Paste YOUR logo here / Your name
White Paper Plan for [client’s name]
as of [date submitted]
Business goals
Audience(s)
Sales cycle
List of SEO keywords
List of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
List of Reviewers
Sources of research
Any previous examples?
Who does design?
Who does graphics?
Timelines
Payment terms
Recommended “flavor”
Possible titles
Call to action
Overview of contents
Optional items
Business goals
Q: Why do you want to do a white paper?
Q:Do your goals match any of the following?
- To generate leads
- To nurture a prospect through a complex sale
- To tell the company story (build recognition)
- To support a new product launch
- To win in an evaluation against competing product(s)
- To help close sales
Q: If you could only achieve one of these goals, which would be your top priority?
Tip: The fewer goals, the better. A white paper can do a lot, but it can’t do everything.
It’s very difficult for the same document to generate leads at the top of the funnel, AND help close sales at the bottom of the funnel.
Audience(s)
Q: Who is your ideal audience for this white paper?
Q: Is there more than one audience? More than two?
Q: Which audience segment is the most important? Second? Least?
Q: If you could only reach ONE of these audiences, which one would you choose?
Q: Have you developed any personas? Can you share those with me?
Q: What can you tell me about the PRIMARY audience segment?
- Demographics: age, sex, job title, role in the business, type of business, size of business, location of business?
- Psychographics (attitudes): How familiar are they with your type of product? Do they have a favorable, unfavorable, or neutral attitude towards it? What really drives them on the job? What keeps them up at night?
- Technographics: What kind of screen will they use to access the white paper: desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, a mix of all, or unknown? Will they likely print it out to read?
Q: What can you tell me about the SECONDARY audience segment?
- Demographics: age, sex, job title, role in the business, type of business, size of business, location of business?
- Psychographics (attitudes): How familiar are they with your type of product? Do they have a favorable, unfavorable, or neutral attitude towards it? What really drives them on the job? What keeps them up at night?
- Technographics: What kind of screen will they use to access the white paper: desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, a mix of all, or unknown? Will they likely print it out to read?
Tip: Repeat these questions for each addedsegment. If you have more than 2 distinct audiences, the client may be trying to reach too many different people with one document. Consider “cloning” the white paper for each audience, or recommending different white papers that align better with each audience’s concerns.
Sales cycle
Q: Where in the sales cycleis your target audience? Top, middle, or bottom?
Q:How will the white paper be distributed to reach that audience?
Q: If the white paper is downloaded through the website, will it be gated or ungated?
Q:Will it ever be printed for distribution at a trade show or industry event?
Q:Will it be used as a send-ahead before meetings, or a leave-behind after a sales call?
Tip:Your client’s answers ensure that they’ve thought about how they’re going to use the white paper when it’s done. That’s a big measure of how well it will succeed.
List of SEO keywords
Q: Do you have a list of SEO keywords for this product or campaign?
Q: If that’s underway, could you share that with me as soon as you have it?
Tip: Paste the top 10 keywords into your WPP. Then try to use the top 2 or 3 keywords in your proposed title(s). But don’t promise to use keywords all through the text. That’s a sure way to make your white paper sound like it was written by a robot.
List of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
Q: Who in the company would be a good source to interview for the white paper?
- name1, department, title, area of expertise
- name2, department, title, area of expertise
- name3, department, title, area of expertise
- name4, department, title, area of expertise
- name5, department, title, area of expertise
- name6, department, title, area of expertise
- name7, department, title, area of expertise
Tip: For a normal-length white paper, talking to 4 or 5 SMEs is usually plenty. If you have many more than that, consider holding a conference call to interview several at once.
List of reviewers
Q: Who will haveto review and approve the white paper before it’s released?
Q:Do all the SMEs that I interview need to approve it?
Q: What about other teams: Corporate Marketing? Legal?
Tip: Getting this list at the start helps avoid any new reviewers coming out of the woodwork late in the project with manycomments. That adds stress, distraction, and delay.
Tip:In your white paper Terms and Conditions, you can specify that anew reviewer added late in the project costs another $500. This helpsencourage the client to list all their reviewers at the start.
- name1, department, title
- name2, department, title
- name3, department, title
- name4, department, title
- name5, department, title
- name6, department, title
- name7, department, title
- name8, department, title
Tip:Three or 4 reviewers is ideal. Any more than 7 or 8 is a red flag. You could be in for an extremely long review process.
Sources of research
Q: Do you need me to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement?
Q: What background and research could you provide me with?
Tip:Too much is as bad as too little; you don’t want to get overwhelmed. You want relevant material someone put together for you, not everything the company has ever published.
Background: Documents, slide decks, webpages, videos?
Interviews: Is there anyone outside the company Icould benefit from interviewing: a couple of customers, or perhaps an industry expert?
industry sources: Any relevant associations, forums, events, presentations at events?
Web research: Any good sites you can suggest? Any fruitful search strategies?
Other: Any other sources of good background?
Any previous examples?
Q: Have you published any white papers before?
Q:Did you like them? Did they work for you?
Q: Where can I find those?
Q: Should I follow them in length, tone, format?
Q: Or am I free to go way beyond anything you’ve done before?
