For most companies, white papers are developed in one of three ways:

1. A member of the product team has an idea, writes a paper, and marketing rewrites it so it’s readable
2. A member of the marketing team has an idea, writes a paper, and the product team rewrites it so it’s accurate
3. Someone has an idea, but they have no time to write, so they hire someone to write it for them – then rewrite it just because

But there’s a new option out there, and recently I’ve seen it produce some highly readable, highly accurate white papers.  Find an independent expert, someone who knows your market and your company better than anyone else, and make them your white paper editor-in-chief.  Whether it’s a consultant, an analyst or even a journalist with some spare time, an educated, external viewpoint can be a huge asset in developing highly relevant works.

But don’t simply assign your expert a topic and dictate an outline for them to follow.  Empower them to guide the topic and direction of the paper, and let them do what they do in assembling a flow, gathering the details and writing the paper.  From what I’ve seen the results can be extremely compelling- the kind of paper your audience will want to read.  And that’s a nice change for you and the reader.

More and more, the answer is "yes".  The rise of direct marketing has yielded a wealth of statistics on open rates and click-throughs.  As more and more media move to the Internet, we can track referrals from a news story to a company web site.  And once visitors hit a site, we can track their every click, how much time they spent, and what resources they downloaded.  Our ability to measure is better than ever.  But are measurable results the only game in town?

While business managers and investors alike might nod in agreement, I’d argue that we have to continue to leverage "old school" activities that don’t produce oodles of statistics or fancy line graphs.  Don’t get me wrong, I love activities that produce measurable results- after all, this is The Science of Marketing and here we like things we can prove.  But to do the best job we can, we have to deploy the right mix of programs, some of which we can measure, some of which we can only believe to be effective.

We must continue to brief analysts on our strategies, and trust that they’ll provide better guidance to their clients and be better references for the press because of it.  We must continue to advertise in print publications and exhibit at trade shows, because sometimes people need a reminder that our companies exist and are active participants in their market.  And we must get out and talk to audiences about our latest solutions to their most vexing problems, because there is no substitute for personal touch.

There are plenty of activities we cannot measure, but that doesn’t mean we should scrap them all in exchange for stat-filled spreadsheets and fancy bar graphs.  We must continue to mix it up and do things that we can only trust will produce results.  We ust continue to believe.

Pull back the curtain – Analysts are expected to know what’s going on in their industry, and that includes publicly available information and the confidential stuff too.  Don’t be shy about opening the door and giving the analysts a sneak peek at your company’s next big thing. They’ll remember your hospitality when you’re ready to launch.

Put words in their mouth – In new markets and segments, the names and criteria of product categories may not yet exist.  By helping analysts define your market, you not only give them a starting point for the work they’re responsible for, but you also get to influence how your category is referred to, defined and measured. 

Show them you’re listening – In briefings and message testing sessions, analysts can give you a lot of information.  While it’s often impossible to roll everything thy say into your story, try to extract a few important nuggets of information that help you create a better value proposition. When you modify a presentation, press release or other tool based on an analyst’s recommendations, send it to him, let him know how helpful his guidance was, and thank him.  Analysts are experts, so treating them as such  establishes respect.

Buy their research – While analyst firms are often targeting the same markets you are, they have a secondary set of customers- vendor companies like yours.  Even if an analyst will accept briefings with you for free to keep abreast of your company’s activities, it doesn’t mean that they don’t want to make a client out of you.  If an influential firm publishes a report on your market, buy it and reference it in your conversations with their analysts.  Chances are you’ll show up in the next one.

People are busy these days.  Very busy.  And journalists, the primary targets for a news release, are busiers than most.  They receive hundreds of news releases a day, and have to flter through them to find, research and write a few good stories before their deadline.  So why would I bury the important stuff under a pile of fluff?  I’d rather make it as easy as possible for them to find the information they need to write a story about my client.

Of course, bullets in writing are nothing new; they’re not even new in a press release.  But yesterday’s experience is a good reminder that we need to adapt our tactics to how people are consuming information these days.  We’ve been good at writing web content with bullets and bold face to immediately get people to the important information.  Maybe it’s time to look at everything we write and be sure our time starved audiences can easily find what they’re looking for.

With that, Our Ten Most Popular Posts: 

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1. Will you be missed? Sometimes the reason to go to a trade show is simply because your company will be noticeably absent if you don’t. If all of your competitors and most of your partners are on the exhibitor list, it’s probably worthwhile to have a presence. Many would discount this, but you can’t ignore perception. And, like it or not, sometimes if you’re not there, you’re not a player.

