Are Whitepapers Dead?

Breathing life back into free content offerings, By Robert W. Bly

It’s often the case that when a marketing technique is overused, it gradually loses its effectiveness. When that happens, usage drops off, and prospects are no longer bombarded by the technique. Example: the AOL CD mailings.

A year or so later, a marketer remembers the old technique, realizes it hasn’t been used for a while and decides to test it again. Sure enough, it works because the market hasn’t seen it for some time. Other marketers who use it also start getting good results, and the marketing tool becomes popular once more.

Now, in B-to-B, some direct marketers are questioning whether whitepapers are running out of steam. The concern is that there are too many whitepapers—so that the offer of yet another one has lost its appeal. As one whitepaper skeptic told me, “Prospects already have too much to read; why would they ask for more?”

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