Whitepapers, eBooks and guides: How to make long-form content that works
Whitepapers, eBooks, and downloadable guides are critical elements of your marketing toolkit. Find out how to make these weighty pieces of content win leads, sales, and all-round top results for your business.
Copywriters like to write; this is catastrophically unsurprising. A good copywriter, however, will reign in their literary pretentions and give you only the words that pull their weight.
Sometimes that means a killer six-word title. Sometimes it’s circa 280 characters of Twitter brilliance. But once in a blue moon, the right number of words is… lots.
So, how many? Here today, we concern ourselves with long long-form content. Stuff like:
eBooks
whitepapers
landing pages
blogs over 1750 words
If you’re thinking about writing something of that scope and your millennial knee-jerk kicks in all like, ‘nobody’s going to read all that,’ think again. Stats show people will read all that, they’ll enjoy it (as might Google), and it’ll form a worthy part of your marketing mix if you follow a few simple steps.
Here, we’ll be covering:
Something written for its own sake isn’t going to do you much good. Both yourself and your audience need to be enriched from the experience, and that end goal needs to be built into your strategy from the outset.
That goal could take many forms:
Creating a source
Perhaps you’re working in cutting-edge tech, pushing the frontiers of science. Mayhap you’ve found a niche topic that, somehow, nobody has explored in detail before.
In either of these scenarios, producing a researched, authoritative piece creates a valuable resource which others can use to benefit from your knowledge. Whitepapers really come into their own here.
This positions you as a credible authority. I often find myself referencing reports from the likes of McKinsey & Company who regularly produce wonderful papers which make my life as a researcher much easier.
You too can reap that same level of goodwill, and if the finished piece is useful enough, it becomes the kind of investment which will keep paying dividends years into the future. Few tweets can say that.
Generating leads
Lead generation has to seriously step up its game post-GDPR. People have woken up to their data having real value; if you want that data, you’ve got to make it a fair deal.
Offering something like an eBook with insider knowledge for your audience sounds like a fair deal to me. If you’re in B2B, you might want to pick a topic adjacent to your core competency, helping readers without giving away your own trade secrets for free.
This, with robust data capture, gives your audience a reason to enter your brand’s universe. But the value you offer doesn’t have to stop once you’ve got their data, in fact it’s better that it doesn’t.
The Royal Society of Chemistry keeps its huge membership updated and engaged with regular series of whitepapers to ensure the audience doesn’t drop out and unsubscribe once they’ve got their free content.
With such a huge scientific discipline to cover, they go to town providing something for everyone even tangentially connected to their space. We know, because we happen to have written and designed some of those beautiful whitepapers. Just sayin’.
Cutting through the noise
New ideas iterate so fast that keeping track can be a headache unless you’ve got your finger constantly on the shifting pulse, and not everyone has time for that. Certain topics pick up a lot of chatter; blockchain, VR, and data ethics were all big talking points in 2018.
Yes, there’s a lot to be said for speaking up and joining the conversation, but he who laughs last laughs loudest. Producing a comprehensive piece which sums up the conversation so far, at a pivotal moment, lets you cut through the chatter and present an authoritative take.
Of course, this is something you’d need to revisit periodically to make sure your definitive stance is still accurate. Property giants JLL do this by commissioning us each year to write their Hotel Investment Outlook reports, updating and revising their observations for an industry worth billions of dollars.
This lets them keep moving and give informed predictions without their stance changing with the wind. Time invested into producing one big report each January is time saved flip-flopping throughout the year.
Your own piece might be trying to achieve more than one of the above example goals, or all three of them, or something totally different. The important thing is that you decide what the goal is ahead of time, and craft an experience to that end.
Make no mistake, a proper bit of long-form needs to be an experience; you’re asking someone to sink serious time into absorbing what you’ve created. Even if it contains the facts, stats, and informed opinions to make it an academic masterpiece, you’re not going to achieve your objectives if it doesn’t spark joy in the reader.
