Category: Content Marketing

What content marketing trends will define 2021? Here are five things the data tells us…

Posted on by The Radix Team

Safe to say, 2020 did not go to plan. Like nearly every other industry, B2B tech had to adapt and pivot quickly – with marketers adapting content strategies, changing messaging, and finding new ways to reach audiences at home.

(Of the 79% of B2B marketers with a content strategy, 70% had to make major or moderate adjustments to it due to the pandemic.)

And while 2021 appears to be getting off to a similar start in terms of lockdowns and COVID cases, we can at least use last year’s lessons to shape this year’s plans.

So how has the pandemic really impacted the landscape of content marketing? As organisations race to become more digital, what content types are leading the way – and which are beginning to trail behind? What are B2B content marketing’s “must haves” in this strange new world of 2021?

Strap yourself in; we’re going to find out.

From the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) benchmarking report, to Orbit Media’s blogging survey, we’ve dived into the data to give you a snapshot of how B2B content marketing changed in 2020 – and the trends that look likely to define 2021. (Of course, if 2020 taught us anything, it’s that nobody can be 100% sure what the future will bring. But we can make a few educated guesses.)

Here are five themes you might want to think about this year…

1. Your community is key (as long as your content is value-packed)

CMI’s latest benchmarking report asked B2B content marketers about their success in 2020. And for the top performers, a key focus was on establishing and nurturing a loyal digital audience.

Nearly half (42%) of the most successful respondents said they have established an online community. In direct comparison, only 21% of the least successful said the same. So, as remote working continues and business becomes increasingly digital, focusing on strengthening your relationship with your existing audience could be key.

Providing value-laden content – especially on your website or blog – is a big part of making this happen. 73% of the top performers said they had used content marketing to successfully nurture their community of subscribers, audiences and leads. And in the same group, respondents cited the value their content provides as the most important factor in their success (83%).

2. Video content is on the up… and up and up

There’s a running joke at Radix that every year since 2013 has been declared the year of video content. But now, in the age of Netflix and Amazon Prime, the evidence shows it could actually be happening.

In 2020, video content marketing really boomed. With face-to-face events cancelled, virtual events like webinars offered an attractive alternative, with use increasing to 67%. YouTube use has also increased significantly. It’s an easy way to produce accessible, engaging content, and 62% of marketers are now using it.

And for those brave enough, livestreaming content (such as Q&As or product demonstrations) offers huge potential to provide value to customers and build up your online community. You can connect with your audience in real time, with a direct line of contact to individual decision makers, and answer the actual questions they may have. Plus, if you have an adorable child or dog interrupt you, you might even go viral (I know, I know; it’s not B2B content. I just love it).

In fact, the proportion of marketers livestreaming content has more than doubled over the past year, from only 10% to 29%. A figure that will likely grow in 2021, especially with nearly a third (29%) of B2B marketing executives saying that they won’t place such a big emphasis on face-to-face events following the pandemic.

We even had a crack at livestreaming ourselves, with our B2B Content Tuesdays webinar and Q&A series, now available as a YouTube playlist and in blog form. Next, I’m trying to convince David to take on TikTok, so get ready for a series of B2B themed dances…

[Give it up, Lizzie; it’s never going to happen. – D]

3. Blogs are still on top – but make them longer, and more visual

However popular video content becomes, it has some way to go before it dethrones our favourite content type: the humble blog.

According to Orbit Media’s annual blogging survey, 78% of marketers see results from their blogs – with 1 in 4 reporting “strong results”. But with nearly 31 million bloggers online, and 94% of B2B marketers using the format, it can be difficult to be heard. Luckily, the Orbit Media report has boundless depths of data. So, I dived into their survey results, to find out how you can stand out in 2021:

  • You may need to write more. The average word count is now 1,269, and the majority of bloggers (54%) who write 3000+ word articles see strong results. (Only 19% bloggers writing 500-1000 words, can say the same.)
  • Your audience may respond better if you keep your piece visual. Only 3% add more than ten images, but 34% of those that do report high levels of success.
  • Write a couple of headlines. Then write a few more. Bloggers who write between 11-19 see the best results, but that’s a lot to ask. According to Orbit, writing seven or more is enough to boost your success rate.
  • Spend more time on your posts. The longer you spend on a blog post, the more success you are likely to have. Bloggers who write for over six hours are significantly more likely to see better results. (Great news for me, considering I’ve been compiling this piece since November 2020.)

You can find more stats from Orbit Media here, or if you’re looking for a handy guide to blogging, take a look at our crash course to B2B blog writing.

