Content Placement: White Paper or Blog?

Categorized in: Content

When it comes to creating content online, you have a few options. With written content, the two basic types that you can do are blog posts or white papers. Some clients that come to us think that the content has to be one or the other. Yet, thinking this way fails to show the big picture. You can, and in fact, should have both present on your website. Here’s a look at how to best use the two different content forms:

Best Way to Use Blog Posts for a Business Blog

Every business should have a blog or an area to display articles. There are several benefits to putting your content on the blog:

Complement the sales cycle. When you create content for every phase of the sales cycle, you are poised to attract people to your brand. This is one of the main functions of posting articles on a business blog.
Greater organic SEO results. The more pages of content you have on your blog, the better off you’ll do in organic search results.
Share on social media. You also have a chance to share the content on social media, which can broaden your audience eon the different platforms.
Establish authority. Another function of a blog on a business website is that it gives you a chance to establish your authority in your industry.
Improves your branding. A good blog can also go a long way to improving your branding.
Supports your marketing strategies. When done right, your blog can complement both your content marketing and digital marketing strategies.
Attract leads. From a big picture perspective, this all means that a blog can go a long way to helping you attract leads for your business.

Best Way to Use White Papers for Business Marketing

White papers are another choice for you to showcase your content and expertise. Some of the reasons to use a white paper overlap with a blog. However, there are also some differences. Here’s a look at the best way to use a white paper:

Nurture leads. Although white papers do occasionally attract leads, this isn’t their main function, at least not in our experience. We find that they are even better at nurturing the leads!
Improve thought leadership. There’s something about displaying the information in a structured and formalized document that does wonders for your thought leadership. Although blog content can also do this, a white paper takes this to the next level.
Deliver educational content. Sometimes, you need a platform to deliver very thought-provoking and educational information. This is one of the functions of a white paper. It gives you a chance to display heavy information in a digestible way.
Can be used for sales enablement. Although blog content can be used to complement the efforts of a sales team, a white paper may be even better for it. Members of your sales team can deliver the information their prospects need in an easy way.

So, which should you use? For us, it isn’t one or the other. Consider using both since they tend to complement each other well.