Know-How Exchange : Other

I'd say the main difference is objectivity. Of course a white paper can be highly subjective and express a point of view, but usually a white paper is more of an expository and objective essay than an op-ed piece (the other extreme).

In this age of content marketing and frequent use of white papers as disguised sales brochures, it's not always easy to tell the difference, right?

I suspect your colleague meant that your white paper wasn't selling hard enough.

I agree with Michael. I also think a point of view can be a simple sentence, while a white paper tends to be several pages.

it would seem to me that point of view would be closely related to the raison d'être and possibly unique selling proposition of your organization. For example, when I sold telemarketing services, my point of view was, "prospect centered marketing". I tried to apply the golden rule, I tried to make the kind of calls that people would want to receive themselves, I tried to be helpful and courteous. So that people would actually thanked me for calling. It's a different point of view than traditional "customer centered" or ROI focused outbound marketing.

That doesn't mean it's for everybody. For example, companies which sell low-margin undifferentiated products can not afford to spend lots of money building relationships.

What is different or unique about the company's offerings? What specific type of potential customer could benefit? What kinds of companies should avoid your offerings? How does you are industry knowledge and experience help your customers and prospects look at their business in a new way?