Category: Content Format Tips

Podcast 57: how to write up a B2B marketing event

Posted on by George Reith

Whether it’s a launch party, industry expo, or dinner gala, B2B marketing events happen every day. To get the greatest mileage out of all their hard work, a marketer will often want a copywriter there to capture the day in beautiful prose.

Sounds easy enough. But as a writer, it’s really easy to get this job horribly, horribly wrong.

In this episode of Good Copy, Bad Copy David, Fiona and I share our dos and don’ts for tackling client events, as well as our own personal event successes and horror stories.

Listen now to discover:

  • Why you should always record an event twice
  • How events can make you a much better writer
  • Why it’s essential to capture the ‘feel’ of an event
  • What every writer needs to know before they set off

…and if you want to read the event copywriting blog post I plug so subtly in the conversation, you’ll find that here.

How to listen

You can download the episode here (right-click and “save-as” to download). Or stream the episode in the player at the top of the page.

(Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here. Alternatively, add our RSS to your preferred podcast player.)

Credits

Intro and outro music by Industrial and Marine.

How long should a blog be?

Posted on by George Reith

Blogs began life as “weblogs:” personal pages people used to catalogue their experiences. An intimate, personal and often raw format, businesses quickly began trying to capture this same kind of energy in their own blogs.

But while you can write about how your day went in a few hundred words, you need a lot more page real estate to get into a meaty business technology topic.

So how long can a business blog be before it overstays its welcome? And how long should a blog be to engage your audience?

How long is a piece of string?

Other B2B content formats tend to have strictly defined layouts and lengths. We all have a rough idea how long an email or social media post can be before it becomes unbearably long. And though many marketers often see white papers and ebooks as interchangeable (here’s a guide to help you tell the difference), the general consensus is that these are longer-form pieces of 1,500 words or more.

But the blog? The blog can be a wide range of lengths – and there’s not a lot of agreement on what kind of word count is best for engaging your audience.

What does the research say?

When it comes to engagement, a quick Google will yield a lot of opinion pieces, articles and scientific-looking tables about what size of post is best.

One type of opinion you’ll see regularly is the idea that in the smartphone age attention spans are too low for you to hold attention after a certain number of words. And it seems the blogging community has taken this message to heart, with WordPress CEO Matt Mullenweg claiming that the average WordPress post is just 280 words long.

So, is brevity the soul of blog engagement? The research would beg to differ.

Buffer Social’s study found that blogs got the best engagement at 1,600 words. Other common stats support long-form blogs as better for engagement, and search ranking:

  • On average, top ranked searches have 2,416 words
  • Long content outperforms short-form posts by 40.54%

Despite the numbers being fairly convincing, Rand Fishkin of Moz says we should be careful about taking this data at face value.

After all, the data leaves a lot of questions unasked. Specifically, when it comes to how different length posts rank in search, we need to ask:

  • What set of keywords does this apply to?
  • Will the keywords I use see similar results?
  • Is correlation the same as causation?

I’ll leave the first two questions to the SEO experts out there, but when it comes to correlation and causation: it’s safe to say there’s very little. While long content may be more engaging and rank higher, it doesn’t do those things just because it’s long. If I wrote the word “blob” 600 times, that would be no more or less readable and engaging than if I wrote it 1,500 times.

The depth-length correlation

Long posts tend to engage and rank better, but that’s not necessarily because they’re long. In general, it’s because longer posts will go into greater depth on a topic and (hopefully) be better researched. And we all know a little research and depth goes a long way to creating better content.

The key is in that depth, though. The longer word count merely allows for it. In fact, I’d go as far as to say word count is only earned once the depth is there. Radix’s own creative director David McGuire hit the nail on the head in a recent LinkedIn post, saying “a longer blog post isn’t necessarily better; it just has more words.”

If you were to chart depth against word count on a poorly drawn WordArt graph, it might look something like this:

To summarise this wonky majesty: if you have a lot of depth, you can have a lot of words without turning your blog into a shallow load of waffle.

It’s time to earn your word count

So, the next time you look at an in-progress blog and ask “is this the right length?”, think first about whether it has the right depth to justify that length.

If you’re just putting out a quick opinion piece on a topic, 400 words may be enough. If you’re really going to town on the research though, give yourself permission to break the 1,500-word barrier.

For more copywriting tips, tricks and blogs of varying length, subscribe to our monthly insights email.

