Category: B2B Marketing

How original research can boost your B2B content | B2B Content Tuesday

Posted on by The Radix Team

As Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media notes, B2B research is the “one kind of content that crushes almost anything else you can publish.” Truly, words to live by.

At Radix, we can attest to this. Our Barriers to Great B2B Content survey of 105 B2B marketers is easily our most popular piece of content of the last year – followed by our Best B2B Content awards.

But not all research is the same. To have impact, you need to ensure yours is valuable, credible and substantiated.

As part of our B2B Content Tuesdays webinar series, David put together four steps to help your research-based content pack a punch. Some of them are from our own experience, and some insights we’ve shamelessly stolen from B2B research expert Simon Hayhurst, business consultant at Coleman Parkes, whose brain we were lucky enough to pick for our podcast.

Plus, we’ve summarised David’s chat with marketing consultant Luan Wise, who’s just completed an exciting new research project of her own…

Four steps to better research-based content:

1. Figure out what your audience wants to know – and what no-one else has answered

Whatever research you’re carrying out, it has to be relevant to your audience. Otherwise, no-one will want to spend their valuable time reading it.

Start by considering who your audience are, what content they might be interested in, and where knowledge gaps exist. Is there a particular stat missing they may want to know about, for example?

2. Devise a credible way to answer that question, based on the resources available

Although surveys are sometimes seen as the Holy Grail of B2B research, they’re not the only way to do it.

Once you know what gap your research is filling, think about the best way to get that information. Sure, a survey could work. But so could A/B testing, aggregating publicly available information, crunching your own numbers, or doing qualitative interviews with a small number of highly relevant people.

Bonus tip: when you’re thinking about which questions to ask, keep the end content in mind.

3. Test an attention-grabbing hypothesis

We asked 105 B2B marketers if they agreed with this statement: “If nobody else had to sign off our content, the results would be a lot better.”

Now, we can say that nearly 60% of marketers think their own sign-off processes make their results significantly worse. How’s that for attention grabbing?

4. Slice and dice your results every way you can

Once you’ve finalised your research, there are tons of ways you can atomise the results into smaller content assets. Take key data points and specific stats, and turn them into blog posts, infographics, LinkedIn posts, T-shirts – you name it. Each one leads back to the main report (except the T-shirts).

David talks to B2B marketing consultant Luan Wise about research

David: “Welcome, Luan! I hear you’ve been collecting data for a new research project. Do you mind telling us about your experience?”

Luan: “I’ve been working with Warwick Business School (WBS) on a piece of research, as part of their Marketing Insight Series programme. The programme aims to bridge the gap between academia and the real world.

“Following frequent discussions with lecturers and academics about the world of B2B social media, they suggested we do some research. And because it’s an academic study, I got quizzed on what I wanted to test, what I wanted to find out, and what I wanted to know.

“Our data collection questionnaire is 60 questions long, so it’s a chunky piece of research. But because we have the WBS name behind it, people know it’s an academic piece – and are happy to complete it.”

David: “Before the questions went live, was there a testing process – a control test for instance – or were they just internally reviewed?”

Luan: “Before the WBS would put their name to the research, it had to go through the WBS ethics committee approval process, so the questions were rigorously tested before we put it out. One of the challenges was balancing the non-academic and academic – and that requires a lot of testing – so I asked a few trusted friends to try the questionnaire out before publishing.”

David: “That’s a great process to go through, because it makes the final piece, and the end content, really credible and bomb-proof. Did you find that the things that were right ethically were also right for businesses?”

Luan: “Yes, it was really interesting to have that balance of ‘These are the questions that mapped to different studies, what do you think?’ But as a marketer, I have no way to answer that. So hopefully we’ve balanced the academic and non-academic well. And luckily for me as a marketer, I don’t have to do the data analysis – I can just come in and say ‘This means X, I’d advise Y.’

“And the collaboration with WBS is great, because they bring a level of academic credibility to the party that I, as an individual marketer, can’t.”

David: “Without giving away spoilers, have you got the great stories you need from a marketing POV?”

Luan: “We’ve got some great stories. Because the approval process was a long one, we thought we would be releasing it in February originally. Then something happened with the world!

“So when we sent it out, we had to add a disclaimer saying ‘We’d like you to answer this with a pre-coronavirus business mindset’, and include a final question on what had changed for them in the past few weeks.

“And actually, this turned out to be a quick win. What was going to be one white paper, albeit a chunky one, will now be two. The first will be based on the changes the coronavirus has bought about, almost as a teaser, then the second will be bigger and built out with interviews.

“I’ve already got my three key takeaways, and will be writing them up next week – so keep an eye out for when it’s published!”

Thank you, Luan, for your time. You can find out more about WBS Marketing Insight Series here, or watch the webinar in full below.

Should we rename “B2B content”? An interview with Palo Alto Networks marketer Mat Harper

Posted on by The Radix Team

Tweets. Blog posts. Explainer videos. Podcasts. Long-ass web pages. Interactive infographics. Hundred-page ABM reports. Even board games. Each of these marketing formats has a different style and function. But they all have one big thing in common.

Whether it’s the tiniest social seed or a big ol’ whitepaper, we categorise them all under one abstract and indeterminable word: content.

And Mat Harper, EMEA marketing chief of staff at Palo Alto Networks, believes that’s a problem.

Our recent content obstacles survey revealed that 68% of B2B marketers aren’t proud of even half their own work. In our drive to find out why, we outlined six obstacles to creating great content, from stakeholder interference to conflicting priorities. But Mat thinks we need to dig deeper.

In an interview for the survey report, he said we need to reconsider how we actually talk about creative marketing assets in B2B. More specifically, that we need to stop labelling everything as ‘content’ that should yield certain results. Because by doing so, he thinks we lose something equally important – the space for creativity.

And when we asked him how and why, he made some intriguing points. So we’ve put together the full interview for you. Here’s what he had to say…

Radix: You’ve seen the survey results. 37% of marketers say they’re only proud of a handful of work, ever. And 3% said they’d never produced work to be proud of. Having worked in B2B tech marketing for years, did you feel a sense of familiarity in these figures? Did anything make you really stop in your tracks?

Mat: “A lot of them made sense, and there’s definitely a feeling of familiarity there – I recognised many of the points in the observations from my own experiences.

“But one thing that really stood out to me, and we’re taking a bit of a step away here, is the impact of how we refer to all marketing content as just ‘content’. It’s a strange place we’ve put ourselves in.

“If you were a creative person, would you like your work to be defined as ‘content’? I certainly wouldn’t.”

“For a long time, and for the majority of my career, the word ‘content’ has been an umbrella term that encompasses everything – everyone from social media influencers to marketing professionals are using it. It’s always: ‘What is the content? We need more content.’

“And I think we need to understand where it’s come from. Would you refer to an artist’s work as ‘content’? No. So we have to stop and think – if you were a really creative person, and had fully poured yourself into your work, would you like it to be defined just as ‘content’? I certainly wouldn’t.”

Radix: But how does the catch-all word ‘content’ actually create limitations for B2B marketers?

Mat: “When we think about ‘content’, we’re always thinking about it as something that must drive to a result or outcome. And that might not be the smartest idea.

“We’ve got to a point where we’re completely data-driven and obsessed with ROI. We only focus on how many leads content engages with, or how many click-throughs it sees. And we have to ask ourselves: are they actually business results we’re talking about – is a clickthrough a business result? Do we even necessarily need to build content with a specific business result in mind?

“Because when you look at what some people are saying in the content obstacle survey results, it’s clear they’re not satisfied with what they’re producing. They think that in the drive to produce effective ‘content’, there’s too much influence from others, and too many people have their hands in sign-off.

“Can you really be proud something that’s just ‘content’ created by committee? Maybe you can’t.”

“If you are a creative person, the more people add their opinion or want to make changes, the further away it moves from your vision or plan. And can you really be proud or take ownership of something that’s not really you, that’s just ‘content’ that’s created by committee on behalf of the company? The more I think about it, the more I realise – maybe you can’t.