4. Use the same SEO tools, but with a new approach

According to CMI, the top editorial tools B2B organisations use to assist content marketing are much the same as last year. A huge number of B2B marketers (78%) use keyword research tools for search engine optimization (SEO) during the content creation process.

But how can you ensure effective SEO in 2021? According to Search Engine Journal, which spoke to 42 of the top SEO professionals, there are a few trends you should really be following:

  • Really, actually, focus on user and search intent. Search intent is always in flux, and after a year of such dramatic changes, this is truer than ever. So aggregate data from the searches your customers are making. Delve into Google Search Console keyword data, with common question modifiers, to find out what your customers are asking. Then cater to those topics.
  • Make sure your content and website perform well on mobile. We may as well face it: phones run our lives. And even for B2B customers, it’s where a lot of searches happen. With remote working here to stay, you need to make mobile device UX a top priority for your SEO this year.
  • Consistently publish long-form content. As you can see in the Orbit Media blogging survey, longer posts (2,000 words or more) consistently provide better results for B2B content marketers. But they’re also great for SEO – appealing to Google’s E-A-T guidelines, and helping you boost your rankings.
  • Make your content more interactive. Research carried out by Lumen Research for Turtl found that an interactive format is 73% more engaging for readers than a static document. Readers even found key messages more compelling, so including interactive elements could be an easy way to deliver more value to readers.

And there’s a whole world of other SEO trends to follow in 2021 – here’s a link down the rabbit hole.

5. It’s all about big (big) picture trends

Looking at short-term trends is useful, but it also pays to keep the big picture in mind. Helpfully, The B2B Institute at LinkedIn has highlighted some of the macro trends likely to dominate B2B content marketing until (at least) 2030:

Invest in long-term brand building

In the 2030 trends report, the B2B Institute discusses two types of marketing – sales activation, and brand building. The latter compounds over time, which can help you generate long-term growth and demand, so it’s important to focus on a 50/50 split to maximise growth.

In these days of measurable ROI, many brands just focus on marketing to sell, which can lead to overinvesting in lead generation. But the tide is already beginning to turn. Brand building is on the up again, and the data tells us why. For one example, when you expose B2B buyers to brand marketing, their response rates to sales InMail messages increase 150%.

Blockbuster marketing

The B2B Institute notes that creativity is one of the most important variables in marketing success, and this is just as true in B2B content. According to their research, a strong creative can multiply the financial returns of a marketing campaign by a factor of 12 (that’s right: 1200%).

To see how this worked in practice, they grabbed all the data they could about Disney’s creative marketing decisions, and have developed some “probabilistic principles” to follow when developing great creative.

You could “Bet Big”, and go all-in on a massive campaign, to really get yourself seen. Or follow the “Extreme Distinctiveness” principle, where you make yourself so unique, you’re instantly recognisable. And it all boils down to this algorithm:

Creative Success = (Big Bets) On (Familiar Stories) With (Distinctive Styles) In (Every Channel).

You can find the rest of the 2030 trends report here – it’s really interesting stuff.

2021, here you come

2021 might see you completely transform your content marketing strategy, or just add an extra couple of hundred words to your blogs. Either way, it’s important to make changes that respond to the new ways your audiences are working now, and the contexts where B2B decisions get made. Hopefully these insights give you some food for thought.

Fingers crossed, by the time 2030 rolls around we’ll be able to visit the pub again.

Podcast 92: writing B2B content for telecoms (and other changing sectors)

Posted on by The Radix Team

This month’s episode of Good Copy, Bad Copy focuses on the changing role of content in the telecommunications sector – and what other B2B marketers can learn from it.

The pandemic has had a seismic impact on B2B telecoms, with brands moving fast to accommodate the stampede to home working. But even before that, the market’s major players were moving away from just selling connectivity to a wider range of more strategic services. And their content was playing a big role.

Our guest co-host, Radix Consultant Writer George Reith, joins David to get to the bottom of that change – and what it means for content marketing.

David is also joined by Sarah Zammit, Business Marketing Specialist at GO plc – Malta’s biggest internet, TV, and mobile provider. Sarah gives her view from the B2B telecoms marketing frontline, including the shift to selling new kinds of products and expertise, and how this has affected the way marketers position their content.

How do you earn the right to change?

Change has always been at the heart of telecoms. New technologies enter the market, customers’ priorities evolve… and right in the middle is the content marketer who’s tasked with making sense of it all.

