Category: B2B Marketing

Podcast 70: how to write B2B copy for engineers

Posted on by The Radix Team

One of the greatest challenges a B2B copywriter often faces is writing for a new audience. Vocabulary, tone, expectations, pain points, turn-ons, turn-offs…

Whether you’re creating a though-leadership blog for tech-hungry IT leaders, or a series of laidback podcasts for refrigeration engineers, there’s a lot to think about.

That’s why for our 70th (!) episode of Good Copy, Bad Copy: the B2B copywriting podcast, we’re joined by Lasse Lund, copywriter and content marketing consultant at Danfoss Cooling, to discuss writing all things engineering – as well as his own journey into the strange world of B2B copywriting.

Technical, engineering content… for a worldwide audience

A Danish native raised in the States, Lasse offers great insight into what it takes to write ‘definitive’ English-language copy for a global and culturally diverse engineering audience. And why writing for engineers is, in theory, a game of two halves: the technical and the business.

Also in this month’s episode:

  • Technical editing tips to make localisation easier
  • The value of reading niche technical publications
  • How to not alienate marketing-averse engineers

More on B2B’s “Gender Say Gap”

Before we sign off, we’d like to thank everyone for the inspiring feedback we received following last month’s podcast on the Gender Say Gap. We’ve never had a response like it.

So, Bisma Hashmi, Barry Whittle, Roberta de Lima, Caroline Robinson, Daryl Newman, Anna McLoughlin and everyone else who liked, commented, shared or emailed… thanks. It’s good to know you care about this too.

(Thanks once again to the brilliant Claire Mason of Man Bites Dog for bringing this important issue to our attention; we’re sure it’s something we’ll revisit.)

Add your voice to the podcast

We love getting your comments, questions and ideas. Contact us through @radixcom on Twitter or [email protected] (you can even email us a voice memo, if you like).

How to listen

Credits:

Podcast editing and music by Bang and Smash

Ghostwriting in B2B: fake content or essential thought leadership tool?

Posted on by The Radix Team

This may not come as a shock to you, but a lot of blogs, articles, and white papers published by influential names in B2B aren’t necessarily written by that person.

Even thought-leadership pieces, where the named author is an expert in their field, are often ghostwritten by a copywriter – either because words aren’t that expert’s strong suit, or they simply don’t have the time to write it themselves.

Matching the best writing with the best expertise is a recipe for great content. But where anyone who’s willing to pay for the goods can commission a copywriter to make them look like a thought leader, there’s also the temptation to pretend you know more than you do.

So, in a bid to rid the world of disingenuous content, here’s a short guide to ghostwriting – why it’s an opportunity for true B2B experts, and why easy thought leadership isn’t something you can just buy.

What can a B2B ghostwriter do, exactly?

Let’s make one thing clear. Ghostwriting is a perfectly acceptable thing to do in B2B content marketing.

In fact, it’s invaluable for people who have a lot of important stuff to say, but little time to write it. Or who may be super smart, but simply don’t have a way with words.

Done well, ghostwriting helps to ensure we get to read interesting, engaging stuff from the real thought leaders – not just people who happen to write well, and have time on their hands.

Consider a day in a life of a CEO. They’re extremely busy, and barely have enough time as it is. And while they may have the drive to write their own content, they just don’t have the time. Or think about a product specialist, who knows absolutely everything about their subject, except what a non-expert would find interesting.

That’s where a ghostwriter is essential.

A thought leader can brief a writer on a subject – even if it’s just their big idea, or a brain dump of what they know. A good copywriter who understands the audience can find the angle, and present it in a way that reflects the true views and deep knowledge of the expert, and also chimes with their real voice.

You get the piece they would have written, but sharper and more engaging. (And actually written instead of still in their head.)

Critically, because it’s based on the expert’s real knowledge and opinions, the content says something that no one else is really talking about, or that contains genuinely unique insight.

Why can’t we all be thought leaders?

Simply, to be a thought leader, you need to know your subject inside out. You need to have insights that other people don’t have.

As a B2B technology copywriter, I’ve amassed a broad enough knowledge to write confidently about enterprise tech, and translate someone else’s knowledge into a decent piece of copy. With a solid brief, a call, and some desk research, I can soon write in a confident way on even a niche subject. On a good day, I can make the real thought leader look like a writer as well.

But I’m still far from a thought leader in anything.