“The idea phase of content creation is brilliant. I get to dive into a project I’m passionate about. But often I see people stop there, because it’s near-impossible to justify an idea that came naturally. There’s no point in starting.

“Any really original idea can become the victim of its own success; it gets a reputation within your organisation, and suddenly it’s like people are putting gambling chips on what you’re creating.

“As the stakes get higher, ideas get interrogated. You need to predict the business benefit, or the pipeline, and justify yourself on all these levels, which is not where the idea came from. It’s demotivating.”

Radix: But the copy we write does have to have a business impact – we’re not just making art.  So how can marketers align that with creating content they’re proud of? And as a tech marketing chief of staff, how would you suggest our readers find that balance?

Mat: “I’m not an idealist who thinks everyone should be a creative artist who expresses themselves on a canvas every day at work. Marketing has a role, and we have to produce ROI and business results for the company. But who’s to say the creator should be focused on that?

“Maybe, to get the best business impact, we should allow our employees who have expertise, passions and interests – and understand our customers – to express that, and have a bit of hope that it will resonate with human beings. Because that’s who we’re marketing to: human beings who can connect on an emotional, personal level.

“We’re marketing to human beings who connect on an emotional level… Perhaps we should allow people to express themselves.”

“Perhaps we should even allow people to express themselves as a journalist would. Within the remit of the role and company values, let your employees find what’s interesting to them, something they can put their stamp on, be proud of and stand behind. Give them the confidence and freedom to go build that on their own. And let that resonance become their measure of success.

“Then it puts the onus on the marketing operations team to figure out how we make the most of that impact, and build the systems to translate it into results.”

Radix: it would be unusual for marketers to be given the freedom to play with content creation without establishing a watertight business case first. Do you think it’s realistic?

Mat: “I think it could be in small doses. Marketers are always having to justify their worth, and their place in the company. That makes it difficult for them to spend time on something that isn’t easily measurable or doesn’t quickly show ROI – which can lead to a lack of originality.

“But you can manage creativity into an organisation; you just need to be realistic about what is possible.

“Marketers are always having to justify their worth, and their place in the company. That can lead to a lack of originality.”

“I once worked with a manager who didn’t like people to have job roles that were too defined. She’d happily encourage someone who had come up with an idea to go away and produce that work, regardless of their job title. To her, your role is only defined by the eventual outcome of what that role needs to be – how you get there is up to you.

“And that’s a great example of how to build space for creative freedom into a large company without losing sight of the results.

“The only difficult part, is where do you draw the line? You can give people the extra space and time to be creative, but at some point you need to measure the results of that decision, so you can decide whether that time was invested well. And that’s a real challenge.”

Can creative space help you find original concepts and great results?

Mat’s view might sound controversial to you. Especially if you’re currently fighting for a marketing budget that’s been merciless hacked down.

However, the survey results do show the importance of making space for creativity. When we asked content writers and creators ‘what is it about your best content that makes you proud?’, 39% said clever, or original concepts. Yet 75% of the same group aren’t proud of even half their own work.

When we put the same question to CMOs and directors, the tensions became clearer. The results were dramatically reversed – only 18% said clever concepts, while 45% said business results. From those signing off, there is more of an emphasis on business outcomes than originality. But that’s not the only thing preventing marketers from being more creative.

High workloads also play a role. The less time you have to create something, the more tempted you may be to resort to safe, tried-and-tested methods. 9 out of 10 marketers said workload gets in the way of great content. And those who said this was a ‘big problem’ were 25% less likely to say their best content had a clever, original concept.

Making space for originality doesn’t mean you have to reinvent your entire strategy, or should start using every weird and wonderful format you can find. Start small – perhaps with headline formats, subject lines or customer quotes – rigorously collect the results and use that data to justify your choice. Then you can continue to build from there. You can find more helpful tips here.

To quote Doug Kessler (also in the survey report): “There shouldn’t be this tension between the well-crafted, beautiful content and the effective content.”

In other words, the first step is proving that great content works.

Thanks again to Mat Harper of Palo Alto Networks for being so generous with his time and experience.

What’s the perfect work environment for creating B2B content?

Posted on by The Radix Team

If you’ve read our Barriers to Great B2B Content 2020 report, you know the results are pretty bleak. Of the 105 B2B marketers we interviewed, 68% said they’re not proud of even half their own content.

You might even be one of that number. And if so, it’s probably because where you work doesn’t work for you. Whether it’s because of internal politics, limited resources or interfering stakeholders, our survey showed that lots of marketers just don’t have the right environment to thrive.

And while many of these obstacles may be out of your control, every self-appointed marketing expert will still judge the ‘unoriginal’ work you produce as a result.

We talked to Maureen Blandford, VP of Marketing at Community Brands, about this particular frustration and she gave us a great response: “A lot of the time we have no choice, unless you happen to be in a lucky fairy land.” (Feel free to yell that whenever the mood takes you.)

But don’t give up hope. Your perfect B2B workplace – where you really can be proud of the content you publish – could be out there.

So, what would it look like and how can you identify it? We’ve spoken to Maureen and examined the statistics. Here’s what to look for.

Does company size matter?

Unsurprisingly, our survey revealed that across small, mid-sized and enterprise-scale firms, marketers have different ideas about what makes content great. Similarly, we found that different sized business find some obstacles more challenging than others:

But which will enable you to create your best content? Well, that depends what problems you find least intrusive, and what aspects of B2B content you value most.

We’ve taken a deep dive into the survey results shown above. These figures, taken directly from our global survey of B2B marketers, suggest how the benefits and obstacles of working in an enterprise, mid-sized organisation or a smaller firm could vary.

Enterprise:

Benefits

  • Least likely to struggle with workload or budget
  • Best chance of being proud of your content’s design, humour or emotional impact
  • Close correlation between perceived quality and business results

Obstacles

  • Brand, legal or policy issues could be an issue
  • Direct contact with your customers is likely to be very limited
  • Lowest chance of creating content that reflects customer priorities

Mid-size business:

Benefits

  • Highest likelihood of reflecting customer priorities
  • Slightly better chance of avoiding stakeholder interference
  • Fewest problems with brand and legal restrictions

Obstacles

  • Workload and budget issues are almost inevitable
  • Least chance of using humour, originality or emotion
  • Most likely to experience departmental friction

Small business:

Benefits

  • Easy contact with customers
  • Coordinating with other departments is less of a challenge
  • Best chance of writing copy you’re proud of

Obstacles

  • Constantly changing priorities likely to be a big issue
  • Micromanagement from senior leadership is likely
  • Smallest correlation between satisfaction and business results

When we asked Maureen, she said:

“I work in a sizable company as head of marketing for one of the divisions, and I’ve also worked for small tech companies and start-ups. And while size doesn’t really matter, a HUGE difference – in our quality of work and its results – is seen when bosses and executive teams are switched on and work collaboratively.”

So if you have an excellent leadership team, you’re more likely to create effective content you’re happy with – regardless of where you work. But what does that team look like? Well…

“Results follow good leadership”

When Totaljobs surveyed 2000 UK employees, they found one in two people had left a job because of bad management. And HR tech firm AdviserPlus found that in at least 70% of cases, management coaching resulted in better employee performance.

So the chances are, you’ve had at least one boss with questionable leadership skills.

And whether your boss was (or is) completely incompetent, or just a bit of a micromanager, poor leaders can prevent you from creating your best copy – or stop it being released.

We asked Maureen about great leadership in a B2B working environment – and how it can enable you to write copy you’re proud of. She said:

“There’s a whole bunch of stuff that goes into making content, that the market doesn’t acknowledge. Talent, passion and will are maybe 10% of it. Do you have a supportive team? Are sales co-operative? What about the leadership team? What kind of budget and tools do you have? How many micromanagers are there?

