their fees for white paper services by a thousand dollars or more!

The high demand for white paper writers is most likely driven by the use of white papers as powerful tools for lead generation.

View a sample from the study.

Freelancers, what has been your experience with the demand for white paper writing assignments?

A new study by RainToday revealed that 74 percent of professional services companies ranked white papers as an excellent source of lead generation.

In addition, white papers are one of the top two marketing strategies businesses plan on implementing in the next two years.

I interviewed Andrea Rosal, one of the report authors.

Why do you think white papers are so high on the list of lead generation tactics planned in the next 2 years?

More people indicating they’ll be trying white papers may be a result of seeing peer / competitor companies launch their own. It is high on the list for the future because the marketing of services is growing up and smart firms are realizing that to succeed you have to publish content. It is as simple as that.

Why do you think companies with better known brand identities are adopting white papers more than others?

With the caveat that correlation does not equal “causation,” it may be because white papers have been one of the main ways they have become well-known. And once they became well-known they continued to publish white-papers.

Go the sites of the largest and best-known consulting firms and you will find mountains of content and white papers.

Writing them works – and it’s clearly a hallmark of being a major player in your market, in many cases.

Of course, as with anything, you have to have something to say and say it well. Volume without substance is just going to drive people away. But if you do put together quality content that offers true value to your prospective client base – and market it well so the right people know about it and can access it — you, too, can become well-known.

To find out more about the study click here.

MarketingSherpa recently posted a case study from Arbor Networks.

It examined the power of podcasts and many other forms of lead generation, along with white papers.

They did tie ins with white papers and podcasts, along with traditional syndication of educational white papers.

Here are some the results:

The team tracked the percent of sales leads they received across all advertising media through the year. (Please bear in mind that all media buys were not equally large, nor is brand awareness measured, so these numbers are not apples to apples, but rather general indicators.)

49% White paper offers
25% Banner ads
21% Email newsletter sponsorships
2% Text links
2% Glued-in inserts in print magazines
1% Print ads

Summary: The white paper is still the strongest lead generation tool.

Do you market to other businesses?

Lead generation is the number one marketing goal for businesses in 2007 according to a recent BtoB survey.

Generating leads to acquire customers and drive sales will be top of mind for b-to-b marketers next year.

According to BtoB’s “2007 Marketing Priorities and Plans” survey, acquiring new customers is the No. 1 marketing goal for 2007, cited by 62.3% of respondents.

To do this, as well as to drive sales, b-to-b marketers will use a host of lead generation tools in 2007, including new techniques as well as tried-and-true methods.

A study by MarketingSherpa found that free trials, webinars, white papers, blogs and podcasts topped the list of the most effective lead generation tools used by business technology marketers.

These results should come as no big surprise. The need for leads has always been a top priority for marketing.

The important point here is that white papers are ultra-efficient lead generation tools.

See some of the statistics that support the lead-gen power of white papers.

Will 2007 be the year of the white paper? What say you?

Looking to get some exposure with your white paper? Well read on . . .

MarketingSherpa recently interviewed me and many other marketing experts to put a great resource together.

It is called, How to Syndicate Your White Paper Successfully — 12 Steps, 8 Mistakes & Creative Samples.

Authored by my pal Dianna Huff, the article includes:

• 12 steps to preparing a great white paper
• Eight additional tips regarding PDF files and download pages
• Eight mistakes you don’t want to make
• Links to white paper syndication outlets

Here is an excerpt:

White papers are hot. Our research shows that 69% of prospects who download and like your white paper will actively pass it along to their colleagues. 36% of total downloads will be passed on to a supervisor.

The more people who read your white paper, the better your chance of closing a deal. One 2004 study showed that 57% of IT purchase decision makers said a white paper influenced at least one buying decision in the past 12 months.

But, with more than 48,000 white papers being promoted online by business-to-business marketers, you had better make sure your white paper isn’t a dud. To help you get the most bang for your buck, we bring you the soup-to-nuts dos and don’ts that can make or break a white paper campaign.

Be sure to check it out. You can freely access it until Dec. 10th.

Are blogs more credible than white papers? A new study from KnowledgeStorm and Universal McCann suggests a possibility.

Of 4500 respondents, a significant 21 percent claimed blogs were actually more credible than white papers.

These findings suggest that two-thirds of respondents felt blogs were either equally or more credible than white papers. Compared to the other options, blogs scored best against white papers.

Matt Lohman, director of market research for KnowledgeStorm commented to us about the findings above:

We believe that the 21% of respondents who rated blogs ‘more credible’ than white papers are probably considering bloggers to be an independent, third-party source — much like they’d view a news publication. While many vendors do a great job of producing white papers that are informative, factual and effective research tools, it is still hard for vendors to overcome an inherent bias the readers place on their content.

View the study.

In a TechTarget survey of 400 IT decision makers from medium and large organizations, white papers were among the most effective information sources.

A large 82 percent indicated they used white papers, yet an even larger 86 percent rated them as effective. Only search engines and software downloads were used more frequently (84 percent each).

Some of the key white paper related findings were:

• The majority of respondents download between 10 and 24 white papers per year.
• Downloads occur early in the purchase cycle, to research new technologies/vendors.
• After reviewing a white paper, a reader will typically continue searching for additional content on other vendors, or visit a vendor’s website.
• The most common criticism of a white paper is when content is too product focused.

View study summary (PPT download).

Want to influence key decision makers at large companies? Thinking about sinking some dollars into webcasts? The verdict is in and the white paper is the trick—by a long shot. This is even more important if you are targeting larger companies.

A new study by ITtoolbox revealed that large companies are significantly more reliant on and influenced by white papers. In the 2006 IT Purchasing Survey, more than 2300 IT-related decision makers, such as analysts, developers and project managers weighed in.

White Papers Strong as Online Content

When asked what online content is used to make purchasing decisions, the study found white papers (64.5% reporting) were just a notch below research (69.7%) on the influence scale, and better than news (59.80%), discussion groups (54.7%), webcasts (28.2%) and blogs (26%).

Here is a demographic breakdown of the influence of white papers:

(more…)

The results are in and white papers are still powerful lead generation vehicles. No surprises here.

MarketingSherpa today released some of its findings from its new Business Technology Benchmark Guide 2006.

There are two important findings. The first examines the effectiveness of white papers for lead generation and the other looks at white paper syndication. Here is what you need to know:

(more…)

Survey says . . . Ding, ding, ding: white papers are pretty darn important to businesses. A July 2006 survey of 115 readers of the WhitePaperSource Newsletter asked people to indicate their agreement or disagreement with this statement: “White papers are important to businesses.”

An overwhelming 92 percent agreed or strongly agreed and 8 percent were undecided.

What is interesting is that no-one disagreed, not a single person. Actually, the overwhelming majority—53 percent—strongly agreed with the statement. The demographic of the audience is mostly marketing professionals and professionals writers.

What do you think?