How to Write and Format a White Paper: The Definitive Guide

Mary Cullen

Table of Contents

What is a white paper, use and value, how to select a white paper topic:, white paper preparation, white paper format, final thoughts.

You’re ready to compile and share your company’s deep knowledge of your industry. A white paper seems like the perfect format. It’s a useful product to highlight your company’s expertise and a valuable tool in marketing.

But, how do you transform your knowledge into white paper content?

White papers are similar but distinct from business reports. In order to write a successful one, you need to understand the difference and include key elements. This article will help you decide if a white paper is right for you, and if yes, how to prepare and produce one.

To write a white paper, thoroughly research a topic and propose a comprehensive solution in a well-structured, factual, and persuasive document.

A white paper should include: 1. Title (accurate but enticing) 2. Abstract (including the Problem Statement) 3. Background (may be detailed and technical or broad and high-level, depending on audience) 4. Solution (the ‘ta-da’ moment of the white paper) 5. Conclusion (the summary of findings) 6. References (using correct industry format)

A white paper is an authoritative document intended to inform the reader on a particular topic fully. It combines expert knowledge and research into a document that argues for a specific solution or recommendation.

The white paper allows the reader to understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision.

White papers are data-centric, text-heavy business documents. Due to a large amount of data and research, white papers are deep reads and tend to have a formal tone.

Businesses write white papers both to record expertise and to market themselves to prospective customers.

White papers are generally written for an audience outside of the business. Therefore, they are a tool to attract readers to the company by offering top-quality, industry knowledge.

However, a white paper is not a sales pitch. It sells the company by highlighting the internal expertise and valuable recommendations, not by bidding for business.

Sales Pitch: 8 Ways ABC Marketing will save money on your social media budget

White paper: Social Media Advertising: Matching marketing needs and platforms

businesswoman-typing-business-summary

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Choosing the right topic is essential to have your white paper read. There are three major factors:

1. Audience

As with any business writing, your audience is your first consideration. The white paper must be written with a target reader in mind. The audience may be long-time customers familiar with the industry or new prospective buyers who are entirely new to the field.

Reflect on the reader’s pain points or major questions. Within these topics, look for ones that have not been fully investigated or the available information is out-of-date.

2. Expertise

Your white paper should match and highlight your company’s expertise.

The entire document should provide a complete investigation, including external research and internal knowledge. The business’s own know-how informs the content that is included and how it is compiled.

3. Problem-based and solution-focused

White papers should identify and address a particular problem. The problem should be relevant and timely in your field. The document may focus on issues such as common dilemmas, new trends, changing techniques, and industry comparison.

The white paper must have a proposed solution or recommendation to answer the problem. This solution is based on thoroughly examining the problem and potential solutions.

The selected topic must be comprehensively researched. Pull information from online references, industry resources, and internal documents. White papers are data-focused, so they should be supported by significant research.

There’s no hard and fast rule on citations but you need to cite any information that is not public knowledge and that you didn’t know before beginning your research. However, understand that the reader’s confidence is likely to increase with an increasing number of cited references.

Of course, all resources must come from authoritative sites. In order to write a valuable document, all research materials must be from credible, reliable sources.

Read other white papers

Are there white papers covering your topic or area already? Read them to determine the knowledge gaps and the opportunities to build on existing content. This review will also ensure that your white paper is novel instead of redundant.

Use a mind-map

It can be overwhelming to keep track of the many sources, ideas, and content involved in preparing a white paper. A helpful organizational tool is the mind-map . A mind-map allows the writer to catalog and connect the many different pieces into one visual overview.

We suggest using the free tool MindMeister to organize your content. It’s simple to use and free.

FreeMind is another alternative but some organizations don't allow it to be used since it must be downloaded.

Don't forget visual elements

When designing a white paper, the written content is most important. However, taking the time to create an aesthetically pleasing design cannot be ignored. It should be remembered that the visuals used can greatly contribute to the overall impact of your white paper. By using visual elements such as images, animations, videos, charts, and graphs that reinforce and illustrate arguments, can greatly increase clarity for the reader while making key points stand out.

White papers generally follow a standard document format. The content order may seem similar to other business reports, but there is one major difference:

A white paper places the conclusion at the end.

Many business communications, such as technical reports or proposals, place the main conclusion at the beginning of the document. This order responds to the desires of the reader and their preference in receiving the information.

In a white paper, the content and research inform the reader and increase their understanding of the problem throughout the document. The final section provides the ‘ta-da!’ moment where the reader now receives the solution which is supported by the evidence in the document.

The reader’s journey and preferences in a white paper and business report differ. The major findings follow suit.

If you’re unsure of these distinctions or are looking to improve your business writing skills, consider enrolling in our online self-paced Technical Report Writing Course (see all of our courses here ).

And, no matter the journey, the document must be easy to understand and include informative headings for easy navigation.

Choose an accurate title

A good title is essential. It should clearly indicate what the reader will learn from the white paper. It should also be enticing.

Bland title example: White paper on Law 123.4 Referencing Environmental Impact Assessments.
Enticing title example: The Rules are Changing: White Paper on the Environmental Impact Assessment Legislation Proposals in 2018

The phrase ‘white paper’ does not necessarily need to be in the title at all. Some audiences are seeking that authoritative indicator. Other readers may be scared off from valuable content because of the term. As always, think of what your audience would prefer.

The abstract offers the reader a brief overview of the white paper’s main points. It allows the reader to ensure they have found a document relevant to their needs. After reading, the reader should be able to know if they are ‘in the right place.’

Problem statement

The problem statement specifies the issue the white paper will address. The problem needs to be defined and placed into a context to ensure it’s understood by the reader.

This section provides the background information required for the audience to grasp the problem and, ultimately, the solution. The content may be detailed and technical or broad and high-level. The content depends on the reader and the problem.

If original research is completed for the white paper, the methods should be communicated.

The ‘ta-da’ moment of the white paper.

Based on the preceding information, the solution is now presented. It is developed and argued for using the gathered evidence and the expertise of the author and their company.

This section summarizes the white paper’s major findings. Recommendations based on the solution are provided.

All sources used to develop the white paper must be collected and cited in this section. It adds validity to the document. It also gives the reader content for further research. Depending on your industry, follow MLA or APA citation formats. 

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Writing a good white paper is not a simple task. However, the investment of time and skill can produce a valuable document that shares your company’s knowledge, contributing to overall education and progress in your industry. And, a good white paper increases business opportunities. As you develop an informational document such as a white paper, it's helpful to strengthen your writing process with our Advanced Business Writing course. 

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White Paper: Purpose and Audience

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A white paper is a certain type of report that is distinctive in terms of purpose, audience, and organization. This resource will explain these issues and provide some other tips to enhance white paper content.

What is a White Paper?

Originally, the term white paper was used as shorthand to refer to an official government report, indicating that the document is authoritative and informative in nature. Writers typically use this genre when they argue a specific position or propose a solution to a problem, addressing the audience outside of their organization. Today, white papers have become popular marketing tools for corporations especially on the Internet since many potential customers search for information on the Web. Corporations use white papers to sell information or new products as solutions that would serve their customers' needs.

The Purpose of a White Paper

Typically, the purpose of a white paper is to advocate that a certain position is the best way to go or that a certain solution is best for a particular problem. When it is used for commercial purposes, it could influence the decision-making processes of current and prospective customers.

What Kind of Problems Do Readers Want to Solve?

The audience for a white paper can be the general public or multiple companies that seek solutions to their problems or needs. Typically, you will not know your audience personally, unlike when you write a recommendation report for your client. And yet, in order to persuade your audience, you need to focus on their needs. If you can address the problems that your readers want to solve, they will read your white paper for a solution. Otherwise, your white paper may not be read. It is important to emphasize your readers' interests rather than your interests, as shown in the example below:

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How to Write a White Paper [Tips & Templates]

By Chau Nguyen , Jun 28, 2023

white paper writing

So, you need to write a white paper.

And not just write it, you need to make it interesting too — especially if your goal is to establish thought leadership or generate leads.

Because here’s the thing: the average human attention span is less than that of a goldfish, so just plopping tons of data and text onto a page and calling it a day won’t work.

If your white paper lacks engagement, your readers may choose to leave. Even if they genuinely require the information, they may encounter difficulties due to excessive text. Moreover, retaining the painstakingly assembled information may become a challenge for them. Utilizing Venngage’s white paper maker can help overcome these obstacles.

In this article, I’ll break down how to write the best white paper for your business, design tips included. (Spoiler: visuals will help you get more engagement!) I’ll also include  white paper templates  you can edit and make your own.

Let’s get started!

Click to jump ahead:

How to structure a white paper, how to write your white paper, how to create a white paper outline, tips for designing an engaging white paper, faqs about white paper writing.

Most white papers follow a standard format that includes a:

Introduction

  • Proposed solution

You may be wondering why there isn’t a problem statement section. After all, a white paper is supposed to dissect and provide solutions to a problem, yes?

Well, you can include the problem statement in the intro — intros explain what a white paper is about. This section is the perfect place to make a case for your white paper.

But of course, there’s no rigid format you should follow to a T. If it works better with your content, feel free to make your Problem Statement a separate section.

Now, let’s look at what you should write in each section with examples:

The title page is straightforward: it includes the title of your white paper and the name of the organization that produced it (or the author’s name).

This government white paper discusses the problem of illegal tobacco trade and proposes several approaches to address it: 

white paper writing

Just so you know, some of our templates are free to use and some require a small monthly fee.  Sign up  is always free, as is access to Venngage’s online drag-and-drop editor.

You can also include a sub-headline under the title to further explain what it’s about: 

white paper writing

The introduction should explain the purpose of the white paper and why the reader should care. It should be interesting (and informative) enough to hook the reader right away and keep them reading.

As mentioned, the introduction also contains your problem statement. In other words, it should provide an overview of the problem you’re trying to address. You don’t need to include too much information here, as that’s the role of the Background section.

Here’s an example:

white paper writing

The author introduces an overview of the problem — phishing scams — which is backed with visualized data that allows readers to grasp its impact at a glance:

data visualization examples in white papers

Related :  How to Visualize Data In Your White Papers

Here’s where you provide background information about the problem you’re discussing. This section tends to be research- and data-heavy.

Let’s revisit our “Approaches to Battling the Illegal Tobacco Trade” white paper. Here’s what the Background section looks like:

white paper writing

The author provides a table that lists the countries where illegal tobacco trading is present, from the least problematic (less than 10% of the industry) to the most (40% and above).

The author also includes some background information on illicit tobacco products, all backed by data:

“Cigarettes account for over 90% by value of tobacco product sales. They are also the most illicitly traded form. Numerous bodies of research indicate that the illicit cigarette trades represents approximately 10%–12% of the total cigarette market — although this varies by country.”

And why illegal tobacco trade is problematic:

“Each year this translates to a loss of government revenues from US$40 to US$50 billion.”

Now, onto the proposed solution.

This could be a product, a service or a course of action. 

This government white paper addresses the sugar consumption crisis among children and proposes a policy to ban the sale of added-sugar products in schools:

white paper writing

Let’s look at another example. This technology white paper proposes a product as a solution: new technology that helps prevent falls in tilted chairs:

white paper writing

No matter what solution you propose, it should be well-supported with evidence. In the white paper above, the author presents elements that make their new technology the solution to fall prevention: 

White paper writing

The conclusion should summarize the main points of the paper and provide recommendations for next steps:

white paper writing

You can also add a call to action here, like “contact the author for more information”. Or if you’re writing a white paper to gather more leads, you can add some information about your business too: 

white paper writing

Note : white papers are academic in nature, so you should use reliable sources to back up your argument and include citations/references as needed.

Return to Table of Contents

Before making your white paper engaging, you first need to make it informative and credible. After all, it’s an important document to establish you as a thought leader in your industry.

Here are some guidelines to ensure the quality of your white paper:

Research your audience and topic well

Think about who will be reading your white paper. Are they actually experiencing the problem you’re trying to solve? Will your solution work for them? How much information will they need to be persuaded?

White papers are authoritative in nature, so people expect them to come with meaningful data from credible sources. Make sure you research your audience and your topic well to know how much data you need to make your case.

If your data comes from primary research, you can include your methodology as well for transparency and credibility:

example of methodology in a white paper

Once you’ve nailed your research and solution, time to deliver all that information the best way you can. The language you use here must be the same as your audience’s: think of all the words and phrases they use often and try to incorporate them into your white paper writing.

You should also consider how people will read your paper — on desktop, on tablet or on mobile.

Mobile accounts for about 50% of global website traffic , reaching nearly 60% in Q2 2022. 

Unless you have enough resources to create a responsive white paper ( like this one! ), you should make sure your document is legible on mobile. This means breaking up your paragraphs into smaller chunks of text and adding plenty of visuals so it’s easier on the eye:

white paper writing

I’ll touch on more tips to make your white paper engaging in the next section, so stay tuned!

Make sure people can scan your content

And to do that, you should break up your text with headings and subheadings. This helps keep your white paper organized and allows your reader to scan through the information easily.

white paper writing

You should also add a Table of Contents after the title page to help readers navigate your paper. Or in this case, the Table of Contents sits right on the first page:

white paper writing

Keep it succinct and to the point

There’s no standard length for this type of content, but a good rule of thumb is to write a white paper that’s around six pages. This should be enough space to do justice to your research and data, without overwhelming your readers.

Plus, it’s always good to be mindful of your audience’s time when creating any type of content.

As white papers ‌provide expertise or a solution to a problem, your audience should be willing to devote a good amount of time and attention to your content… but don’t push your luck!

No matter how interested a reader is in a topic, they’ll drop off eventually if you ramble instead of getting to the point. 

You can follow these ten useful pointers when creating your white paper outline:

  • Define your purpose : Clearly identify the objective of your white paper. Determine what problem you’re addressing or what information you’re providing to your audience.
  • Research and gather information : Conduct thorough research on the topic to gather relevant data, statistics, case studies, or expert opinions. This will help you support your key points and strengthen your arguments.
  • Develop an introduction : Begin your white paper with a compelling introduction that grabs the reader’s attention and provides an overview of the topic. Clearly state the problem or opportunity you’re addressing and briefly outline your proposed solution.
  • Organize main sections and subtopics : Identify the main sections that will structure your white paper. These sections should correspond to the key aspects or steps of your proposed solution. Break each section into subtopics that will be discussed in more detail.
  • Provide supporting evidence : Within each section, present evidence, examples, and data to support your claims and validate your solution. Use clear and concise language to convey your points effectively.
  • Include visuals and graphics : Visual elements such as charts, graphs, diagrams, or infographics can enhance the readability and understanding of your white paper. Incorporate relevant visuals where appropriate to illustrate complex concepts or data.
  • Craft a conclusion : Summarize the main points discussed in the white paper and reiterate the proposed solution. Emphasize the benefits or value that readers can gain from implementing your recommendations.
  • Add an executive summary : Write a concise executive summary at the beginning of your white paper, providing a brief overview of the entire document. This allows readers to quickly grasp the key points and decide if they want to read the full paper.
  • Review and revise : After completing the initial draft, review and revise your white paper for clarity, coherence, and overall effectiveness. Ensure that the information flows logically, the language is concise and engaging, and there are no grammatical or spelling errors.
  • Format and finalize : Format your white paper to make it visually appealing and reader-friendly. Use appropriate headings, subheadings, fonts, and spacing. Consider adding a table of contents for easy navigation. Finally, proofread your document one last time before publishing or sharing it.

Let’s say you’re looking for a white paper on sugar consumption in children. Would you read this:

white paper writing

Needless to say, applying visuals and data visualizations to your white paper makes a big difference. And you don’t need to be a professional designer to do so. Let’s look at some tips for creating an engaging white paper design:

1. Use a white paper template

If you don’t have the design skills to organize your draft into a well-designed document full of visuals, using a template is the way to go.

Venngage offers dozens of  white paper templates  you can edit for your business:

white paper writing

To get started, simply  sign up for a free account , search for a white paper template and edit away.

To make it even easier for you, we’ve made a video walking you through editing a white paper template in Venngage. Check it out here:

2. Add data visualizations to your white papers

If you’ve got yourself some good data, don’t bury it under heaps of text. 

While everyone on your team is busy creating boring Word documents, you can be the creative genius that uses charts and pictograms to craft a visually engaging white paper.

The type of charts you use will depend on the type of data you’re visualizing. We have  a guide to picking what types of charts to use  that can help you there. 

You could use a line graph to show revenue  growth over time . Or you could use  pie charts  to show parts of a whole, like in this policy white paper example:

white paper writing

Pro tip: with our  online graph maker,  you can create better charts and graphs than the standard Excel charts. A plain old bar graph won’t do much to inspire anyone, but a creative chart that tells a story can. 

Pictograms  are also a creative and effective way to visualize statistical data. Take a look at the white paper example below. Pictograms act as visual aids to showcase key statistics and changes in the IT sector:

white paper writing

Don’t be afraid to mix it up. They say variety is the spice of life — and this saying applies to white papers, too! This business white paper design, for example, combines both bar graphs and pie charts:

white paper writing

For more tips on visualizing data for your white paper, check out our post:  How to Visualize Data In Your White Papers

3. Emphasize key points and takeaways with tables and text boxes

Visualizing information or data doesn’t mean just using graphs. When writing a white paper, you can also section off important pieces of information using tables and boxes.

In the white paper template below, the designers used a table to organize key points and takeaways from each main section:

white paper writing

Here’s another example of a white paper layout that uses a table to highlight some key statistics:

white paper writing

Breaking up lengths of text with boxes will help make your white paper easier to read, like in this example:

white paper writing

Which brings us to our next point…

4. Break up chunks of text with visuals

Visuals are perfect for illustrating ideas and emphasizing points.

Don’t be afraid to break up your text with visuals and create some breathing room in your white paper. You can even dedicate a whole page to pictures. Images give the eyes a rest and help reinforce information.

Take this white paper example — it dedicates a whole page to an evocative quote and photo:

white paper writing

Visual headers are also a great way to break up expanses of text while still having the visuals serve a purpose. You can create your own illustrations using icons — this can make for some fun and quirky headers, like in this workplace tech white paper:

white paper writing

5. Allow for plenty of white space on your pages

Speaking of giving your text some room to breathe, make sure you don’t crowd your pages with too much text or images.

Adding white space (or negative space) can help ensure your design isn’t too cluttered. 

Check out how this example uses plenty of white space on nearly every page. The result? An organized and modern white paper design:

white paper writing

6. Use a consistent design that reflects your white paper topic

When you’re designing a multi-page document like a white paper or a report, your pages should have a cohesive look and feel.

(Note: by using a consistent design for your white paper, you’ll achieve  unity  — one of the 13 basic  design principles .)

First, think of the themes reflected in your white paper. Is your white paper about social media engagement? Then using illustrations of birds (“tweeting”) or speech bubbles could work.

A white paper topic focused on establishing a sprint process could use race track visuals instead.

The hiring strategy white paper below uses greenery as the main design theme. Plants reflect the concept of growth associated with recruitment:

white paper writing

7. Incorporate your branding into your white paper design

To improve brand recognition, you need to have  consistent branding  across all marketing collateral. This not only helps your  marketing efforts  but also helps you maintain consistency in your internal and external comms.

Be sure to incorporate your  logo , brand color palettes and fonts into your white paper design.

For business users, Venngage’s  My Brand Kit  makes it easy to save your logos, brand color palettes and brand fonts for later. Then, you can easily apply them to your designs with one click. 

For example, you could change the colors of this white paper template… 

white paper writing

…to this: 

white paper writing

Try thinking of creative ways to incorporate your  branding . 