But for some organisations, the COVID-19 pandemic compressed five-year digital transformation ambitions into a matter of weeks, and their telcos had to keep up. Sarah explains how B2B organisations had to adapt their marketing twice – first to meet the immediate crisis, and then to help audiences adjust to the new reality.

In the interview, Sarah also discusses:

  • How telecoms breeds agile marketers – who have to deal with constant shifts in technology and business strategy
  • Why telcos need to earn the right to reposition – and how marketers can achieve this through content
  • How marketers can get up to speed with new tech – and how Sarah works with experts in her team to distil technical concepts into digestible content

Following their chat, George reveals his take on creating marketing content for telecoms as an outsourced copywriter. He concludes that while telecoms has unique marketing challenges, much of the way the industry tackles change can apply to other sectors too.

In this episode, you’ll find…

03.44 – Marketing is a process of constant education: an interview with Sarah Zammit

17.51 – George and David discuss the key takeaways from Sarah’s discussion, including how good B2B content can help brands move up the value curve

25.15 – How experts and third-party contributors can help establish authority in a new subject area

30.09 – George shares some unconventional tips you can use to get up to speed quickly on challenging technical concepts

We really want to hear from you

If there’s anything you’d like to hear more about on the podcast (or even things you don’t), contact us through @radixcom on Twitter or [email protected].

You can even get on the podcast yourself – just send us a voice memo with what you want to say.

How to listen 

Credits 

Thanks once again to Sarah Zammit for giving us an insider’s perspective on the state of telecoms marketing today – here’s to it being completely different tomorrow! And we’re forever grateful to George Reith for his invaluable ‘on the ground’ insight.

Podcast editing and music by Bang and Smash

Podcast 91: the Best B2B Content of 2020

Posted on by The Radix Team

Our final Good Copy, Bad Copy of 2020 is an extra special one. It’s our third annual Best B2B Content roundup – when we reveal what you’ve voted as the best content of the year.

And this year, through the joys of Zoom, David’s joined by an international panel of B2B marketing experts to discuss the results.

Meet our expert panel of B2B marketing all-stars

We know we’re biased, but this year, our best content shortlist has it all. There’s brutal honesty. There’s outrage. There’s celebration. There are surprises. There are insights from industry leaders. And there’s a whole load of fantastic B2B content to talk about.

You can can see all the nominees in more detail here.

Plus, you’ll hear from our all-star panel on the B2B marketing trends that have dominated 2020, their top predictions and tips for the B2B content that could define 2021 – and why B2B content is such a level playing field.

So who have you voted the winner? You’ll have to listen to find out…

In this episode, you’ll find:

00.33 – Meet our all-star panel of B2B marketing experts

05:20 – 2020 in review: how do you make B2B content in a year like that?

12:05 – Our countdown begins: places 10-6

20:27 – We reveal places 5-2, including this year’s runner-up

44:26 – Honorary mentions: the content that didn’t quite make the top 10

46:18 – We reveal what you voted this year’s best B2B content

49:50 – Hear our panellist’s tips and predictions for B2B content in 2021

Tell us your joy, despair or outrage at the results…

Contact us through @radixcom on Twitter or [email protected] (you could even send us a voice memo).

How to listen 

Credits 

Hearty congratulations to our finalists, and a big thank you to everyone who sent in audio, nominations, or voted: Emily King, Doug Kessler, Joel Harrison, Paul Hewerdine, Giles Shorthouse, André Spiteri, Andrew Last, Eman Malik and so many more. We had an absolute blast looking through them all.

And thank you so much to the ABBA of B2B copy – our wonderful panel of experts. Maureen Blandford, Harry Kapur, Karla Rivershaw and Lasse Lund, it was great to hear your round up of the longest year ­ever, find out your honest opinions on our finalists, and get an idea of what’s coming up next. You should do this for a living.

Podcast editing, music, and festive sparkle by Bang and Smash.

A quick guide to ebooks and white papers | B2B Content Tuesday

Posted on by The Radix Team

White papers and ebooks are a staple in every B2B content marketer’s repertoire. And although the two formats serve slightly different purposes, the terms are often used interchangeably. Our senior writer John Kerrison  memorably dubbed them “the content version of Nick Nolte and Gary Busey” – distinctly different, yet often confused.

(If you want to find out more about these formats, we’ve written a few pieces about their differences, how to write them, and where they should fit in your content marketing strategy.)

