Several months ago, a widely debated blog post was published that touted the death of the white paper in B2B marketing (I’ve provided a link to the posts and a related Focus expert Q&A.)  As a writer, the thought of the white paper going away wasn’t exactly heartbreaking because authoring one can be a long, arduous affair.  But, is this idea really accurate?   Has the white paper outlived its usefulness in today’s sales and marketing landscape?

As a marketing automation provider, we continue to receive a steady stream of requests from partners, customers and prospects for white papers and best practices.  Our white papers are popular downloads – and many of those website visitors return to the site numerous times.   So my answer is, “No. No way.  Not by a long shot.”  I do think, however, the era of the sales pitch, listen-to-how-great-we-are paper ended a long time ago.

Educational content, an interesting and empirical point of view and actionable information contribute to papers that are so much more compelling than reading endless prose that is nothing more than an over-stuffed meatball sandwich (though I do love a good meatball sub – Dedham House of Pizza rules).

Back to the subject at hand of white papers.  In order to ensure you’re spending time writing papers that are valuable and have the potential to develop a loyal readership, we’ve put together a list of our favorite white paper tips:

1.    Snap out of Clichés.  Your product isn’t the same as everyone else’s so don’t fall into the B2B “parrot” syndrome.  Words and phrases such as: innovative, market leader, scalable and cutting edge almost always make the list of Most Overused.  We’re not saying you have to abandon these words altogether – but use them sparingly and in a meaningful context.
2.    Prove Your Point. Where possible, include reliably sourced metrics.  Data points and sources can really give your paper and ideas credibility, plus graphs and charts can break up the copy.  Speaking of which…
3.    Avoid the Ambien Express. Have you ever downloaded a white paper that would perform double-duty as a powerful sedative?  Keeping technical B2B topics interesting, while retaining the crux of the message can be difficult, but it’s worth the time and energy.  Great papers are read, circulated and saved as resources.
4.    Break It Up.  Having an abstract or introduction at the beginning helps set the tone and expectations for the paper.  Additionally, descriptive headings can help keep the copy more digestible, and if the viewer is so inclined, skim-able.
5.    Substance Trumps Length.  Ever been tasked with writing a 1500-word paper, only to find you’ve covered the salient points in 1200?  Making a compelling case is more important than authoring your corporate equivalent of War and Peace.
6.    Listen to Feedback.  While you might think your paper has split the atom, it may not be resonating with viewers.  Provide readers with a way to contact you or your company with questions, comments, etc.  You may also want to turn to your social media network for suggestions about future topics.  Utilize Twitter, LinkedIn or your blog as ways to solicit feedback about current papers and get ideas for future ones.
7.    Set Your Content Free? The traditional white paper model required someone to complete a form to gain access to white papers.  These days, many websites are making their content available without requiring registration.  It’s easy to argue both sides of the coin – building an opt-in database is important but not discouraging viewers with forms is also critical.  Consider straddling the fence by making introductory level content all-access and more specific, proprietary information registration required.

We hope these tips give you actionable ways to think about your white papers so you don’t need to bury them before their time.  Think the white paper is yesterday’s news?  Please drop us a line or tweet.

Earlier today, I stepped outside to enjoy some fresh air and pester two of our developers about a few website changes when I noticed they were utterly transfixed by quite a ruckus in the nearby trees.  As I continued to stare, I couldn’t believe what I saw – 12 or more squirrels were chasing each other through the trees and they seemed…well…mad. Really mad, as in the Montagues and Capulets.

These squirrels were chattering, squeaking and flying through the air in what seemed to be a territory dispute.  Amused, we watched them for several minutes.   As I returned to my desk, I began to think about the improbability of watching a full-blown squirrel fight.  Cat fight?  Yes.  A bar fight.  Yep.  Squirrels though?  Not until today.

The whole hilarious (and dramatic) incident made me think about other things I have observed recently that seemed counterintuitive but valuable.  In no particular order, I wanted to share a few marketing truths that fit this category of ‘strange but true’:

1.    Long emails are Ok if the content is compelling. As a marketer, I like using bullet points and keeping it short and sweet.  Earlier this summer, I dug my heels in as a colleague proposed an email marketing campaign that I secretly (or not so secretly) dubbed the Sominex Special.  The email was at least 400 words, lacked bullets and seemed endless.  But we sent it because the content was direct and purposeful.  Guess what?  The click thru rate was an impressive 37%!  Lesson: if the content is great, people will read it and respond.

2.   Share the love. No, I don’t mean it in a dirty way.  The more I participate in forums, comment on Q&A, post answers, etc, I realize that almost all of our marketing automation competitors are using the same places to share expertise and promote themselves.  At times, LinkedIn Q&A can closely resemble a vendor comparison matrix.  But, marketing automation is relevant for companies of all sizes, and that translates to a pretty big pool, so there’s plenty of room for us all.  Lesson: A good attitude and good manners go a long way so play nice.

