20 Easy Ways to Write Better for Business: Bits of wisdom from a copywriter — now available instantly on Kindle!

Tips

Powerful advice for white paper graphic design

girl getting ready for white paper graphic design

White paper graphic design advice is valuable not only for the professional graphic designers who are asked to design white papers, but for the people who write papers, so they can structure them in ways that cooperate with design practices. Whether you’re a graphic designer or just want to better understand how white papers should … Read more

Boring white papers? Serious doesn’t have to mean being dull

boring white papers leave readers cold

Do you develop boring white papers? Nobody sets out to deliberately make their white papers dull, but that’s what happens far too often. Companies develop a white paper about an important issue in their industry, and while the white paper is factually correct, it’s even less interesting than watching paint dry. Who writes boring white … Read more

What’s the difference between a white paper and a case study?

difference between a white paper and a case study

There’s more than one difference between a white paper and a case study, even though they’re remarkably similar strategies. If you’ve heard terms like “white papers” and “case studies” tossed around by colleagues and not been sure you knew what they were describing, don’t feel bad. You’re not alone. There’s a lot of jargon used … Read more

5 powerful tips for sharing statistics in white papers

statistics in white papers can be challenging

Using statistics in white papers is a proven tactic for sharing information. Many of the people who write white papers for their organizations like statistics and use them freely. After all, in an era full of hype and half-truths, numbers are definitive and absolute, without any wiggle room. Sixteen of something is sixteen. $8,322,386.34 is … Read more

Effective white papers need solid facts, not marketing hype

tools for effective white papers

Effective white papers may be written about any number of topics, but they all share a single trait: solid proof for the messages they want to convey. Sometimes, a company will decide to develop a white paper to promote a product, service, or other concept, but instead of providing factual proof, they’ll fill the white … Read more

5 surprising reasons technical white papers lose audiences

technical white papers are scientific

Many organizations develop technical white papers to explain the advantages they offer or to educate their stakeholders about situations or issues. And all too often, those technical white papers perform poorly. So the stakeholders come away not knowing any more and the organization’s team has essentially wasted the time they spent developing them. Why do … Read more

White paper graphics: 7 considerations for the best quality

white paper graphics

White paper graphics can provide a powerful addition to your white paper, as long as you’re choosing the right types of graphics to educate and inform your reader. Organizations typically develop white papers to convince readers that their product, service, or strategy is the best approach for a particular need, and carefully selected graphics can … Read more

White paper readers tend to be skimmers

white papers enhance decision-making

White paper readers rarely take the time to carefully read every word of a white paper, even though that’s what the authors of white papers wish they would do. It isn’t that white paper readers don’t care about the information that can be found in the papers. Instead, it’s about the reality that everyone is … Read more

Are you cramming too much into your white paper?

too much in your white paper

You can communicate too much You and your team have worked for several weeks to develop your white paper detailing the improvements to your product line. When you turned it over to your graphic designer, she reported that your white paper would be at least 24 pages long — and probably even longer than that. … Read more