2. Are your best customers attending? If so, it may be worth using the venue to arrange meetings and evening events that give you much needed face time. Often times it’s easier to arrange a meeting at an event than at a customer’s location. And, meeting at events can help preserve your precious travel budget.

3. Is the show a media frenzy? When the relevant press and analysts in your industry all gather in one place, it’s a good opportunity to book briefings and fill them in on what’s new. But it’s tough to compete with all the announcements that hit simultaneously around a trade show. Use the venue to improve your relationships, and save the major launches for a quieter time.

4. Was last year more than a boondoggle? Ask your sales team about last year’s show. If the event led to real business, then by all means go. If the best stories you hear involve golf or parties, you have your answer.

5. Are potential business partners attending? Trade shows provide a great venue for partner development. Where else can you check out the products that complement yours and meet the executives with whom you want to align?

Of course, going by feel is a slippery slope. The best marketing organizations are building and managing databases that track leads from inception through a sale or a loss report, and beyond. If you really want to know how effective an event is in generating quality leads and real business, skip one trade show and use the time and money you saved to launch a database marketing effort to learn where your best leads originate. (More on this later.)

Now, for an NFL team that has captured the attention of a nation, boring is probably a good thing. But for those of us whose companies do not have camera crews camped out in the visitor parking lot, we must work hard to balance the dull with the dramatic when the interview begins. Here is a game plan that may help.

Pick a tone, any tone

What kind of impression do you want to send to the outside world? There are no right or wrong answers, as long as your spokespeople can consistently pull it off. For example, Microsoft adopts a buttoned up, "down to business" tone, while Apple tosses its tie into the trash, kicks its feet up on the desk and gets ready to show you some cool stuff. Both approaches suit their respective companies well, and both are very deliberate. Whether you want your company to come off like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Crazy Eddie, establish a tone you can live with and provide some boundaries and examples to guide the tone of your media ambassadors.

Prepare sound bites that sparkle

If you want to sound a bit more interesting than the Patriots, but don’t want to get ensnared in controversy either, it is good to include a short sound bite exercise in your pre-interview preparation. Take a look at the key messages you want to cover, and spice them up with plays on words, analogies and metaphors that help paint a vivid picture of the concept you want to articulate. All the inspiration you need can be found by flipping through your target publications and checking out the short quotes they extract from the long interviews they do. Nine times out of ten, the quotes that show up in print are the most interesting things that were said in the interview. A little forethought can help ensure that the sound bite they print reinforces your message.

Empower your spokespeople to be real

No journalist wants to get through an interview only to find that everything she scribbled down is available on your web site. However, some spokespeople are afraid to deviate from the message and inject their personality into a story, so they stick to the script and play it safe. There are many ways to become a company that is sought out by the media, some positive, some negative. In my experience, the people who get the most calls from the press are the those who let their personality shine through, who like to talk about subjects outside the office and who know the give and take of conversation. Not coincidentally, these are the same people I most enjoy talking to. While you probably don’t want your CEO to become a reality television star, give him the green light to talk about his passion for Formula 1 racing or his recent trip to Fiji. Empower him to be the kind of person that people want to talk to.

Reality check…you can’t beat the Patriots. This season no one can. But with a little preparation you can increase the quality and quantity of your press coverage by making your company a more interesting interview than Tom Brady. Now if you could only throw a tight 70-yard spiral with a linebacker in your face.

NASA

In the fast paced world of high tech, attention is often given to the immediate and not necessarily to the important, especially when the important is months away. As a result, launches are typically planned but not well planned, meaning with enough detail and runway for complete success. The marketing department then needs to ask: is a company or product launch in five months important enough to spend resources planning now? If the goal is to rocket to the forefront of industry mind share, the answer should be a resounding “affirmative”.

While every launch is different, there are several major milestones and pitfalls that most have in common. By staying ahead of the following items, the marketing department can increase the odds of launch success.

One of the most important components of a launch plan is the launch abort date, the last day possible to postpone the launch without disastrous consequences. The launch abort date usually coincides with the first media briefing, the point at which information is released to the market and cannot be taken back. Canceling or postponing a launch after the launch abort date means press coverage can appear in the absence of an actual launch, a leak that is not only embarrassing but can cause confusion in the market and severely diminish future launch activities.

A little forethought and a documented plan can help high tech companies avoid the pitfalls that are common to unsuccessful communications missions. By developing and executing a comprehensive launch plan, the market can see that your company truly has the right stuff.