Without that crucial insight from a real expert, my best content is still only going to be a rehash of views and information that’s already available in the world. It won’t add any value. It’s not thought leadership.

Faux thought leaders: why ultimately, the frauds lose

If a specialist copywriter can produce something decent from their own knowledge, why aren’t people pretending to be thought leaders in the pursuit of new business?

The short answer is, they are. And it’s a really big problem in B2B technology. Faux thought leaders passing themselves off as experts, while copywriters do the leg work of re-presenting old thoughts as if they’re new.

As a result, the internet is awash with blogs and articles which merely repeat what’s already being said. It’s disingenuous, and it contributes to the noise that makes the B2B internet such an annoying place to be.

Happily, though, the phoney thought leaders are usually wasting their money.

Fake thought leadership (the kind without any leading thoughts) is easy to spot. And not only does it reflect badly on the brand or person it represents, but when it comes to actually deliver the goods, they simply can’t.

I’ve got the knowledge, but no time. Help me.

Perfect – that’s what we like to hear. We’ll bet you have a tonne of insight ready to be put down onto paper, and copywriters are here to help.

 

Podcast 68: the best B2B content of 2018

Posted on by Katy Eddy

Alarmingly, the end of the year is upon us.

To avoid thinking about the fact that January is looming, and we haven’t finished writing out our 2018 resolutions, let alone done any of them, we’ve been looking back on just some of the great B2B content this year has had to offer.

In our final episode of Good Copy, Bad Copy for the year, we’ve put together a deeply unscientific top 10 based upon nominations and votes from our esteemed listeners (plus some of our own favourites).

So, here’s to excellent marketing content (and here’s our list of excellent marketing content):

10. Arco: “Be Sure” safety campaign

Fresh from its win for “Best Thought Leadership” at the B2B Marketing Awards, our number 10 is Arco’s “Be Sure” campaign, created with Born + Raised, to make us think a little harder about the fact that not all safety equipment is created equal. You can read more about it here.

Thanks for the nomination, Adam Harper!

9. SI Partners: marcoms agency growth survey

Nominated by Grist’s Andrew Rogerson, number nine goes to the Marcoms Agency Growth Survey by SI Partners.

According to Andrew, it’s a “compelling, research-driven thought-leadership programme” – and we’re inclined to agree.

8. Goldman Sachs: interactive briefing on drones

Rocking up at number eight is Goldman Sachs with its “Drones: Reporting for Work” interactive briefing.

According to Paul Hewerdine of Earnest Agency fame, it’s worth overlooking the company’s “pantomime villain” reputation for content this well-written and visually compelling.

7. Ceros Originals: a decade of Bitcoin

Long-time Radix friend and head of writing at Velocity Partners Harry Kapur has provided us with lucky number seven, Ceros Originals’ “Riches and Regrets: A Decade of Bitcoin What Ifs”.

It’s another of those scrolly infographicy website thingies, which charts the peaks and troughs of the original cryptocurrency with a heap of fun pop culture references. (It’s sadly lacking a CTA, though. Rookie mistake?)

6. Three personal stories

In sixth place is a mildly self-indulgent three-way tie, nominated by our very own David McGuire:

They’re three of the content pieces that most challenged David’s thinking this year (but you’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out how).

 

5. Nokia Bell Labs / Lonelyleap / Reeps One: “We Speak Music”

From Ogilvy’s head of copy Glenn Sturgess comes our mid-point nomination, “We Speak Music” by Lonelyleap and Nokia Bell Labs.

It’s a huge project – a six-part documentary series in the making – about the future of voice. We can’t wait to see it in full.

4. Saxoprint: “Great British Postcard” competition

Rising to the top of a predictably crowded category, “Best Use of Content Marketing” winners Saxoprint and Freestyle’s postcard competition comes in at number four.

With an unexpectedly rock ‘n’ roll endorsement, they boosted the hell out of Saxoprint’s brand awareness on a paid media budget of basically nothing.

 

At the top of the list, things get interesting… with another three-way tie:

=1. Kingpin’s blog post about humour and marketing in B2B

Nominated by Yvonne Deegan and Evelyn van Kelle, “Is humour and marketing the new B2B double act?” from Kingpin is one of our top contenders.

“B2B content can be intelligent, informative and humorous at the same time.” – Yvonne Deegan

=1. LinkedIn’s Britpop-infused content creation story

With a double nomination from Sonja Jefferson and Jane Morrin, Jason Miller’s “How LinkedIn’s Lead Generation Went Supersonic” has got some good weight behind it.