This white paper design, for instance, extends the use of its signature color beyond standard headers and icons. It actually applies a transparent color overlay to the images, adding a punch of color and reinforcing its brand palette in an unexpected way:

white paper writing

We have plenty more white paper design tips in our post on the top 20+ white paper examples you can use for your business. Check it out here: 20+ Page-Turning White Paper Examples [Design Guide + White Paper Templates]

What is a white paper?

A white paper is a well-researched, in-depth report that discusses a problem and proposes a solution to that problem. Here’s an example:

white paper writing

Typically backed up with lots of data and persuasive, factual evidence, quality white papers address complex concepts or problems, making them essential for any content marketing strategy.

For more information on the origin of white papers (including why they’re called “white papers” in the first place!), read our post:  What is a White Paper? 15 White Paper Examples to Get Started .

What is the purpose of a white paper?

White papers often have original research to back them up, and take a strong stance on what needs to be done to solve a problem.

In other words, white papers advocate for the best solution to a particular problem, making them authoritative by nature. Which makes sense given that they’re often used by the government, like in this example:

white paper writing

But as more and more businesses ‌use white papers, their purpose has changed a little. 

They’re still an authoritative source of information, but rather than just to inform or educate, white papers can also influence an audience’s decision-making process.

This marketing white paper, for example, aims to persuade businesses to market themselves effectively in order to attract talent:

white paper writing

Companies can also use white papers to show that their product or service can best solve their customers’ problems. Of course, they still need to back their claims with research and evidence.

white paper writing

A cyber security company could use this white paper to showcase their expertise and offerings in order to drum up more business.

Make sure your white paper is not only informative but also engaging!

Remember how the average human attention span has dropped to below that of a goldfish?

Even when a reader is interested in the topic of your white paper and plans to devote a good chunk of their time reading it, they may still bounce if your content is too dense (read: walls of text).

So make sure you think of your audience when you write your white paper and follow our design tips to keep them engaged.

And remember, you can create a professional, well-designed white paper using one of Venngage’s white paper templates. It’s free to get started!

The 2024 Ultimate Guide: How to Write and Format a White Paper

The step by step guide to succeeding with white paper marketing.

Frame 16 (1)

  • 1 What is a white paper?
  • 2. White paper examples
  • 3 How to write a white paper
  • 4 Mistakes a white paper should avoid
  • 5 White paper Format
  • 6 Gating your white papers
  • 7 White paper distribution
  • 8 Handling your white paper leads
  • 9 Choosing the right white paper template
  • 10 Final thoughts

Introduction

White papers are a popular and powerful tool for content marketers. They can be used to position your company as a thought leader and authority on a subject by presenting useful and persuasive research findings and information about your products and services, White papers can also be used as a powerful asset to generate more leads when the information is valuable enough for readers to submit their personal details in order to access your findings. This ultimate guide will teach you everything you need to make white paper marketing a formidable addition to your content marketing strategy . 

How to Write and Format a White Paper Infographic

1. What is a white paper?

A white paper is an in-depth report or guide about a specific topic and the problems that surround it. It is meant to educate readers and help them to understand and solve an issue.

In the world of marketing, a white paper is a long-form piece of content , similar to an eBook . The difference between the two is that white papers tend to be more technical and in depth. The facts and opinions expressed in white papers are often backed by original research or statistics that the publisher has aggregated from reliable sources. They often include charts, graphs, tables, and other ways of visualizing data. 

The term "white papers" originated in England as government-issued documents. One famous example is the Churchill White Paper , commissioned by Winston Churchill in 1922.

Today, the term is most commonly applied to “deep dive” style publications. Businesses — especially in the consulting, financial, or B2B sectors — use them to communicate their organization’s philosophy on a topic, make the case for the superiority of their product, or simply to present research findings related to their field.

White papers are no less editorial than other forms of content, but the depth of research lends them an authoritative tone. For this reason, they are good candidates for promoting thought leadership .

Who uses white papers?

In the past, white papers were most often produced by governmental agencies, NGOs, think tanks, consultancies, and financial institutions that needed to present the findings of their ongoing research in a succinct format.

With the widespread growth and adoption of content marketing (the creation and distribution of non-promotional content intended to generate interest in a business and its offerings), white papers have become more common in other industries as well. Any organization that engages in content marketing can benefit from producing white papers.

Their popularity across industries is due to their versatility. While all white papers have certain elements in common, a B2B startup will use them differently than a large consultancy, and both will use them differently from a governmental organization.

Types of white papers

There are numerous types of white papers a business might publish.

  • One type is the backgrounder , in which the benefits of their product, service, or methodology are explained in depth.
  • Another is a problem-solution approach, which walks the audience through the solution to a problem that is common in their industry.

Other types of white papers simply present a summary of useful statistics and information about the state of a particular field or industry. An example of this would be the Content Marketing Benchmarks Budgets and Trends from the Content Marketing Institute.

Whatever type you produce , the contents of your white paper should serve to showcase your expertise in a given area. Your audience is searching for an information document, and will look for an authoritative source — a business they perceive as having in-depth knowledge of a subject.

The contents of your white paper should serve to showcase your expertise in a given area.

The purpose of a white paper

White papers enable you to build trust with your audience. They show readers that you're reliable, experienced, and adept in a given domain. When potential customers search for an informational document to help them understand a problem or opportunity they're facing, and you provide them with a quality white paper that helps, they'll turn to you again in the future.

This perception of authority can also serve to boost sales in an organization. More than half the respondents to the Eccolo Media B2B Technology Content Survey reported having read a white paper before making a buying decision. Buyers prefer to purchase from vendors they trust and see as experts in their field.

Finally, white papers are extremely useful for lead generation . The Content Preferences Survey from DemandGen found that more than three-fourths of survey respondents were willing to exchange personal information for a white paper — more than for eBooks , case studies, analyst reports , podcasts, brochures , or infographics.

With all of these potential benefits, utilizing white papers in your content marketing strategy can produce great results.

More than three-fourths of survey respondents were willing to exchange personal information for a white paper.

2. White paper examples

When you think about white papers, you probably think of PDF articles with thousands of words. But times are changing and so is the way we produce and consume content.

Nowadays, every marketing collateral (including white papers) needs to be well written, well structured, and designed for every type of visitor. 

Here are some great examples of white papers doing exactly that. 

White paper example - CodinGame

This unique one-pager presenting findings from the Developers at Work Survey demonstrates how a white paper should be done. The animated, interactive data charts show off just what's possible with our embed feature.

Open white paper example #1  

White paper example - BDO GDPR

Privacy and the GDPR - BDO

This well-produced special edition produced by BDO and creative agency Monte Media does an incredible job of turning a conventionally dull topic into a piece of content that's engaging and comes to life.

Open white paper example #2

White paper example - content-marketing-strategy

This white paper is a step by step guide to succeeding with content marketing.

See more  white paper examples

Start creating white papers with Foleon

3. How to write a white paper

Starting a white paper can be a daunting task. So much information and research are required that it’s easy to get lost in that portion of the work and let it become a roadblock to actually putting things on paper.

Even after the writing itself has begun, white papers are tricky to do well. Simply listing statistics without some form of narrative arc is a surefire way to keep your white paper from ever being read. Luckily, following a few simple guidelines can help keep a white paper engaging and make the process of finishing it much easier.

Pick the right topic

This might seem obvious, but without a topic that resonates with your audience, your white paper is not likely to be read. When choosing the right topic, you should consider three important criteria:

  • It should be something you are qualified to write about.
  • It should be something your audience is interested in.
  • It should address a topic around which little content has been written already and thus fill a " content gap ."

Naturally, finding a topic that brings points 1 and 2 together is vital. White papers are meant to be authoritative pieces of content based upon the author's experience and expertise, so it's important to write about what you know . But you must match this to the interests of your readers if you're to produce something they'll be eager to engage with .

Don't be afraid to crowdsource information from within your organization. If the topic of a white paper is related to engineering, why not interview an engineer or have them look over what you’ve written? The same goes for other roles. Crowdsourcing knowledge means having the power of a true expert in many fields.

Finally, filling a "content gap" will help your white paper get noticed and gain traction. By addressing a topic no one else has written about definitely, your white paper will be more likely to rank highly on search engines and even be featured elsewhere on the web.

Pro tip: You can even ask your audience what they would like to see in your upcoming white paper. You'll get ideas, make your topic more relevant, and you'll generate buzz around your content even before it's finished. In fact, we used the same method for this guide!

white paper promotion slack

Define your audience

Defining your audience goes hand in hand with choosing the right topic. But moving beyond your audience's interests, it’s important to think of the kinds of people who will be reading your white paper.

  • Are they fellow professionals, well versed in your subject?
  • Are they likely to be reading something they are relatively unfamiliar with?

Knowing this helps establish the voice you should use and whether industry-specific jargon is appropriate. It also narrows the scope of the research you should include. It’s always important to ensure all arguments are logically sound and well supported, but the stats and information presented should be relevant to the specific audience you're targeting.

Part of defining an audience in the age of Google centers around how people will find the white paper. This means thinking about which platforms specific personas use for research and what search terms they put in. Not only will this help a white paper get found by the right people, but it is useful when outlining the white paper later on.

Optimizing for keywords is important, but remember to write for people, not for search engines. Google is getting better all the time at understanding and matching search intent with relevant content . This has become particularly important with the advent of AI-powered language models which can produce long-form content at scale. 

Wrap it in a great intro and outro

Ad with all good writing, your intro should serve to captivate your audience, pique their curiosity, and entice them to read further. It's good practice to provide a brief summary of what they'll find in the white paper and to emphasize exactly what benefit they'll get from reading it.

Your outro is equally important, especially if you're using your white paper to market your products or services. You should avoid any self-promotion in the body of your white paper, but you can certainly mention your relevant product offerings and how to obtain them — perhaps using a compelling call-to-action — at the end.

Pack it with value

White papers are not meant to be advertisements for your company, and you should avoid any overt promotion. Instead, you should provide plenty of useful information that will be valuable to readers even if they don't become customers. Emphasizing value is the key to a great white paper that will get shared and widely read.

Remember, white papers serve to showcase your expertise as a company or brand in a given field. Your readers should come away having learned something useful and with the impression that you're a reliable source of expert information. As pointed out earlier, generating this kind of reputation will lead to greater business success as buyers are more likely to purchase from companies they trust.

Emphasizing value is the key to a great white paper that will get shared and widely read.

Don’t be scared of multiple drafts

No first draft is ever a finished work. Elizabeth Bishop, the renowned and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, wrote seventeen drafts of her poem “One Art” before it was completed. It’s now considered one of the best villanelles ever written .

While a white paper may not need seventeen drafts, there will undoubtedly be points missed and logical inconsistencies in the first version. Finishing a draft, stepping away, and coming back to it with a fresh mind is the best way to ensure quality. If there’s another good writer at your company, getting another set of eyes on it is even better.

Keep it interesting

White papers should be more detailed and thorough than blog posts or eBooks . This may cause them to be more dry and formal, but this doesn't mean they have to be boring.

A trap that white papers easily fall into is using statistics as a crutch and not maintaining interest throughout. Technical as it may be, you still want your white paper to be read. To make this happen, it’s useful to borrow techniques from fiction and creative nonfiction writers.

There are lots of resources for learning about a plot, but generally, it has five parts, as illustrated in Freytag’s pyramid:

White paper plot design

These won’t always correspond perfectly in a factual piece of writing like a white paper, but they can get you thinking about how to create and hold interest. Use those ideas to keep readers’ attention until the very end.

4. Mistakes a white paper should avoid

There are some pitfalls and common mistakes to avoid when writing a white paper. Each of these has the potential to make an otherwise stellar piece of content into a wasted effort. Here's a brief list of things to look out for.

Sounding like a sales pitch

When white papers are used as part of a marketing campaign where businesses showcase their product, a common mistake is to make them sound like a sales pitch . Don't let this happen; it will immediately turn your readers off. In a white paper, your audience is seeking unbiased, educational information that will help them, not try to persuade them. Save the sales pitches for other content, like product brochures .

Lack of adequate research

As previously mentioned, white papers should be well-researched documents. It’s true that conducting lengthy original research may be outside a marketing team’s budget, but merely including a few stats from the first page of a Google search simply won’t cut it.

Aggregating statistics and searching through scholarly work may take time, but the result will be worth it. For your white paper to achieve its intended effect, It’s important to establish your content as an authoritative source to which the audience would want to return.

Poor design

We'll go in-depth into design in the next section, but it's worth mentioning here. The written content of a white paper is what matters most, but neglecting design is a big mistake. Design makes your salient points stand out and helps the reader understand what they're reading. Using visuals (like images, animations , videos, charts, and graphs) that support your arguments is crucial.

Check out this white paper example built with Foleon!. Open the white paper

Not telling a story

White papers are informative and factual. We’ve driven that point home already. That doesn’t mean they should be boring. Backgrounders, problem-solution white papers, and research findings all have a story to tell, and the reader is far less likely to make it through the entire piece without some form of narrative to keep them engaged. Setting up a problem, elaborating on a solution, and including some type of success story is a proven formula for making any type of content more story-like.

Leaving it abstract

Because most white papers will involve sharing research findings, it can be easy to leave them in the realm of theory without explaining how to utilize those findings on a practical level. This is true more of backgrounders but can be the case with problem-solution white papers as well.

A good example is the abundant amount of content on employee engagement. Many B2B cases have covered the importance of employee engagement and the pitfalls of getting it wrong. Too little of this content goes further and gives concrete examples of what companies in specific verticals can do to alleviate the problem.

5. White paper format

Before addressing anything else, we first need to talk about the format you'll use.

A picture is no longer worth a thousand words. Today, its value is in the number of eyeballs it can keep glued to your content and the ratio of those viewers it convinces to click through to other sections of your website.

Your carefully crafted copy and painstakingly gathered statistics won’t earn those clicks on their own. The average human attention span is now less than that of a goldfish . And with 3.3 million Facebook posts, 448,800 tweets, and 149,513 emails sent every minute , competition for your readers' attention is intense, to say the least. Long form mediums like the white paper need serious sparkle just to compete.

How to format a white paper

You'll need more than just black text on a white background. Your design choices regarding things like color, typography, and the use of visuals will play a prominent role in the success of your white paper. Here are a few important principles to keep in mind for creating a quality white paper design.

Keeping mobile visitors in mind

More than 54% of internet traffic is now mobile , and web designers have adapted to this trend by creating what's known as responsive design . Before this, web pages simply scaled according to the size of a user's screen, retaining their layout. Naturally, this made most pages both unreadable and unnavigable on smaller devices.

Responsive design solved this by allowing elements on a page to rearrange, resize, or be completely hidden from view in response to the size of the screen. When a smaller screen is used, font-sizes increase, buttons become larger for touch screens, and the entire layout adjusts to make the page mobile-friendly.

But while this has become standard for web designers in a mobile-first world, producers of other digital content assets like white papers have generally not adapted . Surprisingly, most companies that offer white papers and eBooks on their websites still use PDF format .

The problem with PDFs is that they're unreadable on smaller screens . They're fixed-layout documents — they can't adjust or adapt to different screen sizes. Reading them on a mobile device requires excessive zooming and panning around, which is a terrible experience for users.

Mobile traffic is ever-increasing. If you decide to produce your white paper as a PDF , you risk excluding this vast segment of your audience. It's a design mistake that will cost you views and conversions.

Responsive white paper example - NGData

See examples of responsive white papers

Emphasis and readability

Because in-depth white papers contain lots of text and visuals, as well as supplementary information like footnotes, figures, logos and copyright info, the danger is that your design becomes cluttered. Clutter accumulates before you realize it. You may choose a clean layout and color scheme, to begin with, but as you continue to add content, things can get crowded. Often, you must make tough choices about what not to include to strike the right balance between completeness and readability.

Good design makes bold choices and prioritizes important information. These choices and priorities affect layout, placement, color, font size, page order and more. Use these design elements to create emphasis on vital pieces of information. But be careful. Emphasizing too many pieces of information — or too few — will cause readers to struggle to discern what’s important.

Good design makes bold choices and prioritizes important information.

Have a look at what's trending

Bold fonts and color schemes are in. If you look at the hippest tech companies right now, you’ll see lots of pastels and color gradients. Of course, all that might change tomorrow. But still, a great way to get inspiration when you're just starting is to take a look at what design trends are currently popular.

U2's frontman, Bono, sings "every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief." And he's right. Good designers are always drawing inspiration from other designers. The best way to create a successful design is to spend a lot of time looking at what others are doing successfully. Use Evernote , or a bookmarking service to save white papers and other exceptional designs that you encounter for future reference.

Don’t know where to start looking? Dribbble and Behance are two networks where great designers share their latest work. They consistently have material that’s on the cutting edge of what’s trending.

Design for your audience

While trends may inspire you, it's more important to align your design with your audience and your subject matter.

  • Will you be addressing suit-and-tie financial executives or blue-collar management at construction firms?
  • Are you writing about changes to privacy regulations in the tech industry, or about the effects of farming on biodiversity?

White paper format and design

Your design should support and strengthen your topic. The colors and typography should be consistent with what you're writing about, the tone you've chosen, and the audience you've defined. Writing a white paper for a funeral parlor? Hot-pink headlines might be a bad choice. Taking color psychology into account can help you achieve the look and feel you're after.

Brush up on the basics

No prior knowledge of design? No problem.

If you don’t have a designer working with you in-house, you can still teach yourself the basics of design and check work against those principles. A big part of the battle is knowing the search terms that will get you the knowledge you need. Luckily, good primers on basic graphic design are abundant.

After doing a bit of reading, start creating. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. If you create a white paper and don’t like the design, try to pinpoint what it is about the design that needs improvement. After the reading you’ve done, you’ll have the tools to critique your own work and the work of others. This is the best way to improve and create well designed white papers.

Choosing the right tools

At Foleon, we pride ourselves on providing a tool that makes creating responsive digital white papers easy, even for those with no prior graphic design experience.

Choosing a tool like this, which takes the guesswork out of design, will shorten the time it takes for you to produce great white papers. There is a vast ecosystem of tools out there, each of which is geared toward a different purpose and skillset. The right one will enable you as both a designer and a writer.

See how you can scale engaging content creation .

6. Gating your white papers

For most companies, lead generation and growing lists of contacts for the sales and marketing teams are important activities. Attracting visitors to your site and offering them something of value in exchange for their contact information is a proven method for filling the top of your funnel.

But for this type of inbound marketing to work, two things are needed: exceptional content that visitors are eager to acquire, and a method for gating (or walling off) that content behind a form.

Gated white paper

Many brands skip the first part and move straight to the second. They quickly produce something mediocre and put it behind a form. This might work in the short term for generating lists, but keep in mind that users expect more from content they “pay” for. The quality of your gated content serves as an indicator of the quality of your brand will affect your ability to turn prospects into customers down the road.

So how do white papers fit into your b2b content marketing funnel ? They may act either as lead generation tools themselves or can be used to direct readers to other parts of a website that captures lead information.

What is gated content?

Walling expert content off behind a form designed to capture personal details is one of the most common techniques for generating leads. Gated content is any content that a reader cannot access until after they input some personal information, such as their name and email address. White papers and eBooks are two of the most common types of content used for this purpose.

Typically, a company will create a landing page that includes a description — and perhaps a preview — of what information readers can expect to find inside. The landing page will include a form for visitors to enter their personal information and thus gain access. After entering the required information, visitors are either presented with a download button or receive the gated content in their inbox.

There are plenty of variations on this formula, but the basic technique of providing “free” content and asking readers to “pay” by providing their personal information has been very important part of content marketing for a long time.

To gate or not to gate

While gating your best content is great for lead generation, there are some drawbacks as well. Walling off your white paper will mean it gets read by fewer people as not everyone is willing to give away their contact details.