Podcast 95: how to write B2B social media content

Posted on by The Radix Team

In this month’s Good Copy, Bad Copy, we’re talking about writing social media copy for B2B brands – how to write it, what tactics work well, and what B2B marketing experts think great social content looks like.

Guest co-host Lorraine Williams, founder of Lighthouse Proofreading (and undisputed Queen of PDF Proofing), joins David to chat about the wonderful world of LinkedIn and the challenges of writing engaging content for a B2B audience.

You’ll also catch an interview with social media marketing guru Luan Wise. An independent marketing consultant and trainer, Luan knows all there is to know about social media marketing (she even runs courses for LinkedIn). Tune in to hear her best writing advice for B2B social content – as well as her recent research study about social media and how it’s changed in the pandemic.

Plus, three top B2B marketers share their favourite examples of great social content – and our very own Ben Philpott provides the copywriting tip of the month.

B2B social content: a sneak peek at Luan’s “what not to do” list

As Luan points out in her interview, social media marketing follows similar rules to any other kind of content – and anything you post needs to adhere to your brand and messaging. That means ensuring your voice is still clear and recognisable, and that you’re writing towards the right audience.

But along with these tips, Luan shares a few mistakes you should be careful to avoid:

  • Don’t forget your call to action: You’re posting on social media to be social – so don’t forget to involve your reader in some way.
  • Don’t go silent for weeks on end: Being consistently present is key to being great at B2B social media – so don’t just leave all your posting for a quiet month.
  • Don’t publish clickbait or fake headlines: The clearer you are, the more your readers will care about what you have to say.
  • Don’t overthink it: Plan out your social media strategy, then make posting a habit.

You can absorb more of Luan’s wisdom by (you guessed it) listening to the podcast, where you’ll also catch David and Lorraine talking about their own tips and tricks.

And be sure to check out Luan’s website for info on all the courses she runs, and a ton of free resources.

In this episode, you’ll find…

00.50 – (Enter stage left) Introducing this week’s co-host, Lorraine Williams

02.44 – Luan Wise spills the secrets of writing great social media content for B2B

22.31 – David and Lorraine chat about the joys and perils of writing for LinkedIn

35:35 – Three B2B experts share their favourite social media content

43:13 – Copywriting tip of the month, by our own Ben P

Anything you love or hate about this podcast? 

We’d love to chat about it. You can contact us through @radixcom on Twitter or [email protected]. Or, if you’re feeling fancy, just send us a voice memo with what you want to say – we might even feature it next month.

As ever, if you’d like to leave us a review on your listening platform of choice, that’s always a bonus.

How to listen 

Credits 

  • A massive thank you to Luan Wise for letting us pick your brain about all things social media. We really appreciate your time and insights.
  • Thanks also to everyone who joined in the discussion about B2B social content on Propolis and LinkedIn – especially this month’s featured commenters: Dan Smith, Kate Roe, and Yvonne Deegan. Y’all rock.
  • Thanks to Ben for the copywriting tip of the month, and of course a big thanks to Lorraine for being an awesome co-host, and an exceptional LinkedIn-er. It was great to hear your social media secrets (btw, here at Radix we’re firmly camp Hula Hoop).
  • Podcast editing and music by Bang and Smash.

Podcast 94: how to write great content for ABM (now that *everyone* is doing it)

Posted on by The Radix Team

This month’s episode of Good Copy, Bad Copy is about how to write Account-Based Marketing (ABM) conhttps://radix-communications.com/type/podcasts/tent that sticks.

I’ve been in this B2B technology copywriting business for a few years now, and I can think of few approaches that have flourished in that time as much as ABM. Everybody is doing it, and it’s easy to see why: when it works, it *really* works.

But that also means ABM content needs to work harder than ever to make an impression. And that’s why we’re delighted to have Rhiannon Blackwell, head of ABM for Europe at Accenture, join us to share her expert insights into what content actually works.

Radix consultant writer George Reith joins David as guest co-host, to discuss his own experiences – as well as the ABM challenges cited most by our lovely B2B friends on LinkedIn and Propolis.

Plus, senior copywriter Katy shares a 20-second writing tip, and a CX Manager takes on the Anonymous Five.

“ABM is for life. Not just for Christmas.”

Those are the first words you’ll hear from Rhiannon in this month’s episode. (Sure, it’s March, but it’s the sentiment that counts.) You see, the meteoric rise of ABM is more than just another fad; it’s arguably the future of B2B marketing.