3.    You don’t need 140 characters to express yourself. About 18 months ago when I started Tweeting, I found the character limitations oppressive.  I would struggle to optimize every Tweet, ensure hash tags were perfectly placed, etc.  These days, if I need to share something socially, I try to keep it to the point and interesting…and 140 characters is plenty of room to accomplish that task. Lesson: don’t use 12 words if you can say it in 5.

4.    Old school marketing still has a place.  Yep, I said it.  Traditional marketing still has a place, and regardless of how much I love online marketing — event sponsorships, chamber of commerce events, speaking engagements, etc. still prove themselves as valuable ways to educate audiences, develop relationships and generate leads.  Lesson: don’t keep all of your marketing eggs in one online basket.

With these thoughts in mind, I think I’ll head outside and see if Squirrels Gone Wild Part II is playing.  Trust me, it’s a great show!  What truths have you seen in your own marketing efforts this summer?  Please comment or Tweet.

“The amount of time people spend online has not increased since last year,” according to a CNET News article sourcing a report released by Forrester.  Perhaps more interesting, however, is the reason for the trend – online behavior is changing. “Engagement with the online channel has deepened,” writes Forrester analyst Jackie Anderson. “Web users are becoming savvier and are better multi-taskers.  Many know exactly where they want to go when they log in.”

While people aren’t necessarily spending more time online, the internet remains an absolutely essential part of everyday business and personal life, so what could explain this static usage?

Online users are becoming smarter, more knowledgeable and putting up with less…well…bologna to get to what they want.  Their need for immediate results has created the demand for quick, easy and (oftentimes) free services and tools that help execute and measure social engagement, marketing campaigns, business processes, news distribution, etc.

That said, we’ve come up with a list of free tools we love that make your life easier, whether you’re creating your company’s next email marketing initiative, researching the competition, or just trying to find out who’s going to your high school reunion (so you can make your “non-biased” decision based on anticipated attendance).

1.    Tiny URL.com (or bit.ly.com)
TinyUrl.com is a free website that enables you to take a paragraph long URL and shorten it into well… a tiny URL.  It is especially useful for tweeting when every character matters.  You can create a login so you can easily see how many clicks your adorable, truncated URLs are receiving.

2.    Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a valuable yet often overlooked tool.  Once you’ve established a Google account, you only need to toggle Alerts and add the keywords you want to track, and the frequency in which you’d like to receive information containing your words or phrases via email.  The Alerts tool is helpful for research, brand monitoring, competitive analysis, or just keeping up with any news item that contains the word, “Britney” (we’re not judging).

3.    Picnik
Picnik is an online application for those of us who don’t have our Adobe Photoshop PhD (or a couple hundred bucks for the software). You can crop, edit, resize or adjust your images and photos including converting them into JPEGs, with a few quick and easy clicks.

4.    Hootsuite
Too many social accounts and too little time?  Use Hootsuite to manage it all for you.  See who is following you, manage lists, schedule tweets for the future, track statistics, customize URLs, and much more.  Plus, let’s be honest, the owl logo is incredibly cute.

5.   Lightscreen
Lightscreen is the open source alternative to its not-so open source counterpart SnagIt.  Lightscreen enables you grab screen captures of your entire screen, specific areas, a scrolling screen shot and more.  And it saves all of your images as editable JPEGs on your desktop.

6.   dBusinessNews
dBusinessNews.com is a daily news site that makes it easy to get free press release or news distribution.  The site is updated on a daily basis, and it has great local and national reach to get your message out…without draining your bank account.

7.   Klout
Ever wondered whether your social media efforts are a bunch of hooey and virtual glad-handing?  Well, Klout has developed a scoring index that measures your reach, amplification and network influence to generate a score or number.  Spark a friendly office rivalry to see who has more clout…according to Klout.

8.    StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is a great social media internet community that promotes sharing and recommending useful web pages, articles, photos and videos.  Users can also post original articles and press releases to distribute company or personal information cost-effectively.

With the speed of communications moving more rapidly every day, and prices increasing faster than you can say, “inflation,” having free and easy tools at your fingertips is just one way we’d like to make your online marketing life easier (and enhance your multimedia search for Britney Spears).

Have a favorite free tool or app that you can’t live without?  Leave a comment or tweet it @NetResults.com.

Email marketing is an extremely cost effective and efficient way to promote your business. Unfortunately, many small businesses are reluctant to engage in email marketing for fear of legal implications surrounding the practice. This post is intended to clearly spell out what elements should be included in your email marketing campaigns (and what should not). Read more

In our latest press release entitled “Net-Results Utilizes Own System to Enhance Website, Trial Conversions” we discuss how we’ve recently revamped our website and trial offer based on actual data we obtained using our own system to track website visitors and send follow-up emails. I’m sure hundreds of SMBs also revamped their website last week, so the emphasis on the story was that we did it using our own tool. I struggled to write the release because I continually kept thinking… “who’s going to care?” and “how can we make this newsworthy?” dz5bgj9ce3 Read more