“Always enjoy reading Jason Miller’s work.” – Jane Morrin

=1. Hubspot’s “Conversational Marketing” string

Yet another double nomination – and some cheeky self-promotion – Velocity Partners’ Rutger Frissen and Ogilvy’s Glenn Sturgess have thrown Hubspot’s hyper-visual conversational marketing slideshow into the mix.

“Maybe I’m just the target audience, but it’s got something to say. And the typography, the visualisations, and the format all amplify the message.” – Glenn Sturgess, Ogilvy

So, how to pick a winner?

To hear Fiona’s deciding vote – she is our new CEO, after all – well, you’ll have to listen to the podcast. (And you’ll hear a special, festive bonus: a B2B content poem, read by the amazing Molly Raycraft.)

As if all this wasn’t enough (you lucky things) David finally adds his nomination to the B2B Content Hall of Fame, the Maxon Motor Catalogue. (Bear with us; it’s far more interesting than a catalogue has any right to be.)

Want to contact the show?

We always welcome comments, questions and ideas (particularly if you think there’s excellent content we’ve missed).

You can send them our way via @radixcom on Twitter or [email protected] (or, if you’d like to add your voice to the podcast in a more literal way, you can even email us a voice memo).

How to listen

Credits:

Podcast editing and music by Bang and Smash

The B2B Content Audio Blog #13: how to run a B2B messaging workshop

Posted on by John Kerrison

Successful B2B marketing requires everyone pulling in the same direction: sales, marketing, product specialists… everyone.

Which is why you can’t properly market your brand unless there’s alignment around your key messaging.

We’re increasingly asked to run messaging workshops to help our clients nail down a core set of wording they can use across all their external communications, sales collateral, and training. And this audio blog explains how these messaging workshops work, and why they’re so valuable to the business as a whole.

Hit “play” now to learn:

  • Who you should invite to your workshop
  • What to do before, during and afterwards
  • The key components of a successful messaging framework

“Looks like we got ourselves a reader…”

If you’d prefer to read Fiona’s original blog post for yourself, here’s What happens in a B2B messaging workshop?

This is the end of this podcast season, so if you’d like to keep hearing from us, you’ll want Good Copy, Bad Copy: the B2B Copywriting Podcast. (The next episode drops next week, revealing the best B2B content of 2018.)

How to listen

You can download the episode here, or stream it in the player at the top of the page.

Alternatively, you could subscribe to us on iTunes, or use this RSS feed here. You can also find us on Spotify.

Get in touch

Want to hear a second season of this audio blog? Let us know. Email [email protected], tweet at us, or leave an iTunes review.

Credits

Audio editing: Bang and Smash

Theme tune: “Chinny Reckon” by the Nye Bevans

B2B Content Hall of Fame: the motor catalogue that repositioned a brand

Posted on by The Radix Team

Imagine you make the world’s best electric drives and motors. Your Swiss-engineered precision is legendary, and your powerful, high-value products are used everywhere a tiny motor must never, ever break.

Your customers make Formula One cars. Surgical robots. Sub-sea exploration drills. And you know that Mars rover that was supposed to work for 3 months, but lasted 15 years instead? Yup: loads of your kit on board.

Cool, huh?

But there’s a problem: legendary, Swiss-engineered precision does not come cheap. Or especially quickly. And sitting between you and every mouthwatering engineering project, there’s a purchasing person who doesn’t care two hoots about the longevity of your Neodymium magnets.

No, their KPIs are all about delivery schedules and cost – and there’s no shortage of bargain-basement competitors lining up to sell them an inferior product at a tempting price.

That’s pretty much the problem Maxon Motor faced. Right up until the company’s marketers did something really smart, that cemented the brand at the top of its market.

And at the heart of everything? A product catalogue.

Change the audience, change the outcome

The smart thing Maxon did was to stop trying to convince the purchasers, and talk instead to an audience that really does appreciate the value of a lighter, stronger, tougher motor.

Design engineers.

If you only engage with an engineering project at the buying stage, Maxon realised, a cheaper alternative will clobber you every time. But if you can convince an engineer to build you into their design? It’s a brave purchaser who’ll overrule the technical expert on such a crucial component for the sake of a few cents.

And even if Maxon is not specified overtly, a design based around the company’s motor specifications means that the purchaser now has to find a unit that can deliver this much power, in that tiny space, while reliably withstanding these conditions. Suddenly, you can count the competitors on one hand.

