How are case studies, white papers and video scripts alike?

What does copywriting for case studies and white papers have to do with scriptwriting you ask?  Surprisingly, quite a bit.

The research process for all of these projects is practically identical.  For starters, they all require the same kinds of background information.

  1. Who’s your target audience?
  2. How will the finished white paper, case study or video be distributed?
  3. What is the Specific Topic of your piece?
  4. What is the Main Objective?  What do you want your prospect to do after they’ve watched or read your piece?
  5. What is the Main Benefit of your product or service that needs to be communicated in order to achieve your Main Objective?
  6. What are the Key Support Points about your product or service that will make the Main Benefit more believable to your customer?  (name at least 3; five or six is even better!)
  7. What supporting materials can you provide me for my research?  These can include any marketing materials, PowerPoint presentations, web sites, previous white papers, old case studies, R&D papers, and press releases. I’ll take anything you can give me.  Too much information is better than too little. The more versed I can become with your product or service, the more words I’ll have to work with when I start writing your copy.
  8. Who are your willing content experts that I can interview for my research, and pull quotes from for the finished piece?
  9. Who is the competition?  More for my edification and research than inclusion into your final paper.
  10. How long would you like the finished product to be?  White papers are typically 6-8 pages, case studies, 2-4 pages and online videos, about 2-6 minutes, depending on the purpose of the video.
  11. Who will be my designated point of contact for the working drafts of the paper?
  12. And of course, what’s my deadline?

Now what happens?

I’ll pore over the marketing materials you’ve given me, then do additional online, book and/or periodical research, and interview you and/or your content experts.  If I need more information, I’ll come back and ask you where I might be able to find it.

Then it’s a matter of fashioning all of that research into your specific product, whether it’s a white paper, case study, or a video script.  Any one of which will clearly illustrate how your product or service can best solve your target audience’s problem.

And isn’t that what you were looking for?

 

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