Hint: You don’t have to mention this in your plan. Or you could say, “This white paper will follow the same length and page format as existing white papers...” or the opposite, “This white paper does not need to follow the length and format of the earlier white papers.”
Who does design?
Q: Do you have a good editorial designer to put together the pages of the white paper?
Q: Has your designer ever worked on a white paper before?
Tip: If not, you should send them some design guidelines, or at least stay in the loop during the design so they don’t pour your text into an unreadable format.
Q: Do you have any corporate design template they have to follow?
Q: If that template isn’t appropriate, can we tweak it?
Q: Would you like me to provide page design for an added fee?
Who does graphics?
Q: Do you have a good illustrator to put together graphics for the white paper?
Q: Would you like me to suggest ideas for possible graphics?
Q: Would you like me to provide finished graphics for an added fee?
Timelines
Q: When do you need the finished white paper?
Q: Do you have any “real world” deadlines you have to meet?
Q: Does your team have an editorial calendar tied to any bonus based on getting a white paper out by a certain date?
Q: What if I need longer to do a good job for you?
Tip: A “real-world” deadline is a tradeshow, an ad bought in a trade journal, or a pay-per-click campaign already scheduled. You must meet any “real world” deadline. A “floating” deadline is more flexible, such as the end of the quarter or the start of May.
Recommended “flavor”
This is something you recommend to the client.
Here is the rule of thumb, working from the client’s stated goal:
- To generate leads at the top of the sales funnel, suggest a problem/solution
- To nurture prospects through a complex sale, cast doubt on competitors, or make noise and get noticed, suggest a numbered list
- To support a product launch, or win an evaluation against other products at the bottom of the funnel, suggest a backgrounder
Q: It sounds to me like you need a [flavor of white paper]. That’s the best kind to help [their main goal]. What do you think?
Tip: If you’re confident, suggest a flavor during your conference call. That makes for an interesting discussion, and you get some immediate feedback. If you need time to think, tell the client your recommendation will be in your plan.
Possible titles
Q: Do you have any ideas for a good title?
Q: What about something like this [insert your suggestion for a title] ?
Tip: Again, if you talk about this, you may come up with some great titles on your phone call. If not, suggest some possible titles after you’ve thought about it. You want to match your title to the recommended flavor and use the client’s top several keywords.
Call to action
Q: What would you like your ideal prospect to do after they read the white paper?
Q:What’s the next step in the sales cycle?
Q: Can we find something specific for the call to action? Something like signing up for a 20-minute demo, or using the online calculator to find their projected ROI?
Tip: Don’t lead prospects to the client’s home page, where they wander around aimlessly and get lost. Don’t ask them to call up a sales line, where they may get badgered by a sales person. Help the client find something specific and concrete to use for the call to action.
Overview of contents
Tip:If you already suggested a flavor and a possible title that the client likes, do a little brainstorming to start talking about the content. Try to stick to the main chunks of what the paper will cover, not the intricate details. Those come later.
Tip: Many clients want to give you a brain dump during the planning call, and you can’t hold them back. So don’t try. They’ve never been through this process before. Let them speak, as long as you can pick up the thread and get the answers to your remaining questions after.
Tip: Make sure the client doesn’t expect you to come back with a complete outline for the white paper. That’s beyond the scope of a white paper plan; that’s the next deliverable after they hire you to write the full white paper.
Optional items
Here are some other items that can be included in a white paper plan. If the client touches on any of these items, you may want to include them in your plan.
Marketing strategy: How does this paper fit into the client’s larger marketing efforts?
Promotions: What ideas does the client have for promoting the white paper?
Competitors: Who are the key competitors to check out?
Spelling and style notes: Will you use U.S. or UK spelling? Is there astyle guide to follow?
Translations required: Will the white paper be translated?
Tip: Writing for translation affectsyour writing style: You will need to write shorter, simpler sentences, with no contractions. Writing for a global audience affects your choice of metaphors: For example, you can’t assume everyone in the world understands baseball or American football. And translation can affect project timelines: Doing a translation will require at least one week, maybe longer.
Your deliverables:
Tip: You may want to include a list of everything you will provide with the full white paper : this plan, notes on your kickoff call, draft executive summary or outline, 2 or 3 drafts of full text, rough ideas for graphics, full set of sources, and so on.
Your bonuses: Is there anything you will do or send for no charge?
Your quote for repurposing: How much you charge to create a press release, set of blog posts, slide deck, infographic, or social media posts or Tweets, and so on.
My bio
[Insert your standard bio,and perhaps a photo of yourself]
Tip: Providing this will save the client from struggling to introduce you in their own words, and help them get internal approvals for spending the money on the full white paper.
Next steps
I’m happy to discuss this plan with your team at your convenience, to update anything that you’d like to see changed, and to fill in your answers to my queries.
After that, I’d love to complete your white paper, as described in this plan.
I now have a detailed understanding of your requirements. I have the interest and experience to complete your white paper and achieve your goals. I believe that makes me the best writer for this project.
My fee for completing your white paper is $XX,000.
If this sounds good to you, let’s schedule a quick phone call to talk over our terms.
Then let’s get to work!
[insert your name and contact info]
P.S. Of course, you are free to use this plan to seek quotes from other writers, or to draft your white paper in-house. But I’d love to do it for you!
White Paper Plan from [your name]as of [date submitted]