The trick is getting into that design phase – and that’s a content marketing challenge.

Enter the Maxon Motor catalogue.

Product catalogue as content marketing

The first thing you notice when you open a Maxon Motor catalogue (other than the terrifying thud as it almost crushes your desk) is just how little promotional product content there is – for a company with hundreds of thousands of modular combinations, anyway.

That’s because it’s not just a list selling products; it’s a selection guide. And it contains every formula, graph, schematic and circuit diagram a design engineer could possibly need when they’re specifying the right motor for their new product. Torque profiles are discussed. Thermal tolerances explained. Commutation options compared.

At one time, you’d barely see a product for the catalogue’s first 50 pages (Maxon has since shaken up the order a little, but the principle remains).

Because the second thing Maxon realised is this: Maxon’s engineers may live and breathe drives and motors every day, but a customer’s design engineer might specify a motor once a year; maybe less. They’ll have learned the theory at university, but even those who were paying attention will appreciate their memory being refreshed.

Picture the time-honoured content marketing Venn diagram: “stuff the customer is interested in” versus “stuff your brand knows about”. For Maxon, at the time a design engineer is specifying a high-precision motor (the key moment to influence), that diagram’s basically a circle.

You just have to get the content there at the right time. Which is why the format is so clever.

Content that pulls its weight

The Maxon Motor catalogue weighs a tonne. (I haven’t done the science, but I’m willing to bet it’s heavier than any of the products it describes.) For context, its page count is roughly the sames as Dickens’ Great Expectations.

That’s the genius.

Everyone hates to feel marketed to. And design engineers feel that aversion stronger than most. So when someone eschews a flimsy product showcase and sends you a big-off, serious-looking book, full of figures and diagrams? And it’s about something you need to know on a periodic basis?

First thing: the brand clearly gets you. These are people you can deal with.

Second thing: the book stays on your desk. There’s no way you’re losing something that useful. (Besides, think how many forests were beaten to death to bring it to you…)

The book’s size is precisely what enables it to put the content in the right place, at the right time. I have no idea how wince-inducing the postage is to send them out (not to mention the cost of translating 508 pages into eight different languages), but it’s worth every Euro.

And that’s not all. Maxon gives you the CAD drawing for every product in the guide. So when you know the specification you need, you pick up the file, drop it in place, and… BOOM. The design engineer’s life gets a whole lot easier, and suddenly the purchaser has to buy a motor the exact size, shape and capabilities of this Maxon motor. Neat.

You’d better believe this is great B2B content

The more B2B content marketing anchors itself at the mouth of the sales and marketing funnel, the harder it is for buyers to actually make a decision. That benefits nobody.

For years, Maxon Motor’s selection guide has quietly been aligning the brand with its most profitable target audience, by giving them the knowledge they most need, in a format that feels natural, and that customers are glad to receive and keep to hand. And Maxon has dominated its natural target market.

I can think of no more fitting nominee for our B2B Content Hall of Fame.

Whatever happened to the content marketing heroes?

Posted on by The Radix Team

“Whatever happened to all the heroes – all the Shakespearos?
They watched their Rome burn.”

– The Stranglers: No More Heroes

It it just me, or are there fewer examples of brilliant B2B content marketing than there used to be? Am I imagining it, or has the discipline lost a little of its… zing?

I mean, it very well might just be me. I’ve had a long, long summer full of messaging frameworks and delayed trains to and from London. I could be projecting all of that onto the social feeds I’m reading and the work examples I see.

But if it is true, and people are less excited about content marketing, then it’s a problem. Because without advocates – without that fire of enthusiasm – great B2B content is almost impossible to create.

Is content marketing over?

Inevitably, there’s no shortage of contrarians lining up the obituaries for content marketing. Every “next big thing” has its backlash when marketers discover that, contrary to popular assumption, today’s hot tactic is (whisper it) not actually magic.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, here’s a quick recap:

You get the picture: it’s a regular Infinity War. Ironically, it seems the only tactic which isn’t currently dead, is publicly declaring things dead. (Oops, no: my mistake.)

But if content marketing is on the way out, it seems nobody told the users of Google…

Content Marketing Google Trends

Lack of interest is not the problem. Every year, reports on Content Marketing show B2B marketers plan to maintain or increase their expenditure on the tactic.

So there are still loads of marketers, creating tonnes of content. No, the real problem is, how much of it will be great content?