But with a host of new content formats emerging – from new PDF alternatives like Turtl to longer, more interactive blog posts – the role of ebooks and white papers are changing. Although still strong, they’re possibly not the catch-all choice they once were. And that has implications for content creators.

So, as part of our B2B Content Tuesdays webinar series, David shared his top tips for writing white papers and ebooks for today’s readers – highlighting what they expect, how to deliver it, and a few critical questions to ask yourself before you publish. Then he answered some popular questions on ebook and white paper writing.

You can watch the session in full at the bottom of this page, or read this summary…

A modern ebook, for a modern age

Once the prettiest sibling of the long content formats, the ebook is changing somewhat as new formats emerge. Attention is harder to come by – so to lock your readers in, you need to demonstrate clear value, right away.

The title and subheader will do a lot of that heavy lifting. If you introduce the value right from the off, it’s more likely the right reader will engage. They can see exactly what they will get from the resource, so will be happier to spend their precious time reading it.

The introduction is also a crucial time to build rapport with your reader. As formats become more interactive and engaging, there’s no room for stuffy writing (not that there ever was). Instead, stick to snappy, clear copy, which shows you understand their challenges and clearly sets out how they will benefit from investing their time.

As you continue, don’t make your sections daunting. Instead, move quickly through sections of around 300 words, perhaps across two pages, leaving room for the designer to implement boxouts, quotes and even videos.

Every section should be easily scannable and follow a linear story. After all, your reader may not have the time to commit to fully reading it. With clear sections – and headers that provide summaries and interpretations of the contents – even the quickest of flick-throughs can be valuable.

And if you can, think of each section as a story in its own right, which can be atomised into smaller content pieces. A big ebook, for example, could be the foundation for three or four spinoff promotional blogs. And rich media can be linked in and out – spreading across the internet a whole lot faster than a denser block of ebook copy.

The new rules of writing white papers

White papers have never been a format known for bold design choices, so they haven’t changed as significantly with the rise of new content formats. However, as content marketing has become increasingly popular, there’s a deluge of white papers out there now – many of them gated, and many not delivering value.

This combination has created a lack of trust for many readers. After all, no-one wants to sit down to read an in-depth piece, only to find it’s just repurposed desk research, or purely focused on selling them something.

So, you need to make it clear what your reader will learn from your white paper: the problem it will solve, and how it will help them to do that. Start by being clear and upfront, addressing a specific person, and their particular real-world challenge.

Then, make the information you’re offering easily accessible. Traditionally, white papers include plenty of statistics, advice and information, but this needs to be easy to get to – not hidden halfway down a paragraph. Once again, using informative, clear subheaders is vital, summarising rather than describing the content.

However, not all traditions are helpful. Where white papers are typically written in a very formal, academic way, this can turn your readers off. Although you may be writing about complicated technical specifics, there’s no reason for your writing to be overly complex.

Using the technical jargon of your reader – their language, if you like – is important, but using simple sentence structure, preferring the active voice, and avoiding buzzwords will make your content infinitely more enjoyable to read, and that’s never a bad thing. We’ve even written a whole blog about it.

And finally, three key questions to ask yourself:

What does my reader need?

Think about your reader. What do they need? What challenges are they facing? Are you being targeted and realistic about who your audience is? Will they have the time?

Is this the right format?

Take the time to consider your options. Will this be printed, or viewed online? Are you able to break down the information into scannable pieces? Can it be atomised into smaller chunks?

Am I providing value?

Make sure you’re producing something genuinely helpful, that delivers results. Can they find this out anywhere else? Do you need more research or subject matter expertise? What sections are most important – and what do you need to measure? Is it readable? Has it been reviewed thoroughly?

Your ebook and white paper questions answered

Q: How do I measure the success of my white paper or ebook?

David: “As a writer, finding out how successful your copy is can be a challenge. At that stage of the funnel, a lot of what we hear from clients is anecdotal. They’ll mention when the leads start coming through, or the white paper starts to play an active role in the sales process, as a conversation starter.

“There are likely plenty of other ways to measure how successful your work is though. If you have any suggestions, tweet us at @Radixcom – and be sure to use the #b2btuesdays hashtag.”

Q: How important is it that readers read the whole white paper?

David: “Let’s be brutally honest: even for a professional white paper writer, you’re unlikely to get people to read every word. But, from a writer’s perspective, being realistic about that fact is a really important part of the process, and a guide to how you should structure the piece.

“For example, because most readers will just skim through, your headers should help deliver the message. Subheadings shouldn’t just say ‘Conclusions’ or ‘Objectives’ – they should actually summarise the information.

