How to use White papers in your marketing startegy.

What Is a Whitepaper?

The definition of a whitepaper varies heavily from industry to industry, which can be a little confusing for marketers looking to create one for their business. The old-school definition comes from politics, where it means a legislative document explaining and supporting a particular political solution.

In tech, a whitepaper usually describes a theory behind a new piece of technology. Even a business whitepaper can serve a variety of uses and audiences -- some more product-focused than others. And although it is put together like an ebook, the two are written quite differently.

Marketers create whitepapers to educate their audience about a particular issue, or explain and promote a particular methodology. They're advanced problem-solving guides. Typically, whitepapers require at least an email address for download (usually they require information more than that), making them great for capturing leads.

White Papers Are Mid-Funnel Content

One of the main reasons companies struggle to use white papers in their content strategies is that they don’t know where these marketing materials fall in the sales funnel. White papers are typically either promoted as a top-funnel product that’s meant to drive traffic or a bottom-funnel sales tool meant to close deals. Often, companies give up when the white paper fails to accomplish either of these tasks.

White papers are typically?mid-funnel content. They’re rarely viral gold, and they don’t close as well as your sales team, but they’re still important. The goal of mid-funnel content is to teach people about your brand and prove to audiences that you are an expert in your industry. Your interactive infographic may have brought an audience to your website, but your white paper will make them want to stay.

Your Content Determines the Success of Your White Paper

The length of your white paper isn’t as important as the content it contains. White papers can be shorter than some blog posts and longer than e-books. Before you create your white paper, make sure your topic and research strategy is relevant to your industry. Conduct research to see if the trend has been covered before, and ask yourself how you will cover it differently.

If you’re still struggling to come up with original content ideas that will wow readers and make your white paper a valuable asset, consider reviewing your industry with an eye on the following concepts:

• ?What data is missing from your industry that could shed light on certain trends?
• ?What news worries those in your industry and how can you offer your perspective?
• ?What ideas do you have about your industry that no one else has thought to cover?

All of these questions address the needs of your customers, bloggers, and employees within your industry. By reviewing topics with these questions in mind, you can develop a white paper creation strategy that creates a compelling piece.

Make Sure You Have a Promotion Plan in Place

Since your white paper acts as mid-funnel content, you need to approach its promotion and outreach differently than you would your top-funnel content. With top-funnel pieces, the goal is virality. A few shares could balloon into hundreds of shares as people across the web interact with your engaging piece. White papers can certainly be engaging, but they rarely have the spread of top-funnel content.

Be sure to focus on industry-niche marketing. Consider promoting your white paper at a conference to help audiences better understand a concept. Reach out to bloggers in your industry and see if they find the content in your white paper valuable. (Hint: If you follow the content creation advice above, they likely will.)

These marketing strategies will help you?achieve your white paper promotion goals. You will likely attract people to your website who may have already visited before or are familiar with your brand. These individuals make up your mid-funnel audience. You will also likely attract links to your content as people find your research valuable, which boosts organic traffic in the long run.

Unlike top-funnel content, your mid-funnel content takes time to prove itself. But after a few weeks and months, you should start to reap the benefits in the form of closed sales and rankings increases.