Why “great” matters in B2B content (now more than ever)

It feels weird that I still need to say this. But somebody has to – and lately, it seems the traditional advocates for brilliant B2B content have been a bit quiet.

So here we go again.

If you’re creating B2B content, there’s no such thing as just “good enough”.

Not any more.

There’s a tonne of content out there, competing for your audience’s attention. And every tweak to Google’s algorithm tips the scales further in favour of quality. So assuming you want to be found, and read, and shared, your stuff needs to be different. More engaging. More relevant. More… amazing.

(And that’s backed by evidence, by the way. Orbit Media’s blogging research shows a clear correlation between time invested and strong results. Meanwhile, 83% of respondents in a CMI/Tomorrow People report attribute their increased success to better content production. This stuff works.)

Sure, there are people on social who will just share any old thing where the title looks halfway decent. And yes, you can take lazy aim at a keyword if that’s what floats your boat. But if those things move the needle on your KPIs, then I can tell you now you’re measuring the wrong stuff.

You don’t get “great” without a fight

So here’s the conundrum.

Now more than ever, successful B2B marketing depends upon outstanding, extraordinary, jawdropping content. The kind of content that takes heroes to deliver. What if it’s happening just at the moment those heroes have started to look elsewhere?

If you’re one of the brightest, boldest, most curious marketers, you’re always looking for the next new thing that can push things forward, and give you an edge. You’re naturally a bit bored by things you’ve done before. That’s what makes you tick. Content marketing isn’t shiny anymore.

But that restless streak – the willingness to challenge the status quo – is also an essential part of delivering truly genius content. Content that is…

Unflinchingly helpful, even when it hurts

Great content answers the questions your clients really ask; not just the ones you wish they would. But in They Ask, You Answer, Marcus Sheridan points out just how revolutionary that idea is, because it involves saying things that everyone in your market assumes are unsayable.

So targeted it’s actually a bit scary

In a content-saturated market, pieces that resonate deeply with a tiny, targeted niche will always beat the vague and generic. But convincing stakeholders to keep their focus that precise takes firm conviction, and nerves of steel.

Utterly, uniquely and unmistakeably yours

Fun Boy Three & Bananarama were right. Well, sort of – it’s what you say and the way that you say it. You should be able to cover up the branding on your content, and still know exactly whose it is – otherwise, why would you bother? That might mean pushing your content, or your voice, into territory it hasn’t been before. Speaking plainly. Sounding different from the crowd. Using a massive four-letter word for your title (OK, that last one’s already been done – but seriously, can you imagine anyone but Doug Kessler doing that back in 2013? That’s the point.)

Stuff like that works precisely because it’s a little rebellious. It goes against the grain, and that’s why you notice it. But it doesn’t just happen; it involves a degree of (somewhat calculated) risk. Somewhere along the line, a marketer needs to take a deep breath, and change something.

Can great content EVER be “business as usual”?

And that’s the rub. Content marketing needs rebels, while the approach itself is becoming ever more established. Maybe it’s no coincidence that this is the moment when  some of the biggest content evangelists have started to sell to big business, and enjoy a hard-earned step back.

So now B2B marketers face two choices. You can make your content “business as usual”, streamline your processes, and use efficiency gains to offset gradually diminishing returns. Or you can take that calculated risk, and shake things up.

Because even though content marketing is a mainstream tactic, the most effective B2B content is still a little subversive at heart.

What does that mean? If we can’t have our heroes back, we need some new ones to step up. Marketers who are willing to look at content in a fresh way. To ask what’s possible, and what customers really need, rather than just which boxes need to be ticked this quarter.

The stage is all yours.

“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

– Winston Churchill

B2B Content Hall of Fame: Drawbotics’ hyper-detailed TV office floor plans

Posted on by Katy Eddy

Everyone plays The Sims a little differently.

The Sims, if you’re not familiar, is one of the most popular video game series of all time. It’s a life simulator that lets you create your own people and live vicariously through them as they master skills, start families, become neurosurgeons in a few short minutes, flirt with the Grim Reaper (literally), and do lots of other totally normal human things.

For some people, The Sims is an opportunity to build a sprawling family tree. For others, it’s about finding creative ways to kill your digital darlings – perennial favourites include removing the swimming pool ladder or leaving ‘em in a windowless room.

For people like me, though, the real joy of The Sims is in the gently jazz-soundtracked build/buy mode, where you can pretend you’re on Grand Designs and create an obnoxiously high-spec home for your Sims.

