The Well Organized White Paper Writer

The Well Organized White Paper Writer:

Many white paper writers writers mistakenly believe that good writing skills alone is sufficient to achieving white paper marketing success. While highly creative writing skills are certainly important, it is not the ‘be-all, end-all’ of being a good white paper writer.

A good white paper writer must be able to organize information in a way that facilites the production and delivery of the white paper project as well. When one looks at the range of tasks needed to produce a white paper, organization plays a major role, which takes place in several stages in a typical B2B white paper project:

1. The Content Interview Stage - A well organized writer must organize the questions that will be asked of the designated Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in order to obtain the responses necessary to produce high quality white paper content. It is also an important step that will avoid, “Let me get back to you” questions and maximize the time spent with SMEs during those content discovery phone calls.

2. The Outline Stage - A well organized writer must translate technical or complex SME responses in a simple, comprehensive content outline that represents the framework of the proposed white paper project. This is an essential step necessary to obtain client approval and ensure that the subsequent draft will meet their messages expectations and marketing goals.

3. The Draft Development Stage - Once a comprehensive outine has been developed and approved, the well organized writer must take the outline, and expand it into a multi-sectioned white paper project that accurately and clearly articulates the various points presented by the SMEs. The white paper draft must accomplish this using a well-structured flow of information, that goes from broad industry issues to specific business challenges, and then with detailed solutions to solve those challenges.

4. Resource Organization Stage - The well-organized white paper writer must organize external resources of information such as online research, editors, graphic designers, and any online publishing sources, in order to meet agreed production and publication timelines set by the client.

The Bottom Line: Creative writing is a great talent, but without that talent coupled with good organization skills, you are placing several hurdles in front of your white paper project that will ultimately limit its success and meet your manager’s or clients marketing needs. Even the most talented white paper writer cannot achieve the degree of success they desire without a healthy dose of white paper project organizational skills. Make your white paper project plan a regular part of your development approach to ensure success.

If you would like to learn some additional organization tips for your white paper marketing programs, download a copy of my free tip sheet called “Ten Tips to Improve Your White Paper Marketing Plan”.