How do you use white papers to help juice Dynamics product sales?
Such a seemingly simple question is also tricky to answer because white papers only help you sell when they aren’t “salesy”.
It all sounds contradictory, but think about your own approach to researching Dynamics products and services. If you find a white paper that relates to a particular category of products or services you are trying to learn about, would you rather the paper help you become better informed, or promote a particular company’s product? If you’re like most executives, you’re going to be turned off by a product promo at a time when you are seeking out credible information to become a better educated buyer.
Given that marketplace reality, the real challenge you face in putting together effective white papers is making them more educational than promotional. Here are some guidelines for doing that:
- Keep the paper focused on just one or two key points. In other words, avoid doing white papers that are meandering or try to cover too much ground. If you find you have five or six key points to make, consider doing a second, or even a third white paper on the same subject.
- Make the paper particular to issues around Dynamics as opposed to making generic points about enterprise or cloud-based software. Users or partners researching a Dynamics product area tend to be seriously focused and don’t want to try to infer how inventory management or market intelligence or other user management issues relate to them as Dynamics users–they want practical Dynamics-related guidance.
- Create specific white papers for different Dynamics product audiences. For example, if you integrate with both D365 F&O and GP, it’s best to create separate white papers directed at each of those product groups, as the needs of companies who use those products are most likely different from one another. Also, since each document will call out just one specific Dynamics product, it will appear to be much more relevant to people who use that product, which will therefore result in more of those people consuming the document.
- Separate the messaging between different groups of people. If you want to reach out to end-customers and partners, create separate documents geared towards each of those groups. This will allow you to exhibit distinct messages and key-takeaways that are different for each of those groups. For example, end-customers want to know how the product can help their business increase efficiency, save costs, etc. Partners want to know how their business can use your company/solutions to retain customers and close new Dynamics deals.
- Don’t be afraid to be provocative or opinionated. If your company’s software solves a problem differently than is traditional for vendors in your category, feel free to explain the challenge and why the conventional industry wisdom no longer applies; for example, point out that for a long time, things done one way, and thanks to certain shifts in a specific Dynamics platform, it’s now possible to solve particular problems more quickly or efficiently or less expensively. But try to provide your explanation without promoting your particular product by name. The idea is to communicate your company’s innovativeness or inventiveness, not to huck your product.
- By the same token, try to include customer examples or case studies. You don’t need to name the customers–the idea is to make the white paper more interesting to read, as well as to provide real-world relevancy.
- Be open to remaking and updating old content. Refreshing old articles or white papers can be a less expensive and less time-consuming way of creating new white papers. It can also be a way to re-use old white papers that may have worked well for you in the past. Just make sure the re-purposed white paper is up to date and accurate.
The best white papers will generate inquiries from prospects and existing customers—not because they are promotional, but because they position you as smart, creative, and interested in making customers and/or partners more productive.