The thing that’s always fascinated me about building in The Sims is the level of detail you can achieve. And so, by way of long, tangential introduction, we come to my nominee for the Radix B2B Content Hall of Fame: real estate marketers Drawbotics’ 2017 blog post, “Your Favorite TV Shows Brought to Life with Amazing 3D Floor Plans”.

The Drawbotics 3D floor plans bring together two of my greatest loves: procrastinating by creating opulent yet impractical buildings in The Sims, and procrastinating by ploughing through an entire season of a TV show in a weekend.

And from a marketing perspective, it does something many brands try – and fail – to do: sell you a product without you even thinking about it.

Marathon-based marketing

Drawbotics’ 3D floor plans of seven of TV’s most famous offices are what you get when you combine countless hours of marathon TV-viewing with over 200 hours of modelling work. They include advertising agency Sterling Cooper of Mad Men fame, and everyone’s favourite NYPD precinct from Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

So, what makes this great B2B content?

Firstly, this isn’t out-and-out marketing – which is refreshing – but it does function as a truly excellent showcase of one of the company’s premium services. Each floor plan is an example of the “Shoebox”: a 3D model of an office, shop or home, which companies can commission to show off their new developments before they’re committed to concrete. As you scroll through the blog, you’re learning about the product without even having to think about it.

It’s all in the detail

Let’s not forget, the good folks of Drawbotics not only dedicated over 200 hours of extracurricular 3D work to this project – they also had to sit through some telly of… shall we say… variable quality. (That first season of Parks and Rec was a little rough around the edges.)

And that commitment is entirely the point.

When I was building my houses in The Sims, the most important thing was the detail inside. The wallpaper, the soft furnishings, even the light fixtures had to be perfect. I used to have so much custom content installed that it took ten minutes for my game to boot. I even had a dedicated folder of carefully curated clutter. Clutter.

The Drawbotics floorplans aren’t just accurate and hyper-detailed; they have loads of easter eggs scattered around the offices for eagle-eyed fans to find, with a couple signposted in the description for the less observant. Notice little details such as Captain Holt’s pride flag from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Leslie Knope’s framed photo of Hillary Clinton from Parks and Recreation, and Harvey Specter’s array of signed basketballs from Suits – and that’s just at a glance. It’s encouraging – and rewarding – engagement on a deeper level than simply scanning the blog, muttering “Huh. Neat.” and going about your day.

Plus, if they’re putting this much work into a side project, it’s probably a fair bet they’ll make the effort for their everyday work, too. And really, what’s a better advertisement for your work ethic than that?

continues below

Subject lines: the secret shortcut into the subconscious

Posted on by Steve George

Everyone knows email subject lines are important. They’re an offer or a teaser that either pulls readers in and intrigues them, or turns them off completely and sends them reaching for the unsubscribe button.

But here’s the big secret: subject lines do so much more than just get your emails opened. Most of the time, they’re the only thing your contact will read. They move the conversation forward – whether the email gets opened or not.

Yes, that goes against everything you’ve probably ever learned about subject lines, but stay with me for a moment. Because even when a subject line is great, most emails these days never get opened. We monitor the open rate, and the unopened majority just gets written off.

Meanwhile, every email we receive hits our pocket and grabs our attention with a smartphone notification – and that means there is huge value to be gained by looking at subject lines as discrete communications in their own right.

When it comes to opening your emails, your contacts get a decision. But, as far as reading subject lines goes, they don’t really opt in, or even make a conscious choice. They just do it. All the time. Day and night.

Taking the shortcut into the subconscious

Chances are, like me, you have hundreds if not thousands of unread emails sat in your inbox, from various companies you’ve engaged with over the years. You’ve grown indifferent to them, rarely opening them, but not going to the effort to unsubscribe from them either.

Think about those companies for a moment, then think about what they’ve said to you recently. Maybe you know that they’re having a sale, that they’re running some kind of contest or other promotion, or that they’ve got a new product launch coming up.

How did you know that? You didn’t go looking for that information, and you certainly didn’t read their emails.

Spooky.

Adding a new ingredient to your subject line soup

So, you’ve made your peace with the fact that the companies you’ve shared your details with are using subject lines as a shortcut into your brain, and we’ve determined that subject lines have intrinsic value as standalone communications.

But what does that mean when we’re writing them?