But how do you do it well?

Drawing on years of experience, Rhiannon tells us:

  • How to get people to listen to *you* and not just see your ABM content as the output of a faceless brand
  • Why your clients must recognise themselves in your ABM content – and the importance of applying personal insights
  • What effective ABM content really looks like and why you should never tell your audience how to suck eggs

In this episode, you’ll find…

02.30 – An expert’s view on ABM content: our interview with Rhiannon Blackwell

22.30 – George and David discuss the interview and how George’s ABM experiences compare

34.30 – The LinkedIn and Propolis communities share their own ABM challenges

45.25 – The Anonymous Five: a Customer Experience Manager talks job misconceptions and reveals why generational stereotypes are rarely helpful

Anything you loved in this episode?

Tweet us at @radixcom on Twitter or fire a message over to [email protected].

Should you want to share the mic (albeit remotely) with David on a future episode, send us a voice memo with your comment, question, or 20-second writing tip.

How to listen:

Credits:

A huge thanks to Rhiannon Blackwell for joining us despite being on the cusp of maternity leave (and congratulations on the arrival of baby Ivor!).

Thanks also to our correspondents on Propolis and LinkedIn: Shikha Saxena, Fiona Campbell-Howes (Hi, Fiona!), and Scott Stockwell. We loved sharing your perspectives.

And of course, we’re indebted to our mystery CX Manager (we’ve made a donation to the Myton hospices on your behalf), and to Katy for supplying our inaugural copywriting tip of the month.

Podcast editing and music by Bang and Smash.

Podcast 85: B2B blog writing statistics – what’s changed, and why?

Posted on by The Radix Team

In this month’s Good Copy, Bad Copy, we’re looking at not one, but two recent reports into the current attitudes and trends driving B2B blog writing.

With the publication of the 2020 Content Marketing Institute (CMI) benchmarking report, it’s clear that marketers no longer malign blogging the same way they did back in the dark days of… *checks calendar* …oh yes, the mid-2010s.

Back then, blogs were often seen as a quick, cheap, and easy SEO tactic. In the equivalent CMI report from 2016, only 59% of B2B marketers considered them effective – ranking the format behind events, webinars, case studies, white papers, videos, research reports, and email newsletters.

But attitudes have shifted. Today, 89% of B2B marketers publish blogs, and it’s considered the highest-performing format for brand awareness, and the second-highest for lead nurture.

What’s behind the renaissance in B2B blog writing?

To try and explain what’s happening, and frame our own recent experiences writing blogs for B2B tech clients, David and Katy unpack the 2019 Orbit Media report How Has Blogging Changed?

The results are fascinating, and do much to verify that in 2020, blogs are a vital source of informed, long-lasting, and practical content.

Basically, blogs got better.

Here’s a sample of some of the stats that made us feel warm and fuzzy inside (and a couple that didn’t – we’ll let you guess which):

  • The average blog post is 1,236 words long – 56% longer than in 2014
  • 77% of marketers published “how-to” articles in the last 12 months
  • The average blog post takes 3 hours and 57 minutes to write
  • 75% of bloggers who report “strong results” include 10+ images per article
  • 51% of bloggers say their blog delivers strong marketing results

The Anonymous Five:  IT Procurement Manager

This episode also sees a welcome return for our “Anonymous Five” feature – giving a warts-and-all glimpse into the real-life experiences behind common B2B marketing personas.

This month, we talk to a senior IT procurement manager at a leading British technology retailer, and their nominated charity is Sebastian’s Action Trust.

If there are other roles you’d like to see us cover (or if you know someone who’d exchange some honest views for a charity donation), do drop us a line. We’re on [email protected].

Here’s what you’ll find when in Episode 85…

2:30 – 89% of marketers now use the blog format, so what’s happening?

7:30 – Is it ever smart to rely solely on yourself for blog proofing? (Spoiler: no)

12:30 – Katy and David unpack the Orbit Media 2019 blogging report – debate ensues

24:15 – The return of the Anonymous Five, this time with a senior IT procurement manager at a leading technology retailer

Send us your feedback, thoughts, cries for help…

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

How to listen 

Credits 

Podcast editing and music by Bang and Smash

Podcast 71: how to write B2B social media content

Posted on by The Radix Team

Ah, social media. Everyone’s doing it, but – in B2B marketing, at least – it seems there are still precious few brands doing it very well.