“I can tell you about my boss here, and my previous boss in Amsterdam, who runs a smaller technology company. Both of them had my back, completely supported me, and bought in to transformation.

“And the experiences I’ve had is exactly what Harvard Business School would say. The results are much stronger when leaders actually know how to lead, as opposed to leaders who are micromanaging jerks. Results follow good leadership.”

Toxic workplaces: “just get out”

You’ll find a B2B marketing workplace is always challenging – as our survey results made clear. With so many different departments and functional areas, everyone has their own goals and priorities. And earning their respect is no easy job – you’ll need to juggle a LOT of opinions.

And even though a challenging workplace is normal, it can still prevent you from producing your best work. 86% of our respondents say a problem with departmental co-operation gets in the way of their content.

We asked Maureen how she navigates this obstacle:

“I treat internal stakeholders like customers and prospects. I anticipate their objections, and what their values are. I’m never going to pitch our Head of Sales on some fancy-schmancy thing I want to do, or talk about colours. I’ll ask about her conversion rates, and where she wants to do better. Then I’ll frame projects to her business objectives.

“When I’m mentoring colleagues, I tell them we’re planting seeds. The first or second seed you plant may not grow or sprout ideas in their minds, but after a couple they start to understand your perspective.”

But a challenging culture is very different from a toxic one. So, how can you clearly define the two? Maureen draws a clear line between them:

“In most cultures, it’s challenging to work with colleagues in other functional areas. I don’t think I can code better than the software developers or do F&I better than the CFO; that’s not a thing. But of course everyone thinks they can do marketing.

“But a toxic culture is to do with the CEO; are they encouraging lying, cheating, stealing, hustling or hacking? People should be respectful but challenging, not demeaning and arrogant. If it’s a demeaning culture, that’s a toxic culture. And you’re not going to be able to change that, so just get out.”

And if you’re really, really determined to find the perfect workplace…

…You might need to commute a little further.

The statistics show that if you were to work in North America, you’re more likely to create content you’re proud of. Our survey found 39% of North Americans are happy with most of their work – a big jump from the 12.87% of European respondents.

It seems strange, we’ll give you that. But the figures above suggest some possible reasons. Only 30% of North American marketers find workload a big problem, compared to 50% of Europeans.

Meanwhile, North American marketers are least likely to agree with statement: “There’s always a trade-off between creating enough content, and keeping quality high”, while the European marketers we spoke to agreed 100%.

Of course, you’ll find plenty of job opportunities closer to home. We’re just saying – it’s an option.

How do you spot your ideal workplace IRL?

By now, you (hopefully) have a better image of a workplace that will enable you to create the content you’re proud of.

But when faced with a real-life opportunity, you might not have the transparency you need to know it’s right for you. Even Glassdoor can’t always help – despite having 67 million visits a month.

And truthfully, you’re going to have to gamble a bit. As Maureen says:

“For the most part, and this is not just for marketers, it is really hard to understand the culture until you get there. And it’s important not to feel ashamed about that – you did your best.

“But one way around that is if you actually know people at a company. If you’re being hired and you know someone, they can give you the straight scoop.”

So, use this guide to know exactly what you’re looking for. Then tailor the search to your specific preferences and find someone on the inside to get a clear picture. And when you get there? That’s when the real work begins.

65 real quotes about B2B content marketing problems

Posted on by The Radix Team

B2B marketers are angry, and that’s probably fair enough. How would you like it if your valiant efforts to create great work were thwarted at every turn, by the people who are supposed to be on your side… and then commentators kept asking why your content isn’t innovative, emotional, or brave?

When we conducted our Barriers to Great B2B Content research, we didn’t expect the volume or ferocity of responses we received.

In hindsight, perhaps we should have. By inviting B2B marketers to reveal their frustrations in secret, we gave them a chance to vent long-held frustrations about their own organisations, and the working conditions that hold them back.

Now, we’ll share those comments with you. In their entirety.

As well as the venom (be warned, some of the language does get understandably fruity), there’s plenty of wisdom and constructive advice here. And, if you’re a B2B content marketer, quite a bit of solidarity too. You are not alone.

We’ve also included some gems from our four expert commentators in the report: Maureen Blandford, Doug Kessler, Mat Harper, and Shaema Shazeel Katib.

What is it about your best content that makes you proud?

1. “Authenticity.” – B2B technology content writer, UK

2. “It is useful and relevant to the customer.” – IT/tech CMO, North America

3. “It’s differentiated from the white noise surrounding it, and it’s specific – not picking from the library of generic B2B language.” – Agency content creator, UK

4. “Not proud of any.” – Marketing manager, legal firm, UK

B2B marketing balance quote

What gets in your way when you’re trying to create great B2B content?

6. “Executive fear.” – IT marketing director, North America

7. “Not enough insight. Client too product focused. Client-side marketing does not have enough status or power.” – B2B technology marketing consultant, UK

8. “I don’t always know what language/terminology to use with the target audience, or what level of knowledge they already have.” – Engineering copywriter, UK

Stakeholder micromanagement

9. “Too many cooks in the kitchen. I’ve had many projects drag on far, far longer than they needed to because we had to have 6+ stakeholders weigh in. We revise according to their feedback and put it in front of them again, only to have them find new issues or suggest something entirely different that they’re now excited about and want to see.” – Technology marketing manager, North America

10. “I’ve heard all the following recently: ‘I really like the concept but…’ ‘Lovely job, and we got great results, but I am missing the creativity of marketing and writing.’ ‘I’m going to bring the work back in house now you have shown me a different way of approaching it.’ ‘No I don’t want to abide by your terms of 45 days notice.’ ‘Great content but it hasn’t worked. I don’t have any sales yet and website traffic hasn’t really changed.’ ‘I can see what you are saying and I enjoyed reading it, but please add in the following edits.'”  – Tech startup CMO, UK

11. “If your stakeholders are not in alignment, nothing is possible. And if they are, almost anything is.” – Doug Kessler, Creative Director, Velocity Partners

12. “I’m hired to write great copy. I do. The technical MD clearly knows best though, and needs to rewrite everything a million times just to grow his ego and make marketing feel like shit.”
– IT content writer, UK

Executives who don’t “get it”

13. “Subject matter experts not understanding that you are trying to write to the customers’ pain points.” – Marketing manager, multinational manufacturer

14. “Executives who think all content is selling/promotional – don’t get thought leadership is different.” – IT marketing director, North America

15. “In my organisation at least, non-content people don’t fully understand the true role of content (it being much more than just ‘chucking up a few blog posts’). Because it’s not understood, it’s not valued – and neither are its creators. This doesn’t stop almost everyone having an opinion on content, however, despite not being able to actually create, plan, implement or measure it themselves. Go figure…” – Content manager, business insurance, UK

16. “Too much tech talk. Internal clients don’t think clever, simple or emotional messaging/visuals are as effective as feature listing.” – Telecoms marketing executive, North America

Maureen Blandford B2B leadership quote

Forgetting about the reader

18. “Interference from management who want content to sell, sell, sell.” – Technology CMO, Europe

19. “A pretty headline with multiple adaptions (‘Lead with confidence’ ‘Train with confidence’ ‘Operate with confidence’ etc) seems to always be preferred over interesting content that readers actually care about and will engage with.” – Agency copywriter, UK

20. “One of my biggest bugbears? The fact companies think their brand matters to customers. I had a client recently contract me to write ten short blogs about eCommerce – which was fine… until the MD got involved and complained they didn’t sell what the company was doing enough. I took her point – they could be steered more in that direction – but ultimately, my argument is that good content should provide value for customers; giving them information that they can go away and use. Or it should provide insight into the challenges they’re facing. When you stop trying to sell and think about the customer (and given that they’re already reading your content on your website) you have a much better opportunity to foster their trust. But often, this is a tough sell.” – Professional services content writer, UK

