White papers are a favorite form of subject-matter expertise content for B2B marketers who use content offers for lead generation. Still, relatively few marketers re-purpose a white paper into a variety of content assets to maximize lead generation results.

5 Truths of White Papers as a Marketing Tool

Truth #1: Most people don’t have the time or attention span to read an entire 20-page white paper from start to finish anymore.

Truth #2: Most white papers are about multiple topics, answer multiple questions, and sometimes even speak to multiple audiences in a single document.

Truth #3: Despite better search indexing of PDF documents, most of the subject-matter expertise locked inside white papers still isn’t easy to find via search engines.

Truth #4: A quality white paper is very expensive to produce when all of the thinking, researching, writing, editing, layout, design, and production costs are factored in.

Truth #5: The potential ROI of the knowledge inside a white paper is never fully realized if the knowledge is not leveraged in other ways.

Turn one white paper into multiple content assets

A well-written white paper is a great cornerstone content asset of a marketing program. It contains tons of rich subject-matter expertise that helps the reader solve a problem or make a decision.  In most cases, it will include knowledge that touches on a number of related topics in a fair amount of detail.

Those topics can—and indeed SHOULD—be extracted from the white paper and turned into shorter, more focused, more easily consumable content assets that complement the white paper.  Content re-purposing is a skill that requires an eye for discreet topics in a larger body of content, and the ability to re-write each of those topical sections into a tone and format different from, but related to, the original white paper.

Leveraging re-purposed content assets for lead generation

When developing re-purposed assets, strive to use the language and voice of a prospective customer. That means titling, tagging, and articulating key concepts using language that describes the problem or opportunity more so than the solution or benefit. Also think about formats that will perform well in natural search results, and string together multiple assets that deliver incremental levels of detail and insight as the reader moves from one to the next. When you draft and produce the content, be sure to include cross-links to the related content assets that suggest content consumption pathways for the reader.

Here is a diagram illustrating a recent client exercise where we re-purposed a single white paper into 8 additional content assets; 4 online resource pages to appear in their website resource center, and 4 associated 1-pager downloadable articles that are gated with short lead capture forms. The white paper itself is also gated with a short lead capture form.

By creating content pathways between related assets of increasing detail and insight, not only do we create multiple lead generation opportunities, but also some implicit lead qualification based on depth of content engagement; leads who read more content assets have a higher likelihood of being qualified leads.

Attaching tags to each content asset, article or post does very little for the SEO (search engine optimization) of any singular article on a B2B blog or website. Used properly, however, content tagging makes your blog or website much better.

When implemented as a tertiary level navigation alternative, content tags can generate high-relevance, well-optimized landing pages of aggregated content.  Tags in most content management systems (CMS) are also a great way to manage content syndication. Read more »

Some B2B marketers have tried to tell me the email newsletter is dead.  I tell them they’re doing it wrong.  Email newsletters are still a very effective lead nurturing and intelligence gathering tool if used properly. Here are 6 tips for making your email newsletters engaging to your readers. Big shout-out to Kathryn Honderd at Pardot for contributing to this article! [skip to the visual illustration]
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If you have not seen Jeff Cohen’s terrific presentation on 16 Best Practices of B2B Corporate Blogging is is worth checking out (see below).

Our best practice recommendation:
Start with a content framework

All of Jeff’s recommendations are valuable but the first 7 can be addressed in a practical way by creating a simple content strategy/framework that answers the following questions:

• What business are you really in?
• Who is your target?
• What are their needs and pains?
• What is your value proposition?
• What does your customer really want to know, broken out into main categories?
• What are the key purchase decision stages?
• What Keywords should you target?

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Developing B2B marketing content can be expensive in terms of dollars and time spent — and some tactics are better than others.  According to CMO council research on content ROI “only 22 percent of respondents say they are very satisfied with the caliber of technology content” and this issue is not just limited to technology brands.  But smart companies have learned how to tackle the challenge efficiently and effectively.  How do they do it?

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