Whitepaper expert, Gordon Graham, identified the following criteria to make your whitepaper as effective as possible:
- It cannot be one-size-fits-all. You must identify a single need or specific target, market and address that one need or market.
- Do NOT put your name in the title. This is supposed to be informational, not self-promotion.
- Speaking of self-promotion… make sure the whitepaper is truly informational. The job of the whitepaper is to demonstrate your authority and expertise via how great the information is… NOT you blowing your own horn.
- Make it extremely easy for people to access your whitepaper. Make it readily available at your office, on your website, mention it on your voice mail recording, etc.
- Follow up when people contact you with questions on the information in the whitepaper. I know this seems fundamental… but I wouldn’t bring it up if every advisor was doing it! Take the time to follow up as soon as they contact you (not a day or two later).
