2. Table of Contents
Types of White Papers 3-10
Marketing White Paper Requirements and Guidelines 11
Audience and Purpose 12
Required Structure 13
Creating the Title Page 14-15
Creating the Table of Contents 16
Writing the Executive Summary 17-19
Writing the Introduction 20-22
Writing the Methodology 23-24
Writing the Results 25-27
Writing the Discussion / Conclusion 28
Writing the Bibliography 29
2
3. WHITE PAPERS
There are Three Types of White Papers
• Position White Papers
• Technical White Papers
• Marketing White Papers
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The term white paper was
originally used to describe a report
that states the social or political
position of an organization or think
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Technical White Papers present the
results of tests or research findings
aimed at solving problems.
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WHITE PAPER:
How to Plan & Manage
Crisis Communicat ion in a Social World
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Marketing White Papers
This type of white paper offers to
solve problems for a client or
customer. They are persuasive
documents aimed at selling
products and services.
Note: marketing white papers
are the most common type
found in internet searches.
You will be writing a marketing
whitepaper.
6
7. Formats and Platforms
White papers are composed in a
variety of formats and for delivery
across multiple platforms.
7
8. White Papers and Document Design
White papers are part of the
communication that businesses and
organizations use to present a brand
image.
Creating cohesive and consistent
looking communication across
platforms is important.
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Structured Authoring
Using structured authoring
software is a way of separating
content from format and document
design in order to produce
communication products that have
a consistent look and feel.
In this way, content that is
produced for one audience and
purpose can be adapted for
another. Adobe FrameMaker is a
popular structured authoring
software.
9
10. Structured Authoring and Your White Paper
You will not be using structured authoring software to write your
white paper, but you will be able to practice structured authoring
conceptually.
I will require a rule for how to organize the body of your white paper.
This rule is to use IMRaD structure to organize the content of your
paper, and it would be similar to a rule used in structured authoring
software for marketing white paper content.
The next section of this lecture, explains the requirements for the
white paper and also how to use IMRaD structure.
10
12. Audience and Purpose
Keep the hypothetical writing situation in mind to help you focus on
audience and purpose as you write.
• You work for a company that specializes in crisis communication
management.
• The purpose of your white paper is to present the findings from
your research about a specific crisis communication event that
was not handled well to PR professionals.
• These potential readers of your paper will visit your company’s
website to download and read white papers and other
communication about crisis management.
• Ultimately, the goal is to interest these professionals in using your
company’s services to help them plan how to manage a crisis
event.
12
13. Required Structure.
Organize your white paper using pages for some items and major
section headings for others:
Title (Page)
Table of Contents (Page)
Executive Summary (Page)
Introduction (Section Heading)
Methodology or Methods (Section Heading)
Results (Section Heading)
Discussion / Conclusion (Section Heading)
Bibliography (Page)
Appendix (Page)
13
14. Audience:
Marketing Health Care Service
"Stop/Alert/Danger " "Mourning" "Expensive"
Message:
Creating the Title Page
Use document design to
create visual interest but
apply what you learned
previously about graphic
design.
Notice how the colors in
these title pages do not
support the white paper’s
purpose. In fact, the colors
work against the message.
14
15. Audience:
Consulting Pharmaceutical
"Comfortable " "Caring"
Message:
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Examples of Effective Title Page Design
The color choices and design
elements support the
purpose of these white
papers.
15
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Creating the Table of Contents
Use dot leaders which are the periods
between an item in the TOC and the
corresponding page number(s).
Right-align page numbers.
The table of contents should also be
well-balanced on the page.
The automatic TOC feature in Word is
useful to learn because it does this
formatting for you.
16
17. Writing the Executive Summary
Rhetorically, an executive summary is written for a high-level
decision maker(s) who will not have time to read the entire paper.
Your purpose in writing a summary is to persuasively sell the
importance of crisis management and, of course, interest the
decision maker(s) to use your services. It is a summary that could
be also be used as a stand-alone document to serve as a preface to
a potential meeting with the decision maker.
Your summary needs to state the problem that your services are
promising to solve for the reader and show key findings from your
research. It should be written for an educated decision maker but
not be highly detailed in terms of methodology.
