A white paper is a guide, research, or explanatory document for a product or service. In the crypto industry, when you are describing a token, cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency exchange, or another object, you ought to write a white paper. Moreover, you describe a problem that you can solve by means of your services. By showing the way how to solve it, you are demonstrating your strength and uniqueness, so the reader starts to trust the company. And this allows you to turn him into a customer.
White paper significantly differs from the presentation because it does not contain advertising slogans. A different tactic is used here – to inspire the idea of purchase through facts, experience, and an unobtrusive demonstration of the benefits of the product. Providing a list of your team, consultants and investors is a must if you want your project to succeed. There must be a story behind your projects, your motives, otherwise, no one will believe you. The white paper is usually 5-100 pages of text and contains illustrations, charts, tables, and figures for easy perception.
The white paper goals:
- Boosts lead generation;
- Increase trust and loyalty to the company;
- Increase sales and conversions;
- Eliminate objections as well as prepare the deal;
- Increase your brand awareness;
- Support a new product or service.
- As you can see, white paper is very effective.
Why do you need white paper?
However, you may think that you don’t need a white paper and you can succeed without it. You are half-right but it will take you much more time and resources to achieve your goal. Moreover, you run the risk of facing serious problems with the procedures for an ICO, for example. Few potential investors will be willing to invest every cent in a business without proper information about the technology used and the previous experience of the project. Thus, white paper is necessary for any DeFi and Crypto project!
Are white papers still relevant?
If you want to increase your sales, build trust among customers and investors, and spread the word about yourself to a wider range of people, then white papers are your solution to the problem…
One of the reasons white papers are still very important is because people like to research, people like to read white papers about their industry.
Another reason white papers are still relevant today is that they show a potential customer that you understand the pain points and interests of the consumer and what you can do to solve their problems.
What are the advantages and disadvantages?
The pros include:
The white paper is one of the most important pre-sales documents;
If you have an in-depth understanding of your industry and understand the problem, identifying your audience’s pain points will not be difficult. That way? you can write an informative white paper that addresses their concerns and interests, and you’ll get a quality lead;
Many customers tend to trust and buy from companies with great white paper;
The white paper can easily be turned into small content: articles, infographics to attract visitors to your site.
The cons are:
Firstly, it takes a lot of effort, research, and time to put together an attention-grabbing white paper;
Secondly, creating a great white paper that won’t fail will require an understanding of your client’s issues and the ability to communicate your message.
Where to start?
Figure out who your target audience is. The audience is an important aspect of your white paper; only by appealing to them can you get their attention and inclination to convert. It’s important to define a portrait of your average customer in terms of demographics, psychology, and other aspects. This will help determine the right language to convey your message.
You should then determine the purpose of your white paper. The purpose of your white paper should be articulated before the research and writing phase.
The downside of a white paper is that there are no generally accepted standards, rules, or 100% sure practices when it comes to creating documents that describe the intricacies of a DeFi project. This means that all you can do is act by trial and error.
However, you can highlight the basic must-haves:
- Don’t forget to draw a roadmap for the project, laying out a route to explore the problem. Describe the goals and objectives, set them, otherwise, the reader’s interest may be lost.
- Problem Statement. Here you must define the problem and present your solution. You must answer the question: why does the customer need my product/service? This information is usually stated on the first page. The first page is read by most people, so it should give an idea of the overall value of the material. After reading it, people will be able to understand if your document is worth reading.
- Description of services offered. This paragraph contains information about your product/service. Do your best to highlight solutions to the problem posed above that differentiate your project from others in the marketplace. Don’t forget the educational aspect. You need to talk about your company, but most of the white paper should be educational. You can provide an analysis of the current state of the market so that potential investors will be convinced that you know what you are talking about.
- If you’re issuing a token, talk about its implementation.
- Your team. Talk about the project team, the professionals, the investors.
- The way you spread the word about the project and your economic ideas. Let your potential investors and users know that you care about their interests.
- Be persuasive. Use different tools to prove your expertise, such as interviews, ROI calculations, studies, surveys. Clients are more willing to listen to experts with experience.
What should be the characteristics of a white paper?
The structure of your blockchain white paper should depend on the purpose it will serve. If you have successfully defined the purpose and audience, the structure should be lightweight. By law, all white papers must be in PDF format.
The average white paper is up to 100 pages long. Readers love long articles and research. However, the choice about the number of pages is up to you, Bitcoin had 9 of them, but times have changed. Etherium presented a 36-page document, so you are free to decide how long your white paper will be.
Now let’s decide about the style – should the document look like a scientific paper or a business plan? The answer is simple: the white paper should be easy to read, but it should also be carefully checked for accuracy of the information, so it should be something in between a business plan and an academic article.
In the main part of the white paper, write about the history of blockchain or outstanding DeFi projects, analyze them, their market position, and what you can bring with your business and your technology.
A few language tips for writing the perfect white paper:
- Never use a long and complicated grammatical turnaround where you can get by with a couple of words.
- If you can abbreviate a word, always abbreviate it.
- Never use the passive voice.
- Never use a foreign phrase, scientific word, or slang word if you can find an equivalent.
A good white paper should also contain realistic timelines to help investors gauge the project’s progress. It should also have a detailed financial breakdown showing exactly how much the company expects to earn. In addition, every aspect of the project should be described in detail, this is very important because it shows everything you need to know about the project to make an informed decision.
Who writes the white paper?
Should you commission the writing of the white paper or should you write it with your team? As a general rule, a white paper should be written by experts in a particular subject area. You need those who understand the whole concept, your project, and understand blockchain. However, hiring an entire agency to write such papers would not be a rash choice either, even if you have access to the necessary information and have a good understanding of what you are writing about.
However, to get the most out of it, make sure the writer can connect with you and other prominent figures who are involved in the white paper writing process.
Final words
To sum everything up, a well-designed white paper will help you get a huge influx of leads, close deals at a later stage and increase your customer base and attract investors. But all of this will only happen if you put a lot of time, effort, and resources into it. Hodle is ready to help you with this difficult task, our experts have great experience in writing white papers for crypto and DeFi projects. We will be glad to cooperate with you!