Today (Saturday) is a recovery day for me following three early morning rises this week to attend Jonathan Kantor’s White Paper webinar class. (It was well worth the effort and I’ll have to more say about how I’m applying what I learned there in future posts.)

Flicking through my blog log I came across a heart-stopping post from Joe Pulizzi of Junta 42 and the Content Marketing Institute.

What grabbed my attention was how Joe shared why we do what we do.

For example, take the art and mechanics of top-class white paper copywriting. I’m finding it really is a satisfying feeling to know that applied learning and hard work is paying off over time, as writing skills improve and experience is gained.

Niche markets are chosen.
Websites built, blog started, tweets tweeted etc etc.
Marketing campaigns attract prospects and win clients.
Metrics are measured.

Results. Results. Results.

But whose?

Now read what Joe had to say about “whose business are you developing?”

I love it so much here’s my new 10 second elevator speech:

“I’m your business development manager’s white paper copywriter.”

- Mark McClure

When is it appropriate to use humor in a white paper aimed at IT professionals?
If you’re thinking “never” then I’d agree with you in most cases.

But there are exceptions and here’s one that does the job well in my opinion: “The Demarc Extension and its Critical Role in Enterprise Network Telecommunications Infrastructure”

The “layer 1 cabling stuff” is often regarded as “out of sight, out of mind” by most IT staffers who have never seen the inside of a data center or wiring closet.

However, for network and cabling teams who must provide a rock-solid infrastructure on which the majority of business information flows depend, it’s a very serious matter indeed.

For example, a network outage due to a faulty or mistaken cable patch on a WAN-facing router or switch can have hordes of irate and sleep-deprived senior managers on a late night global conference call within minutes… and all of them looking for blood to spill…

Reading this paper I was struck by how well the cartoon-style illustrations captured the depth of emotions that enterprise-wide cabling issues often cause among users of the network; people whose jobs depend on connectivity being “always-on”. And that made the serious nature of the text that much easier to both understand and relate to.

Some closing observations on this paper:

1- I found the online version much easier to scan and read than the two-column approach of the downloadable version (it’s also available at the link above.)

2- Using web links within the paper to additional online diagrams was a great idea. Now, if only there was a lead capture form on the landing page to capture email contact info in return for another paper, terminology mini-course or even an invite to view a special recorded webinar etc.

3- Admittedly, there is a subtle ‘call-to-action’ (CTA) at the end of the white paper (just after the terminology section) but I think it’s somewhat weak in impact (contact us) and it would be worth split testing a stronger CTA. (see #2 above.)

Kudos to ace white paper copywriter, Jonathan Kantor, whose White Paper Pundit blog featured this paper at “The FREE White Paper List: Week of 05.17.10“.

- Mark McClure

An intriguing lead generation question was posted recently on LinkedIn’s Technology Marketing Discussion board by Don Shin. (Don’s the APAC marketing manager of Extreme Networks and from his profile, appears to be based in Korea.)

The actual question was generic to marketing but ‘specific’ to Asia-Pacific and read:

“How do you generate leads in Asia-Pac?
Where relationship-based business is characteristic, how do you generate leads?”

My response was:

“Asia-Pac’s a BIG place in time and space – from India to NZ there’s a full business day of time difference. Add in language and cultural challenges and, well, I suspect there’s no “one size fits all” solution to relationship based marketing strategies for lead generation.

That being said, the APAC region’s enormous scale and diversity means (Western) firms must be SEEN to commit for the long haul in each area/territory that they operate in.

Examples of these commitments include:

a) localizing online/offline marketing materials.

b) finding local resellers/distributors who have the contacts/experience to make introductions, set up targeted events (as Caryne has mentioned in her reply) and help cement the still liquid trust between outsider and insider.

This all takes time and money and does NOT necessarily conform to the quarterly reporting cycle beat…”

I saw something of this bootstrap marketing approach while working at 3Com Japan from 1994-97.

Initially, simply translating technical marcom materials produced in the US was a ‘foot-in-the-door’ starting point for the lead generation process.

However, localized case studies, press releases and industry-specific white papers were resources that Japanese Partners and VARs needed to build credibility with their prospects and customers.

I imagine something similar is happening with social media networking. Tweeting, blogging and FaceBooking in English might work for some Asia-Pacific countries (e.g. Singapore) but will mostly bomb in others e.g. China and Japan.

This point is especially true for those seeking to sell sophisticated enterprise and carrier class computer networking solutions.

If you’re on LinkedIn and have some experience with lead generation of technology prospects in the Asia-Pacific region, why not join their Technology Marketing Community and share some of your knowledge?

- Mark McClure

PS – (3Com was recently acquired by HP. For any HP marketing folks stopping by here, a gentle word in your ears… “white text on a dark home page background is sore on the eyes. Reminds me of that GoM oil slick. Have you split-tested black text on white background for the same content? Thanks.”)