How to Write and Format a White Paper: The Ultimate Guide

If you think that whitepaper writing is hard, it’s high time you reconsider. Unless something is terribly wrong, writing breathtaking whitepapers should be effortless.

 However, there’s a caveat. 

Whitepaper writing can be a nightmare. This is especially if you do it without the necessary information.

Think about it, how hard is algebra. The perfect answer is that it depends. Once you’ve learned how to work it, it becomes the easiest thing in the world.

 If you don’t, buckle up because algebra is going to be the hardest thing you’ll ever do, probably up there with rocket science.

You’ve been lied to. What you don’t know(about algebra, whitepaper writing, and everything else) can hurt you. Scratch that. It will hurt you.

Maybe it just isn’t for me.

Whitepapers are not that essential after all.

This content marketing thing doesn’t work for my business.

That’s the thought process of everyone who unknowingly makes small, costly mistakes while writing whitepapers. Don’t fret. This article will address these mistakes shortly. Above that, this article will address how to correct them, beginning with that mindset.

What is a Whitepaper?

A white paper is an in-depth guide about a specific topic written to a specific target audience and backed with research from an authoritative source.

The best way to picture a whitepaper is to think of a government document.

That’s because the word whitepaper has its origins in the British government. Actually, it was the name for government-issued documents; here’s one famous white paper from Winston Churchill.

Are WhitePapers and E-Books the Same?

If you find you and your teams conflating whitepapers and ebooks, you’re not alone. This slight confusion will be how we differentiate humans and clones in the next cyborg apocalypse.

First, the similarities. White papers and ebooks are both long-form content; you probably realized that they take forever to finish reading or writing.

However, whitepapers are usually more detailed, in-depth, and backed by pertinent research and statistics. 

Ebooks, unlike whitepapers, are addressed to a broader audience and usually come with varying tones. For whitepapers, on the other hand, the more authoritative they are, the better. 

Common Mistakes Everyone Makes When Writing Whitepapers

The good thing about minor mistakes is that they’re easier to correct. The bad thing about them is the often overlooked dire consequences they often come with.

Below is a couple of mistakes that occur recurrently in whitepapers that didn’t do so well or those that were mediocre at best.

1. A Lack Of Focus On the Intent

Why are you writing that whitepaper? Is it for lead generational purposes, educating your audience, or thought leadership?

Far too often, many people write whitepapers without considering why they’re writing them in the first place. Eventually, these whitepapers end up being all over the place, trying to achieve everything in general and nothing in particular.

2. Writing Self-Promotional Pieces

The last thing you want your whitepaper to do is come out as salesly. Whitepapers aren’t sales brochures; they’re not supposed to be opinionated or to take sides on behalf of the reader. 

On the contrary, your whitepapers should provide knowledge that empowers the reader to make an informed decision.

3. Research (or the lack of it)

The credibility and quality of your research are what make or break your whitepaper. This mistake is usually because writers misunderstand the audience that reads whitepapers.

Most blog audiences will skim through low-quality research, glad that at least it’s there. However, white paper audiences will click on your links, read the research, and call “B.S” at the slightest inconsistency.

4. Neglecting Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

There isn’t a type of content that neglects the rules of search engine optimization like whitepapers.

 Most white paper writers throw SEO in the trash after convincing themselves that it isn’t essential for this type of content. Nothing has ever been farther from the truth.

It’s essential to note that however excellent your whitepaper is, it will be of no use on the 11th page of Google for all possible keywords.

5. Non-Conversational language

Nobody in your audience signed up for a lecture. The fact that you’re writing a whitepaper doesn’t give you the excuse of being inhumane in your writing.

This mistake is the most effective way of chasing audiences away effortlessly. Without conversational language, many of your leads will start your whitepaper. However, not many of them will finish it(awake).

Steps to WhitePaper (and Fixing the Above Mistakes)

Yes! There is a method to the madness and a guide to writing epic whitepapers. That said, don’t be dismayed by the number of steps, every one of them is essential in your writing.

Step 1: The Basics

These steps revolve around general preparation as you write your whitepaper. Starting on the right footing goes a long way in helping you avoid some of the mistakes you’ve seen above. 

a. Find Your “Why”

Before you type that first word, open your Google Docs or find a title, ask yourself, “Why.” Seeing your end from the beginning will guide you throughout the entire process of writing your whitepaper.

