B2B Writing — Creating Content That Actually Does the Trick
Learn the basics of writing content that sells to other businesses
Let’s begin by laying out the basics: B2B stands for ‘business to business’, which is a term describing any situation in which a business or a transaction is conducted between one business and another.
To put it simply, B2B means that your aim isn’t to sell a product or a service to an individual user or final customer, but to another company. Digital marketing and SEO agencies that offer their services and custom-made tools to companies doing business online are excellent examples of B2B.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we can move on to the really good part.
What exactly is B2B writing and why is it important?
Content writing for B2B is a crucial part of the overall marketing and business strategy of any serious company or a business owner. B2B writing implies creating compelling content that shows potential business partners or prospects why you — rather than your competition — are worth their money and their trust.
That kind of content in and of itself can surely get you a long way when it comes to both generating revenue and creating a brand out of your business.
And that’s where the wordsmiths come in. Whether you’re a professional writer looking for the next big thing, a marketer working in a company, or a small business owner with a knack for words, B2B content writing is something you should not miss out on. It’s in your best interest to master it, as it’s one of the vital elements of success of any company striving to engage in business with other companies.
If you fall under any of the aforementioned categories or are simply keen on mastering the subtle art of B2B content writing, you should begin with familiarizing yourself with the quirks of this kind of content before you start writing away on your path to success.
Without further ado, here are some of the basics that B2B content writing absolutely must include if you mean business.
1. Showing why you /your client is different than the competition
The main takeaway here is that you should aim to show what makes you stand out in comparison to all the other companies in the wide sea of competition.
What is your idiosyncrasy, what is it that you have that solves a company’s (or their final customers’) problem in a better/simpler/cheaper, or any other way that would compel that company to do business with you? What are you offering that is so special?
For example, let’s take a podcast producing agency that not only creates podcasts for companies and small business owners but also books podcasts with potential prospects and experts in a given area. That way they help their clients meet and engage with other businesses and leading experts in their industry or interest sphere, creating momentum for establishing lasting business connections.
To stand out from the crowd, this agency would need to explain the following:
- why podcasts are the optimal way of generating revenue compared to other channels;
- how they help create lasting business connections and get the name of your company out there, right alongside the big boys.
In addition, the very fact that they not only produce the podcast from top to bottom but also find the ideal guests their clients would love to have in their podcast is essentially giving their clients the best of both worlds. That is surely a point worth emphasizing, as it makes a huge difference between that agency and all the others that do only one or the other.
To make this work, you need to be well aware of both your strong and weak points and try to make the most out of both, while at the same time knowing where your competition stands when the same points are concerned.
In fact, there’s an excellent article on the most common story arcs of B2B content that can work like a charm when pulled off the right way.
2. Showcase your expertise in your line of business
You need to earn the trust of your prospects if you hope to ever close the deal.
The one sure way of accomplishing this is showing that you understand the matter in question perfectly and that you possess the necessary know-how.
This one can be tricky, as you’re supposed to present yourself in the most favorable of lights, while not coming off as in-your-face spammy, because that will not help build trust in the least.
You need to give examples, like success stories or case studies — not to mention reviews from other (satisfied) clients that are always a phenomenal addition to your overall glory.
Writing blogs on complex issues pertaining to your sphere of business, in which you dissect and explain the matter bit by bit, so even a 5-year-old could wrap their head around it, is also a great way of proving that you are a true force to be reckoned with. Explaining something clearly is impossible if you’re in fact clueless about it, and your audience is well aware of that.
3. Thorough research
B2B content writing implies taking a rather investigative approach to writing. One needs to be somewhat of a journalist, ever-curious and resourceful, in order to strike gold with this type of content.
You need to conduct thorough research on several things here. Firstly, you need to find out everything you need to know about your model prospect before coming out with a pitch.
Some of the things to take into careful consideration before you begin are:
- who your prospect is and how big of a business it is;
- what their reputation in doing business is;
- what issue they would like to be taken care of;
- whether they are even aware they have an issue that’s holding them back from achieving their absolute best, etc.
