Lead Generation Part 3 – Webinars & White Papers

In the previous post, we discussed using content syndication to generate more leads for your business and important considerations when using this strategy (Lead Generation Part 2 – Content Syndication).

In this post we will discuss the two most popular types of online content syndication programs for lead generation: white papers and webinars.

White Papers

White papers, which are generally 8 to 12 pages long, are marketing communication documents that help to promote your product or service while also offering useful information and valuable resources to help educate your target market. Leads from these programs may be delivered daily or in many cases once a week.

You can either write White Papers internally, work with a content network or hire an internet marketing agency that offers B2B content creation services to do it for you.  You can also sponsor existing content that is relevant to your business; however be sure though to check whether you would be an exclusive sponsor or one of many. If you aren’t an exclusive sponsor, you likely won’t have exclusive access to the leads.

Best practices for White Papers

• Make sure to choose your topic carefully – keep it to one or two key issues and focus on those. Don’t try to squeeze in all the details about your business.
• Explain the technology thoroughly & talk to the “pain” points and how your product solves them.  Discuss the solution in detail.
• Make it visually appealing & easy to read.
• Consider the title of your paper carefully. An attention grabbing title is critical to success and will help to qualify your readership and therefore leads.
• Include credible sources for any data you include.

Webinars

Webinars can be a highly effective tool for lead generation.  Using webinars as an asset for the purposes of lead generation will very likely mean that any leads generated will come at a higher cost than those generated by white papers. Again, these can be self-produced or you can outsource the task. Webinars can be live, on-demand or both and are generally 45 minutes long plus about 15 minutes for questions. You can choose to run a shorter webinar than 45 minutes, but it’s not recommended to go beyond the one hour timeframe. Like a white paper lead, the subject matter can be very targeted and you can expect leads to be delivered about once per week, except if live, when you will get the leads more quickly following the completion of the presentation.

Best practices for webinars

• Select a hot topic – timely, relevant and a subject that will attract the right audience for your business.
• Find the right speaker. Avoid using sales people so that attendees are not feeling they are getting a sales pitch.
• Create a compelling title that emphasizes the benefit of attending and as with white papers, qualifies the visitor.
• Focus on prospects needs – what’s in it for them?
• Tailor the content to your target audience.
• Include a call to action.
• Presentation should be no more than 45 minutes.

White papers and webinars are powerful internet marketing tools to help your business generate leads online.

In the next and final post in this series, we will look at “going it alone” for your lead generation.