21. “A brief that’s aimed at the brand not the consumer. Clients who don’t believe that business people are just people who happen to be at work. Clients who don’t show any empathy/understanding of their consumers.” – B2B marketing copywriter, UK

22. “What’s important is finding the right format, length, structure, and tone – and that’s a matter of knowing your audience well enough.” – Shaema Shazleen Katib, Content Marketing and Automation Analyst, Intel

Changing priorities and briefs

23. “Interruptions are a big factor. I have a whole docket of content I’ve envisioned, planned, and want to see through, but it often gets disrupted by ‘drive-by’ projects that have more urgency to them. And because I’ve got the skills and the tools, I have to make the bandwidth.” – Manufacturing marketing manager, North America

24. “Execs and decision-makers who are making it up as they go… meaning they don’t spend the time up front to define main messaging. And that impacts all the collateral that relies on the messaging – which is pretty much everything. ” – Technology copywriter, North America

25. “Convoluted targets and goals for each piece, different key internal stakeholders with contradictory targets unwilling to compromise or even communicate. Lack of subject matter expertise within the content team.” – Media marketing manager, UK

Sales versus marketing

26. “The age-old tug of war between sales and marketing. Not every piece of content I create has to have a pitch, a value proposition, or a call to action attached to it. Ads are ads and content is content. And sometimes content has to be allowed to just inform, inspire, entertain, or enlighten – to build affinity and show thoughtfulness without asking the reader to then DO something or, worse, gating the content.” – Manufacturing marketing manager, North America

27. “We’re meant to interview contacts for our content. These contacts are meant to be ones that make the most strategic sense for the sales team. When you don’t put their leads in or put people they don’t want in your content, they moan. But when the time comes to send out an email asking them for contacts, not a single person responds, until the content is finished and they pipe up that they’re contacts weren’t included??!!” – B2B marketing copywriter, UK

Basically, the internet sucks

28. “I hate that it has to be so heavily reliant on SEO. Once you’ve optimised the content, it just looks ugly, repetitive and cheap. We’ve attempted to write good opinion pieces but the blog posts drowning in keywords always have more success.” – B2B agency marketer, UK

Hell is other departments

29. “People from other departments thinking they know what’s best for marketing. Constantly sticking their oars in and criticising.” – Technology copywriter, UK

30. “Lack of interest or help from other departments that could actually really improve our content. Marketing is at the bottom of the list for attention and they don’t realise its importance for the business performing well.” – IT marketing manager, UK

31. “Management/sales/other departments that don’t know how to present relevant, useful content in a clear, concise manner so it provides true value to the customer. Corporate branding rules that are inflexible, so every piece of content must fit into predefined templates (even if you are trying to create something new). The ‘we’ve always done it this way’ mentality.” – B2B technology CMO, North America

Doug Kessler Quote 2

How do you prove it works?

33. “One of the biggest challenges that I’m sure all B2B marketers face is that creating an outstanding piece of content – that actually brings commercial value or return to the business, other than the number of likes – is increasingly hard to quantify. All evidence is qualitative, which makes it difficult to argue positive performance even in the best of circumstances. Creating something truly fantastic – that drives conversion – that’s the golden goose. And it’s always hard; it’s always a struggle. I have lots of friends in B2C marketing and by comparison their job feels like a doddle; it’s easy to write a fantastic piece of content that implements basic consumer psychological trends to sell a pair of trainers or a yoga subscription. Try doing the same thing to convince a CIO that his approach to cloud migration could do with a tweak. It’s a different ballpark. But senior B2B marketers are almost 20k behind the average B2C marketer in terms of salary.” – Software-as-a-Service CMO, UK

Mat Harper business results quote

Agencies versus clients

35. “Weak agencies who act subservient to me and don’t challenge me hard enough.” – Professional services marketing director, UK

36.”Clients destroying the work. (Nearly.) Every. Single. Time.” – B2B agency copywriter, UK

37. “Clients who go to agencies and want something different but then churn out the same shit. You have departments, just save some money and use them. Last but not least, when they want leads with zero brand awareness. For the love of god Coke still invests money in brand awareness, you need to invest in brand awareness.” – B2B marketing manager, UK

38. “Clients who don’t trust you to make the call. You’ve appointed an expert – let us get on with it.” – Freelance B2B content writer, UK

Lack of alignment

39. “The internal hurdles and the challenges of multiple teams from different departments and countries all with their own idea of what good content should look like and not listening to the strategists and the analysts is incredibly frustrating. Why hire us if you don’t want to listen to what we find?” – Multinational B2B digital marketing strategist

40. “Clients who insist upon multiple levels of approvals. I recall one press release which ‘required’ approval from 11 stakeholders. That will never result in inspired copy – everyone feels they need to change something to justify their involvement.” – B2B content writer, UK

Doug Kessler stakeholder management quote

“A new player has entered the game…”

42. “Writing a piece that I’ve mostly got my way on (aimed actually at helping the customer in their journey rather than just touting our product) and having it all approved and sent to design. Design is just having me proofread and copy check the final doc when the CEO sees it and decides to delete some pages, add in some others (very product heavy), and edit some messaging. But we HAVE to publish it the next day due to campaign timelines. No choice but to approve the change with small amends. Gah!” – Software-as-a-Service content writer

43. “The client came to us and wanted to build a game and a campaign surrounding it with a limited budget. We compiled KPIs and built a strategy to gain said KPIs. One facet was to use influencers to provide quotes to include within the game and a series of blogs. But signoff on the influencers came way after the production of the game so we weren’t able to leverage the quotes within the game. Well, the entire purpose of using the influencers was meant to get reshares of the game to those influencers’ accounts and instead we could only use the quotes within the blogs we produced to cross-promote the game. When all was said and done the effort to gain influencers, interview them, etc didn’t meet the KPI targets we originally set out for the game…” – Software-as-a-Service marketing manager, UK

Lack of time, investment and resources

44. “When I was in-house, it was totally a resourcing problem. The marketing team was growing out in the regions, but they all had to funnel through a tiny content team that was being pulled every which way. We were accused of not being strategic enough – that was because we were constantly asked to check emails, event invites, flyers, presentations, the whole lot. Content was under-valued, under-appreciated, under-resourced… yet every single person in that marketing team relied on content to do their work. Major issue in B2B: content is more than just the team’s writers and grammar experts, so give them the space and resource to do their job, not make you look better.” – B2B content writer, UK

45. “Lack of original ideas and then time to get buy-in to a concept. Poorly skilled in-house resources and/or no budget to deliver it.” – Marketing manager, multinational IT enterprise

46. “As a writer I’m fairly in demand, which means I’m working on a lot of projects for a lot of clients simultaneously, which means I can’t devote as much time/headspace as I’d like to each project.” – Agency content writer, UK

47. “Senior management not having a f’ing clue and still seeing all marketing as cost, not investment.”
– Marketing manager, law firm, UK

The usual suspects…

48. “Lack of ambition is depressing. Aiming SO low.” – B2B agency creative, UK

49. “Content by committee. It never ends well. Everyone knows this, and yet… somehow it persists.” – Technology copywriter, UK

50. “Lack of customer challenge/solution understanding. Relentless focus on leads rather than good content. Decision by committee. Over reliance on the ‘same’ content again and again. Struggle to agree balance between product detail and good creative copywriting that’s emotive rather than just functional. Lack of attention to identifying clear differentiators, etc. etc.” – B2B marketing consultant, UK

51. “Internal politics in the client organisation – ends up being design by committee.” – B2B healthcare copywriter, Oceania

52. “Where do I start? Companies that cannot succinctly articulate what they do or sell? Companies that decide they want to create a piece of content before they even decide they have anything worthwhile to say? The bullshit circus of ‘thought leadership’…” – Technology copywriter, UK

53. “A lack of bravery, and resistance against not using jargon. If clients insist on using the same old  terminology, their copy will always be boring. It’s a constant battle when you’re the only one bold enough to ask ‘What does that mean? Why would the customer care about that? So what?’ We’re the only ones with the guts to ask those questions, and it isn’t always well-received.” – Freelance B2B copywriter, UK

B2B Marketing Pain Quote

A question of attitude

55. “Inherent lack of risk taking, inability to try new things, lack of vision for creative solutions, doing it the same way because ‘that’s the way we do it’ mentality, laziness to try new things…” – Marketing manager, health IT startup, North America

56. “People trying to be too creative for B2B content to suit their own ego or career aims. Sometimes you have to write run-of-the-mill stuff, or just come up with campaigns that are helpful or informative. Not everyone needs to be like Ogilvy, ESPECIALLY in B2B but a lot of people agency-side don’t recognise that. Listen to the customer. They know the audience best. The only reason you are getting friction from a customer is because you aren’t listening to them, you’re listening to your ego.” – B2B agency marketer, UK

What would have the biggest impact on your ability to create good content?