An open-access white paper will be read by a wider audience. If it’s in-depth and authoritative, it may also do well organically and improve your search rankings. Gating it behind a form, however, will prevent search engines from indexing it.

It’s important to consider what the primary goal of your white paper is: disseminating information and gaining brand awareness or generating leads. If the latter is more important, then gating is a great option.

Semi-gating

Another variation on gated content — and one that’s growing in popularity — is semi-gating . This can give you the best of both worlds by allowing your white paper to reach a wider audience while still retaining the ability to generate leads.

Semi-gating gives readers a taste of your white paper without requiring them to give up any info. You can, for example, make the first few pages of your white paper open access, and then make visitors fill in a form to read more. This works well because digital content is so abundant and brands must offer more for free or risk visitors turning elsewhere.

Allow your white paper to reach a wider audience while still retaining the ability to generate leads.

Offering more content for free also builds trust and brand loyalty among your readers. Let them know your white papers are valuable and helpful, and they’ll be more interested in giving you their personal information. You’re also more likely to gain qualified leads if readers have a chance to sample your white paper before converting.

Of course, semi-gating doesn’t mean giving away your entire white paper. Typically, there’s at least one section of the white paper that is exclusive to those who go through the gating process. Semi-gating can help reach a wider audience, build trust and loyalty, increase lead quality, and still help you capture the contact information you need.

There’s a concept in marketing and design known as friction . Friction is anything that causes the sales process to slow down. It’s like a roadblock that makes it less likely prospects will convert, sign up, download, or purchase. It can be caused by a multitude of things including poor design, confusing navigation, subpar copy, too many form fields, and more.

Your ability to generate leads with a gated white paper will largely depend on how much friction is involved. Asking for more information than you really need is one common and unnecessary source of friction that can lead to losing potential readers.

The entire field of conversion rate optimization is geared toward removing friction — or making user interactions easier. CRO specialists make forms simpler, navigation more intuitive, and design CTAs that are more likely to be clicked. Optimizing your landing page for conversions is a vital part of any lead generation campaign.

But the reality is, asking for personal information will always be an obstacle for a large number of people. So the key here is to make the process easy and noninvasive as possible.

An excellent way to do this is by reducing the number of form fields to the bare minimum and using mid-gating to ensure your ask is timely and yields immediate value for the reader: "Fill out this form to get access to the rest of this white paper, we've saved the best for last!".

Create white papers and eBooks that integrate with your favorite CRM or marketing automation platform. Get started

7. White paper distribution

So, after following the tips in this guide, you create an engaging, informative white paper that inspires readers to take action and deepen their relationship with your company. You mid-gate (or semi-gate) it to capture readers’ information and gain valuable insight into the interests and demographics of your consumer base.

Now, you publish it on your website, sit back, and wait for your Pulitzer.

Only, the traffic never comes… Where did you go wrong? You didn't think about your white paper distribution strategy . 

The importance of distribution

The internet isn’t the same as it once was. Thanks to the massive amount of content produced every day for and an ever-growing number of channels, it’s a lot harder to get noticed. Unless you’re Gabriel García Márquez back from the dead, simply writing something and posting it online doesn’t guarantee readership.

To get eyes on your white paper, you need to be smart not only about writing and design but distribution as well. Some content marketing thought leaders go so far as to claim that you should spend 20% of your time on content creation and 80% on promotion.

Distribution is all about identifying traction channels where your ideal customers consume content and making your white paper highly visible on those channels. Depending on the audience you defined in the beginning, some will be more relevant for you than others.

Social promotion

If you’re at all familiar with marketing, advertising, or online media, chances are you’re aware of how important social media is to visibility. People from all walks of life, and from all over the world, are on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Ensuring that you share your content regularly on these platforms will give you a solid base of promotion on which to build.

But it's not enough to simply write a post and tweet it into the void. Try to find communities like Facebook and LinkedIn groups where your target audience is likely to congregate. Search for relevant hashtags on Twitter and Instagram . Find subreddits relevant to your industry.

Once you’ve found your audience, it’s much easier to connect with them. If you contribute to these spaces regularly, you’ll have an easier time keeping their attention and distributing your white paper.

Influencers and earned media

Public relations isn’t what it once was; influencer marketing has taken its place as the way to get noticed by the masses.

These days, influencers — people with large, engaged followings on social media and newsletters — are better equipped to amplify your content than traditional journalists. They play a growing role in shaping public opinion and even in setting business trends . Shares from an influencer can even help you land spots in major publications the way press releases used to.

Social media is the best place to find influencers in your vertical. When you investigate the best communities in which to promote your white paper, look for the content that people are already referencing and sharing. Eventually, you’ll start to get a picture of who’s putting out content that’s getting widespread traction. These are the people whose voices can amplify your brand.

Start by interacting with them. Begin a conversation, comment on their pieces with regularity, and give them feedback on their work. There are great tools, like Voila Norbert and ContactOut , to help you quickly track down email addresses.

After building enough rapport, try offering to collaborate on future white papers or other types of content. This process can take some time because your goal here is to build a relationship.

Eventually, you can ask an influencer to share your white paper. You might even consider quoting them in the white paper itself — anything that gives them an incentive to share your work is helpful.

Pro tip: Try to find an expert in your white paper related subject and interview them. It will add value to your white paper and you'll increase the chance that the expert shares your content with his or her extensive network.

Email marketing

The jungle of online content may thicken daily, but there are a few places you can still get readers’ attention. Email distribution has stood the test of time in this regard. It provides greater ROI than social , and it shows no signs of weakening.

If the purpose of your white paper is lead generation, email marketing will not be applicable. But for boosting sales, building trust, and establishing your brand as a trustworthy source of information, it's important not to neglect your existing contact base.

Although email may not have the appealing viral possibilities associated with social media, it does have other advantages. Namely, anyone who subscribed to your email list chose to be there. This means you can expect a higher level of engagement from this audience than those who come in via other channels. Capitalize on their loyalty and engagement by encouraging contacts to share your white paper with their networks and thus multiply your distribution efforts.

This was discussed in the previous section, but it's worth mentioning again here: another big advantage of Foleon's gating features is that when your existing contacts share your white paper with their contacts, those people will be confronted with a login form that will allow you to capture their info and expand your email list further.

Going beyond the basics

The techniques discussed above are essential items in your white paper distribution toolbox. However, they’re not the only ones. The best way to distribute your white paper depends largely on your target audience and the industry to which your content speaks.

Take some time to critically evaluate and research how knowledge is shared in your industry. Every industry will be slightly different. Reaching people in these places is the best guarantee of effective distribution.

8. Handling your white paper leads

As we've discussed, white papers can serve a variety of objectives. They’re commonly used for thought leadership and to disseminate important research, relevant to a specific industry.

When it comes to content marketing, however, the most common use for white papers over the last several years has become lead generation. In chapter 6, we discussed how to bring readers to your white paper and capture their information.

Once you've properly gated your white paper and set up a solid distribution strategy, it's time to think about how you'll handle the leads that come in. If not properly tracked and nurtured, leads will quickly become cold and won't lead to increased sales for your company. So how do you follow up with leads and maximize the opportunity you’ve created with your white paper?

How to track your white paper leads

The buyer’s journey outlines the steps a person goes through, from becoming aware of a problem they have, to learning about different solutions to that problem, to eventually purchasing a product or service (hopefully yours) that solves their problem.

White paper customer journey

To maximize the chances your new leads become paying customers, you must take the abstract concept of a buyer’s journey and map it to your specific content ecosystem. The actions your prospects take on your website can be indicative of what stage of the journey they're in.

For example, you may see someone read a blog post on your site, then come back a day later to get your white paper, and then finally sign up for a free trial or an email list. After that, they might decide to make a purchase. As patterns begin to emerge around the journey your customers take, you'll learn what actions on your part can help them to advance.

There are many tools available to help you analyze this journey for yourself. Google Analytics is probably the most widely used. It lets you track and compile data regarding user behavior on your website. You can define goals and generate reports that will show you steps users tend to take before completing those goals.

Targeting stages of the buyer’s journey

As it becomes more clear what actions visitors take before purchasing, you'll better understand where to use your white paper in the buyer's journey.

The question you should seek to answer is, where does it provide the most value to your potential customers? Do you see greater success when accessing your gated white paper is a prospect's first interaction with your company? Or is it perhaps more effective to use it as an offer once visitors have returned a second (or third) time to your site?

You can see that white papers don't exist in isolation but act as a member of an ecosystem. The related blog posts, landing pages, emails, social messages, and follow up sequences must all be carefully orchestrated and properly timed.

This process takes practice. It takes trial and error, and you must be a keen observer of trends . However, that effort will pay off.

...white papers don't exist in isolation but act as a member of a content ecosystem.

Following up with your leads

Depending on where in the buyer's journey you use your white paper, the way you'll want to follow up with leads will be different.

  • If, for example, your white paper targets the awareness stage and the leads you gather are relatively unfamiliar with your company, it might be smart to enroll them in an email sequence that highlights other pieces of content on your site such as blog posts that are relevant to the topic they showed interest in.
  • If your white paper is for people in the consideration stage, and leads are already familiar with what you have to offer, you might consider following up by sending them special offers or exclusive deals — again, closely related to the topic of interest.
  • If you're taking a highly targeted approach to distribution and using your white paper to generate hot leads that you think are already close to making a purchasing decision, the best way to follow up might be for a sales representative to reach out directly by phone.

This is what it means to nurture leads. By proactively keeping in touch with leads and offering them more relevant content, you maximize the likelihood of them becoming a customer.

9. Choosing the right white paper template

In 2021, Hubspot reported that 82% of marketers actively invest in content marketing. Thus, the need to create interactive content experiences that stand out amongst your competitors has never been more critical in your content marketing strategy as the volume of published white papers grows yearly. 

For this reason, the visual representation of your white paper has become increasingly crucial for retaining your audience's interest. In addition to the value your white paper content provides your audience, the single most significant factor at your disposal to maintain content engagement is how your white paper is visually presented. 

For whitepapers, the white paper template you opt for to present your content can significantly influence the success of your publication. The template is more than just a matter of aesthetics; it represents a strategic decision that affects user engagement, experience, and even how your brand is perceived.

Below are some factors you should carefully weigh when choosing your white paper template .

Target audience and content

The two biggest influences that will determine the selection of your white paper template are your target audience and the purpose of your content. 

For example, if you create an annual report that provides Financial Services information or a research piece exploring trends in Software & IT salaries, you’ll want to use a template that easily represents data-rich elements such as tables and eye-catching statistics. In contrast, visually-oriented templates containing hi-res imagery or videos are better suited for online catalogs or digital magazines . 

Think about your target audience's needs and how your template's layout can optimize your content's engagement. 

Creative control with flexible features 

You’ll get the most value out of your interactive white paper with a content creation platform that allows you to harness professionally designed white paper templates that are easy to use and fully customizable with a drag-and-drop interface. This will allow everyone in your team to create content quickly with no coding experience required. 

Custom templates set your white paper up for success by providing a starting foundation to help guide the layout and structure of your content. Custom features allow you to design your white paper any way you like by quickly changing blocks, fonts, and colors according to your brand guidelines with the added ability to add or remove sections. 

Mobile experience and device responsiveness

As of September 2023, over 55% of website traffic is from mobile devices. Therefore, it is essential that your white paper is responsive across all devices. 

Most content creation platforms have integrated tools that automatically adapt your content to different screen sizes. However, to ensure the best possible user experience, you should always test your white paper on multiple devices as part of your content creation process before publishing.

Finally, website speed is one of the most significant factors influencing user experience and playing a pivotal role in organic rankings. According to section.io , 32.3% of visitors bounce from a webpage if it takes more than 7 seconds to load. Ensuring that your content creation platform and hosting services are optimized for website performance is critical in maximizing your readership when choosing your white paper template.

10. Final thoughts

Be prepared to write a lot more content.

By this point, you should have all the ingredients you need to make your white paper a rousing success. However, you’ll notice by now the reality that your white paper fits into a larger ecosystem of marketing actions and content.

In today’s business world, producing quality content is one of the best ways to get your target market's attention. But not everyone will be ready for the same piece of content at the same time.

From white papers to blog posts, to podcasts, the type of content that will drive conversions for your business is something you'll discover over time. What’s certain is that one type won't satisfy all your audience's needs. Because of that, you should be prepared to fill the rest of your buyer’s journey with other appropriate content.

This means lots of writing. There’s no way around that. It means coming up with content ideas, creating them, distributing them, and measuring their success — then rinsing and repeating. After this primer, you should be fully equipped for success writing not only white papers but whatever content you choose along your journey.  

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guide to writing a white paper

White Paper: What Is It & How To Write One [With Examples]

Creating a white paper is a quick way to build your expert image, get a ton of shares and mentions of your company on other blogs and social media, and generate leads online.

But creating a white paper is a daunting process that often requires conducting additional research, interviewing experts, and involving specialists in writing and putting it together.

In this article, we will explain what makes an excellent white paper and how to create it stress-free.

What is a White Paper?

A white paper is a form of content that aims to position a brand as a thought leader in the industry and build trust among interested parties—potential buyers of its products or services.

White papers are usually backed with solid research and contain original findings on a specific subject. The subject covered in the white paper is often the one where the company or brand can show extensive expertise.

White papers are often written from either perspective:

  • Presenting a background of a subject and covering all related specifics and trends
  • Showing solutions to a specific problem and equipping the audience with the right tools to solve a particular issue.

White papers are widely used in B2B but are not limited to this domain. These days, any company or brand can benefit from creating a white paper.

There are at least two main benefits that white papers bring to any company using this type of content in their strategy— lead generation and brand building . So how can you create a white paper that helps reach these two goals? Let’s explore.

guide to writing a white paper

Tips on Writing a Good White Paper

White papers are not another guide compiled from information taken from Internet sources. Instead, a good white paper is original content that no one has ever covered.

That’s why writing a white paper is quite demanding and involves documented research and interviews with key players in the field.

Here are some tips to make working on creating and promoting a white paper more accessible for you.

1. Choose the right topic for a white paper

Your white paper topic shouldn’t be a random choice. Start by outlining the areas where you have the most expertise, researching how well those topics are covered, and looking for content gaps—your best content opportunity.

If no one has adequately covered a topic or subject within your area of expertise, this is a good place to start.

Ryan Carruthers, Content Marketing Manager at Together , says:

Our process for writing white papers is to compare our highest traffic and highest converting blogs. If these topics are driving a lot of awareness or even bringing in revenue, we should probably be developing thought leadership around it. We'll dig into these high value blogs and then consider the wider context they sit within. Then we'll dig a lot deeper into the topic as a white paper. For example, if we have a blog on employees who are thinking about their long term career goals and it generates a lot of traffic for us, perhaps it would make sense to put together a white paper on the trending skills or career trends for employees in a certain industry or demographic.

Apart from covering a content gap online, your topic should also meet the needs of your audience and be engaging.

2. Research your target reader

Before writing even a paragraph of your white paper, define your audience. Take some time to look at their demographics, motivations, objections, challenges, etc. Then, you can use the following template to do your persona homework .

buyer persona worksheet template

Putting yourself in your persona’s shoes will help you choose the right tone of voice for your white book and include relevant information for your target audience.

3. Structure your white paper and brainstorm contributors

When you have a rough idea about the topic and persona, it’s time to outline your guide and become more specific on the content of a white paper. Next, you can break it down into chapters, and once your overall structure is ready, proceed to the outline of each chapter.

You might want to consider what research you’d need for every chapter and whether you're going to involve your partners or other industry thought leaders in creating the white paper.

For example, you can choose to interview some experts both within your organization and outside of it. Next, you can quote them in the white paper and encourage the experts to distribute the white paper in their network.

Tip: Using StoryChief’s editor, it’s super easy to collaborate with internal and external writers on your ebook content. Write in real-time, provide feedback, resolve comments, and approve content for publication. Try it free .

guide to writing a white paper

4. Provide lots of value

When writing white papers, share unique findings or research to position yourself as an expert. Instead of rewriting what’s already available online, provide a different angle.

Adding interview transcripts with experts that share new information is critical. But you can also develop a methodology for independent research, collect data through surveys, and describe your findings.

Look at the subject from the perspective of solving a specific problem your users usually face and demonstrate possible solutions.

The process of writing a white paper should focus on taking your reader from point A to point B. At point A, users have some issues you want to help them solve. Then, by educating them on the subject and showing them how they can solve the problem, your users end up at point B.

5. Make your white paper engaging

Remember that your white paper is not a doctoral thesis, your audience expects easy-to-consume content. That’s why you have to follow these rules when creating your white paper.

  • Keep sentences short. Your audience can have a short attention span and will most likely read your white paper online. Long sentences can make it more challenging to consume content on the Internet.
  • Shorten your paragraphs. Your paragraphs shouldn’t be too long. Make sure they don’t exceed 3-4 passages.
  • Adjust the amount of jargon. Again, depending on who will read your white paper, they expect different content complexity levels and industry jargon.
  • Use some examples or case studies . Examples and case studies make it easy to understand the subject and make content more engaging.
  • Think over the visual format . It’s best to work with a professional graphic designer who can make your content shine. The visual content (images, infographics, tables, and illustrations) is also essential as it dramatically affects how we perceive information. For example, online insurance company PolicyMe uses eye-catching visuals and infographics to make their reports about finances more engaging.

visual elements of a white paper infographic

6. Proofread to avoid mistakes

Grammar or punctuation mistakes don’t contribute to creating a professional image. That’s why you must proofread your white paper content before sending it for design or distribution.

It’s best to work with an editor who can spot your mistakes and polish your content.

7. Create a landing page and opt-in form

You can’t just randomly link your white paper content on your blog or main page. It needs a dedicated place on your website where you can direct people. Create a landing page where you can build demand for your white paper and describe the benefits of downloading it.

You can gate your white paper and present it as ungated or semi-gated content.

For gated content , you have to create an opt-in form asking your readers to submit some of their details (such as email or phone number) to download the white paper. Then, you can generate leads and nurture them to become sales opportunities.

With ungated content , you don’t create any opt-in forms and make your white paper content available to a broader audience, but you don’t usually generate leads. This option is excellent for brand building, improving your search ranking, and getting your white paper shared online.

Semi-gated content is a good option as well. It involves making some parts of your white paper ungated and gating the rest of the content. Once readers reach the gated part of the content, you can trigger an opt-in form.

Here is why this approach works. Reading a few pages can help readers understand the value of your white paper. Then, once you ask them for contact details, they will experience much lower friction compared to the situation when they are asked for details in advance.

Read more: Content Marketing Toolkit to Bring in More Leads

7. Distribute your white paper

The distribution part is equally crucial as creating content. Not many people will find your white paper online without a proper distribution strategy. That’s why deciding on the distribution channels for the promotion is essential.

For example, you can involve your partners in posting about your white paper on their social media, giving it a boost with ads, or optimizing it better so it ranks higher in Google. Choose the promotion strategy that fits your business specifics the best.

Read more: Ebook distribution funnel template

guide to writing a white paper

White paper examples

With the growing popularity of content marketing, any business can benefit from creating and distributing white papers.

Use cases of white papers appear in different fields, from marketing to tech. Let’s look at a few examples of white papers across industries.

1. Netguru — Disruption Guide Fintech 2022

In their Fintech Guide, Netguru covers the main aspects of technology for the financial industry — trends, people, and companies that play a crucial role in this field.

white paper example

Their white paper is based on interviews with thought leaders in the field, which adds to the resource’s credibility.

On their dedicated landing page, they show the white paper’s outline and bring up the images of internal and external experts that have contributed to this solid piece of research.