These are the reasons you may decide to write a whitepaper:

• Lead Generation

When writing lead generation whitepapers, your aim is to onboard prospects at different levels of your sales funnel, bring them to your pipeline, and eventually convert them.

The secret to writing lead generation whitepapers is customer-centricity. Speak about the customer’s pain points, support your argument with statistics, then provide your product as a solution at the end.

• Thought Leadership

The heavy research and statistics make whitepapers a candidate for thought leadership pieces.

To write a thought leadership article, ensure that you’re well versed in your industry. From there, choose your thesis, and write a compelling argument supporting it with quality statistics and data.

• Educational Content

Last but not least, you can write whitepapers to educate your audience or raise awareness about an issue. 

Writing educational content requires you have extensive experience and industry expertise. Alternatively, you can write educational content only after thorough research.

b. Pick a Topic, Thesis, or Argument

Once you have your intent at the back of your mind, it’s high time you pick a topic that will be the basis of your whitepaper.

The secret here is to pick a topic that people will want to read while relating to your field at the same time. If you’re in IT, for example, don’t write a whitepaper about the ebola virus in West Africa.

For thought leadership pieces or educational pieces, you can pick a thesis by:

• Looking at crucial aspects of your business that are not exposed enough
• Give your audience information they never knew they required
• Finding content gaps in your uindustry
• Find aspects of your operation that could be of value to your industry peers
• Find an angle in your business or achievement you may like to share with your peers

For lead-generation whitepapers, finding a thesis for your whitepaper takes a different approach. Here, you can ask yourself the following questions:

• What are the pain points of my target audience?
• What angle are my competitors writing about or ignoring entirely?
• What topic generates the most FAQs or questions from my target audience?
• Why not go ahead and get it from the horse’s mouth (ask your target audience)?

c. Your Whitepaper is Only As Good as its Research

Your next step is doing thorough and effective research about the thesis or argument you’ve come up with.

These are a few tips that will go a long way as you research your whitepaper:

• Set Up Interviews With Experts in Your Field

In one of Dale Carnegie’s books, he argued that we could learn something new from everyone we meet. That should be your motivation as you write your whitepaper.

Organize interviews with niche experts and industry veterans or read their material for thoughtful quotes or perspectives you can embed in your whitepaper.

• Read Other Material on the Same Thesis

Your best research sources will lie in other whitepapers, interviews, and articles people in your industry have written about your thesis or arguments.

• Fact Check…then Fact Check Again.

People will say and write just about anything to sell their product or idea on the internet. For this reason, don’t take anyone on the internet at their word.

Always ensure to use reliable sources. If you’re not sure, fact-check your sources by checking the authenticity of the source and the strength of counterarguments.

Step 2: Comprehend Your Target Audience

The first step in writing a whitepaper is mastering your intent and why you’re writing in the first place.

The second is mastery of your audience and finding why and how they will read your whitepaper.

Some of the questions that will guide you in your quest for audience mastery include:

• What’s in it for my target audience
• What medium does my target audience use to consume long-form content?
• How long is too long as far as my audiences are concerned?
• Which tone of voice and delivery does my target audience prefer?
• What are forms of research that my audience appreciates most?

Step 3: Develop a Draft or An Outline that Will Guide You 

An outline is the next most essential aspect of your whitepaper. It will play several key roles, the first being to guide you while you write your whitepaper.

Above that, your white paper layout will act as a guide that will help your audience navigate your whitepaper as they read it. 

The general format of a whitepaper will comprise of the following sections:

• Whitepaper title
• Abstract or an introduction
• Subheadings
• Sources

There is no limitation to how detailed an outline can be in article writing. Yours can be as detailed as possible, complete with H1, H2, H3, and H4 headers. This way, what’s left is filling in the ideas.

Step 4: Come Up With A Compelling Title

Did you know that traffic can vary as much as 500% depending on your headlines and titles?

A common misconception among sales teams is the idea that compelling titles are only limited to blog writing. Once again, nothing can be further from the truth.

Your title is the most critical aspect of your whitepaper, sometimes even more essential than the content itself. For these reasons, it’s essential to nail it on your first attempt.

Some of the rules for writing titles that convert are:

• Keep your titles concise, simple, and straight to the point
• Consider using numbers in the titles for lead generation articles
• Use SEO and keyword research while developing your lead generation headlines
• Provide value(or a benefit) if possible within your title
• keep your title customer-centric by focusing on a pain point

Step 5: Write an Engaging Introduction

Your introduction and abstract are right up there with your headline as essential aspects of your whitepaper.

