All printers want to sell more printing, but many tend to overlook the impact that white papers have on reaching that goal.

What are White Papers?

A white paper is an “authoritative report or guide meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision”. They provide an in-depth study on a specific topic.

What’s great about providing your print buyers with white paper content is YOU are the authority in that definition, and you’re using that authority to help your audience solve their sales or marketing problems using print.

The Benefits of White Papers for Printing and Marketing Companies

Along with addressing or solving a problem for the reader (which is a benefit in and of itself), white papers offer many other benefits as well.

• White papers help generate leads.
• White papers help you be seen as an industry thought leader.
• White papers are typically geared towards a B2B focus, building powerful corporate relationships that help shore up your bottom line.
• White papers give you an edge over the competition when used as a valuable resource to your print buyers.
• White papers help influence the buying decisions of your print buyers. A 2015 Eccolo Media survey found white papers ranked number two in the top five most influential marketing assets, right behind product data sheets or brochures.

How MI4P Positions You for White Paper Success

For many of you, the minute you read “in-depth study”, your brain went, “Uh, no thanks. That sounds like a lot of work. “

And you’d be right… sort of.

Creating well-researched, beautifully written and designed white papers is a lot of work, but good news!

It’s work you don’t have to do!

As a subscriber to the White Paper Content from Marketing Ideas For Printers, you can leave those “extra work worries” behind because we set you up for success by:

• Searching out relevant topics for your print buyers that you could offer an authoritative voice to.
• Thoroughly researching multiple sources to provide a well-rounded, accurate view on the topic.
• Writing, editing, re-writing, and re-editing to ensure clear, concise, and easy-to-understand information.
• Adding quality, modern, graphic design to create a visually compelling paper that speaks to the quality you provide with your services.
• Automatically adding your branding and company information to the paper for you.
• Consistently publishing a new white paper on your website on your behalf every quarter.

4 Tips to Maximize Your White Paper Success

Even if you’ve never thought about the white papers being automatically updated on your website or doing anything more with them, you’d still be reaping the benefits.

Consider the positive impact your white papers have on your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) by providing you with additional web pages for search engines to crawl. Or, how about the simple fact that print buyers recognize you have a website that is worth coming back to visit again and again as a resource for print and marketing related information?

If you’re thinking, “Yeah, that’s great, but how do I really maximize my white paper content for success?”, here are few tips to help you do just that.

1. Promote your white papers on your social media channels

Each time a new white paper has been added to your website, you need to let your audience know. Use it as a hook to reel people over in to your website by speaking to a problem and then offering the solution of your white paper content.

Here are some examples:

Problem: “Tired of pulling your hair out/wasting your time trying to come up with compelling headlines?”
Solution: “Check out our latest white paper, “Quick Guide to Killer Headlines” so you can say what you need to quickly and easily.” —> Link to content on your website.

Problem: “Is this you: I have no idea what my customers are thinking? How do I create a marketing message that will resonate with my audience?”
Solution: “If so, you need to take a look at our latest white paper, “What are Your Customers Thinking?” This valuable resource will help walk you through how you can get into the minds of your customers. Check it out today!” —> Link to content on your website.

2. Feature your white paper in your digital ads

White papers can also act as a great resource to feature in your Google AdWords campaigns.

When creating your campaign, build the ad around the same problem/solution scenario mentioned earlier. Your ad should create the question or hit on the pain point, and it should bring them to your solution (your website and your white paper content).

3. Start a webinar series

Another way you can maximize your white paper content is to use it as the foundation of a webinar.

Webinars don’t need to be long or complicated, but what if you created a series that touched on highlights that are covered throughout the white paper? To do this, as you read through the content, make a note of the things that stick out to you, and you would like to cover in the webinar. Then, at the end of the webinar, use a statement like, “To learn more about this topic, visit our website. You’ll learn more about creating killer headlines from our latest whitepaper and be sure to check out our other white papers while you’re there for more great sales and marketing tips.”

One last thing here, video and visuals are powerful. But, if a webinar feels too complicated, grab your phone and do an impromptu recording of you talking about some of the highlights in the new white paper and where they can go to find out more.

4. Don’t forget about direct mail

If you’re a subscriber to the direct mail content here at Marketing Ideas For Printers, don’t forget to feature your white paper in your newsletter as well. (Ok, even if you’re not a subscriber and have your own newsletter, this still applies.)

Take the Printer’s Press newsletter, for example. On the front page, you could easily switch out the ad with a simple feature about your latest white paper. If you’ve already created an ad for a Google Adwords campaign, you could even use that ad as your feature by tweaking it slightly and putting it in your newsletter with an invitation for them to visit you online and download your latest white paper.

Marketing Help is Here with White Papers

White papers are a valuable asset for any website.

If you’d like to maximize the impact of your white paper content and update your industry authority in the eyes of your print buyers, try implementing some or all of the tips mentioned here.