The white paper has been created to attract the interest of both startups and established companies that want to get familiar with the latest fintech trends. It is the audience Netguru aims to build trust with and eventually convert into sales opportunities.

2. 360Learning — 2022 US Learning and Development Career Path Guide

360Learning is a learning management system specializing in helping companies promote collaborative learning throughout their organizations.

white paper example

Their white paper covers the career paths and salary reports for the US Learning and Development industry. This white paper is unique in that most of the content is ungated - meaning you don’t need to give your email address to access it.

3. Searchmetrics — US eCommerce Market Analysis

Searchmetrics researched the key eCommerce verticals to learn about the trends in search queries, paid traffic, and companies dominating search rankings.

white paper example

With their whitepaper, Searchmetrics is targeting SEO specialists and marketers.

The company emphasizes the benefits of downloading a whitepaper that decreases the friction of filling out the opt-in form for white paper download.

4. Upflow - 8 Tips to Get Paid on Time

white paper example

Rather than getting too in-depth, Upflow chose to keep its guide digestible by providing just 8 methods businesses can use to get paid on time. To make it easy for users to convert, they only ask two questions on their form, but they do it in a really smart way.

The most important piece of information for Upflow to have about potential leads is what invoicing tool they use, so they simply and only ask that. No need to fill out country, company, or job title. This is a good technique for gated content. Figure out what the one piece of information you actually need to know about leads is, and then simply ask that.

Concluding thoughts on white papers

White papers are a great tool to build your thought leadership online. It helps position you as an expert and attracts the attention of the people you can help with your expertise.

But white papers don’t only educate; they also become an excellent lead-generation tool and bring you new clients. By following the tips we have covered, you can publish a white paper that your audience will find helpful and share it with their communities.

Ready to supercharge lead generation? Let content be your magnet! Join the ranks of 5,000 successful businesses using StoryChief to attract more leads through content. Get started for free today .

guide to writing a white paper

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Writing a White Paper (Format, Tips, Examples & Templates)

Get white paper examples by leading companies. Learn how to write & format a white paper for business and marketing. Create, write & design white papers A-Z.

guide to writing a white paper

Hadar Peretz

9 minute read

white paper examples

Short answer

What is the best white paper format?

  • Executive Summary
  • Introduction
  • Problem Statement
  • Solution Overview
  • Benefits and Advantages
  • Case Studies or Examples
  • Technical Details or Methodology
  • Recommendations
  • References or Sources

What makes an effective business white paper?

An effective business white paper format is concise, well-researched, and addresses a specific audience's pain points. It offers actionable solutions, incorporates compelling visuals, and establishes the author's authority on the subject.

Key considerations when creating a business white paper

Audience Understanding : Know your target audience's needs and preferences.

Clear Objective: Define the purpose of the white paper.

Visual Appeal: Incorporate relevant charts, graphs, and images.

Credibility : Cite reliable sources and provide evidence.

Engaging Narrative: Craft a compelling story in content and design that guides the reader.

How to write a white paper (step-by-step guide)

Writing a white paper is no small feat. It requires research, understanding, and a knack for presenting information engagingly.

But with the right approach, your white paper can position your brand as an industry leader, driving leads and fostering trust. Remember, it's all about offering value and meeting the needs of your audience.

Step 1: Grasp the white paper's core

Recognize that a white paper is more than just a long article. It's a detailed report on a specific topic, designed to educate and address issues.

Understand its origins from government documents and its evolution into a tool for thought leadership.

Step 2: Define your target audience

Identify who you're writing for: industry professionals, novices, or another group.

Tailor your language, tone, and content depth to their needs and interests.

Step 3: Prioritize value over promotion

Keep the content educational and avoid overtly promotional language.

Aim to establish trust and position your brand as a reliable information source.

Step 4: Embrace the drafting process

Don't aim for perfection in the first go.

Write multiple drafts, take breaks, and seek feedback for refinement.

Step 5: Build your content around a narrative (not facts)

Use storytelling techniques to maintain reader interest.

Introduce problems, provide solutions, and share success stories for context.

Step 6: Dodge common mistakes

Avoid a salesy tone; keep it educational.

Base your content on thorough research.

Invest in good design for readability and engagement.

Ground your content in real-world examples and actionable insights.

Step 7: pay attention to format and design

Use design elements to highlight key information when formatting your white paper.

Stay updated with design trends, but ensure they align with your topic and audience.

Step 8: conclude and review

Summarize the main points and insights.

Review the entire content for coherence, clarity, and value.

16 impactful white paper examples for business and marketing

Discover exemplary business white paper formats from industry leaders to refine your approach. Draw inspiration from best practices and elevate your corporate documentation standards, and learn est practicess based on our in-depth analysis of each example.

Microsoft white paper

The white paper from MSA discusses the future of operational development, emphasizing changes in the operational landscape. It targets professionals in the operational and business development sectors.

Microsoft digital marketing white paper

Microsoft digital marketing white paper

Good Points:

Forward-Looking: The document does an excellent job of forecasting future trends and aligning them with current industry practices, making it highly valuable for strategic planning.

Cohesive Structure: The white paper is organized logically, allowing for easy navigation and comprehension of the content.

Inclusion of Data: The use of data, charts, and figures strengthens the arguments and offers readers empirical evidence to support the presented information.

Engaging Imagery: The inclusion of relevant images and diagrams aids in visualizing the concepts discussed. The visuals are not only explanatory but also break the monotony of continuous text, making the reading experience more engaging.

Bad Points:

Generalized Statements: At times, the document can be a bit broad in its statements, lacking specific details that might be beneficial to the reader.

Heavy Text: The document leans heavily on text, with fewer visual elements like charts or infographics, which might make it denser for some readers.

Lack of Actionable Insights: While the paper provides a broad overview of the future landscape, it could benefit from more actionable recommendations for businesses to apply immediately.

Lack of Summaries: While the content is well-structured, there's a missing element of concise summaries or key takeaways at the end of major sections. Providing these could aid readers in recapping the essential points discussed.

Missing Call to Action: The document provides valuable information but lacks a clear call to action, guiding the reader on the next steps or how to further engage with the topic or the organization.

Google Cloud white paper

Google Cloud's white paper emphasizes its commitment to privacy in Generative AI. Targeted at enterprise customers, it belongs to the cloud computing and artificial intelligence industry.

Google short technical white paper

Google short technical white paper

Detailed Explanations: The document provides thorough explanations of how user data is treated, ensuring transparency.

Relevance to Current Trends: Addressing privacy in AI is timely and crucial, making this paper highly relevant to current industry concerns.

Repetitiveness: Some points, especially around data ownership and privacy, are reiterated multiple times, which might make the content feel redundant.

Lack of Practical Examples: While the commitments are clear, real-world examples or case studies would help readers understand the practical implications better.

Visual Enhancements: While the design is clear, it could benefit from more engaging visuals or infographics to highlight key points or statistics, adding an extra layer of engagement.

Interactive Elements: Given the digital nature of the topic and the platform (Google Cloud), the integration of interactive elements or links to online demos, tutorials, or related resources could further enrich the reader's experience.

Amazon AWS white paper

This document from AWS provides a framework for designing and operating machine learning workloads using best practices. It's intended for solution architects and ML practitioners in the tech industry.

guide to writing a white paper

Amazon technical white paper

Depth and Breadth: AWS dives deep into each of the five pillars of the Well-Architected Framework. It provides thorough explanations, ensuring that readers understand each concept.

Use of Case Studies: Real-world examples and case studies are included, which offer readers practical insights and relatable scenarios.

Relevance: The document clearly understands its target audience. By providing specific AWS service recommendations for different ML scenarios, it offers actionable insights.

Technical Jargon: While it's aimed at professionals, the language can sometimes be overly technical, which might make it less accessible to newcomers.

Length: The document is quite lengthy. While it covers a lot, it might be overwhelming for some readers, especially those looking for quick solutions.

Assumed Prior Knowledge: The document sometimes assumes the reader has prior knowledge of AWS services, which might not always be the case.

Engaging Design Elements: While the document is informative, it could benefit from more design elements, such as infographics or pull quotes, to break up the monotony and highlight key points.

Apple white paper

This document by Apple introduces ProRes RAW, a new video codec, detailing its features and benefits. It's crafted for video professionals, filmmakers, and content creators in the multimedia sector.

Apple white paper

Technical Mastery: Apple showcases its technical prowess, diving deep into the intricacies of the codec, which will be appreciated by professionals in the field.

Benefits Highlighted: The document effectively underscores the advantages of using ProRes RAW, making it clear why it stands out from other codecs.

Practical Use Cases: Apple includes scenarios and cases where ProRes RAW can be best utilized, providing context and clarity to readers.

Assumed Knowledge: The white paper assumes a certain level of technical expertise from the reader. While this is okay for its target audience, it might alienate novices.

Limited Comparisons: Although the document does a great job explaining ProRes RAW, it could benefit from direct comparisons with other existing codecs.

Dense Terminology: There's a heavy use of technical jargon without sufficient explanations, which could be challenging for those not deeply versed in video codecs.

Lack of Interactive Elements: Given the brand and the nature of the topic, incorporating interactive elements like QR codes leading to video demonstrations or tutorials could have added significant value.

Missing Call to Action: While the document provides a plethora of information, it doesn't guide the reader on the next steps, whether that's purchasing a product, joining a workshop, or any other related action.

IBM white paper

Market Connections' white paper focuses on enhancing data utility and management. It caters to business leaders, data analysts, and professionals in the data-driven decision-making realm.

IBM research white paper

IBM research white paper

Engaging Visual Design: The document uses a vibrant color palette, dynamic shapes, and appealing graphics, which make the content pop. This design approach draws the reader in and keeps them engaged.

Relevance to Current Trends: In today's data-centric world, the paper's focus on supercharging data is timely and resonates with the needs of modern businesses.

Concrete Recommendations: The document provides specific strategies and tools for improving data utility, making it actionable for readers.

Case Studies & Testimonials: The inclusion of real-world examples and testimonials lends credibility and offers a practical perspective on the discussed topics.

Lack of Technical Depth: While the paper is informative, it doesn't delve deep into the technical aspects of data management, which might leave some tech-savvy readers wanting more.

Generic Advice: Some sections offer generalized advice that can be found in many other resources, making them less unique.

Potential Bias: The paper occasionally comes across as promotional for Market Connections' services, which might detract from its objectivity.

Oracle White Paper

This document from Oracle delves into the integration of Oracle Content and Experience with Oracle WebCenter Portal. Targeted at IT professionals, it belongs to the tech and software industry.

Oracle corporate white paper

Oracle corporate white paper

Clear Structure: The paper is well-organized with distinct sections, making it easy for readers to navigate and find specific information.

Visual Aids: The use of diagrams and flowcharts helps in understanding complex processes and integrations.

Technical Depth: The paper provides in-depth technical details, ensuring that IT professionals can grasp the intricacies of the integration.

Jargon-Heavy: While it's intended for IT professionals, the heavy use of jargon might alienate readers who are not deeply familiar with Oracle's suite of products.

Lack of Real-World Examples: The paper could benefit from real-world use cases to illustrate the benefits of the integration.

Aesthetic Appeal: The design is quite basic, and a more modern and engaging layout might make the content more appealing to a wider audience.

SAP white paper

SAP's white paper delves into digital manufacturing within regulated environments, emphasizing quality and compliance. It's designed for manufacturing professionals, quality assurance teams, and regulatory compliance officers.

guide to writing a white paper

SAP business white paper

Industry-Specific Insights: SAP offers valuable insights tailored to regulated manufacturing environments, ensuring the content is highly relevant to its target audience.

Holistic View: The document covers a wide range of topics, from digital transformation to compliance challenges, offering a comprehensive overview.

Expertise on Display: SAP's deep industry knowledge is evident, lending credibility to the information and recommendations provided.

Complexity: The document, at times, delves into intricate details which, while valuable, might make it challenging for readers unfamiliar with the topic.

Promotional Tone: There's a noticeable push towards SAP's solutions, which, while understandable, might come off as less objective to some readers.

Lack of Practical Examples: While the paper is rich in information, it could benefit from more real-world examples or case studies to illustrate the discussed concepts.

Lack of Visual Summaries: While the document is rich in content, it misses out on visual summaries (like infographics) that can quickly convey complex information. Given the technical nature of the topic, such visuals would be beneficial for comprehension.

Pfizer white paper

This white paper by Pfizer delves into the significance of community engagement in diversifying clinical trials, particularly focusing on the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine trial.

It aims to address the healthcare disparities highlighted by the pandemic and the urgent need for diverse representation in clinical trials.

The target audience includes healthcare professionals, researchers, and policymakers in the medical and pharmaceutical industries.

Pfizer research white paper

Pfizer research white paper

Comprehensive Structure: The document is well-structured with clear headings, subheadings, and a table of contents, making it easy for readers to navigate and understand the content.

Relevant Data and Citations: The white paper provides relevant statistics, data, and references to support its claims, enhancing its credibility.

Clear Objective: The paper's goal is evident from the beginning, ensuring that readers understand its purpose and the importance of the topic.

Lengthy Content: Some sections are quite detailed, which might be overwhelming for readers looking for quick insights.

Lack of Visuals: The document could benefit from more graphs, charts, or infographics to break the monotony and present data in a more engaging manner.

Repetitive Emphasis: While the importance of diversity in clinical trials is a crucial topic, the paper occasionally reiterates the same points, which could be condensed for brevity.

AT&T white paper

This white paper delves into the importance of mobility in the modern collaboration era. It's intended for business leaders, IT professionals, and teams looking to enhance collaborative efforts in the digital age.

AT&T company white paper

AT&T company white paper

Well-Structured: The document is organized in a logical manner, with clear sections and subheadings, facilitating easy navigation.

Actionable Advice: It provides concrete strategies and recommendations on enhancing mobility for collaboration, ensuring readers can take immediate action.

Potential Overemphasis: While mobility is essential, the document occasionally seems to overstate its importance, which might come across as a bit unbalanced.

Lack of Diverse Case Studies: While there are some examples, the paper could benefit from a broader range of case studies across different industries.

Assumed Context: The paper sometimes assumes readers are fully aware of the current collaboration landscape, which might not be true for everyone.

Tesla white paper

Dell Technologies' ESG report showcases their commitment to driving human progress through sustainable technology, emphasizing their efforts in advancing sustainability, cultivating inclusion, transforming lives, and upholding trust.

guide to writing a white paper

Tesla consumer white paper

Highly Specialized Content: The paper zeroes in on a niche topic within the energy sector, providing deep insights that are valuable to a specific audience.

Clear Explanations: Complex concepts related to net billing tariffs are broken down and explained in a comprehensible manner.

Data-Driven Arguments: The use of charts, figures, and empirical data adds weight to the points being made and supports the document's claims.

Narrow Focus: While the specialized content is a strength, it also means the paper might be too narrow for a general audience or those looking for a broader overview of the energy sector.

Stylized Language: At times, the document uses language that's a bit too stylized or technical, which might make it less accessible to some readers.

Potential Bias: The paper seems to advocate for specific tariff structures, which might come off as less objective to some reader mmunities.

CitiBank white paper

This white paper delves into the transformation and disruption in financial market infrastructures, focusing on the evolution of securities services. Intended for financial professionals and industry leaders, it belongs to the banking and financial services sector.

guide to writing a white paper

CitiBank financial white paper

Comprehensive Coverage: The document provides a holistic view of the securities services landscape, touching upon various aspects like settlement transformation, digital assets, and the role of Central Securities Depositories (CSDs).

Data-Driven Insights: The paper is backed by quantitative data, with surveys involving 483 individuals globally, offering credibility to its findings.

Complex Jargon: The document uses industry-specific terms that might be challenging for readers unfamiliar with the financial sector.

Lengthy: While comprehensive, its extensive coverage might be overwhelming for someone looking for quick insights.

Lack of Visual Aids: More charts, graphs, or infographics could have made the data more digestible and engaging.

General Electric white paper

GE's white paper discusses the evolving landscape of global power markets. Intended for energy industry decision-makers. The document provides a holistic view of the energy market, touching on various aspects from production to consumption

guide to writing a white paper

GE thought-leadership white paper

Comprehensive Overview: The document provides an in-depth exploration of power markets, encompassing historical data, current trends, and future projections. This thorough approach offers readers a holistic perspective on the subject.

Effective Data Visualization: The use of charts, graphs, and tables is commendable. They present intricate data in a digestible format, allowing readers to quickly grasp key trends and insights.

Segmented Content Approach: The content is divided into distinct sections, each addressing specific facets of power markets. This segmentation aids in navigation and allows readers to delve into areas of specific interest.

Dense Text: Some sections are text-heavy, which might be overwhelming for some readers. Breaking up the content with more visuals or bullet points could improve readability.

Design Uniformity: While the document is rich in content, there's room for improvement in terms of design consistency, particularly in the color schemes and visual elements used.

Static Design: Given the technical and extensive nature of the topic, integrating interactive elements or links to supplementary multimedia resources could enhance the reader's engagement and understanding.

Clarification of Technical Aspects: The document occasionally uses industry-specific terms and concepts. Including a glossary or providing side notes with explanations would ensure accessibility for readers not deeply familiar with power markets.

ExxonMobil white paper

A comprehensive exploration of ExxonMobil's commitment to the energy transition, focusing on innovative solutions for lower-emission marine fuels. Targeted at stakeholders in the marine industry and those invested in sustainable energy solutions.

guide to writing a white paper

ExxonMobil business white paper

Relevant Data: The white paper provides specific data points, such as projected energy consumption and emission reduction targets, which lend credibility to the content.

Engaging Visuals: While I couldn't directly view the visuals, the structure suggests the inclusion of charts or images, which can help break up the text and provide visual context.

Lengthy Content: Some sections could benefit from concise writing to ensure the reader remains engaged throughout.

Call to Action: While the document provides valuable information, it could benefit from a clearer call to action, guiding readers on the next steps or how to get involved.

World Economic Forum (WEF) white paper

The World Economic Forum's white paper delves into the emerging concept of the industrial metaverse. It's crafted for industry leaders, technologists, and policymakers keen on understanding the future intersection of industry and virtual realms.

guide to writing a white paper

WEF financial white paper

Cutting-Edge Topic: The WEF addresses a novel and emerging trend, making the paper a valuable resource for those looking to stay ahead in the tech and industrial sectors.

Expert Contributions: The document includes insights from industry experts and thought leaders, lending credibility and depth to the content.

Global Perspective: As expected from the WEF, the paper provides a global view, considering the implications and developments of the industrial metaverse across different regions and cultures.

Infographics and Visual Aids: The use of charts, graphs, and other visual aids complements the text and provides a break from long passages. This not only makes the content more engaging but also aids in quicker comprehension of complex data.

Conceptual Density: The topic, being new, is also complex. The paper sometimes delves into highly conceptual discussions which might be challenging for some readers.

Potential Overhype: While the industrial metaverse is undoubtedly exciting, the paper occasionally might come across as too optimistic, without sufficiently addressing potential pitfalls or challenges.

Lack of Practical Guidance: The document is rich in forecasting and analysis but could benefit from more actionable insights or steps for businesses to start their metaverse journey.

Lack of Interactive Elements : For a topic like the metaverse, which is inherently interactive and dynamic, the inclusion of QR codes or links to interactive demos, videos, or web pages might have enhanced the reader's experience.

Siemens white paper

Siemens explores the transformation towards smart manufacturing, emphasizing the integration of digital and physical realms. Aimed at manufacturers, it belongs to the industrial automation and digitalization sector.

guide to writing a white paper

Siemens business white paper

Holistic Approach: The paper offers a comprehensive view of the smart manufacturing journey, from challenges to outcomes, ensuring readers get a full picture.

Use of Models: The introduction of concepts like the Digital OODA Loop provides readers with actionable frameworks to apply in their operations.