57. “Love my work but it can be lonely and I don’t always have the right people around me to brainstorm problems or creative approaches.” – Technology startup CMO, UK

58. “A guide to managing the management that wants to interfere and get involved.” – B2B technology CMO, North America

59. “Case studies proving that interesting content works would be so helpful. There’s not enough B2B content case studies out there. Loads of B2C case studies but clients instantly ignore those positive results because the audience is different.” – B2B agency copywriter, UK

60. “Something for CEOs and non-marketers on content strategy.” – IT marketing director, North America

61. “Unlimited resource. A CRM that wasn’t a mess.” – Technology CMO, North America

62. “How to get the best from your Client Services department? How do we meet ‘their’ pain points to buy into our vision.” – B2B marketing manager, UK

63. “There shouldn’t be this tension between the well-crafted, beautiful content and the effective content. If we don’t start by defining great content as that which has the most impact, we’re never going to succeed.” – Doug Kessler, creative director, Velocity Partners

If nothing else, realise it’s not your fault…

If some of these quotes feel a little unguarded and unpolished, it’s because we’ve tried to keep them as close as possible to the actual text as entered in the survey. What you’re feeling is the frustration of B2B marketers who are being prevented from doing their best work.

As Maureen Blandford put it in the report: “Imagine having people screwing your work up, and then being blamed by the market when your content sucks. It’s like: ‘If you only feckin’ knew.'”

And if reading this had you nodding your head until your neck is sore, that’s good (the solidarity, not the injury, anyway). It shows there are others going through the same thing. Maybe together, we can find the voice that B2B content marketers need.

We’d love to hear about your own experiences too; you can find us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Maureen Blandford B2B results quote

Podcast 80: Survey results special – barriers to effective B2B content

Posted on by The Radix Team

This episode of Good Copy, Bad Copy is a bit special. It reveals the results of our survey into B2B content problems, and it’s also peppered with insights from some stalwarts of B2B marketing. As a result, it’s a little longer than normal, but we promise it’s worth your time.

At the end of last year, we conducted our first survey of B2B marketers and content creators to uncover the Barriers to Great B2B Content. More than 105 of them took part, representing every part of the industry.

(You can see the resulting research report for yourself, here.)

The survey unearthed some surprising findings – not least that nobody said they’re proud of all their content. Clearly, there are significant roadblocks preventing people from doing their best work, so we dug into the details to see what we could learn.

Crucially, we found these barriers aren’t just an annoyance for marketers. They can also significantly restrict content performance – reducing brand awareness and stifling business results.

The survey also revealed that:

  • Just 14% of respondents say that everyone in their organisation agrees on what good content looks like
  • 81% of B2B marketers have to fight to publish their best work
  • Stakeholder interference and changing priorities can reduce content satisfaction by more than 25%
  • Only 44% agree that the best content gets the best results

In this episode of Good Copy, Bad Copy, David and Fiona examine the survey results in more detail, and unpack the six big content obstacles experienced by at least 75% of B2B marketers.

Listen now, and you’ll also hear what four top marketers think you can do to overcome these barriers, including:

What you’ll find in this episode…

03:17 – An overview of the key survey results, including David and Fiona’s top takes

05:58 – Anonymous comments about nightmare stakeholders

07:19 – Maureen Blandford on inter-department issues and challenging cultures

21:12 – Doug Kessler says stakeholder alignment is your most important job

33:49 – Shaema Shazleen Katib brings a data-backed view on which content works

47:44 – Mat Harper talks about making space for creativity in a large tech enterprise

Tell us what you think of the results (or use us for content-related counselling)

Contact us through @radixcom on Twitter or send an email (better still, a short voice memo) to [email protected].

How to listen

Credits and resources

We released this report in a free webinar. If you like, you can watch it on demand.

Podcast editing and music by Bang and Smash

Research report: barriers to B2B marketing content

Posted on by The Radix Team

In November 2019, we invited B2B marketers to tell us, anonymously, about the problems that prevent them creating the content they’d like. We write B2B content, so we thought we might learn something useful.

The response was so surprising, and so vehement, that we turned it into a full research report – and we asked leading B2B marketers from the US, UK, Germany, and the Netherlands to share their commentary and advice.

It reveals six problems shared by at least 75% of marketers, as well as six ideas to break the cycle. If you want to dive straight in, you can do so here…

Click to read Barriers to Great B2B Content 2020: Survey Results and Analysis

Big surprises in the survey results

The response to the survey shocked us, in a whole bunch of ways.

Responses from all kinds of B2B marketers, everywhere

First, the number and variety of marketers who took part. We’d anticipated that maybe a few dozen would be disgruntled enough to use our survey to let off steam. In fact, we attracted 105 responses – B2B content marketers of all levels, from all round the world. CMOs and marketing directors to content writers and agency types, working in all kinds of B2B: tech, engineering, SaaS, legal, manufacturing, and more.

B2B marketers are really, really angry about this stuff

Second, the sheer vehemence of the answers. These aren’t just small frustrations; B2B content marketers are angry. And when you think about it, it’s hardly surprising; marketers are being prevented from doing their best work, and then being talked down to by content experts who only see the content, but not the struggle behind it.

Maureen Blandford has experienced this in previous roles, and says the results are “the reality for most marketers”.

Imagine having people screwing your work up, and then being blamed by the market when your content sucks. It’s like: “If you only fuckin’ knew.”

– Maureen Blandford, VP of Marketing, Community Brands

Pretty much everyone is dealing with the same crap

Third, the fact they’re largely angry about exactly the same things. Irrespective of seniority, business size, sector or location, there are issues that seem to affect everyone. Specifically, six challenges were rated as a problem by 75% or more of our respondents:

  1. Conflicting and changing priorities, and unclear briefs
  2. Stakeholder interference
  3. Limited budgets and resources
  4. Too much work, and not enough time
  5. Lack of co-operation from other departments
  6. Problems getting access to customers

All the assumptions about B2B marketing are wrong

Fourth, the challenges that aren’t on that list. We often read that B2B content is not engaging because the subject matter is complex and dry, B2B buyers are conservative, or marketers lack creative skills. None of those things made the list. Instead, we see a picture of B2B marketers who have plenty of good ideas, but are prevented from executing them by their own organisations.

And finally, a lot of the findings are shocking in their own right. For example…

Just 32% of B2B marketers are proud of most of their content.

Many of the critiques of B2B content seem to assume that marketers don’t know their content could be better. This result – in response to the question “How much of your published B2B content makes you proud?” – proves that’s a huge mis-assessment.

Out of 105 respondents, not one could say they’re proud of all the content they produce; only 32% could even say “most of it”. By contrast, the most popular response was “a handful, ever” (37%). 28% went for “less than half”, and 3% said “none”.

It’s a worrying state of affairs, replicated in every group we spoke to. CMOs and marketers in North America were slightly more positive, but there was no category where “most of it” scored higher than 45%.

81% of B2B marketers have to fight hard for their content.

And the issue certainly isn’t that stakeholders don’t care. 81% agreed with the statement, “I sometimes have to fight hard to publish content I’m happy with.”