From a copywriting point of view, social is too often an afterthought. Instead of a nuanced, two-way conversation, pre-created content gets blasted out to anyone who wants to read it, in a post desperate to attract any kind of engagement from the widest possible audience.

In this episode of Good Copy, Bad Copy: the B2B Copywriting Podcast, social media expert Kate Stoodley of New York-based Comment Ground explains why that’s precisely the wrong approach.

Where social ends, and content begins

Give the episode a listen, and you’ll hear Kate tell us:

  • Why, just because you can put content on social, doesn’t mean you should
  • How to decide what to publish on LinkedIn, and what goes on your blog
  • Where Facebook and Instagram fit into the B2B mix
  • The hallmarks of great B2B social content
  • The case for going beyond your competitors, and putting a point of view

How to keep up with social media change

We’re not going to lie; we were pretty relieved when Kate admitted that even social media gurus struggle to keep on top of all the changing formats and specifications. Here are the resources she recommended:

Name that chair

Here’s the awesome new/old Eames chair Fiona was talking about in this episode:

Our lovely new old Eames chair

To name it, drop us a line to [email protected], or tweet us using the hashtag #NameThatChair.

(Thanks to our lovely new account manager Phil for the badass photo skills.)

Add your voice to the podcast

We always 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.

Podcast 59: writing email subject lines, B2B InTech 2018

Posted on by The Radix Team

Here’s a simple fact. Your B2B marketing email can be as good as you want, and if your subject line’s no good, nobody will read it.

But here’s where things get really meta… even if your subject line is brilliant, two thirds of your audience are still not going to open your email. That means, most of the time, the subject line and preview text is the only part that will reliably get read.

We tend to think of subject lines as a functional thing, just to get the email opened. But more often than not, they’re all the copy you’ve got.

In this episode of Good Copy, Bad Copy: The B2B Copywriting Podcast, we’re joined by senior copywriter and content lead Steve George, who’ll share:

  • His five go-to approaches for B2B email subject lines
  • How mobile usage is affecting subject line copywriting (in more ways than you think)
  • Why we might need to think differently about what a subject line is for
  • Whether his choice of hat makes a difference to voice and tone

You can also hear our special report from B2B InTech 2018, where we’ll recap favourite sessions, and talk to senior tech marketers, like Scott Stockwell of IBM’s Watson IoT and Malin Liden from SAP, about what they got out of the day.

Want to contact the show?

We want to hear from you. You’ll find us on Twitter… or feel free to send your thoughts, jokes, questions, suggestions, complaints or hat recommendations to [email protected] (better still, email us a voice memo).

Next month, we’ll be talking about what you can expect from a messaging workshop, and inducting the first member to our B2B Content Hall of Fame. 

 

Ways to listen…

You can download the episode here (right-click and “save-as” to download). Or stream the episode in the player at the top of the page.

(Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here. Alternatively, add our RSS to your preferred podcast player.)

 

Credits:

Thanks to Scott Stockwell, Sinead, Lukas, Laura Sutton, Malin Liden and Alysha Ferris for allowing David to interrupt your day, and speaking with such clarity.

Audio editing and music by Bang and Smash.

 

Podcast 48: B2B blogging keeps changing – so how do you write a good post?

Posted on by The Radix Team

Blogs are one of the most-used content tactics by B2B marketers, according to research by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs. (In fact, they’re the second most used.)

And guess what? Here at Radix, we wrote more blog posts in 2016 than any other content format.

Blogging is still big in business to business marketing – but things are changing, fast. In our recent #b2bcopychat, some people were noticing a trend for longer, better-researched blogs… while others had heard whispers that the format might be dying out.

Which is true – or could it even be both? Join Fiona, David and me as we discuss why blogs play such a huge role in B2B marketing, and how to write blog posts that readers will want to engage with.

Listen in now and find out:

  • Why blogs are such a versatile format
  • Why they’re getting longer, better, and more expensive
  • The importance of quality, and niches
  • Our top tips for writing quality blog posts
  • … and more

You can download the episode here (right-click and “save-as” to download). Or stream the episode in the player at the top of the page.

(Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here. Alternatively, add our RSS to your preferred podcast player.)

Notes from this episode…

Want to know what a present participle is? Then check out this explanation over on Grammar Monster.

Thanks to Paul Hewerdine of Earnest, and the #b2bcopychat gang for their input to this episode.