Human-Centric Focus: Beyond just machinery and processes, the paper emphasizes the importance of human-centric outcomes, highlighting the balance between technology and worker well-being.

Assumed Familiarity: The paper dives deep into specific Siemens solutions without always providing sufficient background, which might be challenging for those unfamiliar with Siemens' offerings.

Limited External Perspectives: The paper heavily focuses on Siemens' solutions. Incorporating third-party testimonials or case studies might have added more credibility and a broader perspective.

Verizon white paper

This white paper emphasizes the importance of network resilience in the face of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. Targeted at C-level executives, it belongs to the telecommunications and cybersecurity industry.

guide to writing a white paper

Verizon thought-leadership white paper

Practical Recommendations: The document offers actionable steps for C-level leaders to enhance network resilience, making it a hands-on guide.

Relevance to Current Threat Landscape: By focusing on DDoS attacks, which are prevalent today, the paper addresses a pressing concern for many businesses.

Promotional Content: The inclusion of Verizon's own solution (DDoS Shield) might come off as promotional, potentially detracting from the paper's objective tone.

Lack of Case Studies: Real-world examples or case studies could have added more weight to the paper's arguments and made it more relatable.

How to design a white paper for engagement

White papers are essential tools for businesses, especially in the B2B sector, to establish authority, inform potential customers, and influence their decisions.

But beyond the content, the design of a white paper plays a pivotal role in capturing the reader's attention and ensuring the message is effectively conveyed.

Best practices for white paper design

Readability is Key: Ensure that the text is easy to read. Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and subheadings to break up the content. The choice of font and its size also plays a crucial role in readability.

White Space: Don't clutter the design. Proper use of white space can make the content more breathable and aesthetically pleasing.

Mobile Optimization: With many users accessing content on mobile devices, ensure that your white paper design is responsive and looks good on all screen sizes.

Interactive white paper design

Engage with Multimedia: Modern digital platforms allow for the integration of videos, GIFs, and animations in white papers. These multimedia elements can make the content more dynamic and engaging.

Clickable Elements: Incorporate hyperlinks, clickable infographics, and call-to-action buttons. This not only provides additional resources to the reader but also encourages them to explore related content or take desired actions.

Feedback Loops: Allow readers to leave comments, ask questions, or even participate in polls within the white paper. This interactivity can provide valuable insights into what your audience thinks and feels about the content.

Here is what a static white paper looks like compared with an interactive white paper:

guide to writing a white paper

Designing White Papers for Storytelling

Narrative Flow: Just like a compelling story, a white paper should have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Start with an introduction that outlines the problem or challenge, delve into the details in the main content, and conclude with a solution or call to action.

Visual Elements: Use graphics, charts, and images to break the monotony of text and illustrate complex ideas. These visual elements not only make the content more engaging but also help in explaining intricate concepts in a digestible manner.

Consistent Branding: While the white paper should be informative, it's also an opportunity to subtly reinforce your brand. Use consistent colors, fonts, and logos that align with your brand identity.

Here's an example of storytelling white paper design:

Business white paper interactive storytelling templates

With traditional PowerPoint slides, your content may blend into the crowd. Storydoc's interactive white paper templates elevate your content, making it dynamic and memorable.

Unlike static slides, Storydoc's animated, annotated, and narrated templates engage readers, making them twice as captivating as standard reports.

Moreover, they're cost-effective and let you quickly produce your white paper.

I am a Marketing Specialist at Storydoc, I research, analyze and write on our core topics of business presentations, sales, and fundraising. I love talkig to clients about their successes and failures so I can get a rounded understanding of their world.

guide to writing a white paper

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How to Write White Papers

Last Updated: December 26, 2022 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by wikiHow Staff . Our trained team of editors and researchers validate articles for accuracy and comprehensiveness. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 748,706 times. Learn more...

A white paper is a one-to five-page document that describes a given problem and proposes a specific solution to the problem. It's commonly used in government and corporate settings. A typical white paper might list ways to meet a client's marketing needs, suggest the use of a certain product for a technical process, or identify ways to tackle municipal problems. To write a successful white paper, you must know your audience, state your problem clearly, and make a convincing and engaging argument of how to solve it. [1] X Research source

Engaging Your Audience

Step 1 Determine your audience.

  • For example, if your topic is community gardens, appeal to your readers as property owners and parents, as well as community decision-makers. They'll be interested in learning about the impact of gardening and local food on their property values, their children's health, and their children's education.

Step 2 Figure out their level of expertise.

  • If you're writing a white paper for an engineer, you should include lots of technical details and be lengthy in your descriptions.
  • If you're writing for a government official, focus on policy-related implications.
  • If you're writing for a corporate audience, focus on cost-effectiveness and growth potential.

Step 3 Choose a catchy title.

  • Closing the School-to-Prison Pipeline with Art
  • Safer Cities through Community Gardens: A White Paper

Step 4 Get right to the point.

  • Student debt has grown exponentially over the past decade. Combined with the dismal job market new graduates face, their debt threatens to become the next economy-crashing bubble. Creditors and a number of economists have argued A, B, and C. However, these arguments do not address X, Y, and Z.

Step 6 Summarize your solution.

  • After [interviewing experts, examining statistics, etc.], I became convinced that [two or three proposed solutions] do not adequately address the problem. This white paper will argue in favor of [your proposed solution] because it would [insert an objective reason here].

Discussing the Problem

Step 1 Identify the problem.

  • Examples of problems include "decreasing sales," "slow network speeds," or "management-employee conflicts."

Step 2 Analyze the problem.

  • For example, a white paper on addressing climate change might discuss how hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) were once believed to be a safe replacement for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which had produced a hole in the ozone layer. However, we now know that HFCs are actually dangerous greenhouse gases.

Step 4 Use visual aids.

Arguing Your Solution

Step 1 Describe your proposed solution(s).

  • If you're writing your paper within a corporate context, avoid mentioning your company's product at this point. Focus instead on what to expect in a solution.

Step 2 Justify your solution.

Community Q&A

Community Answer

  • Most white papers don't include footnotes or endnotes. However, it's always good practice to include a full bibliography at the end. Check with your employer as to the proper citation method (Chicago Manual, MLA, APA, etc.) to use. [10] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
  • If this is your first white paper, check online for examples. Government and corporate websites, as well as academic databases, are full of white papers just waiting to be downloaded. You can access most of these resources for free. [11] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

guide to writing a white paper

You Might Also Like

Write in Third Person

  • ↑ https://libguides.uml.edu/whitepaper_style
  • ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/professional_technical_writing/white_papers/index.html
  • ↑ https://writingcenter.uagc.edu/writing-white-paper
  • ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/professional_technical_writing/white_papers/organization_and_other_tips.html
  • ↑ https://www-cdn.law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/White-Papers-Guidelines.pdf
  • ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/546/2/

About This Article

wikiHow Staff

To write a white paper, start with an introduction summarizing a problem you’re dealing with, then how you propose to solve that problem. Detail possible solutions you have rejected and why you rejected them. Next, describe the problem you identified in greater depth and provide a historical overview of how it became a problem, then describe your solution in more detail. Use charts, graphs, and diagrams to back up your points and to make your paper easier to read. For advice on tailoring your paper to your audience, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO WRITING A WHITE PAPER

guide to writing a white paper

By Sean Stapleton Published: 3 March, 2021 Last updated: April 18th, 2022 at 7:01 pm

publicize write white paper

Table of contents

What is a white paper, benefits of a white paper, how to come up with an idea for a white paper, example white paper topics, white paper research, white paper template, how to write a white paper, white paper format, business white paper examples, white paper marketing, final thoughts.

guide to writing a white paper

If you had to describe writing a white paper with one word, it would be effort. Much like standing at the foot of a mountain or starting a Peter Jackson movie, writing a business white paper can seem daunting.

But while writing a white paper can be time-consuming, when done right they can provide significant benefits to your business. 

Here at Publicize we’re fully aware of this, which is why we’ve created this guide to writing a white paper. Lets get started!

guide to writing a white paper

First off, let’s be clear. We’re talking about a business white paper, not a government white paper (that’s a whole other thing!).

So what are white papers in business?

Well, those knowledgeable guys over at  Investopedia.com  define a white paper as… ‘An informational document, usually issued by a company… to promote or highlight the features of a solution, product, or service’

It elaborates:

‘White papers are often written as sales and marketing documents used to entice or persuade potential customers to learn more about or purchase a particular product, service, technology or methodology.’

That’s a nice and succinct technical definition. But here’s our take on what a white paper is:

It’s a sales document that isn’t overtly salesy.  

They’re way more formal and academic in tone, compared to say a typical blog post, brochure or ebook. The narrative also differs from other types of content as a white paper presents a problem to the reader before providing a solution (in the form of a business’s product or service). 

Therefore, to build the salesy but not too salesy tone, white papers need to be exhaustive in their research.

The below infographic unpacks the key characteristics of a white paper, compared to Ebooks and blog posts.

White paper versus other content infographic

As we’ve discussed, writing a white paper is a fair investment in both time and energy. So the obvious question you’re probably asking yourself is “what’s going to be my return on this investment?” 

Well, the benefits of a well-written white paper can be numerous and long-lasting, as the below infographic shows.

Benefits of a white paper infographic

Here’s a break-down of the purpose of a white paper: 

  • Educate your target audience: A white paper educates the audience on a specific topic, such as a problem they may not have even been aware of. This helps to subtly build your sales argument, by positioning yourself as the solution to the problem.
  • Generate Qualified Leads: Most white papers are offered as gated content . This is where you need to provide at least an email address to access it. And hey presto, every time someone accesses it, you’ve captured them as a lead.  
  • Establish Thought Leadership: By providing your expertise on the topic in hand, you establish yourself as an authority and thought leader within your industry.
  • Build Legitimacy: Your white paper is not based on mere speculation. It’s a well-researched document, backed up by data. This builds legitimacy with your target audience .
  • Keystone Document: The paper can act as a dossier of the company’s values and objectives. From this, you can develop other, smaller pieces of content such as blog posts and guest articles .
  • Build Brand Awareness: This is pretty self-explanatory! Any type of quality online content raises your brand profile.

First step of writing a white paper is to come up with a sound idea. 

The internet is sadly awash with poorly researched and ill-conceived content marketing documents dressed up as white papers. These provide little-to-no benefit to the company that produced it, as they’re not going to build legitimacy or authority, nor act as an effective sales tool. 

Therefore, don’t be tempted to cut corners to save time or money. You’ll simply see no return on your investment.

 So, how do you come up with a killer idea for a white paper?

 Well first off, think in terms of the standard narrative arc of a white paper:

White paper narrative arc infographic

You need to make sure you can wrap your idea around this narrative. It sounds pretty abstract, right? Well, having worked on many white papers for our clients, we’re very aware of this! 

That’s why we always start the process by asking the following questions:

  • What value does your product provide? What is your USP? How does your product help people? You’ll no doubt already have a clear idea of this if you’re at the stage where you’re planning on writing a white paper.
  • What industry problem does this solve? Once again, at this stage, this will probably be something you’re already acutely aware of. 
  • Who does this benefit? Does your product alleviate pain point(s) of just one user group or multiple groups?
  • What is the target audience of your white paper? This is the answer to the previous question. But if your product benefits multiple user groups, do their benefits correlate?  
  • How can you connect with this target audience? How can you refine your tone to tailor it to your target audience? What is their level of expertise? This will inform how you approach writing your white paper.

Here’s a quick example.

You’re writing a business white paper for a new mobile app you’ve developed. It connects DJs looking for sets, with nightclubs that are trying to fill cancellations. Following the above process…

  • Value: You provide value by quickly filling gaps caused by late cancellations and by setting DJs up with more work.
  • Problem solved: You solve the issue of club promoters not being able to fill a canceled slot at short notice.
  • Beneficiaries: This benefits both club promoters and DJs.
  • Target Audience: The target audience of your white paper would be both club promoters and DJs. Their benefits correlate as the service is connecting buyers with sellers.
  • How to connect: You can connect with DJs and promoters by making your tone a little less formal, presenting your value, and thoroughly researching the technicalities of the issue (opportunity potential, equipment, compatibility, etc).

Ideal Buyer Personas

You can take this a step further by developing an ideal buyer persona . An ideal buyer persona is essentially a hypothetical avatar of an ideal customer, from within your target market.

They aid marketers in empathizing with prospects and can be very helpful in the development of a white paper. The reason for this is that they can help to create a convincing narrative arc.

You should go into a fair bit of detail when creating your persona. Consider their background, their current situation, their motivations…anything that creates a well-rounded character that the reader will identify with.

Learn how to craft a detailed profile of your ideal customer and gain powerful insights into your audience with our FREE BUYER PERSONA TEMPLATE.

guide to writing a white paper

This helps you lay out a convincing scenario, featuring a pain point which will affect your persona. You’re then able to resolve this issue, later in the white paper. This adds a human element to the solution you’re selling while keeping the reader intrigued in the narrative you’ve developed.

To continue with the previous example, let’s look at a nightclub promoter. “David works for a low base salary, but earns a good commission on tickets sold at his events. He’s just had his first child, and things are tight financially. Recently, there have been a few late cancellations, leaving him unable to fill his slots with such a limited timescale. All of the ticket sales have had to be reimbursed, and his reputation has taken a hit. He simply cannot afford another no-show, on either a financial or professional level.”

As we have already established, solving the pain points of your target audience is the key for writing an effective business white paper.

To get your creative engines going, here are some examples of how to come up with a white paper topic idea:

– Use something that already works. Turning your most successful blog into a white paper is a sure way to pick a topic that interests your audience.

– Focus on most common themes and objections coming up on sales calls. Having close ties with the sales team can help you identify exactly what your audience wants to read about and where they need more convincing. This is true especially when writing B2B white papers.

– Stay in the loop of changing industry trends. Monitoring the industry trends and picking up any relevant topics within your area of expertise can help you write an effective thought leadership white paper. 

– Target valuable transactional keywords. People searching for keywords with commercial intent are ready to make a purchase. This is why these keywords work as great topics for a white paper (as long as they’re relevant to your product and target audience of course). 

How to research a white paper infographic

Before sitting down to write a white paper, you need to thoroughly research the subject. 

Remember – a white paper is a factual and objective document that provides an unbiased analysis of a subject. Therefore, failure to conduct proper research and gather watertight data points and references will really impede your ability to produce a white paper that will hold up to scrutiny.   

Research falls into two categories : 

  • Primary research: data you’re collected first hand, including surveys, interviews and focus groups.  
  • Secondary research: a review of existing primary research, including articles, reports and academic papers.   

A well rounded, authoritative white paper should contain both primary and secondary research. 

Relying exclusively on your own data provides too narrow a viewpoint, whereas failing to conduct primary research reduces your authority on the issue at hand. Primary research also provides you with something trustworthy, unique and up-to-date, while showing that you’re willing to get your hands dirty.

So this being the case, here are some of the ways you can research a white paper:

  • Conduct a literature review of industry journals and academic research papers. Referencing this literature in your white paper when developing arguments and analysis will provide the factual and objective underpinning that’s required. 
  • Interview all relevant internal stakeholders. The knowledge and experience within your business will provide enormous value in terms of developing the angle and arguments presented in your white paper. 
  • Reach out to industry experts in your professional network.   This is a great way to gain original insights from authoritative sources. Offering to provide quotes and backlinks to their websites can be an effective incentive for them to contribute.   
  • Use focus groups to gain further insight. Curate a guided group discussion on the merits of your product/existing industry problems. The group dynamic can bring out aspects of the topic that you may not have considered
  • Conduct an email survey. Send a questionnaire to your existing mailing list. This can be an effective way to gather original data with relatively low cost and effort.

As a business white paper is formal and academic in tone, it needs to follow a set structure. To get it right, follow this white paper template below.

  • Title page/front cover. This will contain the white paper title, your brand name and logo and should be designed to a professional standard (more on the design below).
  • Executive summary. This is a paragraph or two that summarizes what your white paper is about and what the main conclusions are.
  • Introduction. This provides the setup for the main body and places the white paper within a broader context. It introduces the problem that the white paper will address. It’s vital that you really consider your target audience here, in order to provide the correct level of context. 
  • Main section. Address each key point individually, under appropriate sub-sections and in detail. Each sub-section could feasibly take up a few pages. You can delve deeper into your persona(s) here.
  • Solution. Once you’ve discussed the subject, you then provide the solution to the problem you introduced.
  • Conclusion. Here you summarize the main points covered within the white paper and make recommendations relevant to your findings.
  • References. Cite the sources that you’ve used while researching and writing your white paper.

guide to writing a white paper

Now that all of your planning is in place, it’s time to start writing the thing. When it comes to writing a white paper, there are some important considerations to bear in mind.

The title is crucial and needs to: 

  • Demonstrate the value the white paper provides to readers 
  • Clarify who the target audience is
  • Sound catchy (but not too salesy)
Going back to the example of the DJ booking app, a title could be: ‘Knights of the Turntables: How to Quickly Fill DJ Cancellations and Rescue The Party’

Now that you’ve nailed your title, there’s the small matter of the entire document to contend with! However, by following a logical process, this shouldn’t cause too much panic. 

We’ve mentioned in the introduction and we’ll mention it again here, a white paper should be salesy without being too salesy. Therefore, your tone needs to be academic and objective throughout. But this doesn’t mean it should be dry or overcomplicated. 

Infographics

Include plenty of infographics and other visuals in the document. 

Reading a white paper can be a bit of a slog, so it’s important to break up dense chunks of text with something a little more visually stimulating. This allows the reader to reset their fatigue before approaching the next section. 

It’s also a more effective way of presenting data; summarizing key points, making statistics easier to digest and so on.

Keep to the Structure

There’s a chance you may get a little lost at certain points due to the scope of a white paper. In this event, you should refer to the white paper template. It can help you to regain your focus and segment the white paper appropriately.

guide to writing a white paper

When it comes to what format your white paper should be in, there are two options which both have their pros and cons:

How to format a white paper infographic

Which white paper format works best for you depends on your objectives.

As you can see, PDF gated content has clear benefits in terms of lead generation. But would you prefer to make the content more accessible and reduce ‘friction’ for the user?

To help you with the decision making, here are some successful white paper examples to look at:

– Big Data White Paper Example

– Fintech White Paper Example

– SaaS White Paper Example

– Crypto White Paper Example 

– Cybersecurity White Paper Example

– Biotech White Paper Example

As a philosopher may have once said, ‘If a white paper languishes unread, was it ever really written?’ Well, it may as well not have been. 

Therefore marketing your white paper is a vital final step.

There are umpteen ways to promote your white paper. The below infographic provides a summary of the main ways you can do this.

How to promote a white paper infographic

You did it! Or you read it, at least. This guide to writing a white paper has  walked you through every element of the white paper process; from establishing whether it’s the format for you, to producing that humdinger of a title, all the way to sending your findings out into the world. 

If you followed these steps carefully, your business white paper is now ready to go to attract more qualified leads, establish thought leadership and build brand awareness for your company. 

That’s quite the triumvirate, and may well have been worth the hard work! Good luck.

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guide to writing a white paper

Writing and Formatting a White Paper: A Step-by-Step Guide

A white paper is a comprehensive report designed to educate potential customers on a particular issue or topic.  It is also a useful marketing tool as most companies require customers to provide their email addresses to access a whitepaper, which aids in lead generation. You can add white papers to your overall content marketing strategy if you want to attract more leads and turn them into loyal, paying customers.

Financial institutions, consultancy agencies, and B2B corporations are among the most common users of white papers.

They are commonly used in the business world for showcasing industry studies and trends, promoting products’ benefits and advantages, and providing details about a company’s standpoint on a specific topic.

