10 Days to a Better White paper – Day 7: The Call to Action

One of the most important yet most often overlooked elements of any white paper is the call to action. No matter how exciting the information, no matter how important, if you don’t direct the reader to take the next step, your white paper will not perform to its fullest potential.

Tell the reader exactly what you want them to do, give them an offer they can’t refuse and you greatly increase the odds of meeting your white paper objectives.

Get them while they’re hot
If you’ve built trust with your reader by providing solid, helpful information, the last thing you want them to do when they have finished reading is to put the paper down. If you’ve sold the reader on the proposed solution, now is the time to act. Don’t leave your reader with a sense of, “That was interesting, what do I do know?” Tell them what to do.

“About Our Company” is not a call to action
It is amazing how many white papers end with a paragraph describing the company who created the white paper. Granted your reader even bothers to look at it, these short bios do very little for the reader. It doesn’t help them in any way. Your reader doesn’t really care how many years you’ve been in business or how many clients you have. They want to know how you can help them. Guide them in the process.

Offer to help
Hopefully, by the end of your paper, you’ve shown the readers a viable solution to their problem. Now offer to help. Provide a free analysis. Let them test your service with a free trial. Whatever you do, be sure that the offer is strong enough that readers can’t help but take the next step in the process.

Make it Stand Out
Don’t bury your call to action in the text. Make it stand out. Give it a bold headline – maybe in a different color. Box it so that it pops out from the text. The call to action is one of the most important elements of your paper. Make it obvious to both the reader and skimmer alike.

The success or failure of a white paper often hinges on the call to action. And while overt sales pitches are generally rejected in white papers, this is the one place where you can guide the reader directly to your product or services.

This is the seventh post in a 10-post series on creating better white papers. Click here to read day 6Click here to read day 5.Click here to read Day 4, here to read Day 3, here to read Day 2 and here to read Day 1. Be sure to check back in the coming days for more tips on the process of creating powerful white papers. Click here to subscribe to the RSS feed today.

Want to learn more about the power of marketing with white papers? Read my special report, “Utilizing White Papers to Generate Leads and Establish Industry Prominence.”