Lesson 4: Creating Modular Content

In Lesson 3 we talked about the hardest part, actually writing your white paper. Now it starts to get fun, as I show you how to use that White Paper again and again, in different ways. 

Here’s what we’ll cover in this lesson:

• A standard launch for your White Paper
• Creating a content plan for your campaign
• Different ways to repurpose your White Paper
• What NOT to do
• Questions to think about
• Next lesson

Now let’s get your White Paper – and all its beautiful children – out into the world. 

There are different ways you can get your White Paper out into the world. You can:

• Start by creating a dedicated landing page on your website. Include an image and a description of your White Paper, with a focus on its benefits for your target audience
• Offer it as a freely available download on this page (which is OK)
• Ask website visitors for their email in exchange for the download (which is much better)
• Email it to your existing customers, prospects and contacts
• Talk about it in social media posts – LinkedIn is a common choice for professional or B2B audiences
• Run online ads with a link to the download, on social media or other sites where your audience is likely to see it
• If you’re presenting at an event, you could announce it there and add a press release
• Invest in high quality printing, then hand it out at events and conferences, and use it as a leave-piece after sales calls or client meetings

These are all standard tactics for a White Paper launch. But you can do so much more. 

Before we talk about the many ways you can repurpose your White Paper, let’s take a step back and think about it strategically. 

If you already have a content marketing plan, that’s great! You know where the White Paper and its descendants fit in with your goals, and your plan will only need a few tweaks. 

If not, here are the basic building blocks of a content plan. You’ve already defined most of this for your White Paper:

• Target audience
• Key messages 
• Call to action (CTA)
• Channels (where you want to reach your audience, for example social media sites)
• Content types
• Calendar for release
• Performance measures.

The Hubspot article in the references is a great introduction to content strategy.

You can carve up your White Paper and adapt parts of it to create smaller pieces of content. These might include:

• Blogs for your website
• Social media posts
• Slide presentations
• Infographics
• Listicles (“5 Things You Didn’t Know About X”)
• At-a-glance summaries
• Email campaigns
• Sales materials

You can also build bigger projects around the core of your White Paper. For example, it could be the subject of a podcast, an e-learning module, a video or a webinar. 

There are some pitfalls to avoid:

Do not use identical content in different places online. This will hurt your SEO (search engine optimization). Instead, adapt your content each time you reuse it, and be strategic about when, where and how often you do this. Check out the Semrush article in the references to learn more. 

Do not submit your White Paper to an academic journal. It’s already been published somewhere else and journal editors do NOT like that. 

1.  How does your White Paper fit into your overall content plan?

2.  Where do you want to promote it / where will your target audience be most likely to see it?

3.  Where and how can you use your modular content (the smaller pieces)?

4.  How can you upsize your White Paper and build something bigger around it?

You’re nearly there! In lesson 5, we’ll ask how you can measure the success of your White Paper.

Forsey, Caroline. How to Develop a Content Strategy in 7 Steps (From Start to Finish). HubSpot. March 6, 2025. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/content-marketing-plan

Tol, Pushar. What Is Duplicate Content? + How to Fix It for Better SEO. Semrush. February 19, 2025. https://www.semrush.com/blog/duplicate-content/Barney, Nick. What is a White Paper? TechTarget. April 18, 2023. https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/white-paper

Feel free to drop me an email with any questions. You'll also find some White Paper FAQs here.