On the other hand, you must have their customers in mind as well, because your prospect will need to know that your service or product will get them what they want — ROI and a high conversion rate. And to achieve that, they’re going to have to intrigue and satisfy their customers. That’s why you need to create a profile for their model customer by asking yourself the who, where, and what:
- who they are;
- where on the net they reside;
- what kind of content they consume the most.
You can achieve this by roaming through social media or communities such as Quora or Reddit, to begin with.
This way you can pinpoint what your prospect needs to be successful, thus effectively showing them how and why your product/service is going to be invaluable in helping them, for instance, get an increase in revenue, because there’s not a business out there that doesn’t strive to achieve it.
But the research doesn’t end there. When you write about a complex topic that’s supposed to present all the hows and the whys of a product or service your company has to offer, or describe a problem your business is expert in solving, you need to really understand the subject. That sometimes means having to read research papers, skim through books (or read them cover to cover if necessary), and getting down in the gutter of industry-specific terms and jargon.
It’s no easy task, but if you are lucky enough to be ardent about learning new things, this is going to be a piece of cake. If not, it’s surely not going to be as pleasant, but it’s not impossible — putting some time and effort into it will pay off in the end.
4. Data and analysis over emotions and impulse
When you create content for an individual customer, more often than not you tend to play their heartstrings. Provoking strong emotions can lead to impulsive decisions in most, so marketers, naturally, make the most of it.
Sharing personal experiences, showing the potential customer what you have in common and how and why you understand his pains, his trials and tribulations works like a charm in B2C business models.
When you’re trying to sell something to a company, the narrative changes a lot. Here you have to deal with a line of experts that are considering paying a substantial amount of money for a solution to a problem they have, but they sure aren’t going to part with it that easily. There’s some serious convincing and trust-building to be done here, and playing the emotions card is not an option.
A CEO isn’t going to decide to do business with you just because you wrote a witty piece of content that amused him or reminded him of his childhood.
When dealing with other businesses, being analytical and providing them with hard data is the way to go. Presenting them with facts, such as research you’ve conducted that has perhaps given some unexpected results that can be used to your benefit, or showing rates of your success with other companies you’ve done business with, as well as sharing case studies and whitepapers is something you should stick to.
This doesn’t mean that you’re supposed to be dry and boring, of course. Witty and engaging content is appealing without a doubt, to companies as much as to individual customers. Just make sure to back it all up with facts and data, which can be presented in a visually compelling way, too. Just think of infographics — you can’t go wrong with including them.
5. Good strategy
You can often hear that doing business in a B2B environment is never a sprint, but more of a marathon. There’s big money spinning around and hefty decisions to be made, and it takes a process. That goes for content creating and its distribution as well, as careful planning and outlining your strategy step by step is crucial for success.
Although optimizing your content for search engines is a must, it would be unwise to put all of your eggs in that basket alone.
To put it simply, you have to distribute your content via more than one channel.
To determine which mediums to use and what kind of content to create in the first place, you need to determine the following:
- who your prospects are,
- which social media they can be reached by,
- what sort of content is going to resonate with them the most.
Once you’ve established the essentials, you open the door for a variety of options for repurposing your content. For example, if you’ve written an article, you can always use it to create shorter social media posts that will drive traffic and raise awareness of your brand, run podcasts on the same subject with interesting guests such as relevant experts or prior clients, or make YouTube videos about your product or service that would disclose all the upsides of it.
LinkedIn is often an excellent start for B2B content distribution, as it is a social medium with the specific purpose of gathering together and linking businesses and professionals. The option of sharing articles or shorter posts on LinkedIn that could serve as teasers for your blog can be used to reach a wide audience of prospects that could potentially close the deal with you in the end.
Of course, thinking outside the box is always welcome when it comes to content distribution, so don’t stick to LinkedIn or organic traffic alone. Be creative in exploring other channels, like email marketing or Pinterest Business. It will take time and working some things out, but it’s worth the hardship.
