Should you Design your White Paper for Print?

Should you Design your White Paper for Print?:from White Paper Pundit by Jonathan Kantor

It has become a generally accepted premise that we live in an connected world of shared online information. Email, Chats, SMS text messaging, websites, blogs, podcasts, wikis, webinars, social media updates, online video and a plethora of shared document formats form the framework of our day-to-day communications, one of which is the infamous Acrobat PDF, today’s white paper standard.

The truth of the matter is the vast majority of white papers today are read on screen, whether on a desktop, notebook, smartphone or iPad. Formatting an PDF for on screen reading is easy enough, but designing one for print is another story since most 8.5″ x 11″ white papers are printed from a folded 11″ x 17″ broadsheet. This requires additional time and cost to re-design an on screen formatted white paper for print.

So when it comes to distributing a PDF white paper does it still make to spend the money designing a white paper for print given the predominant preference for on screen reading?

As simplistic as it may sound, a printed white paper offers a simple, portable, and easily readable format, that doesn’t require electricity, downloading a “reader” application, battery power, a WiFi connection, sleep timers, or color/background lighting adjustments. Print offers a simple flexibility since it can be read while commuting, handed out at a tradeshow, included in a direct mail campaign, or offered as a leave-behind piece during a sales call.

Certainly it would be foolish to say that print should be your exclusive distribution medium. The Internet has changed that forever. But printed white papers should still be consider one part of your market segment that still prefers to hold a printed document. You should consider the possibility that  your white paper may be printed by your target audience using their local laser or inject printer in their office. If your target audience comprises older executives, offering printed versions of your white papers is always a good idea, especially if you have a salesforce making one-on-one sales calls, and needs the option of a leave behind when discussing your organization’s thought leadership advantage.

The best answer is to poll your customer-facing employees, and your target readers. I’ll bet that while print won’t represent the majority of your documents anymore, dedicating a small percentage of your budget for printing white papers makes good business sense. After all, think of the money you’ve saved by not printing as many white papers (and other documents) as you did a decade ago?