Our thought leadership approach is based on using our client’s expertise and industry knowledge as a vehicle for building brand reputation and driving sales.
Your expertise is the reason your clients engage you and they will look to you as an authority on issues, advancements and news within your industry. A white paper is a valuable format to share your insight and observations is an effective marketing tool. It can be used to secure interest from prospective clients, add value to current clients, and raise your profile as an industry commentator.
What is a white paper?
A white paper is a document designed to inform. Comprising research, background information and industry insight, it should help the reader to understand a specific topic and be make an educated decision. White papers identify an issue and offer measured recommendations and the structure reflects a more formal, academic style. They can successfully raise awareness of a potential challenge that your customers and prospects should pay attention to.
Creation process
Firstly, we take a brief to understand the target audience, what the client wants to share – this usually forms the white paper’s conclusion – and identify potential topics.
Once the topic is agreed, we research. Some clients have existing insight that can be used, however, we also reference reputable sources to collate statistics and findings collected within the past three years. As part of the information-gathering process we also review industry articles and white papers from competitors to secure a niche angle and draft an outline.
We discuss and finalise the outline, it is often at this point that we create a roll out strategy to plan how to launch the white paper. Once we have incorporated further feedback and insight, we put pen to paper! Typically, we manage three rounds of amends from first draft to final version.
Roll out
Depending on the client objectives, the final white paper is then put into a creative format for distribution as a sales tool, and used for marketing and thought-leadership PR. A marketing launch strategy ensures the white paper is promoted on owned, earned and paid channels as appropriate. This means the content is shared via the website, social media accounts, events and e-marketing newsletters (owned); through networks, PR activity and articles placed in the press (earned); and advertising (paid).
To maximise exposure, we also break the insight into smaller chunks suitable for articles, blogs and social media, as well as scripts and emails for the sales team to use.
To discuss an industry white paper, contact Caroline Walker on 01732 779 087.