<p>I attended a great presentation last week by Gordon Graham, one of the country's top white paper writers. Gordon, who has worked for years with some of the biggest names in business, shared his insights on what makes a paper work or not work for its audience.</p> <p>As he spoke, I found myself thinking of the questions my own clients--large and small businesses alike-- face when developing informational collateral and outreach pieces.</p> <p>Whether it's a white paper or a bylined article or a guide for buyers, there are common pitfalls that can really derail your message.</p> <p>Here are my top five places to troubleshoot:</p> <p><strong>1. Poor set-up.&nbsp; </strong>A compelling title and introduction are key to grabbing reader interest in any piece of informational collateral. But after you grab them, you do need to deliver. Titles should clearly represent the content of the piece. A well-crafted introduction moves right from the promise of the title into setting the stage for what readers can expect to learn as they read on. Skipping the introduction is not an option.</p> <p><strong>2. Design isn't married to intent.</strong> If you want people to read it, then design to encourage reading. That doesn't sound like rocket science. But many collateral pieces-- especially white papers and articles-- don't take advantage of simple enhancements like headers, subheads, pull quotes, margins, tables, charts, images and the like. As a result, busy readers are turned off because they can't scan. On the flip side, a slicked-up brochure look may say to some readers: "warning: sales message ahead." If you're aiming to offer useful information and build credibility, you may want to keep your designs simple but attractive. Keep your audience's expectations in mind.</p> <p><strong>3. Too many gaps.</strong> There is a model that successful white papers follow. Likewise with informative articles. Educational brochures, consumer guides-- even news releases-- have models and basic structural elements. If you're not setting up the premise and offering the solution in a streamlined manner, then you need to rethink your approach. Don't make readers leap all over the place trying to follow you simply because you want to get creative. Answer their questions. Make it easy.</p> <p><strong>4. All hat and no cattle. </strong>If you want to sell a product or service, please do it in another piece. Informational collateral pieces are not meant to be thinly disguised sales pitches. They're not meant to be a laundry list of features and benefits. Make your case for a solution, even give it a name if you like, but don't tie what you're proposing exclusively to your brand. Even more important, back up your premise wherever possible with third-party evidence, anecdotes, statistics, research, what have you. "Because we said so" or "because it's what we offer" isn't good enough.<br />&nbsp;<br /><strong>5. Unprofessional writing and editing.</strong> Admittedly, I have a bias here. Some of my best friends are subject-matter experts and business owners. And they have a wealth of knowledge about (and often incredibly keen insight into) the challenges of their markets. But most eagerly tell me they are not writers. They're not specialists at encapsulating and translating the pertinent information succinctly to the end-user. Even when they have the skill, they may be too close to the material. Professional quality collateral requires professional writing and editing as well as an understanding of marketing communications practices.<br /></p> 2009-02-11T23:29:00Z -11.5001 241 3153 true 15 14951 5-ways-to-shoot-your-educational-marketing-in-the-foot 2 2009-02-14T17:04:14Z 2009-02-14T17:04:14Z

Offering useful information to your target market is one effective way to establish expertise, credibility and market share. But how do you ensure that your information-based collateral-- white papers, reports, even articles-- connects with its intended audience?

0 2009-02-24T09:49:18Z