“Then, your reader can get through the logical narrative quickly. Even without reading all the text, they can still find the resource valuable. You’re telling the story in the headers, then the dense stuff that makes up the content really acts as supporting information for each stage of the story.”

Q: Can you recommend any other platforms similar to Turtl?

David: “Turtl has been a real eye-opener. We used it ourselves for the Barriers to Great B2B Content survey we created earlier this year, and it was great – the process was really easy. I definitely recommend looking into it if your budget will allow it. And they’re lovely, helpful people.

“As for other platforms, SlideShare can still be useful. Embedding them on LinkedIn – portrait rather than landscape – can give your readers something to flick through with a clear narrative story.

“Velocity Partners have a content format called Velocity String, which I believe is HTML5. Again, it shows the importance of giving the reader a chance to navigate interactively through the story, and get the data about what they do.”

Thanks again to everyone who attended the webinar, and took part in the Q&A. You can watch the full discussion here:

 

And if that doesn’t fully sate your needs, there’s more. We’ve created a playlist of all our B2B Content Tuesdays webinar recordings on YouTube.

7 ways to write B2B marketing content that has real value

Posted on by Katy Eddy

In B2B marketing, there’s almost always a vague urge to create a piece of content just because. Just because we need to fill out our blog. Just because one of our competitors is talking about this, and we’re not. Just because we’ve got a bit of budget left to see off before the end of the quarter.

It’s a hard temptation to resist. Often, businesses write something on the fly, and fill their websites with the content equivalent of used kitty litter. And that’s because creating content that’s actually valuable – something that hits a certain KPI, answers a burning question, or starts a promising conversation – takes work.

With that in mind, here are a few nudges to help you ensure every piece of content you produce offers value to your reader, and your business.

Define what “value” really looks like

The work starts with defining what “value” actually means. And it may feel a bit philosophical, but judging every piece of content by the same generic measure of value isn’t going to do you any favours.

Some content is designed solely to convert a reader into a prospect. Other pieces work best as an opportunity to raise your profile and show your company’s expertise in a particular area. Sometimes you want to share a new perspective on a current news item from your industry.

There are so many different ways content can function, and all of them bring a different kind of value. But if you know what you want a piece to achieve from the start, you can tailor it to that purpose.

Revisit your personas

Here’s a tip: the content with the greatest business value usually offers a lot to the reader too. If you’re giving them content that’s interesting, useful and compelling, they’re much more likely to follow your call to action.

But those needs vary. So to produce content that’s valuable to your business, you need to be certain you’re offering value to the right audience personas.

When you’ve had an established set of personas in your strategy for a while, it’s wise to go back and check on those profiles. If you haven’t revisited them for a few months (or even years), it’s easy to drift away from the key messages you want to communicate. In some cases, you might find those profiles just aren’t as relevant as they used to be.

Make sure you’re focusing on the right pain points and priorities and responding with something useful.

Align your priorities

In an ideal world, the Venn diagram of your internal stakeholder interests and your customers’ priorities would be a single, neat circle. But in reality, it tends to look more like two amorphous blobs that barely overlap – and that can make it difficult for your content to satisfy both.

It can be a fiddly business, but making valuable content relies on finding that sweet spot where the two blobs meet, and identifying the content opportunities that are hiding in that precious inch of overlap.

Stakeholders are far more likely to sign off on content – especially bigger pieces – if it reflects their requirements (and it’ll often benefit from their input too). On the other side, your audience won’t even consider spending their time on something that doesn’t talk about their challenges. By meeting them in the middle, you can get enthusiastic engagement from both sides.

Look for the unanswered questions

It’s getting more difficult by the day to create original content. When you’re looking at content put out by others in your market, it may sometimes feel like they’ve already answered every question or filled every niche.

But sometimes, all they’re really doing is papering over the cracks – answering top-level queries and offering generic responses. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll often find unique opportunities to add your own expertise, opinions and answers.

Primary research is your friend here; there’s no better way to identify your audience’s real, burning unanswered questions. A simple starting point is keyword research, to see which topics and queries people are plugging into Google, but you might want to dive into polls, surveys and social media too, for a more detailed overview.

Appease the gods of SEO

Once you have an idea that’s tailored perfectly to your readers’ expectations and interests, it’s time to pay your respects to the mighty SEO gods of the internet. By convincing the search engines that your content has value, your piece is far more likely to turn up in the top results, so you can see some real-world value in turn.

This is where that keyword research from earlier comes in handy – and an understanding of how latent semantic indexing (LSI) works.