Lean on your designer
The human mind is prone to quick judgement. If your whitepaper is a drab, monotone affair, nobody’s going to give it a chance. On the other hand, if it’s visually striking and well-laid out, replete with carefully chosen pictures, people might get as far as reading the copy.
This means dropping a few quid into working with the right designer. Someone used to web design or infographics might not have quite the right skillset to give a report maximum visual impact. It’s a fine art, and worth investing in.
Use the research, don’t be consumed by it
Something of this length needs to be credible. Pure opinion might carry you to a 500-word blog post, but sooner or later you need the cold, hard facts. But the thing about cold, hard facts is that they’re kinda… cold and hard.
Unless you’re producing something purely academic, there’s room for personality, and I’d argue that even pure academia could stand to loosen up a notch. With something like a report or eBook, it’s your job to interpret the facts and tell people how to feel about them. Feelings sell, then facts come along to rationalise a decision that’s already been made.
Get your dates straight
Rather than just talk about ‘storytelling’ (yawn), here’s an actual narrative technique that means something. When you’re dealing with data from a lot of research and studies, try to present that data chronologically if possible.
These studies didn’t happen in a vacuum, they were informed by their scientific context. You obviously don’t have the time, space, or inclination to break down everything that was going on to produce one tiny stat you’re using. But by talking about the invention of the wheel before you talk about the development of the Reliant Robin, you make it easier for the layman to follow.
Rock the research-to-writing ratio
Good long-form isn’t ‘lots of words,’ it’s lots of value. The risks of just hitting keys before you’ve planned your points become even greater the longer the piece gets.
Honestly, don’t be unduly concerned if you’re spending three times as long on research as you spend writing. It’s incredibly helpful to plan the whole thing out in bullet points first, complete with references, especially if your work is subject to various layers of feedback.
Pierce the paywall
This one’s cheeky. From time to time you’ll come across a piece of research that is simply too perfect not to reference in your own piece… but it’s locked behind a paywall and there’s no budget for journal subscriptions.
Despair not! Academics seldom see a financial cut when their papers are downloaded and used, they’re more concerned with getting their knowledge out there. Shoot them a quick (polite, respectful) email and let them know you’re interested in referencing them; chances are they’ll email you a copy of the relevant research.
This is far more common than you might expect, and nets you a source that your rivals might not have access to.
Feel like your written piece could use a boost? In most cases, the solution is right at the top of the page. Let’s talk titles, and break down six easy ways to draw visitors into your world.
80% of people, when confronted with any piece of writing, read the headline and nothing else. So, surely, it logically follows that 80p of every pound you spend on marketing should be going on crafting a winning title, along with 80% of the time you spend writing.
Is that the case for what you’ve just written?
Thought not.
In most cases, this just isn’t feasible. But that oft-quoted stat from Uncle Og demonstrates how critical it is to nail a title which commands the reader to engage with the enormous bulk of what you’ve written.
Until they come up with an algorithm to enable AI to write our headlines for us, all we’ve got is good old-fashioned copywriting know-how which, as always, we’re happy to share with you.
Get to the point
You love what you do, and you’re excited about the topic you’re addressing. But first, you’ve got to get someone to read it. Most casual readers, in the course of their browsing, will scan over dozens of useful pieces like yours before they see something that tickles their fancy.
Your title needs to be that fancy-tickler.
What is a reader supposed to be getting out of your piece? Put that right at the front, before any fluffy subtitles, and don’t hide your selling point behind flowery language.
People give the tabloids a bad rap when it comes to shoehorning puns, but look at this example from the Daily Mirror. No nonsense, just a straight declaration of what the piece is about to catch as much of that sniffly November traffic as possible.
Length matters
How long should a title be? Some people say ten words, some eight, some twelve. Others count characters instead of words. In reality, titles need to be long enough to get the job done, and not one full stop longer.