That’s a global issue, and the scores were fairly uniform. There was no category where fewer than 73% agreed (the UK, followed by tech marketers with 76%), and for marketers working in enterprises and on mainland Europe, the figure was 100%.

Just 14% of B2B marketers say their organisation agrees on what good content is.

Conversely, no enterprise or European marketer agreed with the statement, “In my organisation, everybody agrees on what good content is.” Overall, the figure was just 14%.

The fact the figure is almost an exact mirror image of the “I sometimes have to fight…” question could suggest that a lack of stakeholder alignment could be one of the root issues revealed in this report. If the organisation cannot agree what good content looks like, then the marketer will always face a fruitless task trying to create it.

In the report, Doug Kessler talks about stakeholder alignment as “the number one job” for B2B marketers. And he explains the importance of taking that alignment work outside of the daily process of content approvals.

If your stakeholders are not in alignment, nothing is possible. And if they are, almost anything is.

– Doug Kessler, Creative Director, Velocity Partners

One way to address the issue is to draw up a clear, agreed specification for your content, and base each point on data (whether from research or, better still, your own A/B testing). If you can use independent metrics like content readability scoring, better still. This makes the conversation less subjective, and more aligned to the pass/fail quality tests in other areas of your business.

If you like, you’re more than welcome to steal the B2B content quality checklist we use for our own internal reviews, and adapt it for your own purposes.

There’s evidence these content barriers really do hurt business results.

As we looked at the research, it quickly became clear that B2B marketers aren’t lacking inspiration for their content; they need evidence to help them fight their daily stakeholder battles. So we went back to the data, to see what we could find.

We cross-referenced some of the bigger problems marketers were reporting with the answers to the question, “What is it about your best content that makes you proud?”

It’s not absolute proof, but we can show the impact of each problem on marketers’ perceptions of their own content, based on whether they were more or less likely to be proud of that aspect, compared to the average.

And this is where things get really interesting:

Excessive stakeholder interference makes B2B content 26% less likely to get good business results.

Ever thought that all that micro-management from stakeholders was actually making your content less effective? Turns out, you were quite possibly right.

Respondents who reported stakeholder interference as a big problem were 26% less likely to be proud of their content’s business results than the overall average.

Tight marketing budgets make content less effective. (Heavy workloads makes it less creative.)

The theme continues among marketers who said lack of budget and resources were a big issue; they were 18% less likely to be proud of their content’s business results.

There was also a marked decrease in pride about original concepts, and quality of copywriting – which suggests that cheap content has a knock-on effect on business outcomes.

A similar pattern occurs among people who said workload is a big issue: they’re 25% less likely to say they’re proud of their best content’s originality, with a commensurate impact on results. It suggests that having insufficient time ties marketers to tried-and-tested concepts, at the expense of cut-through.

B2B marketers who can’t talk to customers are 27% less likely to be happy with their content’s business results.

Our sixth barrier was possibly the most surprising: marketers around the world are being kept away from customers, meaning they don’t have a clear view of their priorities, needs, and language.

This is obviously a painful issue, as the respondents overwhelmingly believed that giving the reader value, and reflecting the customer’s point of view, were the most important aspects of good B2B content.

As you might expect, marketers who say this is a big problem are 24% less likely to be proud of their content’s customer alignment. But here’s the surprising thing: the impact is even greater on business results (27% lower).

That’s reflected in a comment from Intel content marketing and automation analyst Shaema Shazleen Katib, who says: “Our best-performing content has that credibility factor, things like statistics, customer success stories, and testimonies. These things have always performed the best on a global scale.”

What’s important is finding the right format, length, structure, and tone – and that’s a matter of knowing your audience well enough.

– Shaema Shazleen Katib, Intel

59% of B2B marketers say their own signoff process makes results worse. (And the really shocking part? They’re right.)

Here’s a crazy thing: almost 6 out of 10 B2B marketers think their organisation’s own signoff processes actively impairs content outcomes. In fact, 59% agreed with the statement, “If nobody else had to sign off our content, the results would be a lot better.”

And here’s a crazier thing: the research agrees with them. People who agreed with the statement were less likely to be proud of their content, right across the board:

  • Writing quality: -8%
  • Business results: -8%
  • Customer alignment: -6%
  • Marketing prestige: -15%
  • Emotional impact: -19%
  • Value for reader: -5%

Time to break the B2B content cycle.

Sooner or later, the six barriers to B2B content come down to a single fact: in many B2B organisations, marketing does not get the respect it needs to work effectively.

The irony is that good content can be part of the solution: 86% of respondents agree that “Great content makes the marketing team look good”. But until marketing gets that respect, that content can’t happen: just 20% say their best content reflected well on the marketing team.

In the back of the report, we discuss six approaches which might help. First among them is getting away from the idea that good content and effective content are two different things.

56% of respondents disagreed with the statement “The best content usually gets the best results”, and Doug Kessler thinks this is the heart of the problem. Marketing will continue to be underestimated until marketers’ objectives align with the rest of the organisation. As Doug says: “What’s great, what’s effective, and what’s wonderful should be the same thing.”

There shouldn’t be this tension between the well-crafted, beautiful content and the effective content. If we don’t start by defining great content as that which has the most impact, we’re never going to succeed.

– Doug Kessler, Creative Director, Velocity Partners

Ultimately, the fight is yours.

Please feel free to use this report however best helps you to win the argument for good content. Share it with stakeholders, write blogs, whatever works.

Because unless we can change the conversation around B2B content and what good looks like, marketers will continue to have to fight their own organisations, just to get effective work done.

(And selfishly, as B2B content writers, that’s no fun for us either.)

We should be shouting these results from the rooftops. Because if marketers aren’t delighted with the work they’re doing, we need to show why.

– Maureen Blandford, VP of Marketing, Community Brands

 

Podcast 78: Maths for B2B marketers

Posted on by The Radix Team

In this month’s Good Copy, Bad Copy, we’re talking about… maths. Yes, maths. The bane of my life as a student and, to this day, a subject I remain bewildered by.

Judging from Fiona and David’s discussion, I’m not alone. B2B (and B2C) writers have often had a difficult – no, abusive – relationship with maths or, more specifically, statistics. And while many marketers are guilty of mixing up percentage points with percentages, we must take responsibility for the accuracy of the numbers in our copy.

That’s why we invited the award-winning maths resource designer, writer and podcaster Lucy Rycroft-Smith of Cambridge University, to talk us through the fundamentals of statistics for marketing copy – and put an end to some common mathematical misconceptions in the process.

As Fiona rightly points out, “our job is to communicate clearly and accurately, and if we aren’t sure ourselves, we can’t do that job properly”. So, get ready for some truth bombs – and possibly the toughest maths test you’ve taken since you last wore a school uniform. We promise, it’ll be fun!

Vote for the best B2B content of 2019…

It’s finally time to vote for the best B2B content of 2019.

We’ve compiled a shortlist of content based on your nominations. Head here to explore the nominees, and choose your winner using the Typeform at the bottom of the page (don’t forget to hit the enter button at the end to submit your vote).

It’s a diverse list of bold, original and inspiring content – and a wonderful opportunity for us to spotlight some of B2B’s greatest content creators. So, get stuck in.

CAST YOUR VOTE

In Episode 78, you’ll find…

3:25 – Why writers need to get comfortable with numbers

8:09 – ‘Why is maths so scary?’ with special guest, Lucy Rycroft-Smith

14:30 – Why we shouldn’t think about maths as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’

17:14 – What is “mathwashing”, and why should marketers avoid it?

21:00 – How percentages can mislead our readers (and complicate our copy)

28:00 – Lucy’s special three-part percentage challenge

Read more about maths for B2B marketing…

Resources Lucy mentioned in this episode include:

Send us your praise, criticism, Christmas cards, favourite cracker jokes…

Contact us through @radixcom on Twitter or [email protected] (if you really want to make David’s day, send us a voice memo).

