wildenhaus: 2015

How to Write Great on White Paper

Written by Perry Warner
Former Partner/Account Executive at Inter-Activity
Interactive, Internet, Inbound and Outbound Marketing

The purpose of writing on paper is to jot down your thoughts to convey to your potential clients who are sitting right across the table from you. This is informally called a “face-to-face meeting”. Such topics might include how to economize, laundering their money, or keeping their equipment running efficiently without ever once changing the oil. Writing on paper should also let them know if annual tests need to be performed by law or their mother-in-law.

The key to writing great on white paper is to keep it client focused. This document explains how to inform your clients about topics they want to learn about without weakening your credibility, especially if there’s a small bit of potato chip stuck in the corner of your mouth.

Your Audience

    When writing on white paper, it should be targeted towards a very specific audience, such as those potential clients who are sitting right across the table from you. Show your incredible experience through knowledge of a detailed subject matter that no one else cares about and explain the problems & solutions to such an intricate degree that your client won’t dare question.

Your Content

    Cover Page- The cover page should include an attention grabbing headline that will peak the interest of your clients. It needs to convey what is to be learned from this white paper, if anything, in a brief statement which would somehow strike curiosity in a mollusk.

   Summary- The summary should precede the body text and give a short, seemingly brief synopsis of what your clients are about to read. The synopsis should speak more generically about the subject matter, blah, blah, blah, outlining the topics which will eventually be brutally explained in the body text. A few enticing issues should be stated, and then restated, to be overly effective and engage your clients into a false sense of security as they continue reading.

    Body- The body should express your complete, unquestionable understanding of issues that might have arisen during the meeting which directly relates as to why you’re writing on white paper in the first place. Now’s your chance to include all your favorite chunks of technical jargon and incoherent examples that will define the problems and then, of course, masterfully explain the solutions. This section should be segmented into small, chewable pieces to make it easier to read and understand, and eat if necessary.

   Conclusion- Restate, restate, and reinstate your main points in your concluding paragraphs to show that eventually, if there is a God, there will be a merciful end result before the lunch bell rings.

   Boilerplate Statement- The “boilerplate statement” should be a short statement about the boiler in your pre-WWII home. It should explain the size and shape and dust level that’s accumulated on your boiler. That’s about it.

   Refining Process: How to Write Even Greater on Even Whiter Paper

Do’s and Don’ts:

    Don’t use your Company Name- your company name should never appear in the writing on white paper. Remember: writing great on white paper is all about not leaving something as silly as an email trail.

    Do Start Strong- Effective great writing on white paper will encourage incredible readership as a result of your clear, concise, and stimulating headline, summary, and of course, the aforementioned “boilerplate statement”.

     Don’t Advertise- Inform. You will appear more credible by relying on your assumed expertise in a oxygen-starved conference room, rather than by preaching and shouting at the top of your lungs, blindly waiving your arms, perched upon a soapbox in the nearest city green space.

     Do Be Accurate- Make sure all figures are correct, or close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades.

     Don’t Linger- Writing great on white paper should be anywhere between three and thirty-six pages. Your topic should be very, very specific, thus the paper can go on for as long as you like, but never beyond those thirty-six pages.

    CTA- Remember, each writing on white paper should include a CTA, or ’call to action’, such as “Just once! Are you ever going to take out the trash without me asking?!” Or, as an afterthought, scribble in a website address that takes your client to a “Write Great on White Paper” blog that includes even more useless information and a bevy of forms to sign up for even more tantalizing tips about great writing on white paper. Because let’s face it, it’s a lost art.