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Looking for a few good white paper writing tips? This article will
help you tackle this complicated task with 10 proven techniques.
- Identify your ideal reader.
Are you fishing for whales or guppies? Identify your ideal reader
with precision. Pinpoint the intended reader's industry, job title,
age and general disposition. Keep the reader in mind as you write
the white paper.
- Decide on an objective.
Figure out your endgame early. Do you want to educate, sell, inform
or differentiate? Is this paper designed to generate leads? Will
it be technical or business-benefits focused? Be sure to stay on
task through the entire white paper.
- Develop an outline.
Good directions get you to your destination. An outline helps
break a paper into manageable pieces and keeps you on track. Be
sure to get buy-in from key people before you write the first word.
- Interview the experts.
The best content lives in someone else's head. If you are not the
sole content expert, interview other sources to gather a fresh perspective.
When interviewing experts, be sure to ask probing questions such
as "Why is that important?" and "What is the implication
of that?"
- Research.
The web is your library. Read as much as you can about your paper's
topic. Seek industry analysis, competitor information and internal
documents.
- Develop the problem.
Condense the core issue to a few sentences. Be sure the problem
is compelling and appropriate to your primary target audience. This
step should be followed by a brief introduction of the solution.
- Avoid early self-promotion.
Avoid going into any depth about your solution until you have described
the problems that justify your solution in detail. Expand by discussing
the impact of not properly addressing problems. After this foundation
has been established, introduce the details of your solution.
- Rewrite often.
Self-impose pit stops. Continue to repeatedly refine, streamline,
redraft and fine-tune your messaging. I suggest coming back to your
paper many times over a period of days. Taking breaks gives your
mind a clean perspective on your previous work.
- Add captions, callouts and subheads.
Guide your reader with helpful signs. Most people like to skip
around or just want to understand the essence of your paper. Nicely
written callouts and subheads help pull in the reader. Be sure to
add descriptive captions to your support images as well.
- Hire an editor.
For a refining touch, seek an editor. As a painter is blind to
missed spots on a wall, so too will you be blind to errors in your
writing. An editor can provide an objective safety net for correcting
glaring problems and can ensure your words are well-written (special
thanks to my editor for help with this piece).
Now that you are equipped, get going and remember to keep plenty of
caffeine on hand! If you find yourself dazed, confused or running out
of bandwidth after following these tips, consider outsourcing the project
to a professional white paper writer.
Michael A. Stelzner has written more than 70 papers for high-technology
corporations such as Motorola, Cardinal Health and HP, and is the editor
of the WhitePaperSource
Newsletter, a 18,000 subscriber, monthly publication on writing
white papers. If you need more help writing white papers, download his
free "How to Write a White Paper" paper by visiting http://www.stelzner.com/copy-HowTo-whitepapers.php.
Michael can be reached at mike@stelzner.com.
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