B2B buyers love white papers. Trust me.
For six years, I worked for a gigantic pharmaceutical B2B company as a buyer in charge of making expensive decisions.
I met hundreds of vendors; many never included a white paper in their marketing strategies.
This is a serious oversight, considering their effectiveness in the B2B sales cycle: Fortunately, you won’t make the same mistake.
Do you want to increase trust and position your healthcare organization as a thought leader?
How about generating more leads for your sales funnel?
That’s the power of white papers. You’re about to learn how to create these valuable content marketing assets.
White Papers Are Boring: Are You Thinking This?
Don’t let their name fool you.
White papers are powerful tools to promote your expertise in solving problems that interest your prospects.
It’s no surprise that B2B healthcare companies use white papers.
White papers excel in industries with these characteristics:
- A high price tag.
- Complex products.
- Tailor-made offers.
- Long sales cycles.
- Many stakeholders.
Sounds a lot like B2B healthcare.
Healthcare executives love white papers because they simplify complex topics and start conversations.
In B2B healthcare, white papers are a must.
A Purposeful Dilemma
So now, you’re convinced. You need a good white paper.
Let me ask you: Why?
Successful white papers require a purpose.
Do you want to revitalize your lead generation campaigns?
Do you want to increase your thought leadership?
Perfect! White papers get results.
But your business objectives should be clear before writing a single word. Because you need to align your white paper’s voice to the results you want to get from publishing it.
Becoming a Leading Healthcare Brand
Mature companies publish at least one paper every quarter.
Healthcare organizations select evergreen topics if their objective is to increase brand awareness. They interview experts, share eye-opening case studies, and offer practical tactics in a friendly tone, creating a handy guide that sparks conversations.
The goal is to position the company as an influential leader solving significant problems in the healthcare industry.
Brand-building white papers don’t sell a product; they inspire trust by demonstrating the company’s authority in publishing the document.
White papers are wise investments enabling companies to become thought leaders, but achieving these results demands patience. Authority brands weren’t built in a day.
White papers are business assets. Like any asset, time is required to reap its rewards.
Do You Need More Leads?
White papers are versatile assets to boost profits.
Content keeps B2B sales conversations going.
Lead generation white papers target the decision makers in charge of buying your product. They’re practical guides that make the reader crave your offer because you solve the problems worrying them.
Lead generation white papers’ tone remains educational and neutral, inspiring curiosity to invite prospects to contact you.
Choose a Winning Topic
Choosing the topic of your white paper should be approached with the mindset of creating a reliable guide that encourages transformation.
Provide an accurate map of the path to a better state, achieved by solving the problem raised in the white paper.
How To Come Up With Healthcare White Paper Ideas
Creating a healthcare white paper requires a combination of industry expertise, inquisitiveness, and strategic planning during the ideation process.
So, how can you capture attention, supply value, and demonstrate thought leadership in healthcare through white papers?
Firstly, keep a pulse on the current health affairs; you need to be aware of the discussion guiding the ‘health care’ space. Read widely from academic journals to trending articles in health IT and automation.
Learning about emerging trends and conversations is a strategic curve that can be very helpful.
For example, you might notice a recurring trend discussing the role of telehealth in improving patient experience – this is an ideal start.
Secondly, evaluate the value you are bringing to inform the health industry.
Are you presenting genuine insights to public health officials or health professionals?
Think back to the telehealth example. Suppose you’ve uncovered data showing a stark improvement in patient outcomes due to telehealth usage during the staffing shortages affecting hospitals in 2023.
In that case, you’ve got a white paper topic that’s timely, data-driven, and provides actionable information.
The key lies in bridging the healthcare knowledge gap with precise and actionable information about topics people care about today.
The heartbeat of healthcare is improvement.
With compassion as your guide and innovation as the tool of choice, ideas for impacting white papers that enhance health outcomes through information are easier to come up with.
Thinking About Writing a White Paper?
You chose a topic, and you’re ready to hire a white paper writer.
Before starting, it’s vital to keep these three objectives in mind:
- You must build an argument that supports the relevance of the problem you selected.
- Concrete examples must back your solution.
- Why should anyone listen to you?
How do you do this?
You act like a lawyer who’s proving a case.
What case? A transformation. A transformation made possible by your expertise.
How do you prove this transformation?
You interview experts in your industry and cite authoritative sources to sustain your claims.
What do you do with your research?
You assemble a compelling narrative. There’s a great story behind every successful white paper.
You create white papers to help readers simplify their lives, and the tone of your white paper should reflect this intention.
