Whether called white papers, special reports, guidebooks or handbooks - they are a great method of adding subscribers to your list. There is no hard and fast rule what you call your information and many marketing departments will actually advertise the same information under the various labels to see which pulls the best. In general, the term white paper is used when writing technical papers in industries such as computers and medicine. Special reports and handbooks are frequently used with Internet-based businesses.
The most common use for giving away free reports is for to add subscribers to your newsletter. This is the how it is usually done:
- Since most newsletter programs allow you to create multiple ways to subscribe to the same newsletter, you design a page that advertises your free report.
- Be honest with your audience. Be sure to add a disclaimer that by requesting this free report, they will be subscribed to your newsletter. And that if they don't like your newsletter, it is easy to unsubscribe. Make sure that they know this free report will not create a monetary obligation.
- Your automated newsletter system will send out an email with the opt-in link asking them to verify their information and let them know that the link to the special report will sent right back. Once they verified their information, the system sends them a welcome email with the link.
- Or some companies do not use a double opt-in system when people request a special report. They just send a 'thank you for requesting our free report/white paper', with a link to download the report and a note about when they will be receiving the first issue of your newsletter.
- Most companies use the second method, but either method is acceptable. Just make sure that you have a record of their request.
- More sophisticated programmers will capture their information and instead of sending an email, forward them to another webpage with the link to the download on it (as well as an additional marketing message.)
Several Reasons to Use Reports/White Papers
There are several reasons that this is a great way to gain subscribers to your newsletter. First, you have established a relationship with your reader when they receive the initial report. Second, they have given you a valid email address so they can receive the information right away. Third, since you have already established a relationship, they will pay more attention to your newsletter when it arrives. Fourth, people are normally willing to give you more demographic information when requesting a report than they are when just signing up for a newsletter.
In addition, reports/white papers add content to your website to be indexed by the search engines, and expand the image of you and your company being a leader in the field. The important thing to remember when adding them to your website is that they often have a limited life span, so don't keep them around just to fill your library. Occasionally go through and update or delete them.