How you go about your introduction will depend on the type of whitepaper you’re writing. For a lead generation paper, it’s essential to note that your introduction may be the only part your audience read.

For that reason, it’s essential to provide value (or at least hint at it) in your abstract. Some of the rules you can apply in your whitepaper include:

• Make it concise and effective
• Provide a brief background of your thesis/argument and what makes it important
• Make your abstract no more than a paragraph
• Use statistics to arouse the curiosity of your reader
• Avoid undefined and immeasurable terms such as “dramatic” in your abstract

Step 6: Fill in Your Outline

Remember the content outline you created back in step 3?

Well, now is the time to fill it in. What you’ll love about a premade outline or white paper template is the sense of direction it gives as you write.

That’s not all. An outline also helps you counter writer’s block, an issue popular with long-form content.

Step 7: Finalize Your Draft With Pertinent Research

Once you’re done writing, what’s left is finding the data and research to strengthen your arguments and perspective.

That said, you don’t have to source research after writing; it all depends on your preferences. Many whitepaper writers find isolating research and statistics as they write more convenient.

Some of the ways to complete your whitepaper with research include:

• Hyperlinking to your authoritative sources
• Providing citations
• Listing your sources at the footnote or sources section

Step 8: Revise and Edit

You’re almost done. Your last step is to revise and edit your whitepaper for possible errors. Alternatively, you can have another member of your sales team edit the whitepaper on your behalf due to our inbuilt biases and blind points.

Making Your WhitePaper Aesthetic

Take a step back and look at the whitepaper you’ve just created. Does it tick all the boxes?

Informative, check. 

Effective, check.

Research-backed, check.

Your whitepaper is all a whitepaper should be, probably even a bit more. However, in the words of the great John Wayne, “It ain’t pretty.”

You’ll never go wrong with the following tips as far as making your work beatiful is concerned:

1. Create  Striking Coverpage

Your cover page is the visual introduction to your whitepaper. It’s what catches the eye of your reader and draws them in.

Make your coverage eye-catching. If you can’t do that, meet your audience halfway and at least make it breathtaking. It should be perfect.

Consider using relevant images and color palettes to support your message. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of design tools, white paper examples, and templates for inspiration.

2. Create a Sensational Table Of Contents

Your table of contents is an essential part of your whitepaper design. It’s often the second page your audiences meet right after the cover page and title.

This leaves you with no option outside of making it exceptional, and one of the ways of doing this is using imagery.

 An excellent way to do this is to place an image behind your content list or beside it.

3. Punctuate Your WhitePaper With Relevant Imagery

A picture is what a thousand bucks. That’s all there is to say. Leveraging imagery goes a long way in strengthening your message and making your content more readable.

Besides breaking up your text into readable chunks and reducing the illusion of a wall of text, images are a powerful non-verbal communication tool.

4. You’ll Never Go Wrong With Data Visualization.

One of the best design choices you will make when writing your whitepaper is data visualization.

Many people won’t admit it, but staring at plain text and statistics for ages is torturous. One of the ways to bring your data to life is using data visualization.

And it shows in the numbers.

According to statistics, your target audience is 30X more likely to read content with high-quality infographics than plain text.

How to Promote Your Content Marketing White Paper

Congratulations, you’ve pulled through with the writing part. But before we proceed, what good is a whitepaper if there’s nobody to read it?

This question leads us to the next aspect of your whitepaper writing journey. This is using inbound marketing to bring your target audiences to you and promote your whitepaper.

The techniques you can use to promote your whitepaper include:

• Creating a landing page on your blog, blog posts, and websites
• Leveraging your email lists to send your whitepaper to potential customers
• Use email marketing and publish it as a newsletter to prospective customers
• Use Facebook posts and stories to bring attention to your whitepaper
• Reaching out to news outlets and tabloids for advertisement

That’s A Lot of Work, But It’s Nothing Zoey Can’t Handle

You’re well capable of writing a whitepaper. With the right amount of everything, you can produce perfection.

However, writing a whitepaper month in month out is a different story altogether. That’s why we created Zoey to handle the heavy lifting on your behalf.

Give us the idea. We’ll give you the words. 

Check out our whitepaper writing services today, or contact us today, and our team will be more than willing to help.

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