Which Title Is Best?
September 6th, 2005 by Bob Bly
I just wrote a book on using content as a marketing tool ? specifically, how to market your products and services by giving away white papers and other free information offers. The book will be published next month.
Which title do you think is best ? and why?
A. The White Paper Marketing Handbook
B. The Edu-Marketing Revolution
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 6th, 2005 at 3:49 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 6th, 2005 at 4:30 pm
A. is the safe choice. It will appeal to those looking for this kind of information.
B. is the daring choice. The title may capture the imagination of the target audience, making your book a bestseller. Or, it may not.
For example: “A Stickler’s Guide to Punctuation” may have attracted a few gramatarians. But it was “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” that became an international publishing sensation.
For example, “Making The Case for Better Punctuation” may have attracted a few gramatarians. But “Eats, Shoots & Leaves”, a book on the same topic, became an international publishing sensation.
September 6th, 2005 at 4:31 pm
Obviously, ignore the last paragraph in my previous post.
September 6th, 2005 at 4:38 pm
Athough I don’t like the express White Paper, I do think it would be better because most people won’t know what edu-marketing is.
Joel
September 6th, 2005 at 4:40 pm
“express” should have said “expression” Sorry.
September 6th, 2005 at 4:57 pm
I like A for the sake of clarity, especially if there will be no subtitle.
I really do like B though. The word “revolution” has selling power. If you have a clear, explanatory subtitle that pays off the title, this could be a winner.
September 6th, 2005 at 5:58 pm
A is the hands down winner. Not even close. We’ve got enogh buzz words to last a lifetime. What the heck is edu-marketing ? A also negatively qualifies all who read the title. If I’m looking to write some white papers, and I am, I know, without a doubt, that I want this book. Where can I get it ?
September 6th, 2005 at 6:57 pm
Mike. What the heck is SPIN Selling? What the heck is Permission Marketing? What the heck is CHI Running? All familiar terms to us — now. But when those books came out, they were all unfamiliar buzz phrases.
September 6th, 2005 at 7:12 pm
Hi Steve. I have no idea what SPIN Selling is. Nor do I know anything about CHI Running. Is that like in Pamplona, with the bulls ? Kinda what it sounds like – bull.
Permission is easy enough for me. It’s what mama gave me when I asked her if it was okay if I didn’t use words that made no sense.
Glad I didn’t have to know any of these to sell over $32 million worth of products in the last 12 years.
You feel free to use ’em, though. There will always be those that want to be baffled by bull, instead od simply selling. They go bankrupt every day.
Like Clayton Makepeace says about the Rhodes Scholars and their marketing skills, “You’d have to study to be that dumb.”
Glad there’s room enough for you and I both to make a living, doing it differently.
Peace.
September 6th, 2005 at 7:21 pm
I kinda like Choice A. But I don’t know why…
Choice B could also work…but if you’re gonna declare something to be a revolution, you better have the facts to back it up. Someone declared the South Beach Diet to be a revolution, but where is it now? Apparently it wasn’t a true revolution, bucause society wasn’t sufficiently impressed with the results to stick with it. Now everyone is looking for the next diet craze….or their McNuggets.
September 6th, 2005 at 8:26 pm
Mike. I don’t think I deserved that. Did you (indirectly) call me dumb? Anyway, the reason I mentioned SPIN selling and CHI Running is that they are both enormously successful books in their respective categories. That doesn’t mean you should pick a jardon-ish title for a book. That’s risky. And as I said in Post #1, “The White Paper Marketing Handbook” is the safe choice.
September 6th, 2005 at 9:09 pm
Sorry, Steve if you took anything out of my post personally or feel that it inferred anything towards you. I’m assuming you’re alluding towards my quoting Clayton, which was meant to make light of those that might fall for some of the jargon-filled, buzz-heavy marketing. That’s why it referred to ” those that will… “, not you.
Again, if you though this was for you, which it wasn’t, I apologize.
I did mean to jab at jargon, buzzwords and such. They have a place, mostly, in one of the millions of paperbacks that sit unsold on bookshelves every day. They add nothing to a campaign, except what those that don’t know any better want to hear.
I’m sure you are correct in picking the simple title over the silly title.
Looking back at your post # 7, which commented on my post #6. You went after my post, brought my name into play and commented on a comment, rather than commenting on Bob’s original post, which both of us would be better off doing.
Let’s both of us keep this professional and remember from now forward – Comments are for posts, not other comments.
I’l stop now. Feel free to reply. It’s only fair to allow you to have the same number of comments as I took.
Sorry, Bob, for my having sullied you post. I really do want a copy of the book, as we are in need of writing a few White Papers, which we will make available for download on our soon to be made live company blog.
Peace.
September 6th, 2005 at 11:08 pm
I prefer A. Choice B gives me the impression the book is all theory with no practical use…like someone working to create a buzz word. I’m not interested in reading book B.
September 6th, 2005 at 11:39 pm
Anything that even hints of hype makes me skeptical, and B does that in spades. Be straightforward. Be search-engine friendly. Pick A.