Writing a good white paper can help increase an organization’s authority in its target industry. If you’re trying to write a whitepaper for your business, below is a step-by-step guide for writing and formatting a white paper that can help you out.

Tips For Writing Your White Paper

Do your research.

Before you start to write a white paper, you must do substantial research. You can use data from reliable sources, including online references, internal records, government websites, and industry resources, to give your white papers a professional touch.

Furthermore, don’t forget to cite these sources of information. Readers often consider white papers with source-backed data more authoritative and trustworthy.

Select the Right Topic

You must consider numerous elements when selecting a topic for your white paper. These typically include your target audience, the issue you’ll be addressing through your white paper, and your business’s knowledge about its target industry and the subject matter.

Take some time to consider all of these vital components so you can write a useful, valuable, and relevant white paper to support your business’s mission statement and goals.

Compare Your White Paper with What Your Competitors Are Publishing

It would be wise to examine existing white papers on the topic at hand to ensure that you are not producing one that addresses a problem already discussed in a white paper published by your competitors.

A quick search on Google can help you out here. You can also use this to see whether there are any knowledge gaps that your own white paper can fill.

In the end, ensuring that no other white papers are comparable to yours can help you make a unique contribution to your target sector.

Work On your Introduction

We already know that the first impression is the last one. Your white paper’s introduction can play a defining role here. It sets the reader’s mood. After all, if they don’t like what they read initially, how can you expect them to read it in its entirety!

Therefore, your introduction should be written in a way that attracts the reader and lays down pain points that your white paper will highlight. Furthermore, it should also pinpoint how the reader can benefit after reading your white paper.

Tips For Formatting Your White Paper

Follow a standardized white paper outline.

As far as formatting your white paper goes, there is a standard format you must follow. Mentioned below is how you should go about formatting your white paper:

  • The title should come first, followed by the abstract
  • Next, you should write your problem statement
  • Then, the background
  • Next, the solution to the problem you’re looking to solve
  • After that, write a short conclusion
  • Finally, mention any references you’ve used

Add Supporting Graphics and Images

Strategically add graphs and images to your white paper to ensure readers get a much-needed text break. Furthermore, properly placed images, illustrations, charts, and graphics will improve your reader’s reading experience and enhance your white paper’s readability.

Add White Space, Headings, and Subheadings

Be sure to use clear headings and subheadings in your white paper. It will allow your reader to quickly go through your white paper to discover what they require. Furthermore, consider using H1, H2, and H3 headings to help your readers understand every point mentioned in your white paper.

However, to take things to the next level, don’t be afraid to use different colors for every heading and subheading. Doing so will keep your readers interested in your white paper!

Us Pre-existing White Paper Templates

If you want to skip the hassle of formatting your white paper yourself, you can download a white paper template from the internet. These typically come pre-formatted. These templates only require you to change the headings and subheadings, add your content and images, and you’re good to go!

Wrapping Up

Everyone knows that writing and formatting a white paper is not as easy as it looks. However, by following a few white paper writing and formatting tips, you too can create a kickass white paper to attract more customers to your business.

That said, if you’re having trouble writing or formatting a white paper, consider visiting Edit911. We offer excellent business document editing services that will give your white papers the professional touch they require!

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The Ultimate Guide to Writing Technical White Papers

guide to writing a white paper

According to the 2022 Content Preferences Report, 55% of respondents indicated that white papers are the most valuable content for buyers in the earliest stages of the buying process. As B2B technology purchases grow in length and complexity, decision-makers rely more than ever on content that provides them with facts and research rather than advertising.

Today’s technical white paper walks the line between disseminating information and marketing, acting as an education and lead generation tool for technology companies. A technical white paper is not a datasheet, nor is it an advertising tool for your product. It's a piece of long-form content written to tell prospects a story about an industry problem and a solution.

More than a case study or list of features and benefits, the technical white paper helps businesses build authority and trustworthiness with their target audience and illustrate their expertise. Here, we’ve compiled a comprehensive technical white paper guide that tells you everything you need to know about this powerful marketing technique.

What is a Technical White Paper?

A common technical white paper definition is a document that sets out to explain a business problem and a tech-based solution to that problem. Primarily a B2B marketing tool, this type of white paper strives to make the sometimes complex ideas prevalent in the high-tech world coherent to those who aren’t experts in the field.

A well-written white paper speaks to those tasked with finding solutions as well as the decision-makers who hold the purse strings. As a top to middle-of-the-funnel piece of content, a white paper functions as a lead generator and lead nurturing collateral.

A technical white paper does not include:

  • A sales pitch
  • A list of features
  • An explanation of how your product works
  • A how-to guide for replacing the prospect’s present solution with your own

Think of a technical white paper as a mini-textbook about a specific business problem and one or more ways it can be resolved. At the end, you can present the idea that your product is one of the solutions.

How Long Should a White Paper Be? 

A business white paper is a tool for deep diving into your preferred topic. You want it to be long enough to serve up all the most valuable information from your white paper research but not so long people don’t want to read it all the way. 

On average, your white paper should be between 2,500 and 5,000 words long. White papers are more educational in nature, so your conclusions will be backed by research and supporting facts, which can increase your word count. If you’re explaining a complicated process or product in detail, your technical white paper will likely be on the longer side. 

Before writing your white paper, decide on your target audience. If you’re writing for executive audiences, keep the paper on the shorter side and try to distill any complicated information into simpler terms. In general, executives reading your paper may be busy and prefer to skim the paper. 

Your paper may be longer if you’re writing for a technical audience. Try to keep it to a maximum of 15 pages. 

When you’re writing about an interesting topic that sparks your passion, you may want to include every detail of your study. If your white paper is creeping past 15 pages, consider splitting it into specific topics. Write a separate paper for each key issue. 

The Benefits of Technical White Papers

At its best, a technical white paper establishes the thought leadership and authority of your business in the industry. By developing a white paper, you not only create an opportunity to gain information about a prospect for follow-up, but you also make the content available to share across purchasing teams and as a resource to explain issues and resolutions to non-technical team members.

A major benefit of offering a technical white paper is that the audience is self-selecting. An uninterested party is unlikely to download your paper, so you can feel confident that the information you gain is from those who are motivated to buy. With that in mind, it's crucial to aim for the correct audience. Don’t create a white paper that tries to appeal to everyone. Keep it narrowed to your ideal customer.

As white papers have become a popular marketing tool, many prospects are savvy enough to understand that you will be gathering their information. However, this is not the time to go for the hard sell. Use the data for lead nurturing and allow buyers to conduct the journey at their own pace.

How to Write a Technical White Paper

The typical technical white paper format is between six and 12 pages long, including the cover sheet. Anything shorter is unlikely to convey enough appropriate information. Anything longer may overwhelm the reader.

If your white paper is expanding past the twelve-page mark, you may need to break the subject into smaller chunks and develop a separate document for each.

Start making your technical white paper outline knowing what a white paper should include using this basic template to guide you as you write.

1. Create a Cover Page

The first page of your white paper is the cover page. It contains the title in an attractive design, a subtitle, and your company name and logo. If a second party sponsors the white paper along with you, that name and logo should also appear.

guide to writing a white paper

2. Write an Introduction/Abstract/Executive Summary

The meat of the technical white paper begins on the second page with an introduction, abstract, or executive summary of the topic.

Your introduction should be a single paragraph that includes:

  • A brief summary of the purpose of the paper
  • A short explanation of the problem
  • An overview of the potential solutions

Keep this section short. The introduction is where you hook your prospects into wanting to read more. You want them to get just a taste of what’s inside. Think of this as the teaser for the rest of your story.

3. Explain the Business Problem

A technical white paper tells the story of a business problem and its solution. By articulating the business problem, you let prospects know you understand their business and industry.

Present the business problem in two or three paragraphs. Use short paragraphs and concise language to make the information readable. Be sure to include background information such as where the problem may originate or how the issue is impacting the business.

In this section, show the impact the problem has on business in lost productivity, revenues, waste, and other business metrics. Don't be afraid to get into the nitty-gritty, but try to avoid industry or technical jargon. This piece must speak to readers of various levels of technical knowledge.

4. Illustrate the Product Design

Without making it all about your product, show how a new technology or process can be designed to resolve the business problem. Speak about how the product works in general, then begin to apply it to the business problem you illustrated.

5. Present the Solution

In this section, the technical white paper provides a solution to the problem—but don’t place too much emphasis on your product up front. Instead, take the problem apart and show how it can be solved with the right business tools.

Without turning it into a sales pitch, you can offer some detail about how your solution works. Mention why your company developed the product. Apply your product to the problem in the form of a case study or create a visual of how your offering saves time or increases productivity.

Then, start explaining your specific product and how it works better or differently from other solutions. Include information about increased revenues and the expected ROI.

6. Writer a Conclusion and Call to Action

The conclusion is where you wrap everything up in a neat bow.

Your conclusion should:

  • Briefly recap the business problem
  • Summarize how your product solves the problem
  • Provide a call to action to guide the lead to the next step in the buyer’s journey

Your technical white paper shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. Develop everything you need to nurture the lead from the top of the funnel to the bottom. Maybe your next step is an email drip sequence that continues to provide small bits of knowledge about the industry, offers contact information, or simply shows that the door is open when the lead is ready.

Complex technical products were never meant to be sold by cold-calling, and almost never will you be able to wrap up one of these sales after a single pitch. Smart marketers and salespeople understand that it takes time to educate leads, provide information without pushing for a sale, and allow the lead to come to you.

Leads who come to you are motivated buyers more likely to end in a sale as well as a satisfying long-term relationship where future sales are possible.

Like the introduction, your conclusion should be short. Limit it to a brief summary of the white paper. Only a third of your content should be included in the introduction and the summary.

What Content is Important to Include in a Technical White Paper?

There are several ways to support your story and help your white paper effectively, including:

  • Case studies
  • Links and sources for further information

Support your findings with statistics to simplify the problem/solution presentation. Statistics from well-respected resources provide authority and objectivity to your discussion. Industry analysts, independent organizations, government agencies, and experts in the field are all excellent sources of statistics.

Always cite the source of your information to increase your authority and to avoid copyright issues.

Case Studies

Use case studies to illustrate how your product or solution helped another customer. Case studies are easily consumed stories about how and why your solution is essential and useful. They are more compelling than a list of statistics or instructions alone.

Quotes from industry influencers and thought leaders add a human voice to your white paper. You may choose to provide quotes from your company’s leadership as well.

Finally, provide a list of helpful links or sources so your readers can go deeper if they wish. Some of these may be resources you used for statistics or case studies. Others can be links to industry or trade websites, books about the industry, and news articles.

4 Tips for Developing Technical White Papers

The most important tip is that a technical white paper shouldn’t be used as a direct sales tactic. You are building awareness, not selling, so be subtle and thoughtful during the development process.

1. Find Your Purpose

Before the first draft, determine the purpose of your white paper. Discuss the concept with key stakeholders in your company. To narrow topics, look to data analytics and research industry trends. Ask customer-facing salespeople about the questions they receive as they speak with leads. Use a tool to generate topics .

2. Communicate the Topic Effectively

Once you’ve decided on your purpose, you need to communicate it effectively to everyone involved. If you have several stakeholders and subject matter experts, create a synopsis to ensure everyone understands the purpose and subject of the paper. Now is the time for everyone to voice any objections or ask for changes.

3. Be Methodical When Writing

Take the white paper a piece at a time. It’s a complex project, so break it down into parts. Do your homework before sitting down to write, because the more time you spend planning and preparing, the faster the paper comes together.

Also, don’t aim for perfection on your first attempt. Go for good enough and smooth out rough spots in future drafts. Create blocks of uninterrupted time to focus on writing and eliminate distractions that can introduce errors and slow you down.

4. Revise Thoroughly

Ask for feedback on your drafts. Does the content make sense? Is the language appropriate? Are you using too much jargon or too many acronyms?

When you get closer to a final draft, be sure to proofread every line as well. Nothing turns prospects away like content riddled with errors.

A few other helpful tips to keep in mind:

  • Know your audience: Look to your buyer personas and develop the paper to answer specific questions. Who are the decision-makers and other key stakeholders at the prospect’s company?
  • Keep it concise: Don’t overload the paper with history or other content. Use just enough to lend context and set the stage.
  • Be honest: Presenting honest, actionable information is more effective than hyperbole at drawing leads further down the funnel.

How to Distribute and Promote Your Technical White Paper

Marketing white papers involves targeting them to the right audience. To do so, take advantage of all the channels you have available as part of your content distribution strategy .

  • Place it on your website behind a landing page
  • Offer it in an email as part of a nurture campaign
  • Promote it through your social media page
  • Offer it through a third-party site
  • Repurpose parts of it as blog posts and entice people to read the whole paper
  • Add it to the resources part of your website
  • Run ads on your blog and social media feeds
  • Post about your whitepaper topic on LinkedIn and include a link to the full paper
  • Tag influencers in your posts and encourage them to share

Once your white paper is out there, measure relevant metrics. If you don’t measure, you can’t determine effectiveness. Measure by channel to learn if you are in the right place and gather data on those who download your white paper. Make people fill in a form before they can download the white paper for an easy record of potential leads. 

Ask for information and create calls to action (CTAs) that help you propel potential customers farther into their journey according to their place in the funnel.

Video continues to be a popular form of content marketing, with 78% of content marketers indicating that video content gives them a higher ROI. Attract a broader audience by making companion videos to accompany your white paper.

Make shorter videos highlighting key takeaways from the white paper. Or make a full video version of the white paper and offer it as an alternative for people to download or purchase on your website. 

Finally, once you have started promoting your white paper, offer a one-page synopsis to your sales team. That way, if it comes up during a sales pitch, your team is equipped to answer questions or point a potential customer in the right direction. 

Become an Authority With Our White Paper Writing Services

Technical white papers are powerful marketing tools to showcase your product, industry expertise, and trustworthiness. A well-written white paper generates relevant leads for nurturing and builds your prospect and customer list.

Articulate a challenging business problem, discuss solutions, then show how your product meets those business needs. Give your prospective buyers what they need to support their choice to other stakeholders. By allowing the lead to come to you, you increase your chances of converting that lead to a customer.

If you have a great idea for a white paper with limited time to write it, Compose.ly can help. Use our white paper writing services to get a professional, well-researched white paper that highlights your expertise while promoting your product or service as the best solution. Request a sample today . 

guide to writing a white paper

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The Definitive Guide: How to Write White Paper [with AI]

Kate Kandefer

White papers have become a staple for businesses looking to provide expertise and authority on various topics. But crafting an impactful white paper can be daunting, especially if you’re new to the process or need to figure out how artificial intelligence (AI) can assist your efforts. Fear not! In this comprehensive guide, we’ll dive into everything you need to know about writing white papers that command attention—from understanding their purpose and benefits to how to write a white paper and utilize AI for polishing your masterpiece.

What is a White Paper?

What is a White Paper?

A white paper is a comprehensive document that provides detailed information on a specific issue, topic, or problem, along with well-researched solutions targeted toward industry professionals or decision-makers. Typically presented as an authoritative report or guide, whitepapers are designed to educate readers and enable informed decisions based on evidence, facts, and internal and external research data.

What is the purpose of White Papers?

White papers serve several purposes:

  • Informative: They provide valuable insights by breaking complex subjects into digestible formats and informing readers about emerging trends or industry standards.
  • Educational: Each piece seeks to educate readers on relevant industry issues while positioning the authoring organization as an expert.
  • Persuasive: These documents highlight potential solutions backed by evidence-based arguments to persuade decision-makers toward a particular course of action.

Ultimately, creating a white paper aims to establish credibility within your target market through informative and engaging content curated after thorough research.

Use cases for White Papers

Use cases for White Papers

Whitepapers have a wide range of applications across various industries, as they’re an effective means of presenting valuable information to a targeted audience. Here, we’ll discuss some everyday use cases where whitepapers can play a vital role in communicating and demonstrating a company’s expertise.

Educational Purposes

One primary objective of whitepapers is to educate readers about complex concepts or problems. By providing detailed explanations backed by original research , industry professionals can educate clients, stakeholders, or employees about new technologies, processes, or market trends that may impact their businesses.

Lead Generation

Many companies use whitepapers as part of their content marketing strategy to generate leads. Organizations can capture potential customers’ details and nurture them through the sales funnel by offering free access (or gating) to informative resources in exchange for contact information.

Establishing Authority

Whitepapers are excellent tools to establish thought leadership and display domain expertise in any field. Professionally written whitepapers can help authors or companies differentiate themselves from competitors by highlighting their unique insights or innovative solutions to pressing issues. 

Influencing Decision Makers

Decision-makers often rely on well-researched whitepapers to make more informed choices about products, services, strategies, or policies. Whitepapers assist these individuals in analyzing data-driven arguments and understanding varying viewpoints before committing resources toward a particular solution or course of action.

Product Launches

Creating an informative whitepaper can benefit internal and external audiences when launching a new product or service. Internally it helps teams understand the value proposition and align with the company’s objectives; externally, it demonstrates how the product solves customer pain points while providing relevant evidence supporting its claims.

White papers are versatile instruments used in diverse contexts such as education, lead generation efforts, establishing authority within an industry niche, shaping decisions made by key players, and promoting new products or services effectively. Harnessing this medium appeals directly to your target audience will prove invaluable in achieving your desired outcomes.

White Paper Formats

White papers tend to come in various forms, each serving a specific purpose and catering to different industries or topics. Understanding the types of white papers will help you select the most suitable white paper format for your particular needs. In this section, I’ll discuss four common types of white papers:

  • Technical White Papers : These are primarily aimed at engineers, product managers, and other technical professionals who require in-depth information on a specific technology, method, or process. Technical white papers often detail advanced concepts, specifications, design principles, methodologies used for problem-solving, case studies showcasing successful implementations, and potential challenges.
  • Educational White Papers : Often targeting informed decision-makers within an organization or industry experts, educational white papers take on an instructive role to provide detailed explanations of complex issues or trends. The goal is to inform readers by breaking down intricate concepts into digestible points and offering actionable recommendations based on original research findings.
  • Problem-and-Solution White Papers : This type of white paper presents a common issue the target audience faces and offers potential solutions supported by evidence-backed data. The primary objective is to raise awareness about industry-wide problems while addressing how various stakeholders can proactively address these challenges using innovative methods or technologies.
  • Comparative White Papers : As the name suggests, comparative white papers offer unbiased comparisons between multiple products, services, or technologies to help potential clients decide which solution fits their requirements best. They should objectively describe the advantages and disadvantages of all options being compared while providing documentation supporting each claim.

White Paper Examples 

White Paper Examples 

It’s essential to provide real-life examples to guide and inspire your process. In this section, I will introduce three exemplary white papers from diverse industries highly regarded for their clarity, organization, and depth of knowledge.

White Paper Example 1: Blockchain Technology

White Paper Example Blockchain Technology

One well-known example of an informative and engaging white paper is the  Bitcoin Whitepaper  by Satoshi Nakamoto. This revolutionary document introduced Bitcoin as a decentralized digital currency, explaining the blockchain technology behind it and its potential benefits compared to traditional financial institutions and systems. The white paper serves as both an educational resource for those unfamiliar with cryptocurrency concepts and a detailed technical analysis for experts in the field.

As you read through the Bitcoin Whitepaper, observe how it balances technical language with clear explanations. Doing so appeals to readers at varying levels of expertise while maintaining credibility.

White Paper Example 2: The Future of Information Service Technology

White Paper Example The Future of Information Service Technology

Cognizant, a well-respected provider of technology services and consulting in the United States, came up with the gated white paper. It explains the future of the IT industry using high-quality graphics. 

