By Ed Gandia
If someone pressed you, could you clearly state the core argument of your white paper in 30 seconds or less?
What about your paper’s audience-do you have a good grasp on their world?
Good white paper writers spend some time thinking through these important questions early in the writing process. They won’t even start writing until they can clearly verbalize the paper’s core message. They also work hard to understand the world their reader lives in. They want to know what drives them-what keeps them up at night.
Just as important, good writers know how to identify and avoid potential traps. They know what pitfalls the paper must avoid to get noticed, get read and accomplish its goal.
In this way, a good white paper writer has a lot in common with a top-notch movie director. I had always noticed a parallel between compelling direct mail copy and engaging movies. But it wasn’t until I watched a behind-the-scenes interview with Francis Ford Coppola, the accomplished movie director, that I saw the similarities between writing white papers and directing movies.
First, the prep work Coppola engaged in before shooting The Godfather is mind-boggling. For instance, Coppola spent weeks creating a “promptbook” — a large three-ring binder that contained the entire text from the Mario Puzo’s book, The Godfather. He tore every page from the book and pasted each on a single sheet of paper for note-taking, along with Coppola’s detailed notes for each scene in the movie.
In his promptbook, Coppola noted the key criteria every scene had to address. Two of these were particularly important in helping to make the film engaging and believable:
1. The Core: Meaning the goal of the scene. The one message or idea the scene absolutely had to communicate to the audience for it to have an impact.
2. Pitfalls: Factors that could end up screwing up the scene in some way. This included specific dangers to avoid, clichés to stay away from, and factors that could make the scene boring to the audience.
To illustrate the importance of these two criteria, Coppola refers to a key scene in The Godfather titled “The Killing.” If you’ve seen the movie, this is the scene where Solozzo, Michael Corleone (played by Al Pacino) and McCluskey, the corrupt Police Captain, meet at a restaurant to strike up a deal between the families. But Michael has other plans. His only reason for meeting these guys is to kill them both, as revenge for Solozzo’s earlier attempt on Michael’s father’s (Vito Corleone’s) life.
Reading from his promptbook in the interview, Coppola felt the core of this scene was “…to show the killing as terrifying and explicit as possible, having already taken the tension to an unbearable degree.” And also, “to further define Michael’s character in regards to his cool, totally calm execution of these men.”
If you’ve seen the movie, you have to agree he accomplished both objectives.
He then describes the potential pitfalls: “This is a very important scene for the movie and for Michael Corleone. Rushing the scene would absolutely ruin it!”
Again, if you’ve seen The Godfather, you have to agree he dodged this pitfall. Coppola rushes nothing in this scene. Yet it doesn’t feel long or boring. In fact, this is probably one of the most suspenseful and memorable scenes in the movie.
Coppola’s understanding of the “core” and potential pitfalls for each scene is a big reason why The Godfather is so engaging, so riveting, so authentic. In fact, in the interview he tells us this was THE scene that convinced the executives at Paramount Pictures to keep Al Pacino in Michael’s role. Apparently, up until this point they didn’t think he was a good fit, and were on the verge of firing him (against Coppola’s will).
As marketers and writers, we can borrow these ideas to help us strengthen just about every type of marketing message — especially white papers. Ask yourself: What’s the “core?” What critical message must you convey? How do you want the prospect to feel as he reads the piece? What do you want him to do when he reads it?
Just as important, what are the potential pitfalls? What could go wrong as the prospect reads your message? What could cause him to distrust you, lose interest or get confused, tossing your piece as a result?
Follow Coppola’s lead. Think through each “scene” of your white paper. Make sure your case is clear and compelling. Take the time to effectively address every potential pitfall.
And just as important, always remember to offer readers a next step at the end of the paper. Or as Vito Corleone would put it, try to “make them an offer they can’t refuse!”
About the Author: A successful, 11-year B2B sales veteran, Ed Gandia (www.edgandia.com) is a freelance copywriter specializing in software and technology white papers, case studies, web copy and direct marketing.
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