September 7th, 2005 at 12:50 am
How about, “Using Educational Marketing” with a subtitle, “Selling through white papers, reports, and studies designed to create educated buyers” …
Other title/subtitle combinations:
“Spin Selling,” “Permission Marketing,” and other related books all had some subtitle sharing the unique selling proposition of the book.
The titles didn’t stand alone as much as they just captured readers attention … perhaps in using familiar words like “selling” or “marketing.” But, even their Amazon.com description includes a subhead in the list description.
One thing I’ve used to determine which title is best for reports is to use chapter excerpts or related materials in lead generation. This way I’ve captured names of those interested in the report topic, and have some idea of which themes work better.
Sincerely,
Justin Hitt
Strategic Relations Consultant
Build Strong Business Relationships
September 7th, 2005 at 3:37 am
I prefer the simplicity of A.
However, I associate White Papers with a particular type of content – usually from the tech industries.
September 7th, 2005 at 9:02 am
I’ve been wrong before, but what the hell: I say A. The term “handbook” connotes a canonical reference for a well-established topic or specialty category. E.g., the Copywriter’s Handbook. Presumably such titles appeal to practitioners in a field who are prequalified by their familiarity with the subject matter. I suspect that’s the target audience for this book: the group of technical marketers who use white papers to sell.
The hypier titles, on the other hand, are more effective for drawing generalists who are interested in finding new techniques to solve old problems. If the book is intended to convince the world that most marketing departments have been neglecting the amazing selling power of white papers; that new trends mean we now must educate consumers rather than pitch to them; that changes in technology make educative selling more effective than it has been in the past; etc., then perhaps B would be more appropriate.
A seems more likely, so I go with A.
September 7th, 2005 at 10:24 am
Between the two, I also vote for A. “Edu-marketing” is too obscure a term, and although it might become hot, it just as likely might not.
Frankly I’m not crazy about “White Paper” either – that term often means a government report, and to my mind has a slightly musty, bureaucratic air to it. “Special Report” might be worth considering. It has more punch and may be more familiar to your readers.
In any case, I still think A is preferable to B. And a hyphen for “The White-Paper Marketing Handbook” might fit in well.
September 7th, 2005 at 11:50 am
How about something like this … “THE ‘WHITE PAPER’ REVOLUTION: Maximize Your Marketing with Cheap and Easy ‘Content’ Premiums!”
September 7th, 2005 at 12:32 pm
I like Richard’s suggestion. It sounds new and exciting, without losing the clarity of Choice A.
September 8th, 2005 at 2:27 am
Yes, A is preferable to B but could certainly be refined as Richard suggested. How can we get a copy?
September 8th, 2005 at 3:21 am
I would be getting a copy of the handbook, but I don’t buy marketing revolutions 🙂
September 8th, 2005 at 7:58 am
If you want to get the White Paper Marketing Handbook, sign up for my free monthly e-zine at http://www.bly.com. I will announce publication of the book when it is available.
September 11th, 2005 at 5:19 pm
Neither. Sorry. Neither title does what you want it to do. I would ignore both– the first is too long, I had to read it twice and then I wrinkled my forehead wondering if maybe you were up too long when you wrote it; the second one doesn’t give me a clue what the content is…well, there is a clue, .edu means something to some people, but not to all…so, a trip back to the drawing board is in order, although I’m late to the discussion here. For all intents and purposes, your goal (I think…) is to help others develop and sell white papers? Most people don’t even know what white papers are, even people who write them. IMHO. For what it’s worth, I would understand, White Papers: A Marketing Handbook, or White Papers: A Marketing Guide (or Handbook).
September 12th, 2005 at 2:38 am
I agree with “neither.” Both titles are obscure. Shouldn’t a title reveal, entice, and attract? These titles are just puzzling. The problem with “A” is that it’s so restrictive: how many potential buyers are there out there hot to learn about “white paper marketing?” Maybe a few, but it’s niche for sure! “B” is incomprehensible. I’d keep trying.
September 14th, 2005 at 8:28 am
Frankly, I’m not keen on either. If a customer came in and asked specifically for a book on white papers, then your book would pop up in the title search but the customer would have to know what he or she was looking for. I think B is confusing and doesn’t really tell me what your book is about. While I think Richard’s refinement is better, I wonder if there’s a better description of what the book is about. Something that captures the content but doesn’t use terminology that may be unfamiliar to those outside the industry.
I work for Borders Books and I can’t even begin to tell you how people translate titles and book covers into questions when they come into the store to find a book. I always liked, “Do you have the book with the blue cover that I saw on Channel 2 yesterday?” That was always helpful. So I think it’s important to be as simple and clear as possible. But then I’m biased: I like titles that are easy to search and find.
September 14th, 2005 at 9:17 am
A says what it is more than B.
I also like “How to Increase Your Sales using White Paper”
If that’s too long “Increase Your Sales using White Paper” works for me too.
This triggers a little bit of curiosity, and if you don’t know what white paper is you’ll read on. It also speaks to people that want to increase sales, which I assume is your target group.
Tom
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