/whitepaper-56a6f6933df78cf772912421.jpg "White Paper Definition 1")
What Is a White Paper?
A white paper is an informational doc issued by an organization or not-for-profit group to advertise or spotlight the options of an answer, product, or service that it affords or plans to supply.
White papers are additionally used as a technique of presenting authorities insurance policies and laws and gauging public opinion.
Key Takeaways
- A white paper promotes a sure product, service, or methodology to affect present and potential buyer or investor selections.
- Three fundamental sorts of white papers embrace backgrounders, numbered lists, and drawback/answer white papers.
- A white paper supplies persuasive and factual proof {that a} explicit providing is a superior product or methodology of fixing an issue.
- White papers are generally designed for business-to-business advertising and marketing functions between a producer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer.
Goal of a White Paper
White papers are gross sales and advertising and marketing paperwork used to entice or persuade potential clients to be taught extra a few explicit product, service, expertise, or methodology.
White papers are generally designed for business-to-business (B2B) advertising and marketing functions between a producer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer. It might present an in-depth report or information a few particular product or matter and is supposed to teach its readers.
The information introduced in white papers are sometimes backed by analysis and statistics from dependable sources and may embrace charts, graphs, tables, and different methods of visualizing information. A white paper can talk a company’s philosophy or current analysis findings associated to an business.
Kinds of White Papers
A startup, giant company, or authorities company will use white papers in another way. There are three fundamental sorts of white papers, together with backgrounders, numbered lists, and drawback/answer white papers.
Backgrounders element the technical options of a brand new services or products. Designed to simplify sophisticated technical data, they’re used to:
•Help a technical analysis
•Launch a product
•Promote a product or business chief
Numbered lists spotlight the important thing takeaways of a brand new services or products, and are sometimes formatted with headings and bullet factors corresponding to the next acquainted format:
•3 Inquiries to Ask
•5 Issues You Have to Know
•10 Ideas
Downside/answer papers determine particular issues confronted by potential clients and recommend a data-driven argument about how a featured services or products supplies an answer to:
•Generate new gross sales
•Educate salespeople on product traits
•Construct business curiosity.
How To Write a White Paper
White papers differ from different advertising and marketing supplies, corresponding to brochures. Brochures and conventional advertising and marketing supplies may be flashy and apparent, however a white paper is meant to supply persuasive and factual proof that solves an issue or problem.
White papers are generally at the very least 2,500 phrases in size and written in an instructional fashion.
A white paper ought to present well-researched data that’s not discovered with a easy web search and have a compelling narrative to maintain the reader’s consideration. The creator of a white paper ought to:
• Analysis and totally outline the subject.
• Create an correct define of knowledge.
• Write an attention-grabbing introduction.
• Format the paper for simple studying.
• Revise and proofread.
What Is an Instance of a White Paper?
All of those paperwork, publicly out there on Microsoft’s web site, deal with points of the corporate’s suite of cloud companies. In distinction with brochures, these white papers don’t have a transparent gross sales pitch. As a substitute, they dive into related subjects, corresponding to cloud safety, hybrid clouds, and the financial advantages of adopting cloud computing.
- An AI-First Infrastructure and Toolchain for Any Scale
- Transferring your Mission Crucial Mainframe Knowledge to Azure
- Mesh and hub-and-spoke networks on Azure
- Backup and restoration overview for Azure customers
- Backup and restoration overview for customers new to Azure
How Have New Industries Used White Papers?
Cryptocurrencies have additionally been recognized to publish white papers throughout preliminary coin choices (ICOs) and steadily issued white papers to entice customers and “buyers” to their tasks.
Bitcoin famously launched just a few months after the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto issued its well-known white paper on-line in October 2008.
Why Is It Referred to as a White Paper?
White Papers might have developed from the usage of “Blue Papers” in nineteenth century Britain, the place a Parliamentary report cowl was blue. When a subject for the federal government was much less critical, the blue cowl was discarded and revealed with white covers. These studies had been referred to as White Papers. In the US, the usage of authorities white papers typically means a background report or steerage on a selected difficulty.
The Backside Line
A white paper is an informational doc issued by an organization, authorities company, or not-for-profit group to advertise the options of an answer, product, or service that it affords or plans to supply. The information introduced in white papers are sometimes backed by analysis and statistics from dependable sources and generally written in one in all three codecs that embrace backgrounders, numbered lists, and drawback/answer papers.