Vitrium Systems

I recently read a blog post titled “A New Tactic for White Paper Lead Generation,” which clearly explained both the pros and cons of current white paper distribution tactics. The post examined both free distribution (ungated content) of the white paper and hiding it behind a web form (gated content).

Ungated Content:

Pros: Disseminates your information quickly and to many more people, as free white papers are passed along to other business contacts more readily than gated content.

Cons: It is unable to capture leads and define who your target readers are, and also makes it difficult to require readers to register for your white papers after they have been give out for free.

Gated Content:

Pros: Captures leads and provides a measurable return on investment

Cons: May captures poor leads with fake or inadequate information, and does not measure the bounce rate of users unwilling to go through with the registration process

(more…)

White papers have become established as a cornerstone for most lead generation campaigns, and the content format continues to be one of the most successful response drivers during the recent economic downturn. For example, the 2009 Media Consumption Report from TechTarget showed white papers continued to be the top content source (cited by 66% of respondents) buyers turn to when evaluating new technology.

The content format also continues to have strong viral impact—one with 93% of buyers passing along up to half of the white papers they read/download, according to InformationWeek’s Best Practices Research Series on white papers. However, in order for white paper offers to stand out and succeed in a crowded field of lead gen offers, cutting edge marketers are realizing the need to stand out from the crowd by trying new approaches and integrating outside tools and tactics to optimize their content messaging.

Turn your white papers into lead generating machines, checkout PDFSalesLeads…a new lead generation tool for your PDF content!

The hype over Web 2.0 seems to have simmered down but there’s still a great deal of excitement in the B2B marketing community about what can be achieved using new online media. With the effectiveness of cutting-edge tactics remaining unproven, though, many marketers are clinging to their old online methods.

Where does this leave PDF? Well, when streaming video, blogs and so forth started to take hold, some  commentators predicted the death of the white paper. In spite of this, PDF documents like white papers, case studies and data sheets remain vital tools for many B2B marketers, especially in the technology sector.

The fact is that, by allowing marketers to distribute traditional print-style materials online, PDF offers something very valuable that no other format can match. Furthermore, with today’s enhanced PDF technology, there’s no reason why electronic documents can’t engage prospects in a Web 2.0-style interactive experience.

There are great things that can be done, using Flash technologies, to turn PDF into an interactive document format. If marketers can get access to simple tools that leverage these technologies, they won’t have to choose between traditional techniques and interactive media – they’ll have the best of both worlds.