How to listen…

Credits

Podcast editing and music by Bang and Smash

We asked, they answered: copywriting for B2B social media

Posted on by Steve George

It’s understandable that clients often ask us for social media advice. We write social posts, and much of the B2B content we write gets shared online. But we’re always acutely aware that we’re only copywriters, and social media is a fast-moving field, with expertise and best practice all of its own. We can write you a great LinkedIn article, but we can’t tell you how you should use it.

So we were delighted when we were joined by social media expert Kate Stoodley from Comment Ground for episode 71 of our podcast. It gave us a great chance to ask all our most burning questions – but there was still loads more we (and our audience) wanted to know.

And so the idea for this pair of head-to-head blog posts was born.

B2B copywriters and social media specialists approach similar challenges in very different ways and contexts. There’s so much we can learn from one another. So, why not put each other on the spot with a handful of hard-hitting questions, and shine some light on what each side really wants to know about the other?

Here’s how Kate responded to the B2B copywriting inquisition. If you’d like to see how I answered Comment Ground’s questions, keep an eye on their blog: the Comment Ground Commentary. This blog’s twin will be appearing soon!

Question 1: How does the length of copy on a B2B social post affect its performance, and are there any clear trends in the data? (Also, how many hashtags is too many?)

Kate: There are many factors to consider when thinking about social post length; data and trends, the channel, the topic, the goal and of course the intended audience. While it’s absolutely worth considering best practices and guides (like this comprehensive one from Hootsuite), it’s equally if not more important for B2B companies to test, test and test again to determine what performs best for their content, audience and networks.

Across most social channels right now, there’s one clear trend emerging – that less is most definitely more. On LinkedIn, recent data found that shorter updates outperform longer ones, with 16-25 words being a general goal for B2B. Brevity also still rules on Facebook, where posts with approximately 40 characters receive 86% more engagement than their lengthier counterparts.

Interestingly, despite upping the character limit from the infamous 140 to 280, shorter tweets (100 characters and under) also still typically perform best. Hashtags can be used more liberally on this network – though we’re seeing marketers’ focus shift to quality over quantity, even on this rapid-fire platform, and especially for B2B.

Question 2: There’s a perception among copywriters that social channels are a good place to test the limits of a brand’s voice and tone. Is that fair, or is it better to be consistent with other copy?

Kate: Social is definitely a prime arena for testing brand voice and tone limits. In fact, we recommend crafting a social-specific voice to many of our clients. Simultaneously though, we also advise our B2B clients to ensure they keep the focus on what their customer wants, and how they prefer to be communicated with.

It’s tempting to view social as an opportunity to let the creative juices flow, and while that can be true, most B2B buyers aren’t looking for brands to stray too far from their core offering/messaging/style. Most B2B buyers report wanting to feel understood and in good hands – and to be able to quickly recognize a brand’s post.

Question 3: What things are B2C brands doing in social that B2B hasn’t caught onto yet? Can B2B ever be on the same level as B2C in social, given the personal nature of the channel?

Kate: To answer the second question first – Yes! B2B brands can be on the same level as B2C in most ways. However, B2B brands should not aspire to do something just because B2C can.

In terms of the personal nature of social, B2C brands are still definitely quite a way ahead of B2B. Generally, they’re doing a better job of personalizing copy and posts to resonate with consumer buying habits and different personas. However, we are starting to see exciting B2B personalized social content emerging, largely thanks to ABM’s rise in popularity.

B2C brands’ visuals tend to garner lots of attention. For B2B brands, the volume and quality of data at their fingertips presents an exciting opportunity to do the same. By grabbing a stat that their audience is really interested in and presenting it in a compelling way, B2B brands can create engaging visual social content that feels just as fresh as what B2C is doing.

Lastly, B2B is still in the early stages of effective employee and C-Suite social programs. Despite an almost over-abundance of thought leadership content and talk, there’s still a huge opportunity for B2B brands’ subject matter experts, sales teams, C-level leaders and other associates to showcase their brand’s culture and messages personally, in a way that will resonate with various target segments. After all, the people behind brands is where successful social is heading, regardless of industry.

Once again, we’d really like to thank Kate for her time and input. If you’d like to hear more from her, check out Good Copy, Bad Copy Episode 71, or visit the Comment Ground Commentary page.

Podcast 72: stop telling B2B marketers to be “brave”

Posted on by The Radix Team

“B2B marketers need to be braver.”

It’s a statement we hear pretty often, not least from Martech brands and content marketing experts. But in reality, creating stand-out B2B content is rarely as easy as just doing something brave (though there are a few risks you should definitely take).

B2B marketers are often restricted by arcane guidelines, conservative stakeholders, interfering bosses, and time-sucking tech. And when you’re struggling with all that, getting blamed for lacklustre content feels frankly a trifle unfair.

It’s a frustration that’s been on our minds for a while, so we knew it needed to be discussed on the podcast. And who better to weigh in on the subject than B2B marketing colossus Maureen Blandford – VP of marketing for the event fundraising tech firm Givesmart.

Bravery is not the answer

Most B2B content is a bit rubbish. (OK, as writers of B2B content, it’s a bit rich for us to make this claim. But it’s true, and Maureen agreed.)

The solution isn’t to start getting riskier with content willy-nilly, or to make radical changes in the type of content you produce. Instead, Maureen gave us two key tips that most B2B marketers actually can do:

1. Get out there with your salespeople

Go into the field with your salespeople and interact with the customers you’re writing for. Even if it’s just listening to their phone calls.

“Generally, what resonates with targets is their own words. Particularly in a complex sale, I need marketing to behave in the way great sales people do. Bubble up pain points, ask the customer questions.” – Maureen Blandford

2. Talk to your peers

Maureen says B2B marketers are fed the idea that they have a horrible gap in their strategies, and buying the right technology or visiting the right conference will fix this. It won’t.

Instead, talk to your peers in similar industries and see how they’re approaching their B2B content. Building informal relationships is the easiest way to get genuine value into content as you begin to understand what customers care about.

Listen to find out more

You’ll find plenty more practical tips in the podcast, as we discuss:

  • What’s stopping B2B marketers from creating their best content
  • What needs to change before marketers can become ‘braver’
  • What B2B marketers can do in the meantime to make their content better

(And you’ll hear Maureen get a tad sweary as she calls out the Martech brands and content experts behind all this drama.)

Want some great content tips? Join our webinar!

Conveniently, our first ever webinar tackles just this topic.

“Five terrifying risks you should definitely take with your B2B content” will be on Wednesday 5th June, at 4pm UK time (11am ET).

This has now finished.

(Spoiler: we won’t be telling you to be braver. Just sharing some sensible, calculated risks that make a difference.)

Want to be on the next “Good Copy, Bad Copy”?

What do you think… is Maureen on the money with her criticism? Contact us through @radixcom on Twitter or [email protected] (the best thing you can do is send us a voice memo).

How to listen

Credits

Podcast editing and music by Bang and Smash.

Want to hear more from Maureen? Follow her on Twitter, and head over to the Givesmart website to see all the great work she does.

A content marketer’s guide to the B2B Marketing Expo 2019

Posted on by The Radix Team

The sheer size of a big marketing exhibition can be both promising and frustrating. With all those exhibitors and talks, there’s bound to be a few unexpected gems that can add value to your work – but how do you cut through the parts that aren’t relevant, to find what you really need?

As a company that’s both speaking and exhibiting at London’s B2B Marketing Expo in March, we have the same concern. The niche we work in (writing content for B2B tech agencies and brands) means we’re bound to be of interest for content marketers visiting the show. But will they find us amid all the videographers, Hubspot aficionados and branded cupcake firms?

To help, we’ve combed the listings (don’t even go there… Soooo. Many. Buzzwords…) to come up with a focused tipsheet for content marketers in particular – with the keynotes, seminars and stands you won’t want to miss.

Into content marketing? Go on the Wednesday.