17
18. To write the summary:
• Write an engaging opening paragraph that reveals the problem,
• Summarize the key findings from your analysis, and
• End with lessons that can be learned from these findings that
reveals a need to use professional crisis management services.
18
19. Example of an Executive Summary
In today’s 24/7 media landscape, everything can quickly become a crisis,
and your business needs to prepare for how to manage not only the
possibility of your own crisis event but those of other brands who can open
your organization to more risk.
This white paper presents research findings from an analysis of the crisis
event and communication surrounding it that significantly damaged Food
Network star Paula Deen’s brand in 2013 and posed risks to all brands
associated with her.
The findings show how the Food Network and other companies associated
with Deen’s brand successfully managed their risk while Deen herself
mismanaged her communication so badly in her responses to the crisis that
she lost her million dollar food empire and permanently damaged her brand
for years to come. The difference in these crisis communication responses
illustrates the importance of crisis management.
The Food Network and other companies all had plans developed by crisis
management professionals while Deen did not.
19
20. Writing the Introduction
Rhetorically, the introduction of a marketing
white explains what you did.
To start the introduction you can either begin
with a brief background section that
summarizes the crisis event and then follow it
with a statement of purpose or do the reverse.
And your introduction needs to state the specific
research objectives.
Because an executive summary is not read by
all readers, it’s fine to repeat some of the
information from the summary in your
introduction.
20
21. Example of an Introduction
Introduction
This white paper presents research findings from an analysis of the crisis
event and communication surrounding it that significantly damaged Food
Network star Paula Deen’s brand in 2013 and posed risks to all brands
associated with her.
Background
On May 17, 2013, Paula Deen and her brother were sued by their former
restaurant manager, Lisa Jackson, for 1.2 million. Jackson claimed that the
Deen’s tolerated a racist workplace environment and made racist jokes and
comments themselves.
Although a judge ruled in favor of the Deen’s, what Paula Deen said during
a deposition triggered a crisis event that significantly damaged her brand in
just a little over a week.
21
22. Example continued
Objectives
The research objectives included investigating the following:
• how prior scandals involving Deen influenced public perceptions about
this crisis,
• how the media reported and influenced perceptions about the crisis,
• how Deen and her employer, Food Network, as well as other companies
responded to the crisis.
22
23. Writing the Methodology (or Methods)
Rhetorically, a methodology section
explains how you did the research.
Include the types crisis communication
data you gathered, the organizing
principles you applied using one or more
of the scholarly articles, and the method
used to code data.
23
24. Example
Methods
Communication data was gathered from popular digital sources and
included excerpts from articles about the crisis found in online news sources
as well as samples of public comments from readers.
The data was organized according to three phases of crisis communication
as described by Tulika Varma in [article title] and David Wahlberg in [article
title] and analyzed to determine how well the data fit this model.
• Phase 1: Denial
• Phase 2: Minimize Effects
• Phase 3: Resolution
Reader response data was coded inductively using Grounded Theory
methodology
24
25. Writing the Results
Rhetorically, the results present the
findings and what the findings mean.
How you organize this section is your
choice, but the organizing pattern should
take readers logically through the findings
and your analysis.
In the example about Deen’s crisis event,
the writer could organize the information
according to each phase of Varma’s crisis
event cycle.
25
26. So, first-level headings under results might be:
Phase 1: Denial
Phase 2: Minimize Effects
Phase 3: Resolution
A more complete definition of each phase would need to be given to
help readers follow the analysis.
Next, the writer would want to logically order the findings under each
corresponding phase using subheadings and interpret the
significance of the findings for readers.
Including some supporting visuals and graphics would be useful as
well.
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27. 50
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40
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30
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Requirements for the graphic representing coding data.
You will need to include at least one graphic that represents
findings from coding the data. Remember to label and caption your
graphic.
Figure 1: Themes in reader response comments to Huffington Post article.
27
28. Writing the Discussion / Conclusion
Rhetorically, this section should discuss
the overall conclusion about what
lessons were learned about the
importance of crisis management.
28
29. Writing the Bibliography
Compose a bibliography entry for all
sources you cite in the white paper.
Check with your instructor about what
documentation style is preferred.
29
