What is the purpose of a white paper?

Some people define a white paper as a document designed to educate a reader using unbiased, factual information on any topic of a highly detailed, scientific, or technical nature. While this definition may be accurate to some individuals, a white paper that only provides educational content is a luxury reserved for the university or research lab that happens to be funded by a government grant. To an organization involved in today's highly competitive business marketplace a white paper needs to generate results and position information in a way that demonstrates a competitive advantage, ultimately influencing a prospective customer to become an actual customer.

The truth of matter is that most business decision makers expect to find a white paper on your website when researching information about your product or service. As a result, white papers have become a standard marketing component that most businesses are providing on websites, search engines, and document libraries as an effective medium that can not only educate and inform, but most importantly, significantly influence a prospective customer.

Today most business professionals don't make decisions without understanding all the facts involved with a particular issue. Serious decision makers use white papers to read about that issue first.

As the Internet has become an important distribution vehicle for information of this nature, the use of white papers has increased dramatically. Today when you search for information on the web, you will typically find white papers because they can directly influence the decision making process.

Here are the facts:

1. Decision makers often research a solution topic on their own time and will download and read relevant white papers that they find on solution websites, search engines, technical libraries, and industry news sources.
   
   
2. Decision makers will usually pass along to others involved in the decision-making process only those white papers that can be easily understood.
   
   
3. Decision makers will usually read a white paper first before ever contacting a "live" sales representative or sending an E-mail query.
   
   
4. White papers provide a significant amount of input criteria to decision makers helping them with their ultimate solution choice. A sales representative's role in the decision making process is to confirm the facts and negotiate the terms of the sale.
   
   
5. White papers provide a highly portable, visually appealing, and consistent way of delivering information for a variety of working situations. Decision makers often read digitally formatted white papers on notebook and tablet computers, PDA organizers, and via printed hardcopy while traveling, commuting, or outside of their office setting.
   
   

Because of the role that these documents play in the decision making process, white papers need to reflect far more than mere technical facts. They need to present your company favorably and reinforce why your organization should be selected over your competition. In this regard white papers are a strategic marketing vehicle that you can use to influence the decision making process.