Be warned: keyword stuffing is not the way to go. It’s ugly and doesn’t rank well with search engines anymore. With LSI, search engines also look for words that are contextually related to a particular topic. It’s rare to search using full, sensible sentences; we all use fragments and idiosyncratic phrasing, but by using words that frequently appear together in a sensible way, the search engine will recognise that you’re writing about a subject in depth.

So, you no longer have to squeeze an awkward sentence like “how to move to cloud” into your copy just because your audience types that into the search bar. The algorithm can also spot a combination of related terms like “public”, “hybrid” and “migrate”, which show you know about the subject.

Know where to share it

Getting that sweet, sweet ROI from your content means sharing it in the right places, so the right people read it. (Or hear it. Or watch it. I’m not the format police.)

Consider what you’re creating carefully. Does it work best on your own blog? As a guest post on someone else’s site? Are there industry publications that can lend your content an extra bit of heft? Is this a piece that would lend itself to being printed on heavy-weight paper stock and handed to your prospective customers in person?

Write copy that sings (very quietly)

Great ideas get lost in bad copy. Once you’ve identified your message, who it’s most valuable to share it with, and how to get it in front of them, you’ve got to write it well.

Whether it’s a blog, a video script, a SlideShare or a great big unit of a white paper, it’s all about clean and intelligent writing that supports your message without getting in the way.

And if the idea of actually doing that writing after all your prep work makes your fingers ache… Well, I know a few good writers who could help you out.

How to find the right voice and tone for your B2B content | B2B Content Tuesday

Posted on by The Radix Team

Whatever B2B content you’re creating, whether its a technical white paper or a chatty video script, you’ll likely find yourself making decisions around “tone of voice”.

But at Radix, we think “tone of voice” is a bit of a misleading concept. Because voice and tone are actually two separate (but related) concepts.

After all, your brand’s voice might be approachable, friendly or even fun. But it’s unlikely you’ll be cracking jokes in a legal contract. Nor would you pop a zinger in a letter of apology. (I mean, you could, but the outcome might not be fantastic.)

A clear personality is important. But brands that stick too rigidly to one “tone of voice” for all their content run the risk of sounding insensitive, monotone, or oblivious to the reader’s needs at key moments.

We went into more detail in our B2B Content Tuesdays webinar series – sharing how voice and tone relate to each other, with some tips to help you find an appropriate voice for your own B2B content. Here are some of the highlights – and you’ll find a video of the full discussion at the bottom of this post.

So, what is the difference between voice and tone?

There’s a clear way to define the two:

Your voice is how you express your brand’s personality to the world. Not necessarily information about your company history, but how you want to make customers feel about you. You voice is your character; it doesn’t change.

Your tone is how you talk to your reader once you’ve taken account of their situation, their state of mind and the intent of the content – so it’s going to change depending on the context.

Think about it like this: when you go to the pub, you’ll chat to your friends a certain way. And when you’re in a meeting with your boss the next morning, you’ll likely adopt a more professional manner – but you’re not going to develop a new regional accent. You are still you; your voice hasn’t changed. Only your tone has.

Three tips for finding your B2B voice

1. Get specific about your character

“We want to sound human.”

When we run our voice and tone messaging workshop, this phrase comes up a lot. But with nearly eight billion people in the world, it’s annoyingly vague.

So, think about the specific character your brand would play a story – and in this case, the story of your customer. Are you the loyal companion or the cheerleader? Are you the warrior fighting alongside them on the battlefield? Or maybe you’re the know-it-all – the unashamedly clever one your customers can’t live without.

2. Lean on your thesaurus

“We want to sound professional, but friendly – an approachable expert.”

This is another one we hear all the time. But what does “approachable expert” even mean? Arguably, Sir David Attenborough and Gok Wan both fall under that umbrella, but there’s a world of difference between how they sound.

This requires you to be specific in a different way. Think about what kind of professional you want to be: skilled, competent, experienced, methodical or something else. And there’s a multitude of ways to be friendly – are you chummy, neighbourly, cordial or helpful?

3. Opposites don’t attract; they confuse

“We want to sound reliable, but exciting.”

Values like these sit at opposite ends of the spectrum, which means it’s hard for your brand to convincingly evoke both emotions at once. You need to prioritise one over the other.

Drilling into what you think about your brand is critical. That’s why we’ve put together a prototype “voice wheel” to help…

The Radix voice wheel

Radix voice wheelThe voice wheel is a visual aid we’ve developed to provoke discussion in workshops and help marketers to make clearer choices about brand voice.

