Are you working for a company outside of high tech?  Maybe financial services, health care or manufacturing?  You might be wondering, “Are white papers useful for us?”

Heck, you might even be a freelance writer looking to write white papers for these non-tech spaces.  I’d like to address that here.

The question was spawned by a reader (we’ll call her Ruth S.) who wrote me and asked:

I’m a newbie white paper writer who wants to target the life sciences/biotech industry. Yes, I know there are many science writers working in this industry.

But I actually have an academic background (degrees) in this industry. I know that isn’t necessary, but I’m hoping it won’t hurt, and that it might even help.

So is there a market for biotech white papers? Do you have any contacts in the industry? Can you help me get my foot in the biotech white paper door?

Wonderful question Ruth!  Here’s my response:

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I know it’s hard to believe 2010 is just around the corner.  Like me, you’re likely putting plans in place for next year.  Better customers, more of them and so on.

I wanted to share something with you.  There are some amazing marketing superstars coming together for this really great event that will help you grow your business.

Before I tell you about it, I want to share a story that will encourage you. (more…)

If your objective is to help businesses capture a lead, close a sale or establish themselves as kings in a crowded market, here’s some things to avoid:

1. Don’t lead with the product pitch: In today’s economy nobody likes to be sold to.  Rather they prefer engagement.  That typically means start by building affinity with readers.  You can do this by talking about things they care about, such as problems and trends.  This draws people into your work and allows you to eventually make the pitch.

2. Avoid verbose writing: Pacify the skimmer. Use short sentences rather than long prose.  Try bolding key items and make sure your work is like butter melting on warm toast.  This takes time but ensures that the skimmer is engaged.

3. Don’t assume they’re just like you: Too often writers assume that readers understand the terms and “inside the beltway” talk that goes around.  However, there’s no bigger turn off to readers than terms and phrases that are are foreign.  Always ask yourself, “is this phrase something the reader will understand?”  If not, kill it.

What are your thoughts? What would you add? Please comment below…

The blank page is a big obstacle almost every writer faces when sitting down to write a white paper.

Marketing managers can play an important role in helping writers over this hump, and get better writing in the bargain.

How does every white paper start out? As a cursor blinking on a completely empty screen.

Whether your writer had an idea of what he was going to write or not, he stared at the blank page for a while - the blank page usually stares back as well - and tried to come up with an opening, a title or an outline that would impress you and show that he understood what you were trying to convey. (And, just to help you read the cards your writer is holding, he tried to figure out the best way to start so that the rest of the writing would be easy.)

I don’t mean he was gripped by writer’s block or any other writer’s disease. It’s just the hump that your writer needs to overcome on almost every piece he writes for you.

You may say, “That’s the writer’s problem, not mine.” True enough, but getting good content from your writer is your problem.  Here’s the solution…

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White papers need structure, and smart marketing managers work out the structure with an outline early in the writing process.

Be sure your writer includes these elements in an outline.

How often do you get started down a path in your work, only to realize you have to backtrack and go down a different path? Is there anything more frustrating than discarding work you’ve already done and restarting it?

Suppose your marketing communications writer interviews three customers for a white paper you need, then writes up the interviews into a paper and sends you a draft. You read it and realize it’s mostly wrong.

“No!!!” you holler. “This isn’t where I want this to go. We have to tear this down and start over.”

Too soon for a white paper draft?

Here’s what can go wrong when the writer just dives in and goes straight to the draft:

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Are you scratching your head trying to come up with current trends on a particular white paper topic? Why not tap into Twitter? By using applications that harness the power of this vast network, you can selectively search the Twittersphere for trends in your industry.

Set up alerts around key phrases

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An interesting thing happened while collaborating on some sales letter work recently. While sitting in on the initial client interviews, I found myself going back to Mike’s white paper interview template to “fill in” some gaps while we were talking to the client.

Mike’s white paper process is much more interview-heavy than other types of marketing writing, but it’s also much more comprehensive. The “Stelzner method” is more of a guided discussion than an in-depth creative brief filled out over the phone, and I’ve found it much more efficient for gathering information than your typical client discovery questionnaire. This is especially true when talking to technical experts, as they can tend to run off on tangents or even miss the point of a question entirely unless it is asked of them in several different ways.

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Let’s say the idea vault is looking pretty empty.  No one at your company has really contributed any new thoughts in ages.  Does it ever make sense to ask your key players to contribute white papers, outlining new ideas for corporate growth?

This is the essence of a question submitted by Jason, working for an international organization:

I am working for a international high tech company and they have planned a management meeting with the 80 top managers (R&D, Engineers, Sales, Marketing, Finance). They will spend a week together, working on different issues. The outcome of the week must be that everybody has the same mindset and the same goals.

There will be presentations of the CFO, CEO etc. and there will be discussion about how and what technologies the company must develop. To structure the discussion we want to set up a workshop.

Is it a proven technique to give everybody the assignment to write a white paper for the company? From their point of view, and with clear guidelines of how to write it of course.

Here’s my response: (more…)

There’s some serious gold here folks! With literally hundreds of nominations pouring in, this year’s 4th annual competition was intense.

The 27 finalists have been carefully examined, with the greatest weight on the quality of their content.  What follows are the top 10 blogs for writers for 2009/2010.

If you’re a writer, you’ll find daily doses of inspiration and discovery at these excellent blogs: (more…)

Wow! I called for nominations for the top 10 writers blogs AND nearly 300 came in!

Here are the finalists for the top 10:
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