You’ve in all probability seen them earlier than. Closely researched white papers diving deep into a particular business subject, all encased in a crisp, formatted design. Mechanically you suppose, “Wow, that model actually is aware of their stuff.” And that’s precisely the purpose.

There’s a purpose so many advertising and marketing groups right this moment are turning to white papers to turbocharge their thought management and model consciousness efforts. They actually, actually work. Nearly half of respondents in a single Demand Gen Report survey stated they’re keen to share their private data to entry a white paper.

Merely put, you should begin creating white papers (when you’re not already). We all know, that’s loads simpler stated than finished. Advertising and marketing budgets could be tight, and possibly you don’t even have the workforce in place to carry these hard-hitting items of content material to life.

If that’s the case, you should take into account hiring both a advertising and marketing company or a contract author. However which one makes essentially the most sense? Let’s discover.

First Factor’s First: Why Write a White Paper?

White papers are the gold normal of thought management content material. In a content material advertising and marketing context, white papers are usually in-depth reviews specializing in a particular subject or idea, outlining issues associated to that idea and detailing doable future developments and options. The objective is to teach, inform and encourage, finally demonstrating your data of the business to potential clients as a way to construct belief in your model.

Completed proper, the best white papers drive important enterprise worth, together with:

• Lead technology: White papers have a tendency to sit down behind gated types that require customers to alternate electronic mail addresses or different private data to entry, making them a central a part of your effort to generate certified leads.
• Thought management: White paper content material attracts shoppers with a deep understanding of the business who need detailed details about area of interest topics. Fulfilling these wants helps to ascertain your model as a frontrunner within the area.
• Web site site visitors: Embedding your white papers in Search engine optimisation-optimized touchdown pages — or, even higher, making them the centerpiece of a PPC advert marketing campaign — will help drive site visitors to your website and promote engagement with different pages.

Whereas nonetheless comparatively concise, white papers are typically longer and extra detailed than blogs and different types of content material. They’re usually between 1,500 and three,000 phrases and often distinguished by a deluge of stats, figures, charts and graphs. For that purpose, white papers are closely researched and require far more time to provide, making them a major funding for any advertising and marketing workforce.

Good Information: You Have Choices When Writing a White Paper

Unsurprisingly, given their depth and complexity, bringing your white papers to life is usually a lengthy, sophisticated and costly course of. You want strategists to look at the aggressive structure and discover a compelling subject, writers to analysis the subject and put pen to paper, and designers to format the copy and make it sparkle. Throw within the time it takes to conduct unique surveys and create distinctive graphics and it’s no surprise many advertising and marketing groups merely don’t have the bandwidth (or the price range) for them.

That’s the place outsourcing is available in. Firms can lean on exterior advertising and marketing professionals to deal with all white paper creation duties, from subject ideation to writing and design, permitting them to maintain their groups lean and focus their advertising and marketing {dollars} on different high-value priorities — whereas nonetheless getting all the advantages of attaching their model identify to hard-hitting white papers.

The actual query for firms on this class is whether or not to lean on freelancers on advertising and marketing businesses.

Writing Your White Paper With a Freelancer

Freelance writers are the go-to white paper creation specialists for a lot of entrepreneurs, and for good purpose:

• They’re usually skilled writers, so that you’ll usually obtain good high quality content material — although it’s not a assure.
• They might have robust advertising and marketing business data and experience, so they need to be capable to write to your model’s type and voice.
• They’re comparatively inexpensive and might full work on a decent price range, and sometimes a brief timeline.

Nevertheless, freelancers have some inherent limitations. Bringing a white paper to life includes specialists throughout all areas of promoting, and when you actually need to create one thing of worth (and, extra importantly, guarantee your audience can truly see and obtain it), you’re going to want a full advertising and marketing workforce.

Certain, you can rent an enormous workforce of freelancers with quite a lot of advertising and marketing abilities, however that’s going to take a ton of time, and there doubtless gained’t be any coordination or familiarity between them.

Partnering With an Company To Develop Content material

If you companion with a full-service advertising and marketing company to develop your white papers, you’re not simply getting an knowledgeable author — you’re additionally getting designers, strategists, electronic mail entrepreneurs, social media entrepreneurs and extra.

Principally, you’re hiring dynamic, specialised advertising and marketing professionals with deep data and experience of each facet of the complete lifecycle of content material creation. Higher nonetheless, these are people that function like a well-oiled machine — they work collectively each single day, they usually know precisely what it takes to create one thing worthwhile with the endurance to generate significant engagement.

The fitting company could have reams of expertise producing content material in your particular area. Meaning not solely can they write content material {that a} extremely educated viewers will discover partaking and worthwhile, it additionally means they will help you generate compelling concepts from a novel perspective.

Making Your Choice: What It All Comes Down To

On the finish of the day, deciding whether or not to rent a contract author or a advertising and marketing company depends upon your particular wants and circumstances. Freelance writers are typically extra inexpensive, so when you have a decent advertising and marketing price range (otherwise you’re struggling to win buy-in from the highest choice makers), then it’d make most sense to work with a freelancer.

Then again, a full-service advertising and marketing company will deal with white paper content material creation from starting to finish. Should you don’t have a full advertising and marketing workforce on workers, a contract author’s last product isn’t going to imply a lot when you don’t have anybody to format, distribute and put it on the market. A advertising and marketing company will fill any and all gaps in your present advertising and marketing workforce, serving to you extract most worth out of your white papers in essentially the most environment friendly manner doable.

Whether or not you select a freelancer or a advertising and marketing company is as much as you, however one factor is definite: Creating white papers ought to be one among your high priorities.

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