It works similarly to a colour wheel. Each word is subtly different from its neighbour – and it’s hard to embody two words that sit opposite each other.

The wheel can broadly be divided into four quadrants. The top-left reflects how you behave, the top-right suggests new ideas, the bottom-left is related to your trust and track record, while the bottom-right is knowledge-based strengths.

It should help you make some of the harder choices, and focus on what you want your brand’s voice to be (and, just as importantly, not to be). It works best when you use it as a team.

Here are a couple of exercises to try:

  1. Quickly circle three or four words that reflect how people might feel about your company. Then, compare results. Look for ones you agree on, ones where your views oppose, or any particular groupings that highlight a certain theme.
  2. Where there are some areas you’re not sure about, pick two word-pairs, and decide which quadrant your brand comes under. For example, if you highlight “methodical” and “inspirational”, as well as “informative” and “hands-on”, use those as X and Y axes, and ask where each person in the discussion would place you, and why.

(If you’d like a copy of the voice wheel prototype, feel free to get in touch.)

Here’s the webinar and discussion in full; thanks to everyone who attended. You can catch up on all our other B2B Content Tuesday sessions on our YouTube channel.

Five things every good B2B video script should have

Posted on by John Kerrison

Here’s a cold, hard fact for you: video content generates more clicks, traffic, shares and sales than written content.

That might be an odd thing to hear from a copywriting agency, and it’s not to dismiss the value of the written word – a good marketing strategy should contain both, of course. But, today, more and more marketers are adopting a video-first approach to their campaigns. And for good reason.

For a lot of people, video is just a more accessible way to consume information quickly. And it’s a habit we’re already familiar with. In fact, it’s estimated that people will spend 100 minutes a day watching online videos by 2021.

There are measurable returns, too. 91% of marketers say video has increased their website traffic. 95% say it has increased understanding of their product or service. A further 96% say it has directly helped them increase sales. And 92% say video gives them a good return on their investment.

However, what I’m telling you isn’t a secret. Right now, video marketers feel the level of noise and competition has increased. So, the challenge isn’t just creating videos that your audience love, but creating videos that stand out in a world of video content.

The big question, then: how the hell do you do that?

Well, all great videos start with a script, and at Radix we’ve spent years perfecting the art of writing video scripts that cut through the noise and speak to your audience. Along the way, we’ve learned there are five things that every B2B video script must contain.

1. The ideal structure

A video can be used for all sorts of reasons in B2B marketing. It can be an advertisement, a case study, an explainer or a deep dive into the specifics of your product. But regardless of the purpose, having the right structure is key to delivering the information with impact.

At Radix, our writers know story structure inside out – whether it’s applying the traditional three-act structure to a case study video, or knowing the best way to frame the story of your product or service, so your audience sits up and takes notice.

The techniques we use can be traced back to Aristotle’s Rhetoric – an ancient exploration of the art of persuasion that’s well worth any writer or marketer exploring.

2. A perfect balance of show and tell

Video is a multi-dimensional format and a good script has to describe what your audience will see and hear at all times.

As with all good writing, the rule of thumb when scripting a video is “show don’t tell”, but knowing how to get that balance right is a fine art.

Just like in films, long chunks of exposition will stand out a mile off, so finding an interesting and visually stimulating way to impart information is at the heart of any good video script.

3. Access points for directors, animators and voice-over artists

The script is just the very first stage in your video process. Once completed it will be passed on to a director or animator whose job is to interpret your script and bring your video to life.

For that reason, it’s important your scriptwriter is able to convey their visual ideas clearly and concisely. A familiarity with screenwriting language is a big plus here.

They probably don’t need to know about contrazooms or lap dissolves, but things like establishing shots and cuts can help make sure that the vision spelled out on the page looks the same on screen.

4. Sharp, succinct timing

By far the biggest challenge in writing a video script is writing to a tight timeframe.

Every second of animation or live video costs money to produce. More to the point, your audience doesn’t want to bed in for a three-hour epic. They want to be told what they need to know as quickly as possible. Each frame needs to pull its weight.

Writing a script that’s simultaneously concise and engaging – and still delivers all the required information – is a skill that comes with experience.

5. An in-depth understanding of your audience

This applies as much to any kind of B2B marketing as it does to video, but knowing the audience you’re speaking to – and what their challenges, wants and needs are – is integral to producing an engaging piece of work.

