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Welcome to Focus Forward, the monthly newsletter of Tim Rosa Associates. If you like what you’re reading, stay with us. You can also forward this newsletter to a colleague by clicking the Forward email link at the bottom of this newsletter. If you don't like what you see, go to the same location, and click SafeUnSubscribe™; we'll never bother you again.
Each issue of Focus Forward will feature a viewpoint on a critical customer topic. We’ll focus on what's happening and what's coming down the line. These are issues that you’ve told us keep you up at night. Though we work with clients in the technology, healthcare, and financial services industries, we hope the newsletter will be informative to all. This issue is the first in a series about white papers. Have a comment? Send us your feedback.
White Paper Reuse: Leveraging Content to Fill Your Pipeline
At this time of year, sales and marketing executives are looking for creative ways to accelerate the sales cycle and move more leads into the pipeline. New product and service launches often generate a buzz, but they take too long to provide the quick fix everyone needs. How can marketing managers make an immediate impact on sales efforts without taking precious resources away from other important programs?
Consider the time and energy you’ve already invested this year in developing white papers. They required a commitment of time, energy, and dollars, so it only makes sense to find ways to generate an even greater return on that investment. Since time is of the essence, developing—and securing approval for—a new initiative isn’t the best approach, since new initiatives are likely to take far longer and have less of an impact than a program based on proven messages and concepts. By reusing white paper content in new ways, you can distribute your investment over multiple programs, providing both sales reps and the finance team with something to smile about.
Why are white papers so well-suited for this purpose? Because they discuss key business and technical issues that relate to your company’s unique business or scientific approach. As a result, their abundance of strong messages and objective information appeals to a broad set of prospective audiences, making them ideal for reuse. By repurposing white paper content effectively now, you can help the sales team quickly convert skeptics into prospects and leads into customers.
Exploring Your Options
At Tim Rosa Associates, we define a white paper as a pre-sales document aimed at key business decision-makers and influencers who must evaluate, recommend, purchase, and implement solutions. While no two sales cycles are exactly alike, white papers play an important role in the sale of any complex business solution. There are many types of white papers, but we generally see three “flavors.” Here are some creative ways to reuse each type to make an impact on sales.
Corporate Message White Papers
A corporate message white paper profiles your company’s understanding of the problem space and business environment. It documents your unique value proposition for solving customers’ problems. With a corporate white paper, you can repurpose the content in a number of ways to drive revenue now. While typically a prospect is looking for high-level corporate information at an early stage in the sales cycle, at least some of your prospects will move more quickly through the standard sales cycle; many companies make buying decisions faster at this time of year to avoid reductions in budget allocation for the coming year. Consider these options:
- Create a short PowerPoint presentation or Flash movie that summarizes key points from the white paper. Make it available to run from your website and package it for distribution by your sales team and/or channel partners to targeted prospects.
- Send print or email offers to senior-level contacts; offer the full paper along with a presentation of the content. You may choose to offer the presentation in person or via an online meeting service, such as WebEx or LiveMeeting.
- Create or update a one-page corporate profile for your collateral set that draws from the key messages in the white paper. Mail it out as an “FYI” message to prospects, addressed from your CEO to the CEO of your prospective customer, but include a calltoaction with an incentive. (While you’re at it, consider editing your press kit’s corporate profile to reflect these new key messages as well.)
- Update the “About Us” and “What’s New” pages of your website to include new content found in the white paper. Since the goal is to qualify leads, be sure to request a basic level of identifying information about the person downloading the paper—a name, title, company name, phone number and/or email is usually sufficient. Avoid asking for so much information that the person abandons their request in frustration. Be sure to have the sales team follow up on any names you capture.
- To solicit requests for the white paper, create a one-page info sheet about it for use in standard sales kits and live events. This handout should include a clear, concise abstract about the paper’s key points, tying it to the business needs of those attending the particular event, along with a request for identifying information.
Technical White Paper
A technical white paper describes your technology, product, service, or key scientific principles. It often includes high-level system architecture, application environment, implementation, and configuration details. You can leverage this content in many ways to accelerate the sales cycle.
- Optimize search engine hits by using any new keywords and phrases from the white paper that you may not have used in the past. Explore both free and paid ways to leverage the white paper and update web pages to drive more traffic to your site. Set up special “landing pages” so you can track success by keyword and/or search engine and push leads out to the sales team.
- Update appropriate pages of your website to reflect the new technical content. Be sure to reuse graphics, tables, and diagrams to illustrate concepts, keeping pages engaging and interesting. Add animation where possible for visual interest. Don’t forget to request basic identifying information from anyone who wants to download the full paper, and make sure that the sales team follows up with any names you capture.
- Invite technical evaluators and decision-makers to a webcast that covers the key topics in your technical white paper. The presenter should be the lead architect, CTO, or other senior technical manager capable of covering the material in sufficient depth for the audience. Send a copy of the white paper to everyone who registers for followup by the sales team.
- Consider adding a technical section to your regular prospect newsletter, or even send a separate technical “blast” to a targeted subset of your list. Think about emailing short versions of key sections of the white paper as a serial story to this group. Connect each email distribution to an offer to take action now—call for special pricing, request a live demo, or attend a special live or online presentation.
Business and Technical Case Studies
A business case study targeted to the C-suite, line-of-business managers, customers, and partners demonstrates how a specific customer’s use of a specific technology solution helped generate revenue, reduce expenses, save time, and/or increase customer satisfaction. A technical case study intended for developers, IT managers, and security experts, provides the technical details of successful implementations of your technology. Case studies based on real-world success stories enable buyers who may be “on the fence” to justify purchasing your solution.
- Develop a “Making the Case” ROI calculator for your website. Because most ROI models involve some complexity, develop a simplified version for your website with 3 to 5 variables. Drive traffic to your calculator with banner ads for your product or service on affinity sites. Before allowing access to the calculator, ask for basic identifying information and send a copy of the white paper to anyone who gives it a try. Your sales team can follow up with qualified prospects.
- Create a one-page hardcopy version of the ROI calculator for use as a handout or leave-behind. Summarize the model in prose and illustrate it in a three-column format—each row in the first column includes a description of one of the key elements of the model, followed by the numbers for a sample figure or scenario, followed by a blank field. The prospect can follow the instructions to get a sense of what their ROI might be when using your solution. Offer to have one of your experts review the prospect’s numbers and provide a more accurate figure in a meeting or call.
- Secure permission from case study subjects to use the quotes from the case study’s body text and callouts in other materials, such as your website, collateral, or direct mail/email communications. Be sure to confirm that you have written permission to use their name, title, company name, and corporate logo. This will allow you to illustrate other technical information or web pages with more colorful personal commentary.
Summary
White papers contain valuable information about your products and services that can help drive more business now. When the pressure’s on, you can leverage your white paper investment to jump start prospecting efforts without having to start from scratch. By repurposing approved, proven content for these new programs, you can support the end-of-year revenue push with minimal impact on already-strapped marketing resources.
Learn More
If your current marketing team is focused on longer-term priorities, contact Tim Rosa Associates for help. We work with many clients to develop corporate and technical white papers; business and technical case studies; and brochures, datasheets, and presentations. We’ve helped a number of clients find creative and cost-effective ways to reuse materials on hand. We can work with you in any number of ways, from repurposing material from other programs to managing an entire marketing communications program campaign. Contact us today to find out more.
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Thanks for reading,
Tim Rosa
Founder and Manager
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