11 Ways to Promote Your White Paper (and Gain more Leads)

Your high-converting white paper is written, designed and ready to rock your prospects’ world. You feel like you can take a breather now (we all know it’s not easy to produce a high-quality white paper), but…not so fast! You still need to promote your white paper.

After all, what good is a killer white paper if it remains the best kept secret in your industry?

According to a recent survey, 82% of B2B buyers say that white papers are the type of content that is most likely to get them to convert. That’s great news, right?

Now let’s see how to promote your white paper and get it in front of qualified leads.

11 Cost-Efficient Ways to Promote Your White Paper to People Who Matter for Your Business

Before thinking about all the places your white paper would look good published, take a moment to treat this endeavor as a separate marketing campaign with its own marketing strategy that you need to tend to. In other words, treat your white paper as if it were a product you’re trying to sell and not a piece of content designed to bring in more leads.

Start by designing your buyer persona: who are they? Where do they hang around online? Which social networks do they prefer for work-related things and which for fun? How do they like to be addressed? What are the major pain points your white paper is solving for them?

As soon as you have comprehensive answers to these questions, you will know where to promote your message and what CTAs to add in order to get your target audience’s attention.

That being said, you don’t need to use all the items on the list below. Some of them may be a waste of time (and money) for your target audience. This is why I urge you to spend some time clearly defining your buyer persona before publishing your white paper online.

1. Create a Separate Landing Page for Your White Paper

Of course you are going to have CTAs throughout your website advertising the white paper. But you also need a cozy “home” for it.

Enter your perfect landing page.

Remember that this is the focal point of your white paper promotion. Every click on ads, social media posts, third-party websites and so on should lead the user to your white paper’s landing page.

As tempting as it may be to promote other products here, as well, keep this page about the landing page alone. Write powerful CTAs that drive downloads and make sure the entire copy focuses around benefits. For instance: “Learn how to master social media ads”, “Get leads with our innovative solution”.

You need to make the reader “see” the bright future that awaits them after reading your white paper. You can also add a short excerpt of it on your landing page – just to give people a sneak peek into what they’re about to download.

What should not be missing from your landing page is your white paper’s table of contents. Give a brief outline of how you tackle the subject and, ideally, a few stats and researched facts.

2. Write (at least) a Blog Post about Your White Paper

Write a detailed blog post that gives an outline of your white paper. This is your best way to reach your blog subscribers without spamming them with too many emails.

Additionally, add a widget next to all your blog posts to promote your white paper. This way, you make sure that anyone who visits your blog learns about it.

I’ve written about how to repurpose content before. Turning your white paper into a series of blog posts is one of the most time-effective way to get more traction from every single word you write.

This doesn’t mean that you should copy-paste excerpts of your white paper on your blog. You can write a series of posts based on that white paper and, at the end, invite people to download it in order to get the full picture.

3. Promote Your White Paper through Guest Blogging

Your own blog isn’t the only place you can speak about your new white paper. If you have guest blogging agreements with other platforms, now is the perfect time to leverage their true power.

In your guest posts, you can share some of the findings of your white paper and invite the readers to download it to get the full scoop. Additionally, you can add a download link in your very own bio on said platform – you may need to clear that with the platform owners or editors first.

4. Promote Your White Paper on Social Media

Add links and powerful CTAs on each and every one of your social media profiles. If you have a social media advertising budget, now is the best time to use it. Both Facebook and Twitter ads work wonders in promoting white papers.

Don’t just limit your social media promotion to a single post. Pin a tweet and a Facebook post, then be sure to remind your audience about the opportunity to download the white paper at least once a week. Use a different CTA each time.

5. Promote Your White Paper on Facebook and LinkedIn Groups

You should never ignore the power of LinkedIn, especially if you are promoting a B2B white paper. Don’t just post it on your profile. I’m sure you’re part of many professional groups pertaining to your industry, so why not take advantage of the perfect cluster of highly targeted audience to promote your white paper?

