B2B marketing copywriting refers to content creation for B2B (business-to-business) customers as opposed to creating content for B2C (business-to-consumer) businesses. B2B and B2C copywriting often have a quite different tone.
Business decisions often require a great deal of thought, and may involve a number of people to agree on a purchase. A B2C audience is more likely to be made up of individuals who make spontaneous decisions when they’re purchasing. Content geared towards business people aims to instill trust and confidence in the brand, rather than stir the emotions, as is often the case with C2C copywriting.
That’s not to say B2B copywriting needs to be staid or formal. Examples of B2B businesses that are at the top of their game, content wise, include Google, Dropbox, Xerox and HubSpot. These companies know how to use B2B copywriting to say a lot in just a few words. Their copy is straightforward and gets the message across.
To make it easy to find the info that interest you most, use these links to help you navigate to them:
- What does a B2B copywriter do?
- Why is B2B copywriting important?
- 6 B2B copywriting tips
- How do I become a B2B copywriter?
What does a B2B copywriter do?
A B2B copywriter specializes in writing optimized content that persuades business readers to take a specific action. This could be to purchase your product or service, or sign up to your email list. B2B copywriters can create content for a website, for ads, for print, product packaging, advertising and marketing. B2B copywriters must align their content with a brand’s tone of voice, and writers often need to be able to tackle and understand technically complex subjects.
Why is B2B copywriting important?
Like individual consumers, business customers connect with companies via search, websites, social media and through online communities. The content they come across will play a big part in whether they decide to interact with, or purchase from, your company.
6 B2B copywriting tips
1 Write with your ideal prospective customer in mind
Successful B2B copywriting speaks to an individual rather than to a multitude of people. The first step in creating great B2B content is to identify that person, by creating a persona of an individual who represents your target audience. This persona can be based on market research, as well as on your current customer base. You could also refer to LinkedIn to research your B2B potential customers, for background and demographic information on employer profiles.
When you’re developing this ideal customer profile ask the following questions:
- What do your customers want to achieve and how is this connected to their business?
- What are their likely pain points?
- How can you solve their pain points with your goods or services?
An example of an ideal customer could be “Marketing Molly”. She’s a marketing executive aged around 35 to 45 with a marketing qualification. She is responsible for decision making around project management, content creation and content management software. Her goals are to increase leads and revenue for her company, and she has a presence on LinkedIn and Twitter. Her buyer persona could be based on some of the following criteria:
Once your ideal custom profile is created it’s far easier to write content that will appeal to that person.
2 Set goals for your copywriting
Effective B2B copy is written with clear goals in mind. Before you start writing, make sure you understand the purpose of your content. This could be to:
- Sell products
- Attract visitors via search engines
- Give readers useful information
- Convince users to download an ebook or whitepaper
- Solve a customer or prospect’s problem
- Motivate people to ring you or drop you an email
While your content can have multiple purposes, it’s best to start out with one clear goal in mind.
3 Set yourself up as a thought leader
Whatever your niche, if you have in-depth industry knowledge, your writing will appeal to your target audience. Ideally focus on one industry you’re comfortable with, e.g. engineering. Later you may find that you can start to overlap with other areas or other products. In order to produce the best B2B content make sure to do your research, since your target audience will have experience of this sector.
4 Find your brand voice
It’s important to develop a brand voice for your B2B content, and this will depend on both your products or services, and your target audience. Determine
- What tone of voice would readers be more receptive to?
- What kind of brand personality do your competitors have?
- Are your target audience likely to dislike any particular tone of voice?
Look at your company culture for inspiration and see how it could be incorporated into your content marketing strategy.
5 Focus on value not process
A big error many B2B copywriters make is to talk about their products or services, rather than what those goods and services can do for their readers. Businesses and customers have different perspectives. A customer is more concerned about the value you can bring to them rather than detailed information about what you do.
Content that’s focused on process doesn’t put the customers’ challenges at the heart of the copy. It’s important to speak to customers about their pain points and show them how you can solve their problems.
6 Ditch the jargon
Many companies talk ‘past’ their customers. If you’re a rocket scientist talking to other rocket scientists it’s fine to speak in technical terms. But if you’re introducing too many acronyms or jargon into your content many people will find it meaningless. Readers must be able to quickly assimilate your message if they are to act on it. Writing in simple terms isn’t ‘dumbing down’, it’s making your content more readable and engaging.
How do I become a B2B copywriter?
According to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2021 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report businesses need more content and often run into roadblocks to keep up with demand. There’s a huge market for writers who can talk about business problems and sell business services and products to other businesses. It’s entirely possible to have a career as a B2B copywriter without having a university degree or even taking writing courses.
Some of the skills you’ll need to be successful as a B2B writer are
- Talent for writing: You can craft convincing content and understand how to write clearly for various target markets
- Business savviness: You have an awareness of what goes into the selling of products and services – and a knowledge of customer service, marketing and leadership will help
- Digital skills: You can perform online research and understand business terms. You should also have a knowledge of SEO so you can write content that gets found in search
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When you’re getting your B2B writing career off the ground you probably won’t have multinational companies knocking on your door. You could try out some freelancer websites to access work opportunities and build your reputation, as well as get valuable experience to aid you as you progress your career. Joining a networking group could also help you to get to know other writers, and up your chances of getting referred for work.
B2B copywriters often specialize in a particular niche area, often an area they’re particularly interested in or knowledgeable about e.g. SaaS or ecommerce. If you’re well-versed in your subject matter, you’re likely to be able to write with confidence and this will make you more appealing to companies in that sector.
Conclusion
B2B copywriting can take any number of forms – from blog posts and articles – to website copy and press releases (not to mention whitepapers, ebooks and case studies). Each genre has its own specific format, best practices and price-points. Having said that, there are a few general principles, including the ones we’ve described in this post, that can help you improve your B2B copywriting. Hopefully we’ve given you the inspiration to take your B2B content to the next level.