It may seem counterintuitive – what with SAP’s Jack Dyson giving his big content keynote on the Thursday – but we think there’s marginally more for a content marketer to see on Wednesday 27th. (And no, it’s not just because that’s the day we’re speaking.)

Here’s one potential route through the day…

11.00–11.30 Scaling visual content marketing (Keynote theatre)

This clashes with a promising-looking Inbox Insight talk in Theatre 27, but that’s also on Thursday (see below) so we’ve gone for Grant Munro from Shutterstock. Tailoring a message at scale is a tricky thing to do – whether it’s writing or visual content – so the “tools and strategies” Grant promises should be helpful. (We just hope this isn’t simply a big stock photo pitch in disguise.)

11.45–12.15 How to plan an inbound campaign in 20 minutes (Theatre Hall 26)

If Ian Guiver from Axon Garside can deliver what he promises, there should be plenty of good ideas here to set your content within an effective sales and marketing strategy… with ten minutes to spare!

13.15–13.45 Five terrifying risks you should take with your content (Theatre Hall 12)

A good hour to grab some lunch, browse some exhibition stands and hit the networking area before joining the queue for the undisputed highlight of the event. Yes, it’s Radix’s own seminar, which will give you five calculated creative risks that will help your content to stand out.

(If you’re attending on the Thursday – or if you can’t get a seat – don’t despair; we’re also planning to run this session as a webinar. Sign up for our copywriting advice emails, and we’ll keep you updated.)

14.00–14.30 Cut the crap: transparency in video (Theatre Hall 28)

This is the year video marketing is supposed to take over (which is what they said at the start of 2008, and every year since). Whether that’s true or not, we’re big fans of the insane honesty school of B2B content, for video and writing alike. Most B2B marketers could do with an occasional reminder to keep it real, so if Paul Hamblin of The Video Club has some practical tips to share, you can count us in.

15.30–16.00 10 key pointers on B2B market research (Theatre Hall 14)

OK, this one’s a bit of a curve ball. But a great, original piece of primary research is always a brilliant starting point for a tasty bit of content that really stands out. (Don’t believe us? Ask Orbit Media, or Grist and Coleman Parkes.) A basic grounding won’t go amiss, and Teresa Hadfield from The ICG’s talk promises a key pointer every three minutes on average, which seems like a pretty good return to us.

Thursday’s agenda: content marketing in context

OK, so you’ve booked to go on the Thursday. No problem; there’s still plenty of promising sessions for you to attend. Some will improve your content directly, others are more about the context where it sits.

11.00–11.30 Content that Works (Keynote theatre)

With a capital “W”, no less. Jack Dyson from SAP is promising hacks that can save your life, squeeze every last drop of value from your marketing, and takes your content from bland to brilliant. SAP create some good stuff, so this should be worth a listen (even if it’s just to find out what “couture content” is).

11.45–12.15 ABM: what it is and how to do it in B2B services (Keynote theatre)

Don’t move a muscle; stay right in your seat. Account-based marketing (ABM) is the close cousin of content marketing, and we think there’s lots of scope for crossover between the two. Andrea Clatworthy from Fujitsu is as good a speaker on the subject as you’ll find (and we’re not just saying that because she contributed some great advice to our ABM content ebook). If you want a crash course in ABM, this is the place to be.

12.30–13.00 You’re looking at the funnel the wrong way (Theatre 27)

We’ve long agreed that the funnel is a useless metaphor for the buying journey, and that other alternatives would be much more fun. But we’ve never heard the thought applied to content amplification before, and we’re intrigued to hear what Ross Howard from Inbox Insight has to say.

14.00–14.30 7 steps to creating the perfect explainer video (Theatre 25)

There are few things to beat a really good explainer video. Sadly, few explainer videos are really good. If you’ve never wondered why some work and others don’t, these seven steps from Eden Videos’ Martin Ray-Jones could be just the ticket. We’re certainly hoping to learn a few tricks and tips for our own script writing efforts.

14.45–15.15 Make B2B prospecting great again (Theatre 11)

Yes, this is Leadfeeder (one of those services that tells you which companies have been looking at your website). And no, we haven’t lost our marbles. As long as it’s above board, and not personally identifiable data, the more intelligence we can all get about who’s enjoying what content, the better we’ll all get at writing for the clients we most want. The speaker, Dipak Vadera, is a sharp guy, and we reckon this will be full of tips for bridging the gap between content and sales, without being weird about it.

Our pick of the exhibition stands

You might want to mark a few stands on the floor plan, to visit between the talks. But unless you have a military-grade tolerance for marketing clichés, we recommend you steer clear of the online exhibitor list. Seriously; we barely made it out alive.

While we were there, though, these stands struck us as worth a visit:

Animation and video production

If you want to make video content, you’re in luck. It seems like very third stand at the expo you’ll find a videographer, lying in wait. Unscientifically, the ones that caught our eye include FLETCHERWILSON (we like corporate documentaries so we’ll overlook the all caps) on stand 1582, and we like No Magnolia’s brand (stand 1986). The Animation Guys (stand 2374) have a brilliant animation showreel and The Videonauts (stand 2348) have a brilliant name. And finally, we love a whiteboard video – the more of them in B2B, the better – so we’re delighted to see Eden Videos on stand 1584.

Site search

There are any number of SEO companies to talk to at the expo, but Sooqr Search (stand 2422) are a bit different: they optimise your on-site search so your visitors can find exactly what they’re looking for. Sounds like a good idea.

Translation services

Getting content into a language your buyer is comfortable with is so important for engagement and search. And if 101translations (stand 1732) can deliver everything they promise (cultural analysis, international SEO, etc) then theirs could be a good business card to have in your pocket. We’re slightly freaked out by the lack of a space in their name, but what can we say? We’re writers.

Branded content

If branded content’s your bag, you might want to make a point of visiting the Branded Content Marketing Association (BCMA) on stand 1580. Apparently, they can connect you with experts, but we can’t say much more than that because their exhibition blurb is kind of… intense.

Content delivery

A tonne of B2B content gets shared on LinkedIn, so if InSurge (stand 1922) can help you make it that bit more successful, that’s got to help your content ROI. Maybe even see actual LinkedIn themselves on stand 2350 while you’re at it. And Landingi (stand 1982) reckon their platform can make your landing pages better – which means more downloads for your assets. Could be worth a look.

Market research

As we’ve mentioned, original primary search is always a content winner. So you might want to chat with Ardent Fieldwork (stand 2382), or The ICG (stand 2284). And we reckon there are all sorts of fun ways you could use Wizu (stand 1546) to collect useful information.

Digital asset management

There’s no point making content guidelines and assets if nobody knows how to use them. So maybe have a chat with Asset Bank (stand 1740). Widen (stand 2346) looks fancy, too.

Something a bit different

We’ve no idea how it works, but apparently CoolTabs (stand 2321) can make your written content into an “interactive experience”, which sounds intriguing. DataSine (stand 2614) say they have a “personality-based marketing content augmentation tool” (no, us neither) and it’s called Pomegranate, which is cute. Peek and Poke (stand 2349) make addictive branded games. And if you want something *really* clever, maybe talk 3D modelling and AR with bloc digital (stand 2512).

Branded cupcakes

OK, it has nothing to do with content marketing. We just love Eat My Logo’s name. If you go to stand 1784, bring us back a couple of samples.

B2B copywriting

And of course, if you’d like to talk about any aspect of B2B content writing, come and have a chat with Radix, on stand 2184 (we’re over the far side, near seminar theatres 11 and 12).

We’ve had a load of free writing guides printed, so if you want the inside track on creating good web copy, ABM content, case studies, B2B comics, blog posts or messaging, we’ll give you something helpful to take away.

If you play your cards right, you may even get a natty pencil, made from a recycled CD case. (And if that’s not worth coming to ExCeL for, I don’t know what is.)

Be there, or be an equal-sided parallelogram.