The Birth, Death, and Re-Birth of Technical White Papers
I had an interesting conversation with a colleague today about technical white papers.
I was on a tear about the evolution of the technical white paper; or, in reality my perception of their evolution. I proposed to her that white papers were slowly being overthrown by a combination of video and more marketing-oriented “Special Reports.”
She countered with, “There will always be a need for technical white papers.”
Which of us is on the right track?
The History of White Papers
According to a variety of sources, including some of the top white paper writers in the world (Michael Stelzner, Bob Bly, and Jonathan Kantor), white papers have been around in some form since the early 1900’s. You can read, for example, “The White Paper”, a collection of telegraphic messages by British officers in Russia concerning the Bolshevik revolution (1919).
They have been used as a means of presenting government policy, and in the early days of Silicon Valley, technology companies started using them as a way of proving that their technology was superior to that of their competition.
Essentially, white papers are primarily used as a means to “convince” the reader that a particular point of view or opinion is the best or “right” point of view. You may want to convince the reader that your software will make all their human resources issues magically disappear; or, you can write a white paper that pushes your opinion on a topic to the broader public. (These are sometimes called “Manifestos”).
In the past 20-30 years white papers have primarily been used by businesses to promote their products and services. That is, they are pure and simple Marketing Collateral.
The Evolution of White Papers
In his book, Crafting White Paper 2.0, Jonathan Kantor says that we need to re-think the design of white papers to accommodate the short attention span of today’s readers.
I agree, but I want to draw your attention back to the conversation I had to day with my colleague. I was saying that white papers will be replaced by multi-media presentations and more content-driven marketing, such as articles and short “Special Reports.”
If we look at the evolution of marketing apart from white papers, we see that there is a general trend in three areas:
- Mobile device use is increasing, which calls for more video and shorter articles or informational pieces.
- Video is supplanting PDF as the “Go-to” medium for both promotion and more lengthy content.
- And, marketing in general is becoming less “push” (Outbound Marketing) and more “pull” (Inbound Marketing).
What This Means for Technology Companies
I am in agreement with BOTH Kantor and my colleague. We do need to re-think the design of white papers, and move more toward mobile, video, and to-the-point.
Re–thinking the design of white papers must include not just a consideration for short attention span, but also a consideration of our current need to become “friends” with our prospects well before a purchase is made.
So, here’s what I think needs to happen for white papers:
- Techies need friends, too. There is still a need for purely technical white papers. These are white papers that provide detailed technical information to the reader, but without trying to market or sell a specific product. The value of the information does the selling. A purely technical white paper provides a valuable service for the technical reader, giving him or her information they can’t find elsewhere, and is hard to present in video format.
- Choose content or marketing. Many highly technical white papers lose their potency because they try to be both a purely technical, informative white paper and a marketing piece. Choose one or the other and trust that your purely technical white paper is doing a BETTER job of selling your stuff than a white paper that tries to sell.
- Let the format fit the purpose. A purely technical white paper can fit perfectly in the standard PDF format, using the standard white paper template. However, when you want to market your products and services, consider doing videos, live Webinars (presentations) and a steady stream of value-laden content.
The Point
There is a place for the old-style white paper. However, we need to re-think white papers in response to the changing marketing environment. This includes having shorter, more mobile-ready pieces that are more content-driven, as well as videos, live presentations, Facebook contests and polls, and even Twitter or LinkedIn updates.
The times… they are a changing (again/still).
More From Sid Smith – Business WordSmith
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