+ What’s the difference between Technical Articles and Whitepapers?

Publishing Articles in Trade Industry Journals

One of the very best ways to leverage technical writing is by achieving publication in an esteemed trade industry journal or magazine. These publications are well respected and hold the contributors to very high standards in terms of credibility, content, and value to their core audience. In being accepted as a published piece a good reputation is automatically established. It is best to write with the audience in mind and provide information that demonstrates what is new, unique or innovative about your offering. A great way to achieve this is by adopting the “Show, Don’t Tell” approach via introduction of a successful recent case study. Letting the data speak for itself allows the reader to say “Wow, this really works! I could use that.” By coming to their own conclusion the reader will look at your offering more favorable.

Developing Effective Whitepapers

Whitepapers are designed much like technical articles, both display technical information & successful case studies, but whitepaper content is controlled by your own company. This means that the pieces may not be held to the same journalistic requirements as published pieces, allowing whitepapers to have much more freedom to use stronger marketing & sales focused language. A good whitepaper will give the same depth of information for analysis by the reader, and will oftentimes lead to a call-to-action in a way that cannot be achieved in a published technical article. By building the overall structure similarly to a technical article the piece maintains credibility as more than just a sales flyer, and still effectively directs the reader to available next steps in the sales journey.