

Ask HN: White Papers, are they worth it (as a promotional tool)? - jbrun

Hi,<p>I am contemplating writing a white paper about a topic relevant to my new start-up. However, in contrast to blog posts which are short; white papers, when done properly, are very time consuming. My audience is people in the business world (not consumers), so they like PDFs. I know enterprise software companies use white papers to get contact information that they turnaround and market to, but we (nimonik.ca) are going more the low-cost web-app route.<p>So, my question is: Do people read white papers and if so does it drive enough traffic to justify the time invested? Does anyone have a relevant experience?<p>Thanks in advance,<p>Jonathan<p>P.S. My white paper is titled: "How to leverage online communities for to build brand and gain customers". It will attempt to explain the differences of service based companies (linux guys) with traditional shops (microsoft) and how consultants and lawyers (my target audience) can use online communities in their respective industry (I am concerned with environmental issues) to make a name for themselves and get more business.
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subpixel
FWIW, I'm a small business owner and have downloaded quite a few whitepapers
and signed up for quite a few "webinars" that I thought might provide valuable
info. Quality varies, but tends to hover well below "wow".

In each of these cases, my contact info was captured. So that part of it
works.

The object, however, is not to get a prospect's number, but to get them to
call you.

Nothing will light a fire under a potential customer's ass like seeing your
product/service in use:

* use customer testimonials/case studies/videos (see mathematica's customer testimonials - <http://is.gd/kk8B> / Highrise customer interviews / etc.)

* make a great, simple video explanation - see <http://commoncraft.com>

* show off the website, twitter stream, etc. of a make-believe lawyer who represents your ideal happy customer (e.g. "let us help you be this awesome."

At the end of the day, I think a whitepaper is too much like a TPS report. You
want something that can be shared 'over the shoulder', when someone at a
company finds your service and shows it off to his partner or colleague.

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diN0bot
good question. i've wondered this before, too. no idea. it's hard to know the
answer unless you collect a lot of anecdotes.

