How can you update and refresh your old white papers to make them relevant and engaging?

1 Audit your white papers

The first step is to audit your existing white papers and assess their quality, relevance, and performance. You can use criteria such as topic, format, style, tone, length, design, data, sources, keywords, and calls to action. You can also measure how well they attract, convert, and nurture leads, and how they align with your buyer personas and journey stages. Based on your audit, you can identify which white papers need minor tweaks, major overhauls, or complete retirement.

2 Update your content

The next step is to update your content to make sure it reflects the current state of your industry, your company, and your customers. You can revise or replace any outdated, inaccurate, or irrelevant information, such as statistics, examples, case studies, quotes, or references. You can also add new insights, trends, or best practices that showcase your expertise and authority. You can also improve your writing style and tone to make it more clear, concise, and engaging for your readers.

3 Optimize your format

The third step is to optimize your format to make it more appealing and accessible for your audience. You can experiment with different layouts, fonts, colors, images, charts, graphs, or icons to enhance your visual design and readability. You can also break up your text into shorter sections, use subheadings, bullet points, or numbered lists, and insert clear transitions and summaries. You can also add interactive elements, such as quizzes, polls, videos, or podcasts, to increase engagement and retention.

4 Repurpose your white papers

The fourth step is to repurpose your white papers into different formats and channels to reach a wider and more diverse audience. You can create blog posts, infographics, ebooks, webinars, podcasts, videos, or social media posts based on your white paper content. You can also use snippets, quotes, or teasers to promote your white paper on your website, email, or social media. You can also update your landing pages, forms, and thank-you pages to optimize your lead generation and conversion.

5 Promote your white papers

The fifth step is to promote your white papers to your target audience and generate more traffic, leads, and customers. You can use various inbound marketing strategies, such as SEO, email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, or influencer marketing, to distribute and amplify your white paper content. You can also leverage your existing networks, such as customers, partners, or employees, to share and recommend your white papers. You can also track and measure your results and adjust your promotion tactics accordingly.

6 Test and improve your white papers

The final step is to test and improve your white papers based on feedback, data, and analytics. You can use tools such as surveys, polls, reviews, comments, or ratings to collect feedback from your audience and learn what they liked or disliked about your white paper. You can also use tools such as Google Analytics, HubSpot, or SEMrush to monitor and analyze your white paper performance, such as views, downloads, shares, leads, conversions, or revenue. Based on your findings, you can make changes and improvements to your white paper content, format, or promotion.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?