End your white paper by inviting readers to contact your company to assist them in solving the problems they think about at night.
Difference Between E-books and White Papers
The crucial difference between white papers and e-books is their tone.
A white paper is more formal and academic, while an e-book sounds like an extended blog post.
White papers are between three to 10 pages, the perfect length for healthcare professionals with a lot on their plates.
Ideal White Paper Length
White papers are over 2,500 characters. But there isn’t a rule preventing you from publishing shorter white papers. You want your white paper to solve a problem and educate your audience. If you accomplish this goal in few words, more power to you.
White Paper Examples
As a B2B marketer, you can approach a white paper from many angles.
Check out these three examples, each targeting a different healthcare stakeholder.
- Patients: Your white paper announces the benefits of a healthy lifestyle to prevent heart disease.
- Healthcare Executives and Hospital Administrators: You publish a step-by-step cardiovascular protocol that cuts hospital administrative costs.
- Clinicians: You share the results of a clinical trial that brings fresh perspectives on blood pressure medication.
In a white paper, your company must tackle one problem at a time.
Get Results from Your B2B White Paper
our white paper is ready. Time to sit and relax? No. Content creation doesn’t end when you stop typing.
Now’s the time for revealing your white paper to the healthcare community. Attention is a scarce resource among healthcare professionals. What’s the best way to deal with this issue?
Find your target audience.
Use these channels to share your whitepaper with the world:
- Distribute white papers at industry events, business meetings, and conferences.
- Repurpose your white paper to create blog posts, newsletters, cold email campaigns, and video testimonials to share on social media.
- White papers are perfect for public relations campaigns with the media. Promote the story behind your white paper, and avoid pitching products. It repels the press.
- Use your white paper to educate distributors, resellers, and other strategic partners.
- Share your white paper before sales meetings to nurture your leads from the start.
Your Ideal B2B Sales Ally
Following up with B2B healthcare prospects is tough.
No salesperson wants to smother their prospects with hundreds of emails and constant calls.
Between technical adjustments, clinical trials, and budget approvals, months pass before receiving a purchase order.
B2B healthcare marketing is a long-term process; you build relationships with potential customers months before making a sale.
White papers are a great way to stay in touch without interfering with your prospects’ busy schedules.
The healthcare sector demands quality in everything you do.
Your content is a way of sharing your unique talents with the healthcare market.
Insightful white papers enrich the lives of your audience and make your business prosper.
Your Turn
White papers are ideal for generating more B2B healthcare sales. They start conversations and position your company as an expert.
Healthcare executives and buyers love white papers because they simplify their lives.
White papers keep your brand inside your prospects’ minds making your Sales team happy.
If you want to publish a white paper solving a problem your customers worry about at night, please reach out for a discovery session. Long form content might be the missing piece of your content marketing strategy.
FAQ About White Papers
What is a white paper in healthcare?
A white paper in the context of healthcare is similar to a case study in the field. White papers, like case studies, provide in-depth analyses of healthcare issues and solutions.
A white paper can be written by independent experts or commissioned by healthcare providers to offer an in-depth analysis of a particular issue. Possible topics include the issue’s history, the current study, and potential solutions.
The topics chosen are typically evergreen and affect the healthcare space as a whole. When a company releases one, it aims to demonstrate authority to solve the most pressing issues mentioned in the white paper.
What is the difference between research paper and white paper?
A research paper is a formal document written for academic publications that report on the author’s original research and analysis. It is written in a traditional literary style for an audience of experts in the field and contains all the standard sections: abstract, introduction, methodology, findings, discussion, and conclusion. The results of a research article are reviewed and criticized extensively by experts in the area before being included.
Whitepapers are informative and compelling documents written on a narrow topic for a specialized audience, such as marketers. It is prepared by an organization with relevant experience and knowledge to sway readers’ opinions and possibly influence a purchase or generate buzz around a company.
What story do you need a white paper to tell?
A white paper presents the opportunity to tell a compelling story that engages and informs readers.
The story that a white paper needs to tell depends on the organization’s goals and objectives. For example, a white paper can tell the story of how a particular technology or service can help a community or organization solve a specific challenge that plagues them. Alternatively, a white paper can tell the story of an industry trend, such as the shift towards digital transformation, and provide insights and recommendations for how organizations can adapt and thrive in the new landscape.
A well-crafted white paper can help organizations establish thought leadership and credibility within their industry. A white paper can position the organization as a trusted authority and valuable resource by presenting new ideas, trends, or solutions clearly and compellingly. It’s a worthy marketing effort.
