I have never heard of the term “white paper” before this project, although I have read quite a few. From just reading the phrase “white paper,” I figured it to be some kind of unbiased government research paper. Reading “The Steak behind the Sizzle”, by Elissa Miller, shed a lot of light on this type of document. Miller does a great job explaining what a white paper is, in a white paper, and even subtly plugging her own company at the same time.
A white paper seems like a great way to advertise a company’s service or product. The potential customer gets what they want to see: an “unbiased” technical document explaining exactly what the company can do for its customers. The white paper is also a great way to inform possible prospects and even employees in its own company. Even though it may be a very lengthy approach, I now think this is a very significant part to selling a product or service in the industry or to the public.
The content of the white paper relies heavily on providing the customer or reader with unbiased solutions. This seems like it could be a pretty difficult task; writing a document intended for a particular audience without “alienating readers” or competitors. For a marketing paper, some bias is going to be in there regardless, very subtly hopefully, since the point is to educate and catch the interest of customers. A government white paper must be unbiased and straight to the point. Its objective is to inform the public of all necessary information without allowing the views of political parties to get in the way. Well, now that I’ve said that, I can add that I don’t think an unbiased government paper is even possible. Each party is just trying to get ahead. They try to sell their views and ideas by twisting words and pointing fingers. It may be effective to some, but it sure isn’t the right way to conduct a white paper.
Level of Bias
After reading many of the blog posts from this week, I can confidently say that there are very few of us that had any idea of what a white paper was, coming into this course, myself included. But, it seems most were aware of the concept, just not by name, and many have even composed similar documents already.
On a separate note, I agree with nearly everything you say. One thing I want to qualify, however, is the opening of your second paragraph. You state that “a white paper seems like a great way to advertise a company’s service or product” because it presents “unbiased” information. Although you’ve included the quotes, suggesting a loose interpretation, I think a note should be included regarding that bias. As this week’s readings suggest, the general premise of a white paper is presenting unbiased solutions to a known problem. However, Elissa Miller suggests that often times, in marketing white papers, the information is not so objective, but rather, biased toward the publishing company’s product. I think this is important to consider, since it usually contributes to a white papers success or failure.
Bias is present
I was using unbiased loosely. There’s obviously going to be some bias in a marketing white paper. Hopefully it will be minimal and discreet as to prevent the reader from questioning the validity of the paper. Like you said, the point of a white paper is to educate and persuade the reader about the solutions the company has to offer. The company is trying to place itself in the forefront and that’s fairly difficult to do without having a little bit of favoritism. They wouldn’t get much service by just saying “our product is comparable to, or better than theirs; choose whichever one you like the best.”
Unbiased marketing exists, just like dragons and unicorns
I definitely understand and agree with the arugment that it would be next to impossible to be biased when you are marketing a product against its direct competors (same thing, different brand). In fact unless your prduct really is the best, having an unbiased white paper would just be bad business. To me the point of all this is that if you want to avoid bias, you need to be as far away as possible from the world of marketing. Unbiased marketing is a fallacy. It's completely impossible, because your need to sell a product IS your bias. I believe this to the extent where I would almost say marketing white papers really just use a facade, the best only appearing to be white papers, and that they should really be categorized as something completely different.
However, I will say that there is one instance where I think a marketing white paper could be passably unbiased, and that's if the product is being sold on a basis of being a better technology. For example, if I remember correctly, Motorola presented its push-to-talk technology in comparison to other communication technologies, not to its push-to-talk competitors (please correct me if I missed it). I'll put it in another analogy analogy: It's a matter of opinion (and bias) to say a Ford is better than a Toyota, though you could attempt to support the statement with various trivial facts and figures. However, you CAN be unbiased in saying that a Ford will get you farther in a week than a horse and buggy could get you in a year, and a lot more comfortably. Sure a Toyota could, too. That's why Ford doesn't mention Toyota in its white paper. An hopefully, the customer will associate Ford with cars, since Ford originially delivered the information, and not buy a Toyota.
White Paper As Advertisement
I agree with you that white papers have great potential for companies to advertise their products. The only problem is that these are only effective for companies with the best product. I mean, what company would want to state in their white paper that the competitor’s product was superior. Would the company just choose to omit this information? Also I think that if companies start to rely on white papers as a form of advertisement, more bias will be introduced into the white papers. This would be detrimental to white papers main purpose of providing unbiased information to its readers.
inferior products
I see what you’re saying about white papers only being effective to the company with the best product. I think a company that has an inferior product can still use white papers to promote themselves, it’s just harder. They can still make their product look good, without being biased. It would come down to the consumer to pick what product is the best for them, all the company can do is show them the facts. However, I can see how a company with an inferior product would use advertising to make them stand out. Don’t have the best product on the market? Give the consumer the illusion of having the best with great marketing/advertising.
Is bias inevitable?
Like most of us, I also have not been formally introduced to white papers until this project. I think I've been having the same concerns that most of us have been expressing. Mainly, if your product isn't the best, how could a completely unbiased and objective white paper serve as an affective sales mechanism? To me, it can't. I think some bias is inherent in any white paper. Why would anybody take the time to put together such a labor-intensive document if it wasn't going to serve their needs? I think the level of bias is directly related to the context of use. A white paper used to describe a new product or technology has to be, at the very least, somewhat subjective to create interest. I'd like to think that a white paper intended for use by lawmakers should have minimal bias and subjectivity, but as briel said above, and given the nature of governments, I think these documents might include the most bias. I'm imagining a white paper outlining a handful of solutions to the recent economic mess. Whoever produced that document would inevitably be influenced by some political party, lobbyist, or industry. That bias would have have to be included in the white paper to glorify their stance, and make producing it worth their while.
White What?
I'm in the same boat, or perhaps on the same boat, when I say that I too have never heard of the phrase "white paper" before this week's readings. Nonetheless, I think after reading through several examples and explinations that I now have a pretty strong grip on the concept and motivation behind these technical documents. I agree that bias will always be a present force in any white paper, and I think this is simply due to the nature of what you're constructing. The objective of a white paper should be to inform and persuade someone on some issue. How can this be accomplished without expressing some sort of bias? With that being said, I think the level of bias can very greatly, and that it will be seen strongest in certain instances (most likely involving commercial sale/gain).
The “Steak Behind the Sizzle”
The “Steak Behind the Sizzle” opened my eyes to white papers and pointed out some very interesting information regarding them. I agree with you in that a white paper can help advertise a product and may be a great asset for a company, but the challenge behind them is writing them correctly. It would be very difficult to describe a highly technical product in terms that will balance between highly technical and layman terms. One of the most important things I took from this article is that some feel that it is important for white papers to be used, and some strongly disagree with the use of white papers because they feel they are unnecessary.
-JFlitt
www.JFlitt.com