Even before factoring that new consideration in, your subject lines were doing a lot of heavy lifting. In one way or another, they’re already trying to effectively:

  • Convey the value of opening your email
  • Grab attention without looking like generic clickbait
  • Demonstrate an understanding of your customers’ unique needs
  • Offer something new or insightful without giving everything away upfront

Now, in addition to all of that, you’ve also got the task of ensuring that your subject lines convey a clear message when removed from the context of the email itself.

Here are four quick tips to help you do that (without having to unlearn everything you already know about writing great subject lines):

1: Lead with a single compelling insight/takeaway

Some schools of thought strongly argue that you shouldn’t give your most valuable insight away upfront, because if you do there’s no reason for someone to click through to whatever you’re offering.

I’ve never really agreed with that. If you’re fortunate enough to have something really exciting to share, front-loading it has to be worth serious consideration, at least. Why would you reserve your most important message for just those who open the email – when you already know they’ll likely be the minority?

2: Beware the perils of teasing

Clickbaity subject lines may have worked once upon a time, but today, people know clickbait when they see it. If you create subject lines that purely tease instead of demonstrating value, people that don’t open your email get nothing.

Once you recognise that the people that don’t open your emails are still important contacts, it becomes clear how a dangerous teasing subject line can be. If you consistently provide value, you just might inspire enough interest for them to re-engage. But if you keep giving someone nothing, it won’t take long before they finally do open one of your emails, as they scour it for the unsubscribe button.

3: Personalise the whole subject line (not just their name)

Increasingly, technology allows you to send your contact a tailored email, with strong reasons to click through that are personal to them. So why can’t the same principles be applied in your subject lines?

And I’m not talking about dropping their name and company into a generic title. Your customers provide you with enough data for you to determine what matters to them, so there’s no reason why you can’t lead with a tailored line that really resonates.

4: If your email had an eight-word limit, what would you say?

Emails are a strange beast. Because there’s no real limit on how long or complex they can be, we’re all guilty of not getting to the point quickly enough or spending too long dancing around the big thing we really want people to know or do.

I start any email I write by thinking about what I’d want to say to the customer if I only had eight words to do it. That helps me create subject lines that inspire opens more often – but say what they need to when they’re unopened too.

Say something meaningful, be heard

Seeing your subject lines as discrete communications in and of themselves is important for two big reasons.

Firstly, it’s going to help you communicate with contacts that you’ve long thought of as disengaged and perhaps re-establish your relationship with them.

And secondly, it forces you to look at your subject lines in a completely new way – one that forces you to really consider what value they’re delivering, and whether they actually tell anyone anything.

If you say something meaningful in your subject lines, you’ll be heard – by far more people than your open rates would have you believe.

The who, what, when, and why of B2B messaging workshops

Posted on by John Kerrison

Updated: 4 June 2026

Any time someone writes or speaks for your brand, the words and messages they choose act as a direct reflection of your values, voice, and position in the market. That’s why it’s so important that those people are all singing from the same hymn sheet, whether they’re internal stakeholders or external partners.

So how do you bring everyone together?

Almost any time you encounter consistent and impactful marketing out in the wild, it’s because that work was put in long before the first words hit the page. If your marketing is based on clear, documented, and easily sharable messaging, and that messaging is available to everyone who needs it, then it’s easy to ensure alignment. And that’s the vital foundation a messaging workshop can help you create.

If you’re new to the idea, here’s a quick FAQ to get you started.

Q: Who should be involved in the workshop?

Inconsistent marketing often comes from misaligned opinions, and that’s actually pretty normal. You’re bound to have more than one person with views on what you should communicate to the market. And those views might vary significantly depending on their roles and priorities. The good thing about a workshop is that it brings all those people together in one room to share their views and reach a consensus.

Different people bring different – but equally valid – perspectives to a messaging workshop. A product manager will have a good idea of what’s interesting about the product. A salesperson or consultant will have great insight into the problems customers need help with. A marketing person may have the best knowledge of what competitors offer and how to stand apart from them. Each of these people will have a valuable contribution, but a consensus is often harder to reach if too many people are involved in a conversation. So, try and make sure each of these groups is represented without making life harder for yourself by inviting entire departments.

Q: Do we really need someone to run a workshop for us?

There’s nothing to stop you from running a messaging workshop internally, but the risk is that a lack of an external perspective can have you believing that what you want to say is the same thing as what your customers want (and need) to hear.

