Posts Tagged ‘art’
White Paper
Saturday, August 27th, 2011
Six More Deadly White Paper Diseases
A previous article, Six Deadly White Paper Diseases, looked at six germs that afflict the format of a white paper.
Now let’s look at six more diseases that can eat away at the content of your white papers. These six diseases are just as dangerous—perhaps even more so—than the previous ones.
But fortunately, if you identify them in time, you can save your white paper from the awful fate of being completely ignored by your target audience. No one wants their white paper to end up like that.
Deadly Disease #1: Sales pitch in disguise
This is the single worst practice in white papers today. Executives from white paper syndication services and many surveys agree: Readers hate sales pitches.
Readers expect a white paper to inform or enlighten by providing useful information that helps them on the job. Jumping into a sales pitch will irritate anyone who expected helpful, objective information. It can even kill your chance of staying on their vendor list.
So if you’re writing a brochure, call it a brochure, don’t call it a white paper! If you’re writing a sales letter, don’t call it a white paper! Don’t let ad copy and marketing-speak contaminate your white paper; the results will be unhealthy.
Deadly Disease # 2: Not enough, unclear, or unprofessional graphics
Every white paper needs at least one graphic that sums up its key points. Nearly everyone understands pictures fasterand remembers them better. But don’t use the first graphic someone dumps on your desk. Plan to edit and polish any illustrations.
Avoid cheesy clip art, such as photos of happy faces around gleaming boardroom tables. Simplify lines and boxes flying off in all directions, the way most engineers sketch, and redo tired PowerPoint slides. Finally, test out each graphic on a few people in your target audience. If they don’t get it, go back to the drawing board.
Another approach is to give rough illustrations to a professional artist and have them clean up your graphics for you. The health of your white paper hangs in the balance.
Deadly Disease # 3: Too much hype, too little evidence
Just because your CEO says something is true and you dutifully write it down, that doesn’t mean anyone else will believe it. A white paper needs to build a solid case with concrete evidence: facts, figures, names, dates, places, statistics from impeccable sources, quotes from industry experts and stories from ecstatic clients. Without strong evidence, arrayed in a logical structure, your argument is nothing but recirculated hot air, laden with germs.
Deadly Disease # 4: Poor flow of ideas or logic
There are tried-and-true rhetorical methods for building an argument such as:
Start with the familiar and link to the unfamiliar.
Start with the past, describe the present and project into the future.
Start with an overview and drill down to the details.
Start at the beginning of a process and trace the way to the end.
Whatever you do, find an appropriate logical structure and then stick to it throughout your white paper. If you skip around with no overall design, many readers will not follow what you’re saying.
Deadly Disease # 5: Undefined terms and acronyms
No one likes TLA that MTFD. In other words, Three Letter Acronyms that Make Them Feel Dumb. You don’t have to define terms like RAM or MPG if they’re well-known to your audience. You do need to define any company-specific terms, or unusual acronyms that your audience may not know. Otherwise, this disease will have your white paper gasping for breath.
Deadly Disease # 6: Unprofessional writing or editing
It’s okay for a product manager or developer to jot down some notes for a white paper. But then you owe it to yourself to find a professional writer or editor to polish up that text. They can be from your own company, or from an outside firm.
If you don’t, you can easily publish something that reflects poorly on your company… and something that won’t persuade any prospects. Don’t let this disease pickle the innards of a white paper and ruin your results.
About the Author
“That white paper guy” is Gordon Graham an award-winning writer with 30 years of experience. For lots more tips on how to write a white paper, visit http://www.thatwhitepaperguy.com
White Paper on the future of the European Transport Policy
