How do you use a white paper to confirm your expertise? A white paper is a "report" that is approximately ten pages in length and that provides valuable information about a topic. It is not hype for a product or service, nor is it a tool for grabbing business. It is simply a place to educate and inform the public about an aspect of your business (and your competitor). For example, I was working with a company that sold skis in the winter and also sold snowboarding equipment, lacrosse equipment and swimming products. They were in the process of developing their website and were trying to find a better way to sell products over the web. We suggested that they produce a white paper explaining the finer points of selecting the right equipment for each of the sports and also to print these documents for distribution at swap meets and other local events. The white paper would not advertise any of their products but they would have the store information on the back of the paper. This way requests for more information could be obtained by contacting them directly. The white paper placed them in front as far as expertise in the industry, and it was an excellent way to do a soft-sell. If you find that you are not able to write such material, use a format similar to the one shown at the end of the chapter need white paper format table chapter and hire a writer to fill in the content. You can then print these for events and also make an electronic version available. If you have a white paper, you can put on a seminar based on that paper as well. These will further establish your expertise. At the seminar hand out your paper plus any newsletters you have produced. Anything you have in printed form will be carried away. Just make sure you have your website information and email address on everything. |
