Content Marketing: Rethinking The White Paper

The hallmark of a great white paper is that it’s clearly written from a well-researched position, informing opinion and demonstrating thought leadership through content with gravitas.

The white paper has been around a long time, and it’s worth considering how to leverage this great marketing workhorse, to achieve more stretch from the substantive content within it. So here are 5 nifty repurposing ideas to try:

1. Primary & Secondary Content

Think of white papers as a primary piece of content – rich in subject matter that tells a story in logical steps; each step informing the next.

Then think of each step as a piece of content in itself – these become the secondary content.

2. Formats for Secondary Content

For each element of your secondary content, re-communicate the step in various formats so you can digitally seed the content. So each step ends up with a number of different formats extending the story – an infographic, a Q&A piece, a blog, an eBook. Do this for each step of the story.

3. Seed Story in Sequence

Release the formats in sequential order across digital platforms and via email to the audiences you want to reach and influence.   Allow each phase to filter and have its time before releasing the next.

4. Capture Emails & Generate Leads

The educational and pioneering quality of white papers make them a reliable tool for capturing emails. Offering the white paper as an instant download in exchange for an email address will build your audience and allow you to ask permission to opt them in to regular communications.

5. Increase Facebook LIKES

You can increase likes by offering the white paper via gated entry – making it available after a LIKE and SHARE.

These illustrate a few ways to stretch the pull of your white paper. There are many more. So if you have recently written primary content or are about to write a white paper, grab a coffee and a quiet moment, and consider how the primary material might disseminate into secondary content that will fill up your content marketing calendar with quality material for a good while.

And if your agency hasn’t suggested this you might want to ask WHY NOT?