White Papers Not For B2C? I disagree!

After just attending Michael Stelzner’s powerful summit on White Papers and hearing from the industry greats on how white papers can be used to enhance business, I was struck by the number of times that panelists said White Papers would not be a good fit for the B2C market.

And I have to disagree with that, at least in terms of one area—Alternative Health.

Today’s consumers go to much greater lengths to educate themselves about their health issues than they did even ten years ago. No longer happy with having doctors throw pills at their symptoms, they’re reading everything they can get their hands on about getting to the root of their problems—so I think not using white papers as part of the overall marketing plan to these folks is a mistake.

While it is true that buyers of supplements and vitamins may not be interested in a white paper on the virtues of supplements, there are a couple of instances where I can see value in promoting white papers to the Alternative Health Industry:

Lead Generation: At the summit we learned that white papers are good lead generators for promoting complex and/or expensive products to the market. This could also be true for multi-faceted alternative health programs such as chiropractic, drug-free allergy, magnetic therapy, detoxification and others.

Many practitioners could benefit from offering white papers on select topics through their online newsletters, website resource pages, and as “freemium” bait pieces to introduce a new program, book or product (I’ve seen examples of this already out there). White papers would also be good to have as hard copy “Special Reports” available for in-lobby reading.

Thought Leadership: People are “sick and tired of being sick and tired,” and western medicine has left us disillusioned with the side effects of pharmaceutical drugs. But that doesn’t mean that people want to run out and buy any old pill that says it’s “natural.” There are too many choices, and consumers are rightfully skeptical… good reasons to use white papers for thought leadership!

In fact, when I’m conducting health research, I notice that people are actively seeking advice for alternatives in online forums—so I go to those places to listen in and find out what problems they are discussing, which helps me write targeted marketing pieces that resonate with my clients’ customers.

Companies that want to establish themselves as the professional, go-to resource for information on solving these hot-topic problems could benefit from white paper authorship as well—and find ways to get in front of those actively seeking that information in social media.

Also, with FDA and FTC becoming much more stringent about what marketers can and cannot say to advertise dietary supplements and alternative medicines (i.e. claims), these types of companies need to be much more careful about how they come across to the public.

Judicious use of white papers to establish credibility in the market can be a great way to overcome some of the advertising limitations forced on marketers by increased government regulation—and at the same time educate consumers on the importance of making the right choices when it comes to their health.

So that’s my take; using white papers for lead generation and thought leadership can be just as useful in the alternative health field as it is for other businesses. What thoughts do you have?