How To Create White Papers for a Manufacturing Website

Inbound Marketing

Overview:

White papers are one of the best tools in the content and inbound marketing tool box. These documents give you the opportunity to give in-depth treatments of challenges, trends and solutions in the manufacturing industry.

Key Considerations:

More than in probably most other industries, manufacturers are dealing with some of the most significant challenges in business. From regulatory requirements, LEED and green expectations, increased material costs and a shortage of skilled labor, the demands on manufacturing businesses are significant. With these challenges, though, are great marketing opportunities to show your leadership in addressing these areas.

To get started, here are some key things to consider:

Step 1: Frequency

Quality definitely tops quantity. If you can provide a well-crafted article that clearly identified the issue(s) at hand and how to address them, you've got a winner! Many people in manufacturing are confronted with a number of the same struggles. If you have found a way to solve or address those issues, or at least to resolve the issue for your piece of the larger process, people will look to your business as a provider and a resource.

Step 2: Logistics

This is high value content - don't give it away without capturing an email address! Create a landing page on your website that entices people to want to download your white paper. Use a form so that people need to provide their email address (at a minimum...name and company name, perhaps phone number should be captured, too). Once they hit submit, they should be taken to a landing page, where they can download the white paper. Email a copy, as well.

Step 3: Marketing Automation

Use marketing automation to continue the conversation. This process helps turn a cold call into a warm lead.

That is, have a series of pre-populated emails that are pre-set to send automatically, based on the timing of when someone downloaded the white paper. This content should be useful, helpful and relevant, like checklists, that relate to the information downloaded. But don't email the additional content directly - have them complete a new form and repeat this whole cycle.

You're trying to move people through the sales cycle. The more information you gather about the types of content they elect to download, the more specific your sales team can be when they reach out...they will already have a good sense of the problems the potential customer has...and how to present the solutions you offer.

Step 4: Tools

As I mention in my blog post about Case Studies, there are tools that can help you make this happen, such as HubSpot and AWeber.

Step 5: Content

Deciding what to write about or carving out the time to write it may be the most difficult part of this process. Start by jotting down ideas of frequently asked questions you receive or how a new regulation is impacting your process or a change to your supply chain due to global incidents (weather, terrorism, accidents, etc.). For some people, talking about the issues is easier than sitting down to write. For these folks, try recording your thoughts...maybe have someone in your business "interview' you about it. This video can be transcribed and edited into a white paper...you could also potentially use this video on your website or as a social media post.

CONCLUSION:

White papers are opportunities to provide a more detailed study of a problem or challenge or improvement that your company has tackled. Your expertise shines through and builds trust among potential clients. By capturing email addresses when you distribute these, you increase your ROI on the time it took you to prepare them. They can help your search engine optimization (SEO) and provide valuable insights to your customers.

How To Create White Papers for a Manufacturing Website

Establish your brand as a trusted resource