White Papers can be a great agency new business tool

One of the biggest challenges for agencies is to differentiate themselves as an authority in a certain area. Blogging and Twitter can be helpful in this area, but for my money a well-written white paper tops them all for effectiveness.

A white paper can generate awareness about a product, service or organization, and is especially valuable as it is often read while in the evaluation stage for a new purchase. During the past decade we have seen an explosion of business white papers as B2B marketing and sales tools, but surprisingly, many ad agencies have failed to take advantage of white papers as a marketing tool.

White papers can be used in several ways by ad agencies: As an awareness and lead-generation tool for new business; As a thought-leadership and CRM tool for current clients; As a training tool for employees and clients.  

Why should your agency use white papers? That's simple, they work.

Several studies have documented the importance of white papers in evaluation and decision-making. A study by MarketingSherpa on technology marketing reported that 44% of respondents said they like reviewing white papers. Even more importantly, 70% said they visited the vendor website and 45% contacted the vendor for further information. According to Information Week, 93% of white papers are passed on to at least one other reader and 86% say they are moderately or highly influential. Case studies have reported that white papers can significantly outperform banner ads and email as a lead generation tool for many businesses.

White papers can establish your agency as a thought-leader.

 White papers provide a platform for an agency to demonstrate their expertise and the quality of their thinking. Whether the topic is general (e.g. branding strategies), industry-specific (e.g. trends in healthcare marketing), or topic-specific (e.g. how to use social media), a well-written white paper can establish your agency as an authority on the subject. Importantly, studies have shown that executives read white papers, so a white paper can be that foot-in-the-door that you've been trying to establish but can't seem to get past the voicemail and spam blocker screens.

Some of the more popular ways to use white papers are: Discuss trends (can establish the need for a change from the reader). Identify problems (can build a rapport and affinity with the reader). Provide solutions (can confirm your expertise, but must be seen as objective and not a sales message to have credibility with the reader). Suggest what to look for (can also confirm your expertise, but again must not be seen as an overt sales message).

A good white paper must be reader-focused, not self-focused.

It is critically important to write white papers from an objective viewpoint so that they are seen as educational, not sales-focused. Too many marketers make the mistake of treating their white paper as a multi-page text ad for their product or service. That approach is a recipe for disaster. And rejection. A well-written white paper becomes persuasive when the reader is presented with facts and charts to support the writer's viewpoint and avoids any claims about the company or its products and services.

Michael Stelzner (http://www.whitepapersource.com/) , seen by many as the foremost authority on writing white papers, gave this illustration of a reader-focused vs. a self-focused white paper in a recent webinar: Self-Focused: Groundbreaking TechWidget by XYZ Company Solves Time Management Dilemma. Reader-Focused: Solving the Time Management Dilemma with Technology.

A white paper can drive traffic to an agency's website for more information (or more confirmation of the agency's expertise).

 A white paper can carry more authority than other agency marketing collateral. It is important to remember that a white paper can carry a cachet of authenticity that other marketing collateral for your agency doesn't possess. To some readers, there is a perception (rightly or wrongly) that white papers are completely objective and factual, almost like a scientific paper that has been peer-reviewed. So be careful that you don't mis-use or abuse the white paper as a marketing tool.

But it can, and should, be used by more agencies.

Forrester Study Shows How Social Media Is Changing Brand Building

A 2012 study by Forrester offers agency management a new tool to consider when advising your clients on when, where and how to use social media.  Their conclusion: social engagement is a necessary ingredient to brand building in today’s digital world, but does not have the power to build a brand alone.

That should make agency management happy because it reinforces the need to continue to take an integrated marketing approach to building a brand.  But no agency can dismiss social media as unnecessary to brand building -- it has fundamentally changed how consumers interact with each other and with brands.

As a result, 93% of their study respondents agree with the statement that “Marketers need to reinvent their brand building strategies as a result of digital innovations”.
The challenge then becomes how to how to use social media and determine its relative importance for your individual corporate or brand situation.

Many businesses have erred on the farthest extremes on the opposite sides of this issue – some are using social engagement strategies as their sole basis for brand building, while others have ignored its value altogether.  The truth lies somewhere in between, and the Forrester study, How Social Media Is Changing Brand Building (http://lp.wildfireapp.com/Forrester_Brand_Building_Report_Req_US.html), offers some good insight into how social marketing can advance your brand building.