Be ruthless when condensing your titles. If you think something is particularly clever or witty, but it isn’t doing the job of driving traffic; either drop it or move it to the body copy.
Read your title out aloud, ideally to a colleague. If it sounds cumbersome on the tongue, it’s going to sound cumbersome in someone’s head.
Remember also that different social media platforms prioritise different lengths. Twitter likes 8-12 words, while Facebook prefers a more discursive 12-14, according to Hubspot. If you rely heavily on one platform for traffic, tailor your titles to keep the almighty algorithm happy.
Vice is awesome when it comes to short, snappy titles which capture the feel of a piece without giving the game away. This example right here is a titillating self-contained tale which ends on a cliffhanger. What’s a happiness museum? Why did it make the author sad? You’re drawn in beautifully, and it’s all done in the space of ten words.
Sod SEO... sort of
Ok, we’re all grownups now. We can admit to ourselves that those years spent bending our content around the latest SEO rumour only ever resulted in weird, inhuman-sounding copy. Cheeky attempts to game the system are never a substitute for knowing your audience, and producing useful, informative, or entertaining content for them.
User behaviour is vital to your site’s health, and it’s only going to become more important as time goes on and Google’s creepy journey towards AI Overlord status reaches its dystopian climax.
You should be including a keyword in your title, but because it interests your audience, not to tick a box with the Big G. Conversely, you should avoid stuffing your title with keywords because it’s bad writing, not out of fear of being penalised.
Say what you like about Buzzfeed, but they absolutely nail their connection with the people visiting the site. This title is in no way optimised for organic search, but it speaks the audience’s language and hints at a relatable, fun coffee break read.
Concoct your own formula
A lot of writers-about-writing are happy to provide you with a list of templates to use when crafting titles. Off the top of my head, these tend to include:
Using numbers. ‘# ways to make more sales’.
Starting with a question. ‘Need to make more sales? We show you how’.
Showing authority. ‘Scientists have cracked the code to making sales’.
Superlatives. ‘Amazing, incredible tips for boosting sales’.
Good old dirty FOMO. ‘You can’t afford to miss these sales tips’.
There are hundreds of these, in all sorts of combinations. You can’t use them all, nor should you try. However, what you can do is narrow down maybe 10-12 which work for the audience you’re trying to reach.
Are you appealing to an academic crowd? They’ll like numbers and stats. Writing for artsy-fartsy types? They’ll respond well to emotive, impactful language. Over time, you can refine a go-to list of templates which are proven to drive traffic.
Don’t be afraid to test things, either. Try one format and see how many clicks it gets, then change the title using another format and re-share a few months later. Testing, revising, and refining your titles should always be an ongoing process.
Write it well!
This should really go without saying, yet here we are. You can satisfy all the above criteria and still come out with a lame title that just doesn’t excite anyone to read your blog. It can be hard to really speak to someone’s soul when you’re writing about dry B2B content, but there’s a way. I promise.
Before you even sit down to write the blog, consider what function it’s performing. Loosely, you’ll be wanting to do one of four things to your audience:
Inspire them
Educate them
Entertain them
Convince them
Rather than trying to be all things to all men, tailor your piece, and thus your title, towards one of those four goals. This will help focus your mind on crafting a message which doesn’t just encourage clicks, but demands them!
This from SFGate might be my favourite title I’ve seen all year. It’s like someone boiled a Michael Bay film down to 11 words. Is Elon Musk masquerading as Satoshi Nakamoto? He says he’s not, but then again, he would say that. Plus… what’s this about a robot apocalypse?! Incredible scenes.
Do the title last
If you take nothing else from this blog, if you gloss over it all only to have your roving eye finally rest here: Write your title after you’ve written the piece itself.
There are all sorts of reasons for this. One is that writing a title can be time consuming, and feeling like you’re stumbling at the very first hurdle can be disheartening. Best to just get stuck right in with the meat and potatoes.
