The term “white paper marketing” has been coined by industry to describe what happens when a curious prospect downloads a resource, usually free of charge, from your web site in return for depositing their email (sometimes more) and permission to keep them alerted to future events and offers.
The rationale comes from the “Lifecycle Marketing” movement, who suggest that
– The initial sales process will be more successful if a prospect receives multiple (but not pushy) contacts during their initial enquiry process
– Prospects and patients who are nurtured by email over long periods of time are more likely to return to buy more and refer to family and friends
When the actual numbers are researched, the argument is very persuasive, with increases of up to 400% in sales reported in professional services.
At 7connections we have invested over a year in research and anybody who follows our adventures cannot fail to have noticed that we are busy developing our own “Lifecycle Marketing” solution for dentistry, about to lift off the runway with some loyal innovators who are allowing us to build live systems in their dental business as we speak.
Early on we took a view that, if a white paper was to be effective in securing downloads, it would have to attract the curiosity of a visitor to your site.
So a simple “all about crowns”, “all about ortho”, “all about implants” approach was unlikely to be successful, particularly taking into account the dubious sales writing skills of the experienced clinician.
With that in mind, we searched for and secured the services of a professional business sales writer from a BBC trained background, whose job it is to take “dental speak” and turn it into something compelling whilst compliant (we are checking every document to make sure that the regulators will be happy).
The first drafts are beginning to appear and I have to say that I’m excited to see some ground-breaking copy.
The proof will be in the pudding of course and we will be keeping you updated on the metrics as soon as we can – after what is likely to be a period of trial and error to figure out which words and phrases stimulate the best responses.
Keep watching.