What the workshop needs is someone external to perform four functions:

  • Facilitate the session and tease out information that will form the messages
  • Mediate any differences of opinion
  • Challenge any messaging that seems self-serving rather than customer-focused
  • Provide a balanced, external perspective

When Radix runs a messaging workshop, those are the roles we play: facilitator, mediator, constructive critic, and impartial observer.

Q: What happens before the workshop?

Agencies and consultancies run messaging workshops differently, but here’s a rough guide to how Radix does it.

Leading up to the workshop, we’ll arrange a call to understand what you want to achieve and how you plan to use the resulting messaging. A workshop for a specific product may have a completely different goal from a workshop to reposition a brand, for example.

We’ll ask who you plan to invite to the session and what roles they’ll play. And we’ll ask who your main competitors are and whether you have customers we can interview, so we can gain insight into how your market perceives your brand, product, or service.

We’ll also ask about logistics, such as how much time everyone can commit – our standard workshop session is four hours, but we can make it longer or shorter – and which time zones the attendees will be in.

That gives us enough information to create and share an agenda for the workshop and start on our pre-workshop research.

For competitor research, we’ll analyse competitors’ websites to help us collectively determine any differentiators and USPs we can use during the workshop.

For customer research, we’ll ask you to set up short interviews with three or four of your business’s current customers. We’ll talk to those customers about why they chose you, their experience working with you or your product, and where they think your strengths and weaknesses lie.

We’ll present our findings from both of these exercises during the workshop.

Q: What happens in the workshop itself?

Our view is that you’re not creating messages in a vacuum; you want messages that resonate with your target audience.

So we’ll spend time exploring the following:

  • Who your target audience is, and what problems they’re trying to overcome.
  • Whether there are diverse audience personas who might respond to different messaging.
  • The different options your prospects have on the table, and what might spur them to choose your product or service.
  • What you’re selling, what it does, and how it’s better than your competitors’ offerings.

We’ll also press you for proof points: what evidence you have to back up what you’re saying.

Throughout these discussions, we’ll capture everyone’s comments to inform the first draft of your messaging framework.

Q: What’s a messaging framework?

This is the output of the workshop: a document that sets out your key messages for your brand or specific products or services.

The format of the document will vary depending on the scope of your messaging project, but typically it might include the following:

  • An introduction: What the document is for, how it can be used, and by whom.
  • A description of your target persona(s): The people who buy from you, what their responsibilities and motivations are, their buying triggers, and what they’re looking for in a solution or provider.
  • Your value proposition: A succinct summary of the value your brand, product, or service offers to its primary audience.
  • Key messages: The main things you want the audience to know (or feel) about your brand, product, or service. We can supply these as copy blocks you can paste directly into marketing, sales, and PR materials.
  • Supporting messages: Secondary messaging to support the key messages, also as copy blocks.
  • Proof points: Evidence that shows what you’re saying is true, rather than just telling. Things like customer testimonials, analyst quotes, and certifications.
  • Strapline options: Often used as part of the brand mark, the strapline is a concise, memorable expression of your value proposition. We’ll give you at least three options to choose from.
  • Elevator pitches: Hardworking pieces of copy that can be used in slide decks, “About Us” pages, press releases, and LinkedIn profiles to explain succinctly what the brand, product, or service is about. We provide 25-word, 50-word, and 100-word versions for use in different contexts.

Q: How do we finalise the messaging?

With so many contributors, it’s rare for everyone to be delighted with the first draft of the messaging. That’s why we allow for two rounds of edits to the messaging framework, to make sure everything you and your stakeholders want to say comes across.

We give you the time you need to review the first draft. Then we can address your feedback, or hop on a call if we think that will be a quicker route to getting things just right. You could bring your stakeholders to that meeting or collate their feedback in advance. Either way, we’ll take it all on board, ask you any additional questions, and produce a second draft.

The second draft should be very close to the final version. If it’s not quite there, we’ll apply another round of amends to get it ready for you to share with your marketing, sales, and PR teams. We’ll then deliver that final document as a PDF, Word, or PowerPoint – whichever works best for you.

Q: Sounds wonderful – but how much is all this going to cost?

Aha, the million-dollar (not literally, you’ll be relieved to read) question. We find that messaging projects tend to vary in scope, so we don’t have a standard price for one. one. But if you contact our team, we’ll talk you through your options.

And if you’d like to discuss a messaging project with us directly, call us on +44 (0)1326 373592 or email [email protected].