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I’ve just created a Squidoo Lens that features the copywriting platform I use to help develop white papers, case studies, and other materials for our clients. Feel free to check it out.

Copywriting Platform

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I was just six years old when the original Star Wars blasted into my consciousness. Basically, the perfect age to have someone take over your entire creative drive before you even had a chance. From then on, my peers and I were “letting the Wookie win,” pretending to fly in formation on our X-wing bikes, and avoiding Stormtrooper patrols. (As for who I modeled myself after, it was Solo of course….couldn’t stand the Jedis in either the original or prequel series. Yes….I cheered at the Jedi downfall. Too many meetings!)

When you look back at them, though, the movies are a series of unfortunate dialog choices held together with special effects. Thank God for Harrison Ford and Alec Guinness for keeping the original series somewhat entertaining. The prequels were actually physically painful to endure, from the Gungans (”me so stupid!”) to the names of characters (really, how am I supposed to be scared of a guy named Count Dooku?) to more than I can possibly mention here.

(I guess you could say that the above paragraph is also a lesson in marketing. It is possible to be too commercial, too salesy, too out there. It’s pretty bad when the generation that grows up loving what you created just sighs and rolls their eyes when you come out with quite possibly the most anticipated continuation of that initial product.)

However, there are a few gems to be snatched from George Lucas’ opus. So let us snatch, and relate to the world of marketing.

1. Bad feelings are usually right. If you think you’re about to be sucked up into the Death Star’s tractor beam, crushed in a trash compactor, or experience any other awful fate, please just listen to your feelings. Now I know that I’ve told a lot of you that you need to start trusting data in your marketing, but careful monitoring and long exposure to data usually does a bang up job of improving your hunches. If you think the project you’re on is a money pit, a waste of time, or just plain evil, then heed the feeling and do something to get out of the way of doom.
2. Size matters not. Time and again, we’ve helped the little upstart kick the snot out of the big guy. If the stories reinforce anything, it’s the power of the little guy (whether jedi master, or pilot of a snub fighter) taking on the big mamba jamba boys and winning.
3. But let the Wookie win! If you’re totally outclassed, no sense getting into a big fight for no reason. Let the wookie win, then find another way to exploit the situation. Brains may be better than brawn, but brawn will beat you down every time.
4. Do or do not. There is no try. I hate to hear the words, “I’ll give it a shot” or “I’ll try.” Listen, life is short. Just build the landing page, create the one-page tip sheet, start the adword campaign, and see what happens, okay? Stop meeting about it. Stop talking about it. Stop debating it for 90 days until you’ve been completely overrun by your competitors. Just do it. Or don’t do it.
5. Never send a lackey out to do something you can do better. Over and over again, we see the hapless stormtroopers fooled and dissuaded. That whole “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for” thing would never have gotten past Vader, now would it? And you’d never see the Emperor running away from Han Solo, right? A lot of times, the good guys just prevail because they simply outclass, outthink, outwit, and outgun all the day-to-day minions they encounter.
6. You must unlearn what you have learned! Too many of you are out there right now, working your way through your little automaton marketing days: buying big expensive ads, talking to the same old people, hiring designers to put together brochures no one will ever read, and laying out big bucks for a booth at the same meaningless events that you attended last year. UNLEARN. Talk to 3 live customers today. Do it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. Ask them three simple questions: 1. Why did they buy from you? 2. Would they buy again, knowing what they know now? 3. Would they refer you to friends and colleagues? Then branch out from there. Ask them what ails them, what keeps them up at night. Build your products and services around these pains. Then market that.
7. Look not to the future and the far away! Yes, okay, so lots of Yoda wisdom here, but there is some power in being in the present. Yes, you have to plan for things down the road, but being present to the needs of your customers right now is a very powerful thing–in fact, you may discover some things that will happily keep you from doing things in the future that would otherwise be destructive.

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Check out this excellent video, which recreates a presentation on using social media and other Web 2.0 technologies/techniques to enhance an existing marketing program. There is a slight pitch at the front for Proclaim, but bear with it, it’s worth it.

Storytelling using the New Media

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Over the past few decades there have been some forces at work that have rocked marketing down to its core. These forces aren’t going away; if anything, they are accelerating, causing increased effects.

