What do you do with a white paper?

We’ve already written quite a bit about our process here at rand&rand. We help our clients build and execute targeted survey campaigns, then use the resulting data to build suites of content for lead generation purposes. We’re content creators at our core, and that’s how we provide value.

The center of the work we do for clients is their white paper — what we call a research report. This is the culmination of all your survey data, crafted in a way that’s authoritative, in-depth, and easy to understand.

And while we provide you with the content you need to launch a successful marketing campaign, you may be wondering what you can do with your white paper once it’s in your possession. After all, your white paper won’t do you much good if it only exists as data in the cloud.

Here, we’ve compiled a few of our best suggestions for what you can do with one of our white papers.

Make a Distribution Plan Before Publication

We highly recommend developing a plan for distribution before your white paper is polished and published. Generally, you should use all the channels at your disposal to distribute your white paper, especially if you want to generate leads.

Try to create a timeline for the marketing and distribution of your white paper. This will eliminate any guesswork you have to do once your research project is completed. You can even schedule out marketing initiatives in advanced with the right tools.

Offer Teasers and Initial Findings

Don’t hesitate to build up excitement for your research project before your publication date. This will help you maximize the number of downloads you get and, in turn, the number of leads you capture thanks to your white paper.

One of the easiest ways to build excitement for your white paper is to offer examples of the content contained within it. At rand&rand, we’ll provide you with an “initial findings” report which you can use in email campaigns, landing pages, and on your website. Your initial findings usually consist of a few of the most important data points from your research project.

Build a Landing Page

Landing pages – sometimes referred to as “lead magnet” pages or “lead capture” pages – are singular web pages that market a specific promotion. In this case, your landing page would market your white paper.

Landing pages are usually isolated on your website, so they don’t contain a navigation menu. They are designed and optimized to encourage visitors to convert by filling out a form and downloading your material. Your landing page should contain graphics, a brief description of what visitors can expect to download, and a form with as few form fields as are necessary.

Once you have your landing page, you have a platform from which to promote your white paper. You can link to your landing page in emails, on social media, and on your website. You can even optimize your landing page, so it has a better chance of showing up in relevant search results.

Promote Your White Paper with Related Blog Posts

We also highly recommend accompanying your white paper with a series of blog posts related to its subject matter. With a handful of data points from your research study, you can craft authoritative articles which offer your readers new insights and an incentive to dig deeper into the data.

You can write these posts yourself, or you can enlist us to ghostwrite them for you. If blog posts aren’t your company’s strength, there are several other types of content you can produce with a single dataset.

Write Guest Posts on Third-Party Publications

Conducting a survey and drafting a white paper is a way to bring new insights into your industry, and articles written about new insights are always a huge draw for industry experts. This makes your research data an excellent selling point when pitching new articles to third-party publications and providing them with this content is beneficial to both of you.

Relevant industry publications already have a baked-in audience, and by publishing on their platforms, they lend you some of their authority and credibility. Regardless of your industry, there are bound to be several online publications which cater to it. All you need to do is get in touch with their editors — or let us get in touch with them for you.

Launch an Email Campaign

If you have a viable contact list, sending out email promotions for your white paper is a great way to get more downloads. Try to segment your email lists based on the recipient’s pain points, not just their industry or demographic information. Send a link to your landing page to people who could use the white paper to answer a question, solve a problem, or even do their job more effectively.

If you need to populate your email database, you can do so using opt-in techniques on your own website or by purchasing a list from reputable sources. Naturally, anyone who is surveyed as part of your white paper will be able to download it, too.

If you’re interested in more ways to market your white paper, contact us today to discuss your next campaign.