Secondly, a good title sums up the essence of your entire piece, and how do you know what that essence might be until you’ve written it? Even if you’ve planned meticulously before writing, there will always be subtle nuances and callbacks which you can incorporate to make the title better.
Finished writing your content? You sure about that? “Art is never finished, only abandoned,” said Leonardo Da Vinci… probably. It might have been Picasso or Paul Valéry. To quote Plato, “the internet makes it easy to muddle up who said what.”
But if art is only ever abandoned, it isn’t abandoned lightly. Is there more you can do to polish your masterpiece before you forsake it?
At Sookio, we’ve abandoned bags of art over the years, but never before subjecting it to these essential finishing touches:
Sleep on it
If you’re not up against a killer deadline, let your copy breathe before you upload it. Give it another read tomorrow morning and you’ll more than likely spot a few quick improvements you can make.
Similar to how napping helps you juggle, your brain reorganises and consolidates learning while you sleep. Recent research links the process to learning language. This trick is especially useful when explaining complex ideas, which you’ll typically find yourself doing in a long-form piece.
If you are up against a killer deadline, perhaps some digital marketing tools could help with time management?
Read it out loud
Numerous rounds of drafts and edits widen the gap between your inner and outer monologues. What once flowed beautifully can be torn apart and stitched back into a technically accurate but hideous verbal Frankenstein.
Stand up, take a deep breath, and read what you’ve written out loud. You will sound like a wally, but you’ll also spot bits which risk making the reader stumble and lose the thread. Worth it.
Take your favourite bit out
Does your writing have one bit that you’re mega proud of? A juicy stat? A touching anecdote? A thigh-slapping joke?
Kill it.
Remove your favourite element and see if the whole thing still stands on its own merits. Is every word adding value, or is it all merely a delivery system for that one bit?
If the piece still works, you can keep the best bit in good faith. If not, consider restructuring or backing up weaker points.
Purge weak words
Certain words do nothing but take up space in a sentence without paying rent. If you’re truly ready to release your work, make sure it doesn’t house these squatters:
Just (“this thing is insignificant”)
Innovative (“I don’t understand why this thing is good”)
Etc (“this list of things doesn’t matter”)
Passionate (“I can’t be bothered explaining how this makes me feel”)
Very (“this thing is not ‘very’ anything but I can’t think of a better superlative”)
Great (nothing great has ever been described merely as ‘great’)
Trim out anything apologetic or woolly. Be specific, not abstract. If you’re unsure about something, get rid of it.
Compare it to the brief
Ideas evolve. The beauty of writing long-form copy is the journey it takes you on, but beware of straying too far from the path.
A clear brief should outline the job your writing performs, and who it’s for. Sit with it and the ‘finished’ piece side-by-side; can you demonstrate how every single line of that brief manifests in the work?
Get the audience to read it
This is another one for those with the luxury of time. It’s all well and good us sitting in our marketing bubble talking about best practice, but if you’re writing a piece for plumbers: find a plumber and have them read it.
All the research and workshops in the world can’t replace context and experience. Listen to what your audience is saying; if they suggest something that flies in the face of all your highfalutin learnings, you might have picked up something valuable.
Write it again
Let’s finish on an extreme one. If you’ve written something and you’re unsure if you could have done better: try to do better. Clear your head, then rewrite the piece you just wrote with a different structure, tone, and set of contents.
Not only can you chop and change the bits from each version that work best, you learn exactly how creative you are when all your ideas go into one piece and you have to write the second truly from scratch.
For a long-form piece, a whitepaper for example, this might seem excessive. But remember, these are flagship pieces of content, the whole idea is built on a big investment of time for even bigger ROI. If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing twice.
Copy that goes to great lengths
Big copy jobs net big rewards if they’re providing a useful, enjoyable experience for a clearly defined target market. With luck, you’ve nabbed some tips here to make that happen for your own business… or we could do it for you.
Need long-form content experts for some waffle-free wins? Talk to Sookio today and let’s get started.