Yes, definitely.

As long as brands and businesses can provide insightful data and details that will help address their audience’s questions, white papers will remain a powerful marketing tool.

A lot of people tend to question this, however. With attention spans getting shorter and the volume of content available online ballooning, what do white papers bring to the table?

The following points will help illustrate their relevance:

1. White Papers Help Move Leads Through the Customer Journey

White Papers are comprehensive and intensively researched pieces that are designed to be given as gated-content to prospective customers. Usually, these customers are on the fence regarding your product or service. Will they click on your CTA? Are they willing to subscribe or not? Will they make a purchase or just bounce off the page? In most cases, a little incentive can help move them further along the customer journey. 

By offering a white paper with exclusive insight into a problem or challenge that a business in your industry can help with, your content becomes a compelling reason for them to take positive action on your call to action.

2. White Papers Help Build Your Brand Reputation

White papers are written to inform. The fact that they can give credibility to your brand is a primary reason why they remain one of the most relevant and effective marketing tools. The quality that you put into your white paper will directly reflect on your brand. To that end, a well-researched, carefully thought out, and insightful white paper can go a long way towards building your business’s reputation.

3. White Papers Are An Entry Point to Your Other Content

Because white papers are usually offered as gated content, they’re often the first piece of your content that your audience encounters. From here, you can craft peripheral content that can complement the insights that you’re trying to convey. You can build a range of accompanying content pieces such as videos, infographics, social cards, or even short blog posts that can be used to highlight sections of your site, draw focus to important themes, and drive engagement among your users.

White papers are designed to give your brand a distinct, authoritative voice. With white papers, you have an opportunity to communicate something meaningful to your audience so you can build better connections with them and offer in-depth content they’ll appreciate. So, make the most out of them. Don’t rush through the process of drafting them, do your research, write it carefully, and offer a credible voice on the subject. Craft a unique point of view that your audience will gain real value from, thereby drawing positive associations to your brand.

Hope my answer helps! If you want to continue this conversation or want to know more about white papers, reach out to me via Leadspanda and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.