Category: Text

    White Papers: What Are They and Why Should I Use Them?

    A white paper is a report that explains a problem in depth and then offers a solution. If you offer products and services to business owners, white papers are a great way to explain your solutions to your audience. They work especially well for complicated issues that require some measure of education for the buyer to understand.

    The Purpose of a White Paper

    A white paper is not an excuse to include tons of sales hype or puffery. Instead a white paper should be useful and valuable to the consumer by itself. The white paper should:

    * Identity a problem – Describe the problem the target audience has in great detail to demonstrate your understanding of the problem. Use case studies and other examples to get your points across.

    * Describe various solutions – Give examples of various solutions and their drawbacks, along with your solution and why it’s better. Give concrete examples and not sales puffery.

    * Back up your assertions – Using real data and research to back up your facts will make your white paper more impressive and give it credibility.

    If you stick to that formula when you develop your white paper, you’ll do well. Insert case studies, images, graphs, and other points of interest to highlight the facts better. The white paper needs to focus on the problems and solutions and how your solution is the one that works the best. Show this by describing the drawbacks to the other solutions and how your product or service fills the gaps the other ones leave.

    Advantages of White Papers

    In addition to educating your audience, white papers have a lot of advantages such as:

    * Collects leads – Ask for an email address and other information in exchange for downloading the white paper and you’ll collect a lot of information from interested parties.

    * Establishes expertise – Writing a white paper is a process that helps you look like a real expert, as white papers are often used in education and government.

    * Proves credibility – Having a way to show all the facts about the problem and the solutions will make you look more credible.

    * It’s “evergreen” – Most content doesn’t have a very good shelf life. But, a well-researched and informative white paper can last for years with minor changes when your products or services are updated.

    * A good way to reuse content – If you already have a lot of informative blog posts, you can reuse it inside the white paper. Conversely, all the research you gather during the creation of the white paper can be used elsewhere too.

    * They’re cost effective – Word for word a white paper isn’t any more expensive to create or have created than other types of content. Plus the ROI is high.

    * They are good SEO – Long form content is good for search engine optimization. Even if this particular content is something that will be downloaded, it will help your website look more professional.

    * They’re great link bait – If your white paper is especially well written and has a lot of good information, other people will share the information.

    It’s clear that using white papers to market your business is beneficial. It’s time to get started on creating your white paper to improve your subscriptions and establish your expertise.

    Categories: Presentations, Text Tags: Tags:

    Communication by Text

    Why Get It Transcribed?

    Audio interviews and webinars, video PowerPoints, and how-to screencast demonstrations are no longer considered “new” in Internet marketing, but they’re communication mediums that are certainly here to stay.

    Although audio and video work great for imparting information, the need for the written word is still there, especially to accompany the audios and videos. I’m talking about transcriptions; written documentation of what you’ve recorded verbally and/or visually. Why should you go the extra mile and the extra expense to have your webinar transcribed?

    Here are a few reasons:

    1. When you have your audio or video transcribed, you’ve just increased the value of your product. Perhaps your audio interview is free to your listeners, but if they want the transcribed version, they’ll have to pay for it. Or you could offer your product with the audio and transcription for one fee, and without the transcription for a “lite” fee. Another idea is to add the written document as a bonus to your product, or offer it in an upsell.

    2. Even though audio and video are popular, not everyone likes this medium. Many people prefer reading over listening. It could be they’re fast readers and like to go at their own pace rather than be at the mercy of an audio that seems to be going too slow. Or maybe they are short on time and prefer to skip to the parts that are of particular interest to them. Some find themselves daydreaming or becoming distracted and can’t follow along very well.

    3. There are times when people can’t listen, no matter how informative your webinar is. The timing may not work into their schedule – people are so busy with work, kids, chores, civic duties, etc. and if you lose them, you lose your chance to impart your wisdom, take your brand up a notch, make a sale, or whatever your reason for doing the webinar. Similarly, the person might not be in a location where they can turn the volume up (like at work, in a waiting room, while on the bus) and they don’t have earphones. After all your hard work of putting on the webinar, you don’t want to lose any potential customers. Offering a transcription of your webinar will make these people happy. It shows goodwill on your part.

    Doing webinars, audio interviews, podcasts, and videos is great for business. It adds dimension to your brand, gives your sales page or website some punch and makes lots of people happy who like to listen. But take it a step further and make everyone satisfied by having your audios transcribed. It’s a good business practice that can affect your bottom line.

    Categories: Text