White Papers and Finance

Part II: Using white papers for public relations

Part I of this series, What white papers should be used for by investment firms, asked you to open up your opinion of how white papers should be used and how they can help establish brand equity, marketshare, and thought leadership. Part II continues this concept by asking you to see white papers as one of the safest entry points for public relations and thought leadership.

Now, it is vital to remind you that the SEC is very strict about what you can put out into the world and how it can be distributed. They also heavily regulate communication that is not initiated by the other party. White papers, when composed well, can skirt these rules and concerns, but as said in part I, investment firms mostly forgo marketing and public relations, including using white papers to their fullest potential, so they can avoid the SEC marketing rules altogether. However, white papers are a gateway to helping you have a viable, public-facing marketing and PR strategy; they showcase expertise, unique perspective, the ability to research and display data, and the desire to educate. If you’re willing to take the risk, there is a high potential for reward.

Stuart Zimmerman – founder, chairman, and CEO of Audobon Associates LLC – recently published a list of 10 tips focused on attracting investment advisory clients through PR efforts. His list caters to a specific audience, but the approach he covers is universal and includes white papers. We took his list and generalized it (so any financial institution could leverage it) and specified where white papers have the power to make a major difference.

  1. Determine who you want to target and why; this may be multiple groups. This information should be used to help steer your brand and content development.
  2. Develop a unique and consistent brand identity through logos, marketing and data materials, social, web, and press releases. Make sure to abide by SEC rules and meet any compliance requirements.
  3. Foster your brand with content. Keeping your preferred audiences in mind, focus on topics in the finance industry where your expertise provides exclusive comprehension and perspective without directly discussing your products/services. The idea is to establish yourself as a beacon of wisdom and progress in the industry, which will not only draw the attention of investors, clients, and the general public, but also other industry experts. White papers are pivotal to this step, as they are portable content that involves research, due diligence, and tact while covering a broad set of topics and purposes. White papers can also be broken into smaller pieces of content for blogs, podcasts, social, and web content.
  4. Establish yourself as a thought leadership by getting your content into public spaces by leveraging relationships with other industry leaders or experts. Again, white papers are a great asset since they are a portable resource that can be co-written. White papers can also be morphed into academic journals and articles that can be shared with journalists and other established media to further your reach and influence.
  5. Create avenues for communication to be established by others, such as web forms and events. As your brand and presence in the industry grows, people will be interested in reaching out to you, establishing the relationship on their end (meeting SEC rules). You may even end up with referrals or advocates, which have to be vetted carefully but can help further your goals.

Overall, PR and marketing is something all investment firms can do, most simply do the minimum (or none at all) because it is scary and difficult to do right. White papers are one of the safest avenues to leverage for PR, but as said, maximizing their potential is an undertaking. If you really want to be a thought leader and establish a PR that uses white papers and more reach clients, investors, and prospects, we recommend working with a professional agency that understands the finance industry.


Fifth Rock will cover white papers further in subsequent parts of this White Papers and Finance series.

Read Part I, What white papers should be used for by investment firms >>