White Paper Example 3: Google Cloud’s AI Adoption Framework

guide to writing a white paper

This illustrative business white paper from Google seeks to convince the audience to adopt AI by capitalizing on Google’s credibility. Additionally, it offers a comprehensive technical analysis for more experienced readers.

This informational document serves as an excellent example of a company utilizing white papers to showcase its proficiency and solidify its position as a leading authority within the industry.

How can AI help with Writing White Papers?

How can AI help with writing whitepapers?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a game-changing technology in many aspects of our lives, including content creation. Regarding writing whitepapers, AI can bring significant benefits and efficiencies to streamline the business writing process. This section will discuss the various ways AI aids in writing high-quality whitepapers.

Enhancing Research

Researching is integral to creating authoritative and informative whitepapers as it provides valuable insights and data that support your arguments. AI-powered tools have advanced capabilities in searching for relevant sources, scanning massive amounts of information, and analyzing trends and patterns, which helps you augment your research efforts efficiently.

Generating Ideas

One prominent challenge writers face during the initial stages is developing creative ideas or topics for their whitepapers. With AI-based tools such as natural language understanding algorithms, you can generate topic suggestions by simply inputting keywords related to your industry or area of expertise.

Content Optimization

Creating engaging and well-structured content that resonates with your target audience is vital for any successful whitepaper. AI-driven applications can analyze countless existing whitepapers across various industries to identify best practices regarding style recommendations, appropriate headings , keyword optimization, ideal paragraph length, etc., allowing you to create persuasive content easily.

Grammar and Readability Improvement

Using AI-powered grammar checkers like Grammarly or Hemingway Editor can be highly beneficial to ensure your message is clear and easy to understand for readers of different educational backgrounds. These tools correct common grammatical errors and suggest readability enhancements in terms of more superficial sentence structures or clarity enhancements.

Personalization

Effective delivery of personalized experiences has become increasingly crucial in today’s digital landscape. By leveraging machine learning algorithms’ power, you can tailor your whitepaper’s content to suit specific audience segments based on their preferences, characteristics, or behaviors, making sure readers find it relatable and engaging.

Analyzing Performance Metrics

Lastly, AI can delve deep into the performance data of your whitepapers to provide valuable insights into what content resonates with your audience. By implementing natural language processing and sentiment analysis technologies, you get detailed feedback to fine-tune your future projects accordingly.

Integrating AI into the whitepaper writing process saves time. It ensures high-quality content that is well-researched, formatted, optimized, readable, and targeted towards specific audiences catering to their preferences. This powerful technology enables you to leverage numerous benefits to elevate the success of your whitepapers and gain a competitive edge in today’s fast-paced business environment.

How to Select a Topic for Your White Paper

How to Select a Topic for Your White Paper

Selecting the right topic is crucial for the success of your white paper. A well-chosen subject will not only showcase your expertise, but it will also resonate with your target audience, driving interest and engagement. When writing a white paper, consider these three key factors: audience, expertise, and a problem-based and solution-focused approach.

Understanding your target audience is essential when selecting a white paper topic. To create a compelling piece of valuable content, consider the following questions about your readers:

  • Who are they? (e.g., industry professionals, potential customers)
  • What issues or challenges do they face regularly?
  • What level of knowledge do they possess on the subject matter?

Researching and gathering insights into your target audience will enable you to craft content that speaks directly to their needs and interests.

Your whitepaper should demonstrate your experience and proficiency in a particular topic or domain. To establish yourself as an authority on chosen subject matter, focus on areas where you have exceptional prowess or unique insights.

When determining which area within your field to explore in-depth, contemplate these questions:

  • In which subjects am I most knowledgeable?
  • Can I provide fresh perspectives or innovative solutions within this sphere?
  • Are there emerging trends or pressing issues that need to be addressed?

Focusing on topics that align with your skillset—and those currently underserved—will allow you to stand out while providing valuable information.

Problem-Based and Solution-Focused

Addressing common problems within your industry or niche can significantly drive interest in your white paper by answering burning questions shared by many stakeholders.

Employ these steps when identifying relevant topics:

  • Identify critical challenges faced by businesses or consumers within your target market.
  • Determine existing strategies for overcoming said obstacles.
  • Offer novel approaches—or improve upon existing ones—by providing feasible solutions.

Solving pressing problems within your industry can cultivate trust and enhance your brand reputation. Furthermore, by concentrating on problem-solving aspects in your white paper, the content will resonate with its intended readership—contributing to higher retention rates and reader engagement.

White Paper Preparation

A well-prepared white paper is the foundation of a successful marketing campaign. Preparation involves thorough research, reading other white papers in your industry, and organizing your ideas using a mind map. Let’s delve into each step to create an outstanding white paper.

It’s crucial to conduct comprehensive research on the topic you’re addressing. Some best practices for research include:

  • Using reputable sources: Reliable sources like government websites, academic journals, and industry reports will enhance the credibility of your white paper.
  • Identifying trends and patterns: Analyzing data and spotting trends can help you determine the relevance of your topic and pinpoint areas that need exploration.
  • Verifying facts: Cross-checking various sources to ensure that all information in the white paper is accurate.
  • Citing sources: Always provide complete references for any data or statistics used within the body of your text.

Remember to address both sides of an argument when discussing solutions or alternatives—presenting balanced information builds trust with your readers.

Read Other White Papers

Before diving into writing your white paper, take time to read others in your field. Doing so will offer valuable insights into industry-specific topics, formats, styles, and tones.

When evaluating existing materials:

  • Note what works well and what can be improved upon
  • Observe differences in format from one document to another
  • Assess their visual elements (charts, graphics) for efficiency
  • Examine how niche terminology is utilized within texts

Discovering trends shared across multiple white papers can guide you toward creating a document optimized for meeting audience expectations while differentiating yours from competitors’ publications.

Use a Mind Map

Organizing ideas efficiently before starting on actual writing saves time and ensures coherence throughout the content creation process. One way to achieve this structure involves creating a mind map—a graphical representation outlining the flow and hierarchy of your thoughts.

Here’s how to create a mind map:

  • Place the central topic at the center of your page
  • Draw branches for related sub-topics, connecting them directly or indirectly to the core theme.
  • Add supporting information (examples, data, case studies) branching off each sub-topic.
  • Assign unique icons or colors to visually distinguish groups of ideas from one another (optional)

A well-developed mind map will guide you through drafting your white paper by identifying primary points, heading the organization, and content flow to strengthen cohesion in the final product.

How to Write White Paper – Whitepaper Structure

A well-structured white paper can help your audience grasp the intended message quickly and easily. A standardized structure for your white paper will enhance its credibility, readability, and professional appearance. Here is a recommended structure with key elements you should consider:

The title page should include the title of your white paper, author’s name(s), company logo, date, and contact information. Ensure the landing page title is informative and reflects the theme of your white paper. A captivating title can motivate readers to explore the content further.

An abstract briefly overview your whitepaper’s purpose and content in 150 – 200 words or less. The aim is to give readers a sneak peek into what they can expect from your work and entice them to continue reading.

Problem Statement

This section identifies the problem or challenge that prompted you to write this white paper. It helps set the context for discussion by outlining current pain points experienced by potential consumers and industry professionals. Demonstrate empathy towards your readers’ concerns while adding value and preparedness for detailed coverage.

In this part of the whitepaper, explain why the issue exists. Offer historical context or illustrate experiences faced by those dealing with this particular problem—thereby justifying developing solutions present in subsequent sections while offering valuable insights.

Here you propose viable solutions to address the identified problem—be it innovative technologies, improved processes, or disruptive business strategies tailored specifically for your target audience’s needs within their domain knowledge:

  • Describe each solution methodically and precisely.
  • Exhibit how these approaches benefit readers.
  • Include any supporting data (such as case studies) that validates success factors linked to proposed alternatives.

Remember, not every solution should involve direct sales pitching; instead, focus on delivering practical ideas sought after by respective stakeholders who consume these thought leadership materials.

Wrap up your white paper by summarizing key points discussed while reinforcing your proposed solutions’ importance. Drive home the value proposition and how it addresses readers’ needs or pain points. Lastly, consider offering guidance on the next steps for them to unleash benefits delivered via recommended optional action plans.

Support your white paper’s credibility by citing relevant data sources, academic research, or industry studies that inform your proposals. 

How to Write White Paper – Formatting and Style

Paying attention to formatting and style is essential when writing a white paper. This makes your document easier to read and understand and establishes you as an authority on the topic you’re discussing. 

Let’s explore four key aspects of white paper formatting: length, detail, appearance, and style.

The ideal length of a white paper varies depending on its purpose and target audience. Generally, a comprehensive white paper should be 6-12 pages long – or roughly 2,000 to 5,000 words. However:

  • Consider extending the length if your topic is exceptionally complex or requires an in-depth explanation.
  • Conversely, if your material is relatively simple or has been covered extensively elsewhere, aim for brevity without sacrificing quality.

Remember that readers value their time. Keep your content concise and provide valuable information to make them more likely to engage with your insights.

When explaining how to write a white paper, it’s crucial to balance detail with readability:

  • Specificity: Provide enough information for readers to understand the context and nuances of your topic.
  • Simplicity: Break down complex ideas into easily digestible terms without oversimplifying.
  • Accuracy: Reference credible sources when presenting data or research findings; this boosts your credibility and persuades skeptical readers.

Strike a balance between being informative yet accessible so beginners can grasp concepts. At the same time, experts still find value in your writing.

Your white paper’s visual design speaks volumes about its professionalism and credibility. To make the best impact:

  • Use consistent color schemes and fonts throughout the document
  • Include high-quality graphics such as charts, graphs, or illustrations that enhance understanding
  • Divide content into easy-to-digest sections using subheadings or bullet points
  • Format margins appropriately – generally 0.5 to 1 inch on each side, with ample space between paragraphs for readability

In short, the visual presentation of your white paper should be clean and professional without being cluttered or overwhelming.

The writing style employed in a white paper is critical to effectively communicating complex ideas. Aim for a precise yet conversational tone that engages readers without intimidating them:

  • Use active voice: This helps create clear, direct sentences that engage the reader.
  • Adopt jargon-free language: Technical terms and industry acronyms might confuse non-expert readers; explain these concepts simply before using abbreviations.
  • Vary sentence length: Shorter sentences are easier to read, but varied lengths help maintain interest and prevent monotony.

Throughout our guide on writing a white paper, remember that your primary goal is communicating valuable information clearly and compellingly.

By focusing on these four aspects of formatting and style, you’ll increase engagement, convey authority, and maximize the effectiveness of your white paper.

What is the Step-by-Step Process of Writing a White Paper?

What is the Step-by-Step Process of Writing a White Paper?

Writing a good white paper often requires meticulous planning, research, and strategic execution. The process can be broken down into several key steps that will help guide you from ideation to final publication. Here are the crucial steps involved in writing an effective white paper:

  • Identify your audience: Before you begin writing, it’s essential to determine your target audience and their needs. Understand their pain points and challenges so that your white paper directly addresses these concerns.
  • Select a topic: Choose a relevant topic based on industry trends or pressing issues your target audience faces. Ensure the subject has enough depth to warrant a detailed white paper.
  • Conduct thorough research: Delve into industry data, reports, case studies, news articles, and competitive analysis to gather valuable insights. Use reliable sources to ensure accurate information is presented.
  • Establish a clear goal: Understand the purpose of your white paper – whether it’s informing readers about a new development in technology or building awareness for specific solutions offered by your business.
  • Create a white paper outline: Develop a structure that flows logically through the main components of a typical white paper: introduction, problem statement, background information, the proposed solution(s), conclusion/summary, and references.
  • Write the content: Break down complex ideas into concise sections using easy-to-understand language while maintaining an engaging tone throughout the document.
  • Incorporate visuals: Maximize reader engagement with well-placed charts, graphs, images, or infographics that support your primary message and break up large blocks of text into digestible pieces.
  • Avoid sales jargon: Keep promotional messages at bay to maintain credibility and trustworthiness. Instead, focus on providing valuable information for readers searching for helpful insights and expert opinions.
  • Edit and proofread multiple times: Refine your writing by reviewing it for clarity, coherence, consistency, and grammatical accuracy. Make sure to double-check all facts and figures quoted in the content.
  • Design a visually appealing layout: Remember to consider the importance of a polished look representing your brand identity while ensuring readability.
  • Promote your white paper: Finally, develop an effective promotional strategy to make your audience aware of the resource you’ve created – through social media marketing, email campaigns, or working with influencers in your industry.

By following this step-by-step process on how to write a white paper, you can ensure that the result is informative, engaging, and valuable for readers while positioning yourself as an expert within the industry.

White Paper Design Tips and Writing Best Practices

White Paper Design Tips and Writing Best Practices

When learning to write a white paper, paying attention to some crucial writing tips is essential. These tips will ensure that your white paper is informative, engaging, visually appealing, and user-friendly.

Research Your Audience and Topic Well

Invest time researching your audience and topic before writing a white paper. Understand your target audience’s demographics, preferences, pain points, and needs. Likewise, gather reliable information about your topic by studying industry trends, reports, surveys, and other reputable resources. By doing so, you can craft content that resonates with your readers.

Make Sure People Can Scan Your Content Easily

People often scan through documents instead of reading every word. To make your white paper more reader-friendly:

  • Use clear headings and subheadings
  • Break content into shorter paragraphs (50-100 words per paragraph)
  • Utilize lists when presenting different points or ideas

These formatting techniques help guide your readers’ eyes through the document while making it easier for them to digest the information presented.

Use a White Paper Template

Using an established white paper template can streamline the creation process and provide structure for your document. A custom whitepaper format helps ensure consistency throughout all sections of the piece while saving time in designing each page from scratch.

Emphasis and Readability

Your text should be easily understood by leveraging an active voice. Use logical transitional phrases within sentences like “however” or “moreover” rather than relying solely on conjunctions such as “so,” “and,” or “but.” Improve readability further by maintaining a maximum sentence length of 15 words to minimize confusion among your audience.

Keep It Succinct and to the Point

A well-written content contains precise information with minimal fluff. Aim for directness in conveying critical details in your white paper.

Keep Mobile Visitors in Mind

Considering the ever-growing number of mobile users, making your white paper compatible across multiple devices is essential. This ensures visitors can access and read your content seamlessly despite screen size constraints.

Add Data Visualizations to Your White Papers

Visuals play an important role in bolstering the overall impact of a white paper. Using clear and compelling data visualizations such as graphs, charts, or infographics highlights key statistics, trends, and facts related to the topic while making complex concepts more digestible.

Emphasize Key Points with Tables and Text Boxes

Draw the reader’s attention to crucial information by incorporating tables or text boxes within your white paper. These formatting tools help readers quickly locate vital details without getting lost amidst paragraphs of text.

Break Up Chunks of Text with Visuals

Large blocks of text may be daunting for some readers; therefore, intersperse images throughout the document to enhance comprehension and maintain reader interest.

Allow Plenty of White Space on Pages

Ensure sufficient white space surrounds various elements like images or headings since clutter only detracts from readability.

Use Consistent Design That Reflects Your Topic

A unified design promotes a professional image for your white paper. Maintain consistency in fonts, colors, alignment patterns, heading sizes, and other styling aspects related to visuals or page layout.

Incorporate Branding Into Your Design

Finally, integrate branding elements like logos or specific color palettes into your design. This helps increase brand recognition and authority among readers.

Mistakes to Avoid when Writing White Paper

Mistakes to Avoid when Writing White Paper

To create a compelling white paper that informs, educates, and persuades your target audience, it is essential to avoid certain pitfalls. When writing a white paper, be sure that you steer clear of these common mistakes:

Sounding Like a Sales Pitch

A vital purpose of a white paper is to provide valuable and unbiased information to your readers. Although the end goal may be to generate leads and encourage conversions for your products or services, focusing on sales language can detract from the genuinely informative nature of your content. Instead, use persuasive facts and data to make your point without being overly promotional.

Lack of Adequate Research

  • A comprehensive understanding of the topic
  • Relevant statistics and data sources
  • Up-to-date industry trends
  • Expert opinions or insights

Assembling all these elements requires thorough research. Skimping on this crucial step could lead to inaccuracies and undermine your whitepaper’s credibility and brand.

Poor Design

Poor design choices can drastically diminish effectiveness even if your content is well-researched and informative. Consider these factors when working on the appearance of your whitepaper:

  • Clear structure: Organizing headers, subheaders, text blocks, charts, and tables in an easily digestible format makes it simple for readers to grasp essential points quickly.
  • Readability: Choose fonts and colors wisely – avoid overly flashy or hard-to-read selections.
  • Visuals: Incorporate graphs, illustrations, or images where appropriate to support your narrative.
  • Branding consistency:`Ensure you maintain branding cohesion by using similar color schemes or visuals in other company materials.

An appealing design enhances readability while also projecting professionalism.

Not Telling a Story

While providing factual information should be at the core of any successful whitepaper, narrating it with storytelling techniques keeps readers engaged through empathy, relatability, or curiosity. Weaving a story around statistics or using case studies creates resonance, drawing in readers emotionally and enhancing information absorption.

Leaving It Abstract

It’s essential that your whitepaper not only addresses a particular problem but also provides concrete solutions. Offer actionable suggestions and illustrate the benefits with real-world scenarios where possible.

By dodging these mistakes when writing and designing your white paper, you’re more likely to create an informative, engaging document that stands out from competitors while effectively appealing to your target audience. This helps establish trustworthiness as an authoritative voice in your industry, ultimately generating positive results for your brand reputation and bottom line.

To Gate or Not to Gate White Papers

Deciding whether to gate your white papers is a strategic choice that can significantly impact the success of your content marketing efforts. In this section, we will explore the concept of gated content and discuss semi-gating as an alternative strategy.

What is Gated Content?

Gated content refers to any online material requiring users to provide certain information, such as contact details or email addresses, to access it. This can be anything from ebooks, whitepapers, articles, webinar recordings, videos, or any other valuable knowledge-based assets you produce for content marketing purposes.

By gating your white papers, you set up barriers in exchange for valuable user data. Businesses often leverage These contact details for lead generation and nurturing sales prospects through targeted email campaigns and personalized communications.

However, there are trade-offs when choosing to gate your contents:

  • Generate qualified leads
  • A better understanding of user demographics and interests
  • Limits reach and potential views/downloads
  • This may deter some users who are unwilling to share their details

As a result, gated content is ideally used when the benefits from lead generation outweigh potential restrictions in access and engagement with your materials.

Semi-Gating

A popular compromise between fully open and gated strategies is known as semi-gating. With semi-gating techniques, marketers allow partial access or lower-value resources freely accessible without any hurdles while reserving premium content behind an informational trade-off.

Here’s how you can implement semi-gating in practice:

  • Preview Sections: Allow readers a preview of the white paper by sharing part of the content (like selected sections or introductory pages). This gives interested viewers enough information about what they will receive without divulging the entire document.
  • Content Upgrades: Provide additional downloadable resources alongside ungated informational assets. For example, offer a free blog post containing basic information on the topic and invite readers to submit their contact details in exchange for a more in-depth, full-length white paper on the same subject.
  • Combining Free and Paid Content: Give users access to an ungated version of your content with slimmed-down value while saving premium content as gated material.

Semi-gating strategies aim to balance disseminating valuable knowledge without barriers and obtaining user data necessary for lead-generation strategy. By experimenting with different semi-gating approaches, you can find an ideal middle ground that suits your business goals and provides valuable insights into consumer preferences.

White Paper promotion

White Paper promotion

The importance of promoting whitepapers

Promoting your whitepaper is just as crucial as the writing process itself. Even with the most engaging and informative content, a poorly promoted whitepaper will not get the attention it deserves. Effective promotion helps increase visibility, generate leads, and establish your brand’s credibility in your industry. Promoting your whitepaper through various channels allows you to reach a larger audience and showcase your expertise. By implementing different promotional strategies, you can boost your whitepaper’s reach and ensure it reaches its full potential.

