Here's the question on my mind: How are ebooks different from white papers, and how do you decide which one to use? Ebooks seem to be all the rage, but I am strong proponent of a (well-written) white paper as well. In many ways, white papers and ebooks are similar: Both should be targeted to a specific reader. I have been thinking a lot about ebooks lately. Stephanie recently posted a fantastic interview with Cindy Kim that discussed how Lumension added ebooks to their marketing mix , and this started my gears turning.

Here's the question on my mind: How are ebooks different from white papers, and how do you decide which one to use? Ebooks seem to be all the rage, but I am strong proponent of a (well-written) white paper as well. In many ways, white papers and ebooks are similar: Both should be targeted to a specific reader. I have been thinking a lot about ebooks lately. Stephanie recently posted a fantastic interview with Cindy Kim that discussed how Lumension added ebooks to their marketing mix , and this started my gears turning.

Jon shared his “secret sauce” for lead generation .    It was an excellent webinar for all of our Insiders at Find New Customers . One of the key principals he shared was the process of mapping content to the way your customers buy.  One of the things I did at Aplicor was develop buyer personas, map the buying process, industry, and other factors.  Today, Find New Customers hosted a webinar with Jon Miller, VP, Marketing at Marketo.  Here’s an excellent ebook from www.junta42.com

thought it would be helpful to show how a buyer persona comes into play when creating a specific content asset, in this case a white paper. When I ask clients about the audience for a white paper, I sometimes hear: "the technical and business decision makers" (i.e., The key is that the more you know about your audience, the more likely you'll produce a focused white paper that hits the mark. In my last post , I discussed the importance of developing buyer personas – and steps marketers can take to get started. I

Seems basic enough, but is this really common practice with white papers? Jonathan Kantor provides a list of white papers each Friday in his blog, The White Paper Pundit. This is a somewhat random sampling of white papers; Jonathan describes the list as a list of white papers posted on Twitter that week that do not require registration. One tenant of marketing is that all content should have a call to action. I

A survey by Spiceworks reveals that IT pros--key influencers in B2B buying cycles--are increasingly resistant to downloading white papers, because of the registration forms. In an interview on the Savvy B2B Marketing blog*, Jay Halberg of Spiceworks says:Those that do share their [contact information when downloading a white paper] obviously don't mind doing so, but they DO mind a pesky vendor ...Tags: Tags: lead generation thought leadership white paper

White Papers We write about white papers a lot on Savvy B2B Marketing because they are pieces that have a lot of power if written well - and they are very much requested by the IT audience (and others). In the recent TechTarget Media Consumption Report, white papers were the most widely used online content type that IT professesionals used to evaluate new technology. Content makes the world go round, doesn't it? B2B marketers know they need content, but sometimes it can daunting to decide what to produce.

White Papers We write about white papers a lot on Savvy B2B Marketing because they are pieces that have a lot of power if written well - and they are very much requested by the IT audience (and others). In the recent TechTarget Media Consumption Report, white papers were the most widely used online content type that IT professesionals used to evaluate new technology. Content makes the world go round, doesn't it? B2B marketers know they need content, but sometimes it can daunting to decide what to produce.

In honor of the event, they sponsored a white paper by Yours Truly on the general topic of, um, why it’s important to make it easier for salespeople to review prospect behaviors that are captured by the demand generation system. The paper, Restoring the Balance: Why Marketing Holds the Key to Effective Selling in a Changed Business World , is available for free on the Raab Guide site and will eventually show up on the Eloqua site as well. Eloqua yesterday announced Eloqua Prospect Profiler , which makes it easier for salespeople to review prospect behaviors that are captured by the demand generation system.

How do you concisely convey the information you want to present in your white paper? How long should a white paper be to convey information and yet hold readers interest from start to end? We have invited White Paper Experts to shed light on the following question: "What is the ideal length of a white paper?" quot; We have invited White Paper Experts to shed light on the following question: "What is the ideal length of a white paper?".