How to get a white paper written on a budget

White papers. They’re a great marketing tool for investment and wealth managers. But what if you’re too busy to write and you lack the money to hire someone to craft your white paper from start to finish?

Three strategies suggested by Steve Slaunwhite in his chapter on “Create Your Amazing Buzz Piece” in The Wealthy Freelancer can help.

1.  “Write a very rough draft, no matter how awful.” Then, hire someone to shape up your draft.

2.  Record yourself speaking out loud about your white paper topic. Then hire someone to transcribe your thoughts, which means the person types up word-by-word what you spoke. Another option, which I’ve mentioned in “Investment manager’s secret of regular blogging,” is to use transcription software. Once you have your words in a file, you can edit them yourself or hire an editor.

3.  “Get a freelance writer to interview you.” I’m guessing that Slaunwhite is suggesting that you use the writer’s probing questions to tighten your white paper’s focus before you get the interview transcribed.

Those three approaches get your ideas out of your head and into writing. This is the hardest part for some financial advisors.

Have you tried these techniques? How have they worked for you?