Music by Industrial and Marine.

How to write an awards entry (and win*)

Posted on by The Radix Team

Ah, January. That strange post-Christmas period where B2B copywriters relearn how to juggle briefs like we’re in some kind of crazed copy circus, all while abstaining from things that we love. But hey, at least we’ve got awards season to look forward to.

And entering? Surely all it takes is to read the questions and have a wee gush about how great you are?

If only it was so easy.

Here at Radix towers, we’re flattered to have had our share of success writing clients’ awards entries. (Heck, we’ve even been nominated and won before in our own right, too.) And with deadlines looming, we thought it made sense to share a little of our secret sauce. Anyone can answer a question, but what does it take to actually win?

From our experience, it generally pays to be mindful of the following…

Knockin’ the judges dead (metaphorically, with words)

1. Stay on point.

Typically, you only have so many words to tell the judge why your candidate is so deserving of the award. Wasting time talking about how good Steve is at Magic: The Gathering wouldn’t win any us any favours – so we don’t (we’d need a lot more than 300 words for that, anyway).

Instead, we prioritise what makes our entry so unique, ground-breaking, and interesting – and present it proudly, right at the start. (With persuasive language, in an active voice.)

2. Provide evidence. For everything.

Our clients may love what we do, but if we can’t back up our grandiose claims with cold, hard stats, then we stick to the humble truth. If we are indeed the best (perhaps even the only) specialised B2B tech copywriting agency in the South West, then you can bet we’ll have the data to prove it. Nobody likes a blagger.

Wild, unsubstantiated statements undermine the credibility of everything else in your entry. So if you can’t prove it, don’t say it.

3. Tell a compelling story.

Who wants to read endless lines of self-congratulatory guff? OK, it may be the judge’s job to do exactly that, but let’s cut them some slack. Instead, we tell a compelling story that’ll seize their attention and keep them on our side.

Especially if you know the judging process includes a committee discussion, it pays to have a succinct, powerful “THIS is the one who did THAT”.

Of course, it’s still important to articulate why the candidate is so damn great, so it pays to break it down into a digestible beginning, middle, and end. For example: What objectives were set? How were these objectives met? And what super-amazing things happened as a result?

The judge needs to be able to describe exactly why you should win, in two seconds flat.

4. Mind the marking scheme.

The more we know about how the decisions are made, the better.

Sometimes, it’s obvious. If a question is worth double points, that’s the one where we really set our stall out. Often this means getting tactical; we may be itching to talk about a particularly juicy project, but in many cases, it pays to reserve the big guns for the highest-scoring questions.

If the scoring process is mostly numerical (each answer is scored out of ten, or five) then it’s a question of marginal gains: finding enough relevant things to say in each one, to gain a one-mark edge here or there.

But if it’s a group of people discussing each entry around a table, then it’s wiser to take the best shot as early in the entry as possible. It’s simple behavioural science: if they get a feeling early on that this entry is a good one, they’ll then see every subsequent point as a confirmation.

5. Check, check, and check again…

Slinging a first draft off for consideration may be tempting (gotta hit that deadline), but chances are we’d just secure a fast-track to the recycle bin. At Radix, we value quality – no rush jobs, no jargon, and no wince-inducing typos. It’s not like there are points for good grammar and spelling, but if it comes down to a gut decision, you need to look like a contender.

So we proof, we ask for a second opinion, we proof again… and then maybe (just maybe), we send.

[Editor’s note: it is an inescapable truth that the copywriting gods will now punish us for our hubris, and you’ll spot a typo in this blog post in the next three seconds. We can only apologise; such ancient and mischievous forces are beyond our control.]

The clock is ticking.

Most importantly, you do actually have to meet the entry deadline. (Yes, we know most awards end up extending the deadline “by popular demand” *cough* but you can’t rely on that.)

It’s not uncommon for an awards entry to run to 2,000 words or more. So if it’s going to be good, you do need to book out a fair chunk of time.

(Of course, nobody does… which might just be why a certain B2B copywriting agency finds late January tends to bring a sudden influx of urgent awards entries to write. Having ten writers in a room does mean we can turn things around pretty fast.)

If you have any questions about this post, or you’d like some help from Radix in hitting your own scary deadline, just get in touch at [email protected]

—

* Radix Communications Ltd cannot guarantee that you will win an award. Obviously. But by reading this far you have already won our esteem and our thanks. Well done you.