I talked with one of my best clients today about updating several white papers that I had written for them some time back. What struck me -- and frankly surprised me -- is that most of the white papers are still in good shape, and need only minor editing and updating. They are 2-3 years old at this point and still going strong.
How did my client keep company white papers working well after all this time? By focusing them on solving readers’ knottiest business problems. Tough business problems don’t go away overnight. Email is hard to manage. SANs have growing pains. Data migration is a headache. These were challenges 5 years ago and they are still challenges today as data volumes grow and the requirements for data protection get stiffer. And people need good tools to help them manage them, now more than ever.
The upshot? Resist the temptation to do a white paper narrowly centered on features and cool dinguses. (Technical term.) Concentrate on solving your readers’ biggest challenges instead, and you’ll have a white paper that will draw better response, from more qualified readers, over a longer period of time.
It’s all good.
Chris - This is a great question / discussion and I encourage you to post it on WhitePaperSource
Posted by: Mike Stelzner | September 29, 2005 at 04:55 PM