Social promotion

Leveraging social media platforms is an effective way to share your latest whitepaper. Utilize LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other relevant platforms where your target audience actively engages:

  • Post links to your new publications on these platforms.
  • Share key insights or standout statistics from within the publication.
  • Consider sharing visually appealing images related to the subject matter accompanied by engaging captions.
  • Engage in relevant conversations with thought leaders in online groups or forums.

Additionally, don’t hesitate to use sponsored posts or paid advertisements if the budget allows. This can drastically increase exposure beyond organic reach.

Email marketing

Email remains one of the most powerful tools for driving engagement around content such as whitepapers. Make use of existing mailing lists by sending newsletters announcing new publications or featuring them in regular updates:

  • Segment recipients based on their interests or profiles for better results.
  • Use clear yet compelling subject lines that position the included content as beneficial for readers.
  • Craft concise emails that briefly describe major takeaways while providing clear calls-to-action directing towards downloads or registration forms.

Remember to follow up with those interested in previous publications. Over time, a well-nurtured list of contacts yields more downloads and conversions.

Influencers and earned media

Reaching out to influential individuals within relevant industries can amplify the reach of your whitepaper. Partnering up with industry leaders or key opinion leaders can result in their followers considering your content to be more credible:

  • Locate potential influencers and approach them professionally.
  • Share samples from your whitepaper, emphasizing benefits for their audience.
  • Offer incentives such as exclusive access, opportunities for co-authorship, or affiliate partnerships.

Moreover, submitting your work to reputable publications in the same field further boosts credibility, expanding exposure beyond immediate networks.

Going beyond the basics

For a truly comprehensive promotional strategy, consider going beyond typical methods. Explore options like podcast collaborations—discussing the topic on popular podcasts earns more attention—or hosting webinars featuring live discussions about key findings. Participating in expert panels at conferences also increases visibility and credibility among peers.

By employing these varied promotional tactics, you maximize your chances of captivating new audiences eager to learn from authoritative sources like well-executed whitepapers. These strategies ultimately build stronger relationships with readers, and current and prospective customers and bolster brand visibility, setting you apart within an oversaturated digital information sphere.

Common Questions About Writing a White Paper

Common Questions About Writing a White Paper

Writing a white paper may seem like an arduous task. Still, it can become a manageable project with the proper planning and consideration of essential factors such as time, length, and software tools to assist you. This section will explore these three elements that play a crucial role in creating an effective white paper.

How many hours does it take to write a white paper?

The time required to write a white paper varies depending on research, industry knowledge, writing proficiency, and the topic’s complexity. It’s common for professional writers to spend anywhere from 30 to 50 hours researching and drafting, while revisions could add another 10-20 hours on top of that; however, some projects might be less labor-intensive due to familiarity or existing resources.

It is important to remember that attention to detail during the research process is critical for producing high-quality content. Allocating adequate time for organizing your findings will help structure the final document effectively.

How long should a whitepaper be?

Whitepapers can range from as few as five pages up to more than 25 pages, depending on the topic and target audience. A general guideline for determining an appropriate length would be:

  • 6-8 pages: An introductory or simplistic topic addressing a broad audience.
  • 12-16 pages: A moderately complex topic aimed at industry professionals.
  • 20+ pages: A comprehensive analysis of a complex issue targeting expert readership.

These recommendations are not set in stone and may vary depending on your specific goals with each piece. However, striking the right balance between substance and brevity is essential – a well-researched shorter document often carries more weight than an excessively long one filled with filler content.

What software do you use to create whitepapers?

Choosing suitable software for crafting your whitepaper is vital for ensuring ease of use and streamlining your workflow. Although there are numerous options available, the following list provides recommendations for reliable and popular choices:

  • Microsoft Word : A widely used word processor that allows sophisticated text control, editing features, formatting options, and table creation capabilities.
  • Google Docs : A collaborative cloud-based document editor compatible with MS Word files, offering convenient real-time collaboration.
  • Adobe InDesign : For projects requiring advanced layout design elements or handling larger volumes of content – an industry-standard choice for graphic designers.
  • Canva : An intuitive online design tool ideal for creating consistently branded visual components such as infographics or cover pages to complement your whitepaper’s cohesive presentation.
  • Scrivener : A robust writing application specifically designed to help authors manage large documents with its outlining, note-taking, and organizational tools.

Regardless of which software you select, utilizing AI-powered proofreading and grammar checkers like Grammarly can be valuable to improve your whitepaper’s clarity and perfect it after completion.

Whichever route you take during the planning phase of creating a white paper – from drafting to polishing – considering the time needed, optimal length, and choosing suitable software will enable an efficient process that results in a high-quality final product showcasing your expertise within the industry.

Kate Kandefer

Kate Kandefer

Entrepreneur passionate about scaling SaaS companies on a global B2B stage. My expertise in AI, SEO, and Content Marketing is my toolkit for driving tangible results. I'm a hands-on executor guided by results, deeply passionate about marketing, and skilled at aligning business objectives with people's needs and motivations. With a pragmatic mindset. My approach is all about clarity, efficiency, and open dialogue.

Table of Contents

  • 1 What is a White Paper?
  • 2 Use cases for White Papers
  • 3 White Paper Formats
  • 4 White Paper Examples 
  • 5 How can AI help with Writing White Papers?
  • 6 How to Select a Topic for Your White Paper
  • 7 White Paper Preparation
  • 8 How to Write White Paper – Whitepaper Structure
  • 9 How to Write White Paper – Formatting and Style
  • 10 What is the Step-by-Step Process of Writing a White Paper?
  • 11 White Paper Design Tips and Writing Best Practices
  • 12 Mistakes to Avoid when Writing White Paper
  • 13 To Gate or Not to Gate White Papers
  • 14 White Paper promotion
  • 15 Common Questions About Writing a White Paper

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Writing a White Paper

  • What is a White Paper?

White Paper Structure

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  • Citing Sources

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White Paper Style Guide

While there are no official guidelines to writing a white paper, there are many suggestions and best practices which may help in formatting an effective one.

White papers usually follow a similar structure consisting of the following elements:

guide to writing a white paper

-From Purdue OWL Writing Lab

Choosing a Title for the White Paper

The two key components of a white paper title are gaining attention and conveying a purpose. It is best to use the active voice when titling a white paper.

Instead of:

Food Delivery at the Notre Dame

Increasing Food Delivery Access Options at Notre Dame: Analyzing the Performance of Starship Delivery Robots

In this case, we reorient a more passive title to an active one with more specifics on a technology being investigated.

Consider the Audience

Consider who you are trying to attract as an audience. You may be trying to gain the attention of members of the general public, investors, or even other companies within an area of studies when writing a white paper. This will impact the language you want to use throughout the paper. Industry jargon and complex language could intimidate readers influencing them to opt out of reading your paper if the audience is outside of the industry. Since white papers often cover more specific forms of technology, there is a balance to strike between the use of complex internal industry terms and language more appealing to a broader audience. The tone should always be professional.

Advertising a Service

If you include advertising of a service within a white paper, it is generally best practice to include this at the end after the narrative of the paper itself. Including advertisements within the body of a white paper can turn off readers and call into question conflicts of interest potentially damaging the credibility of a paper.

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Critical Writing Program: Decision Making - Spring 2024: Researching the White Paper

  • Getting started
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Research the White Paper

Researching the White Paper:

The process of researching and composing a white paper shares some similarities with the kind of research and writing one does for a high school or college research paper. What’s important for writers of white papers to grasp, however, is how much this genre differs from a research paper.  First, the author of a white paper already recognizes that there is a problem to be solved, a decision to be made, and the job of the author is to provide readers with substantive information to help them make some kind of decision--which may include a decision to do more research because major gaps remain. 

Thus, a white paper author would not “brainstorm” a topic. Instead, the white paper author would get busy figuring out how the problem is defined by those who are experiencing it as a problem. Typically that research begins in popular culture--social media, surveys, interviews, newspapers. Once the author has a handle on how the problem is being defined and experienced, its history and its impact, what people in the trenches believe might be the best or worst ways of addressing it, the author then will turn to academic scholarship as well as “grey” literature (more about that later).  Unlike a school research paper, the author does not set out to argue for or against a particular position, and then devote the majority of effort to finding sources to support the selected position.  Instead, the author sets out in good faith to do as much fact-finding as possible, and thus research is likely to present multiple, conflicting, and overlapping perspectives. When people research out of a genuine desire to understand and solve a problem, they listen to every source that may offer helpful information. They will thus have to do much more analysis, synthesis, and sorting of that information, which will often not fall neatly into a “pro” or “con” camp:  Solution A may, for example, solve one part of the problem but exacerbate another part of the problem. Solution C may sound like what everyone wants, but what if it’s built on a set of data that have been criticized by another reliable source?  And so it goes. 

For example, if you are trying to write a white paper on the opioid crisis, you may focus on the value of  providing free, sterilized needles--which do indeed reduce disease, and also provide an opportunity for the health care provider distributing them to offer addiction treatment to the user. However, the free needles are sometimes discarded on the ground, posing a danger to others; or they may be shared; or they may encourage more drug usage. All of those things can be true at once; a reader will want to know about all of these considerations in order to make an informed decision. That is the challenging job of the white paper author.     
 The research you do for your white paper will require that you identify a specific problem, seek popular culture sources to help define the problem, its history, its significance and impact for people affected by it.  You will then delve into academic and grey literature to learn about the way scholars and others with professional expertise answer these same questions. In this way, you will create creating a layered, complex portrait that provides readers with a substantive exploration useful for deliberating and decision-making. You will also likely need to find or create images, including tables, figures, illustrations or photographs, and you will document all of your sources. 

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White paper, “space data ethics: the next frontier in responsible leadership", white paper, “enhancing agricultural resilience, enabling scalable sustainability, and ensuring food security through space-based earth observations,”, white paper, “the earth information action lead:  strengthening leadership to enhance u.s. earth observation in support of climate and societal benefits".

White Paper, “Space Data Ethics: The Next Frontier in Responsible Leadership,” prepared by the Climate and Societal Benefits Subcommittee. This is a position paper in support of a recommendation to develop the principles of space data ethics.  Completed December 1, 2023. 

White Paper, “Enhancing Agricultural Resilience, Enabling Scalable Sustainability, and Ensuring Food Security through Space-based Earth Observations,” prepared by the Climate and Societal Benefits Subcommittee. This is a position paper supporting the recommendations of the Climate and Societal Benefits Subcommittee.  It highlights agriculture as a use case to explore the applications and current challenges surrounding wide-scale utilization Earth Observation (EO).  While EO holds promise for many applications, including the aforementioned, there are multiple challenges identified by this Users’ Advisory Group (UAG) subcommittee that must be addressed to fully realize EO’s potential to address these challenges and the impact of climate change.  These include data quality, data accessibility, the need for additional information to contextualize EO insights, mission continuity/resilience, and institutional barriers that limit innovation.  Completed December 1, 2023.

White Paper, “The Earth Information Action Lead:  Strengthening Leadership to Enhance U.S. Earth Observation in Support of Climate and Societal Benefits,” prepared by the Climate and Societal Benefits Subcommittee. This is a position paper in support of a recommendation establish an over-arching leadership role within the National Security Council to assess, prioritize, and guide the Nation’s multi-agency EO effort along with consideration of private sector capabilities for the purpose of accelerating and improving environmental information and action promoting greater resiliency.  Completed January 29, 2024. 

Space Data Ethics: The Next Frontier in Responsible Leadership

Feb 23, 2024

PDF (276.66 KB)

Enhancing Agricultural Resilience, Enabling Scalable Sustainability, and Ensuring Food Security through Space-based Earth Observations

PDF (247.20 KB)

The Earth Information Action Lead:  Strengthening Leadership to Enhance U.S. Earth Observation in Support of Climate and Societal Benefits

PDF (197.19 KB)

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  1. White Paper Guide: How to Write a White Paper

    White Paper Guide: How to Write a White Paper Written by MasterClass Last updated: Aug 17, 2021 • 5 min read A white paper is a marketing and sales tool and document used by businesses to explore a particular subject matter related to its product or service and to generate sales leads.

  2. How to Write and Format a White Paper: The Definitive Guide

    To write a white paper, thoroughly research a topic and propose a comprehensive solution in a well-structured, factual, and persuasive document. A white paper should include: 1. Title (accurate but enticing) 2. Abstract (including the Problem Statement) 3. Background (may be detailed and technical or broad and high-level, depending on audience) 4.

  3. How to Write a White Paper in 10 Steps (+ Tips & Templates)

    Written by: Orana Velarde Feb 09, 2023 For businesses, a proven way to improve authority and establish thought leadership in your niche is to publish insightful and valuable content. One of the best ways to do that is with a white paper. White papers can help move the needle for your sales team.

  4. White Paper: Purpose and Audience

    When it is used for commercial purposes, it could influence the decision-making processes of current and prospective customers. What Kind of Problems Do Readers Want to Solve? The audience for a white paper can be the general public or multiple companies that seek solutions to their problems or needs.

  5. How to Write a White Paper [Tips & Templates]

    By Chau Nguyen, Jun 28, 2023 So, you need to write a white paper. And not just write it, you need to make it interesting too — especially if your goal is to establish thought leadership or generate leads.

  6. How to Write and Format a White Paper

    1. What is a white paper? A white paper is an in-depth report or guide about a specific topic and the problems that surround it. It is meant to educate readers and help them to understand and solve an issue. In the world of marketing, a white paper is a long-form piece of content, similar to an eBook.The difference between the two is that white papers tend to be more technical and in depth.

  7. How To Write and Format a White Paper in 9 Steps (Plus Tips)

    Follow these steps to prepare and write a white paper for your team: 1. Choose the right topic There are several factors that go into choosing the right topic for your white paper. These factors include the audience you wish to reach, the problem you present a solution for and the expertise that your employer's company holds within its industry.

  8. How to Write a White Paper: A Beginner's Guide

    1. What is a white paper? A white paper is a long-form, authoritative piece of content that uses expert knowledge and original research from reliable sources to educate readers about a specific problem and a proposed solution. The depth of the research involved gives them a formal tone and more authority than other types of content.

  9. How to Write a White Paper: A Beginner's Guide

    Identify what kind of information your audience is looking for and present it right at the beginning to draw them in. Understand their needs and capture their attention with a compelling intro that...

  10. How to Write a White Paper: The Ultimate Guide

    To write an effective title, follow these best practices: Be concise and straightforward. Avoid writing a title that overpromises or sounds too good to be true. Remember that your white paper should support the headline with facts, data, and cited research. If you can't back it up, it's not the right headline.

  11. White Paper: What Is It & How To Write One [With Examples]

    The process of writing a white paper should focus on taking your reader from point A to point B. At point A, users have some issues you want to help them solve. Then, by educating them on the subject and showing them how they can solve the problem, your users end up at point B. 5. Make your white paper engaging.

  12. Writing a White Paper (Format, Tips, Examples & Templates)

    How to write a white paper (step-by-step guide) Writing a white paper is no small feat. It requires research, understanding, and a knack for presenting information engagingly. But with the right approach, your white paper can position your brand as an industry leader, driving leads and fostering trust. Remember, it's all about offering value ...

  13. How to Write White Papers: 14 Steps (with Pictures)

    1 Determine your audience. Typically, you won't know your audience personally. However, you should identify as many factors as possible, such as professional needs, educational backgrounds, and job title (s). These aspects will determine how to form your argument. Mold your proposal to be relatable to your audience based on these factors. [2]

  14. A Guide to White Papers: Definition, Format and Titles

    White papers are text-heavy and typically contain at least 2,500 words. They primarily include data and research to present their cause. This means organizations and scholars typically write them in a formal or academic tone. White papers used to be official government reports that were both informative and authoritative.

  15. Writing a White Paper

    If you are writing a white paper, be prepared to compose a long document. Depending on your industry, a white paper can extend beyond 25 pages. However, it will not usually be this long in the academic context. If your instructor asks you to write a white paper, follow their instructions regarding length.

  16. The Ultimate Guide To Writing A White Paper

    THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO WRITING A WHITE PAPER By Sean Stapleton Published: 3 March, 2021 Last updated: April 18th, 2022 at 7:01 pm Home Digital Marketing Blog & Resources THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO WRITING A WHITE PAPER If you had to describe writing a white paper with one word, it would be effort.

  17. The Writing Center

    Download this guide as a PDF Return to all guides Overview In their traditional form, white papers are written and used by policymakers to examine a policy problem and consider an array of solutions. Thus a white paper follows a problem-solution structure.

  18. Writing and Formatting a White Paper: A Step-by-Step Guide

    Mentioned below is how you should go about formatting your white paper: The title should come first, followed by the abstract. Next, you should write your problem statement. Then, the background. Next, the solution to the problem you're looking to solve. After that, write a short conclusion. Finally, mention any references you've used.

  19. PDF How to Write a White Paper

    Microsoft Word - HowTo-Final_2. About the Author: Michael Stelzner is the author of. Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged, the executive. editor of the 20,000-reader WhitePaperSourceTM Newsletter and has written nearly 100 papers for major corporations such as Microsoft, FedEx, Motorola, HP, Monster, and SAP.

  20. How to Write a White Paper

    Elna Cain January 21, 2022 43 Comments One of the best ways to make more money as a freelance writer is to offer different types of writing services. Learning how to write a white paper is a great way to take your business to the next level . This is a type of marketing tool that businesses use and it can help you make a living as a writer.

  21. The Ultimate Guide to Writing Technical White Papers

    The Ultimate Guide to Writing Technical White Papers Writer: Alaina Bradenburger Editor: Lora Lynn Fanning Published: Oct 26, 2023 Email Address* According to the 2022 Content Preferences Report, 55% of respondents indicated that white papers are the most valuable content for buyers in the earliest stages of the buying process.

  22. The Definitive Guide: How to Write White Paper [with AI]

    Length. The ideal length of a white paper varies depending on its purpose and target audience. Generally, a comprehensive white paper should be 6-12 pages long - or roughly 2,000 to 5,000 words. However: Consider extending the length if your topic is exceptionally complex or requires an in-depth explanation.

  23. White Paper Structure

    While there are no official guidelines to writing a white paper, there are many suggestions and best practices which may help in formatting an effective one. White Paper Structure White papers usually follow a similar structure consisting of the following elements: -From Purdue OWL Writing Lab Choosing a Title for the White Paper

  24. Researching the White Paper

    Search this Guide Search. Critical Writing Program: Decision Making - Spring 2024: Researching the White Paper. Researching the White Paper Toggle Dropdown. ... For example, if you are trying to write a white paper on the opioid crisis, you may focus on the value of providing free, sterilized needles--which do indeed reduce disease, and also ...

  25. PDF Strategies for Essay Writing

    When you receive a paper assignment, your first step should be to read the assignment prompt carefully to make sure you understand what you are being asked to do. Sometimes your assignment will be open-ended ("write a paper about anything in the course that interests you"). But more often, the instructor will be asking you to do

  26. How To Create A White Paper Landing Page (+ Examples)

    A white paper landing page is a standalone web page that internet users "land" on after clicking through from another digital location. This could be a social media post, email, or an ad. The landing page is designed with a clear purpose-to showcase your white paper and entice visitors to download it. Here's an example:

  27. White Papers

    White Paper, "Space Data Ethics: The Next Frontier in Responsible Leadership," prepared by the Climate and Societal Benefits Subcommittee. This is a position ... and guide the Nation's multi-agency EO effort along with consideration of private sector capabilities for the purpose of accelerating and improving environmental information and ...