The state of the white-paper art is pretty awful, and to show what I mean, let’s consider something totally similar that I’m sure you were thinking of all along: the Super Bowl versus the Pro Bowl.

The Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl have a lot in common. They’re both NFL post-season football games, they’re both held in warm-weather venues, they both feature multiple stars, and they’re both fix … uh, they’re both fixations for many football fans.

But that’s where the similarities end. The Super Bowl is the ultimate game of the ultimate sport, the pinnacle of marketing excellence, the fount to which all come and drink deeply.

The Pro Bowl, on the other hand, is a sham game from a sham league, held in Hawaii so they have an excuse for people not showing up, where even the trophy breaks.

Most organizations that create white papers think they’ve created the Super Bowl, when in reality they’ve created the Pro Bowl – an unwatchable mess that barely maintains the forms of the genre.

Why is that?

To answer that, we need to review the white paper’s origin story.

A white paper started from honorable roots. It was an in-depth research report on a single topic. In fact, it’s called a white paper because of its scholarly bearing. No full-color charts or slick stock here; instead, just a bunch of heavy writing on a heavy topic, footnoted and everything.

It’s easy to see that a white paper in its original form wouldn’t have much appeal outside of academia and the very, very interested. You couldn’t get most business majors to read academic research when they were in college, much less out of school. So the white paper had to change.

Some changes were obvious, and welcome. Graphics were added, and something approaching design.

There was a time when a published white paper from an established organization had just the right amount of style and gravitas – but part of that stemmed from what it was: a published white paper. The fact that research was deemed substantial enough to be laid down on paper meant that it had to have some merit beyond just vanity or advertising value.

However, along with its fragging of so many other worthy publishing forms, the internet wrecked the white paper, too. With the gates lowered, anyone could write a white paper – and just about everyone has. The result is a spate of think pieces that aren’t thought out at all, used as a sort of channel-specific nightcrawler designed to get a fish or two to nibble, and then go the way of all nightcrawlers thereafter.

We’ve all experienced these; We’ve all been sucked in by an intriguing title, only to download a very thinly veiled trifold, with the extra-special bonus of being added to an email list that sends you even less thinly veiled trifolds daily under the guise of relentlessly chummy chat-ups.

I’m done with those, and I’m sure you are too, but before we relegate the white paper to the land of street-corner Louis Vuitton knock-offs and oysters Rockefeller for all, here are some ways to keep the faith with your interested parties and deliver a white paper worthy of the name.

Choose a topic that truly merits research

I know: You really, really want to establish thought leadership. It makes total sense; no one wants to do business with dummies. However, you can’t get there by reverse-engineering a white paper.

If you’re the Large Pieces of Steel Co., you’re wasting everyone’s time by writing a white paper on “The Enduring Awesomeness of Large Pieces of Steel.” Even though that’s what you want people to write and talk about, creating a white paper on the topic will not make it so.

This is a good time to remember Apple’s credo: You are not the target audience.

Instead of looking at what you do and saying, “Let’s write a white paper on that,” survey your environment, identify the tough questions, and answer one of those. That takes courage, but true thought leadership springs from courage.

Expand the topic beyond your particular good or service

To return to the previous example, if all the Large Pieces of Steel Co. writes about is large pieces of steel with no additional context, not only does it come off as self-serving, but it restricts the potential audience by definition.

(On the other hand, if the only people you want to read your white paper are your bosses, your competitors, and one or two of your customers, this is definitely the way to go.)

If your goal is to show a broader audience you understand your business and the environment in which it operates, your research cannot be bounded by your product or service.

Large pieces of steel require iron ore; what’s the global iron-ore market like, and how are environmental concerns being addressed? Tariffs are reshaping the steel industry; how do large pieces of steel fit into the broader tariff picture, and what could this mean for domestically-produced steel versus imported steel – of all shapes and sizes?

You get the idea: Tackle the tough questions, and tackle all aspects of those questions – even the parts that don’t directly involve you.

Do your research – and cite it

Don’t skimp on the research. If you can’t find the facts and figures you need from another source, do some original research. Document everything, footnote prodigiously, and invite scrutiny. As a rule of thumb, spend at least three times as much time researching as you spend writing.

A couple hints to speed the process: Before you write or research anything, get a green light from management to leverage internal resources, and leverage them. Ask your people where they get their facts and figures, and then go there. Lean on Google Scholar for corroboration. And research and understand all sides of an issue, not just your side. You can’t argue for something unless you thoroughly understand what you’re arguing against.

Write thoroughly, and well

If you’re not a writer, or if you’re afraid your impartiality might be questioned (or that you might be threatened for being impartial), outsource.

Write factually but not dryly. Work off of an outline; I’m normally not an outline person, but I make an exception in this case. Don’t get bogged down in a footnote to a subpoint. Keep things moving; write fast, write forward, and don’t repeatedly stop and read what you just wrote. There’ll be time for that.

Don’t skimp on appropriate graphics

Just because it’s a white paper doesn’t mean it has to look like a business major’s worst nightmare. It’s okay to embellish the final product with charts, graphs, breakout quotes, and photos. It’s fine to have a semi-catchy title – you know, something with a number in it. You want it to be read, after all.

Make sure you have a graphic-design resource at your disposal before you start writing. If there’s no internal resource, ask for budget to outsource. If there’s no outsourcing budget, call in a favor. Don’t let all your hard work die for want of an appropriate font.

Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash.

Solicit outside input

Have a trusted source from outside your organization review the paper before it’s distributed. Do the same with a trusted internal source who’s not on the review route. Ask them whether it has legs; more importantly, asked them what you missed.

All writers have pride; this is a good time to check it in favor of making sure you covered everything.

Insist on a byline

If this is a good, honest piece of research, insist on having your name attached to it. This is not only good for you, but it reinforces the ethos of the paper.

Listen: If you write an amazing white paper and the CMO attaches his name to it, everybody will know the CMO is just putting his name on it so he can look smart. Boom! A big chunk of your ethos just flew the coop.

Great organizations are built on great people all up and down the line. That includes researchers, writers, and designers – and they all deserve to be recognized when they do good work.

Understand the distribution

You may not be charged with coming up with a distribution plan for your white paper, but you should ask how it’s going to be distributed before you start. Not only can that shape your approach to the topic, but it will give you an idea of the potential audiences.

If your paper is going to be used for straight-up lead-gen, expect pushback if you stray too far from the product. If there’s PR involved, you should be able to be more ambitious. And if it’s going to be published – you know, in print, perfect-bound and everything – then you should have even more leeway.

When it comes to white papers, we all want to create the Super Bowl every time out, but the fates don’t always cooperate. Sometimes the best we can do is just a really good regular-season game. That’s okay; as long as you’re not the Pro Bowl, you’re golden.

Eight Steps To Creating A Super-Bowl-Worthy White Paper