The Forrester study offer some positive advantages for social media's value as a channel, but at the same time lists these limitations for brand building:
1.     Social is not as scalable as mass media.  Social media does a good job of reaching a defined audience of platform users, but cannot reach critical mass in the same way that paid media can.
2.    Social is too fragmented to provide a consistent brand voice.  The unique power of social media is through the many voices of the consumer, and that naturally leads toward a fragmentation of essential messages.  According to digital experts, you need to invite consumers to join the party, but if you are too collaborative, you aren’t able to clearly establish a strong foundation for your brand.
3.    Social can offer a distorted vision of who the brand is and what it stands for.  Without a firm brand identity to start from, the social strategy can be artificially influenced and distorted unwittingly by passionate fans and detractors.

The Forrester study, on the other hand, points out that social can contribute to building trust and bring a number of key benefits to your brand building efforts.
1.    Social can put a human face on a corporation and provide a deeper meaning to its relationship to customers.
2.    Social can be used to “test the waters” for alternate promotional concepts.
3.    Social can create a groundswell of support for risky decisions or changes in your marketing strategy.
3.    Social can use its two-way communication basis to correct a negative image regarding controversial topics.
4.    Social can bring the emotional benefit(s) of your brand to life through peer to peer input.
5.    Social can create bond with customers by rallying consumers around a shared cause or ideal.
6.    Social can segment communications to a group of  fans and emphasize an understanding and support for their passions.
7.    Social can generate brand advocates though access to brand-supported communities.
8.    Social can promote better, more responsive customer service.

Many of these points are expanded on in the Forrester study so you should check it out.

Despite the fact that social media can be a valuable asset to your branding strategy, It is important to remember that the fundamentals of brand building have not changed.  You must still generate a consistent brand identity and communicate it across all consumer touchpoints to create a consistent brand experience.

But as this study points out, an effective social marketing strategy can leverage a number of emotional and persuasive elements that are difficult to deliver through traditional media and marketing efforts.

Understanding the changing client.

There's no question that client attitudes towards agencies have changed over the years. We've gone from being a trusted partner and business confidante to a vendor of ads or specialty services for many clients.

But I believe that better times are ahead for those agencies that understand clients' needs and the role they can play in helping them to succeed.

Let's take a step back and look at things from the client's perspective. The technology explosion and the resulting choices that need to be made can be daunting to clients. Just think about all the new media and selling channels that continue to open every day. It's no longer a question of which media do I use/can I afford; the bigger question is how to integrate a coherent and consistent brand message across multiple channels while trying to read and react to the new input that is arriving every minute. Add to that the fact that the buying and decision process for consumers has evolved from an information evaluation funnel to a continuous smorgasbord of often conflicting product reviews and peer recommendations both pre and post purchase.

Clients need help, and a smart agency can provide that help.  Here are five things to consider when  approaching clients and prospects about new business:

1. Clients are confused and overwhelmed by the pace of change. New options continue to come on the scene every day, and clients need help in evaluating and determining which options make the most sense for their needs and budget constraints. 
2. Clients are under more pressure than every before.  The 2012 Spencer Stuart CMO Tenure Study pegged the average tenure for CMO's at 43 months (versus 9.2 years for CEO's).  But some categories are much more pressure-packed.  The average tenure of a restaurant CMO is only 22 months.
3. Clients want leadership, not partnership.   A recent New Business Study confirmed this with client quotes like "I need an agency to help me figure out how to take advantage of the new tools that are available", and "I need an agency that can help me invest in the right tools".
4. Clients want new ideas, not better execution of old ideas.  Clients are searching for the "holy grail".  You need to give them something new to think about, if for no other reason that for them to demonstrate to their boss that they are moving the brand forward.
5. Clients want process (it reassures them).  Clients don't want to take chances.  They can't afford to take chances because someone is looking over their shoulder questioning every decision they make.  In most of my new business projects over the last few years, I believe the client prospect made the safe decision, whether it was the best decision or not.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that clients aren't asking "How can you help us make ads or a new web site".  They are saying "How much do you know about our business in order to help us build a bridge between our brand and our customers."

And they are saying "Help".