Attract More Customers with White Papers - Part 5

Part 5: 'Promoting Your White Paper is More
Important Than the Paper Itself!'

In 1854, Henry David Thoreau said 'Build A
Better Mousetrap and the World Will Beat
a Path to Your Door.'

Henry David Thoreau lived in a different century
than you and me.

Henry David Thoreau never invented any
mousetraps.

And the world never beat a path to his door.

I think that Henry David Thoreau was snorting
cocaine.

That was then, Mr. Thoreau, but this is now.

Today, if you've got better mousetraps, new
technology, or a superior solution to any kind
of business problem, you're faced with some very
tough challenges.

Your customers and prospects are inundated with
choices. They're relentlessly pursued by salespeople.
They hide behind their computers and guard against
unwanted pests with their voice mail.

You send them emails but they can vaporize
your message with one touch of the delete button.
Your website is just one among millions.

The world is an unbelievably crowded place.
Nobody's got time to read your white paper --
unless the title and the promotion for it truly
hit a nerve.

And nobody's going to read it if they don't
know about it.

That's why the *promotion* is vitally important.

The promotion of your white paper is kind
of like a "Product Rollout." It's much like
you'd do with a new product, except the
white paper is the product. It's not a physical
product in the usual sense, but it is an information
product. It's the first step in selling your idea,
your better mousetrap, to the world.

Here's a list of steps I follow in "rolling out" a
white paper when I'm working with consulting clients:

1) Buy web traffic on search engines (this is VERY effective)
2) Email blast to an at least 'lukewarm' customer list
3) Press Release to related publications
4) Send out Postcards
5) Advertise it in print
6) Joint venture advertising with compatible vendors

So when you create a white paper - even if
it's just a simple 1-page guide - right here
you just got a list of SIX things you can do to
get the word out.

*** By the way -- very important point -- if
you use the right formula for writing a press release
for a white paper, it has 3 times the chance of
seeing the light of day in a magazine or
newspaper than a regular product release! ***

Several of my clients are small companies -
less than ten million in sales - that are
generating HUNDREDS of sales leads a month
with white papers. In most cases those leads
are coming in for only a couple bucks apiece.

As a matter of fact, I suggest that you
commit a goodly percentage of your advertising
budget to promoting white papers -- it goes MILES
further than 'branding' and 'image advertising.'

http://www.perrymarshall.com/whitepapers/action.htm

Perry Marshall

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