While many LinkedIn groups have a strict policy against self-promotion, white papers are typically seen as valuable pieces of content for all professionals and, thus, it is usually OK to share them. You can also share it and ask for your peers’ honest opinion about it. Be sure to carefully read the rules, though!

The same thing goes for Facebook: this social platform is no longer just a place to connect with high school friends and see funny photos of cats. The professional groups on Facebook are also great places to promote valuable pieces of content, just like your white paper.

6. Host a Twitter Chat

Twitter chats are growing more and more popular. Hosting one of them is a great way to promote your white paper, especially if you have a large Twitter following.

But don’t worry; you don’t have to be as popular as Lady Gaga to get traction. You can always invite an analyst you quoted or featured in your white paper to help you co-host. This way, you can gain access to his followers, as well.

Announce your Twitter chat one week in advance. Be sure to mention the hashtag you will be using and try to keep it short and simple – remember that there is a character limit to every tweet.

During the chat, discuss the main points in your white paper and share some of your research, findings or conclusions. However, keep in mind that the purpose of the Twitter chat is to promote your white paper, so don’t give everything away and remind people they can download it as often as possible.

7. Send Newsletters Promoting Your White Paper

Start with an email that is about nothing else than the white paper. Then, be sure to include a reminder of it in all the next email blasts.

Mention it in the subject of several emails and add it as a footnote or P.S. in others. And make sure you don’t send it only to your newsletter subscribers. Create separate, highly-personalized emails that you send to clients and even personal contacts that you feel may derive some value from it.

Additionally, change your email signature to include a download link. Just think about how many emails you send daily – each of them is an opportunity to promote your white paper for free, get a download and, consequently, a qualified lead. Of course, you can ask all the members of your team to do the same.

8. Add Your White Paper to SlideShare

This is another brilliant way to repurpose and promote your white paper without putting in to many house. Turn your white paper into a slide deck and upload it to SlideShare in order to reach new audiences.

Additionally, you can also add a lead from in the slide deck. People who want the entire white paper can easily fill it in without ever leaving SlideShare.

9. Connect with Influencers

Did you quote any influencers or feature the findings of someone else’s research and surveys? That’s great – it gives you an opportunity to reach out to them.

You can send them emails inviting them to download the white paper and see their contribution themselves. You can also give them social media shout outs: whenever you quote some of the research the white paper uses, be sure to mention the person or company that created it by tagging them in your post.

Again, this is an excellent way to leverage the power of social media. Not only will you draw the influencer’s attention, but also that of their fans or followers.

10. Leverage the Power of Video and Audio

We all know that video is gaining more and more traction. You don’t need to record your entire white paper, but you may consider video uploads to YouTube, Periscope, or even live Facebook videos – they are excellent ways to promote your white paper.

You can also use video social media ads. People like to put a face to the content, so speaking about the white paper to the camera can actually drive more downloads.

Similarly, a podcast in which you invite a thought leader to discuss the topic of your white paper is a great way to reach new audiences. People love listening to podcasts on their way to work!

11. Promote Your White Paper on Quora

Not only does this means of promotion bring in more downloads, but it can also do wonders for your search engine ranking.

In case you didn’t know, Quora is the place to get your questions answered. And I mean any questions, in any field, from sensitive sexual matters to advanced physics calculations.

So there’s definitely something in your field there, as well.

All you need to do is find questions pertaining to your field of expertise (you can easily filter topics on Quora) and share your wisdom. Don’t be discouraged if the questions you know most about are old. You need to care about how many followers they have – all the people who follow a question receive a notification when an answer is added.

When you sit down to write your answer, be helpful, not promotional. Go into as much detail as possible (some of the most upvoted replies have more than 2000 words) and focus on solving a real problem. Of course, you will also add the link to your white paper, but only after you’ve also provided a real answer.

Simply saying: “Oh, I wrote a white paper about this” doesn’t cut it. Offer a solution and only then invite readers to download the white paper in case they need a more in-depth reply.

Need help writing a high-converting white paper or promoting it? We’ve got your back!