Here they are, in no particular order (list is not all-inclusive!):

1. Shift from transaction- to relationship-based marketing. This is a no-brainer. It costs a lot less money to continue a relationship (and even improve it or deepen it) then to start a brand new relationship with a total stranger. It all started with the one-to-one future and has just exploded
2. Shift from intuition- to data-based marketing. Thanks to the internet, we have ways of gathering very exact data about how customers react to messaging, what they respond to, where they do, who they talk to and then make decisions based on this data. The funny thing is, now that internet marketers have become used to all this introspection and accountability, they want it for their other media buys too! It’s no longer good enough to just drop 5 million on an ad campaign and hope it works.
3. Further melding of content and advertising. Another no brainer, and a simple darwinian reflex to the rise of TiVO, spam filters, and more. No one in their right minds (and yes, this means that advertising people aren’t in their right minds!) willingly sit through ads. One way to get your pitch seen is to make it an integral part of the content that is drawing an audience. (Also, take note of the next big trend….)
4. Emphasis on microtrends and relevance marketing vs. mass marketing. In the old days, you bought an ad on TV during M*A*S*H and 70 quadrillion people saw it, and maybe 1% bought and you were made in the shade. Now you have 17 different magazines, podcasts, and cable shows devoted to every conceivable topic (like walking, cigars, quilting, medieval military history, mixed martial arts, you name it). There’s just no way that a single message can match all those audiences and their desires. Don’t even try it, as you’re not even likely to get lucky.
5. Shift from one-way marketing to conversational marketing. Even if you as a company aren’t conversing with your marketplace, you can bet your sweet patutees that the marketplace is having some kind of conversation about you. Guess what? They used to do it on the phone, or in gatherings, or over email, but now its a no brainer to set up entire blog networks about you. And to post videos on youtube of people using/abusing your product. My advice: Don’t fear the reaper. Get in there and mix it up, because at least then you’re involved.

There are more forces at work, of course. Anyone care to comment?

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What is a white paper?

* A pre-sales document

* Targeted at prospects, leads, or other potential customers/partners/vendors who are still trying to decide on an approach, product, service, or idea

* A communication tool used to explain a complex product or service or educate industry customers

IN SHORT: White papers help people make decisions. If you give people a white paper of value, they will give you their loyalty and business.

Most common types:
1. Technology guide — explains underlying technology, why it is valuable to customers, how it is different from and better than others

2. Position paper — explains/advocates a standard, trend, or technology. Explains importance to potential customer.

3. Business benefits — explains why potential customers need/want product/service.

4. Competitive review — positions the product and differentiates it from competitors

5. Evaluation guide — thoroughly explains products features and functionality

6. Planning/implementation/configuration guide — helps customers plan for future trends, or walks them through typical implementation scenarios

7. Case studies — examine the success or failure of particular approaches, options, or technologies

8. ROI — explains the payoff of using an approach, technology, product, or service.

9. Services guide — explains different options available within a range of services

Why write a white paper?
* Educate potential customers and THEREBY ADVANCE THE SALES CYCLE.
* Educate sales force.
* Educate media, partners, vendors, other employees about complex topic.
* As a lead generating fulfillment piece.
* As content for trade publications.
* To redefine the market.
* To build the company’s credibility, authority, or standing in its market or industry.
* To differentiate a company from its competitors

Drivers for Success
* An in-house sponsor
* A real deadline
* A knowledgeable writer who understands, simplifies, and explains the underlying technology
* A topic and approach that is targeted to the right audience (message- and audience-match)
* Customer focus, not product/service focus

Process for Writing a White Paper
1. Analyze and define problem — what’s hindering the sales process?
2. Preliminary needs assessment to clarify TOPIC and AUDIENCE– always from the audience’s perspective!
3. Define specific objectives — are you going to generate leads? what call to action? is it technical or business-oriented?
4. Interview SMEs and read, read, read, read. Presos, reports, user guides, articles, interviews, reviews, competitive docs, pr, news items, blogs, datasheets. If you can, play with the product or watch the service being done first hand.
5. Write the paper — drafting & editing
6. Produce the white paper
7. Distribute the white paper

Structure of a Successful White Paper
* Catchy, meaningful title
* Abstract/executive summary. Can be 3-5 bullet points or a short paragraph.
* Define issue and provide background info
* Introduce problem or challenge. Sets stage for solution.
* Describe the solution. Back it up with evidence (statistics, testimonials, stories, kitchen logic)
* Describe benefits (with proof)
* Conclusion — a quick summary of benefits and reminder of risks of doing nothing
* Call to Action that tells reader to take next step (register at web site, call sales dept, schedule a one-on-one)

Along the way, add illustrations and sidebars that summarize or illustrate. Sidebars can also be used as home for details that might otherwise break up white paper flow. Layout & design can be important considerations. Tone and style of writing also helps–it doesn’t have to be dry & academic. Just don’t get too salesy or fluffy.

Effective Titles
1. Ask a question that relates to the problem
2. Break up title with a colon (Business Intelligence: An Intelligent Move or Not?)
3. Use a specific job title in the title (if you are that focused)
4. Use transactional verbs (Securing your Network blah blah vs. Web Application Security)
5. Use of dramatic title can be supported by a more factual/descriptive subtitle

What to Avoid with Titles
1. Cute titles and/or situational humor
2. Company names, product names, brands
3. Features
4. Confusing or annoying buzzwords
5. Anything downright offensive, illegal, in bad taste, or libelous

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