Before they put pen to paper, your scriptwriter should have a good understanding of the industry your targeted persona works in, where they are in the sales funnel, and what it is they’ll want to take away from watching your piece.

The more direct you can be with these messages, the more likely your video is to result in clicks, shares and conversions.

It sounds like a lot, but we can help

At Radix, we have years of experience writing video scripts for organisations of all sizes in all industries, and for a wide variety of purposes – from five-second social media GIFs to product deep-dives.

To learn more about the services we offer, visit our B2B video scriptwriting page.

A crash course in B2B blog writing | B2B Content Tuesday

Posted on by The Radix Team

B2B blog writing has changed. Once thought of as filler, or a cheap SEO tactic, blogs are now a cornerstone of B2B content marketing; an efficient, flexible way for B2B marketers to self-publish content of all kinds. But with 4.4 million posts published every day, how do you make yours stand out?

We could talk about blogs all day – so when we were asked to cover the topic in our B2B Content Tuesdays, we jumped at the chance. The only problem was squeezing everything into a short webinar and Q&A. So in this blog, we’ll dive a little deeper, and give you a crash course in writing a great B2B blog post. We’ll also answer some popular blog writing questions.

B2B blog writing: four tricks of the trade

1. Know your audience

Ask yourself: Who is my reader? Or, more importantly, who is NOT my reader?

When you aim your content towards a niche audience, it’s more likely to be relevant and helpful to your target readers. And it’s easier to explain the value you’ll deliver. A broad-brush approach is tempting because it addresses a larger audience, but super-specific content makes a more direct appeal to the community you really want. As a result, it’s more likely to actually get read.

2. Provide clear value for the reader

Ask yourself: What will this audience get from reading? Why would they want to spend their time?

Ideally, every blog post should provide some kind of utility; it could be advice, information or something they can use. It might even be fun. But you need to know what that value is, so you can to make it abundantly clear to your reader too.

For example, we’ve got a blog post that provides a basic blog structure, so you can write more easily and provide that value in a clear, logical way. Pretty useful, eh?

3. Nail the voice and tone

Ask yourself: Would our audience recognise our blog posts a mile off? (Even if you covered up the branding?)

Think about how your blog sounds. If your market is crowded with similar brands saying similar things, one way to differentiate your content is to have a distinct voice – a way of handling language that’s uniquely you. Velocity Partners does a great job of this (a little profanity goes a long way).

Especially where you’re looking to establish subject matter experts within your own business, a bylined blog can allow you to show a bit more character in your writing.

4. Start strong, and prepare the ground

Ask yourself: Have I demonstrated the first three tricks in the first 30 words?

The introduction is the most important part of your blog post – it defines whether the reader will spend their time and often, in social posts, whether they’ll even click.

So, ensure the value of reading is obvious, make it obvious you know your reader inside out, and help the reader get to know your style. In doing so, you lay a solid foundation to build on.

Your B2B blog writing questions answered

Q: How do I make super-technical topics more approachable without inflating word count?

David: “Long blog posts are more common than you think – and there’s a time and place for them. So if it’s realistic that your reader will sit down and read all of it, there’s no problem with 2,000, 3,000, even 5,000-word pieces of content.

“However, I would suggest making it clearly structured and easy to navigate, with clickable links to each section so the reader can scan easily and jump to the bit they need.

“Or, if you want to break it up into accessible chunks, turn the topic into a series of blog posts. These can then be wrapped up into an eBook, so you have a longer asset built of shorter, standalone articles that can be read independently or together.

“And there’s no need to stick with PDFs – other formats can provide granular data about who actually read what. Using something like Turtl can help you break down your reader’s experience – from what, when and where they are reading, to average reading times.”

Q: What is the ‘three-act structure’ in blog writing?

David: “The three-act structure is one of the most basic aspects of storytelling; essentially, each story has to have a beginning, middle and end. Anything that follows the natural shape of a story feels familiar and satisfying.

“You’ll likely follow this structure, so the first 25% should be setting the stage. Something exciting happens, that the hero has to respond to, so about a quarter of the way through, the hero ventures out into a new world.

“In the next half (from 25% to 75%), your hero faces a series of challenges. In most stories, the stakes get higher and higher – and around the 50% mark, there’s usually an “oh shit” moment. The twist usually happens here also, and what you think is the problem turns out not to be. And at this point, it often seems like the hero won’t win.

“Three-quarters of the way through, the hero finds a new plan and fights back. In the last quarter, there’s a do or die moment, the hero usually wins out, and then you go back to see how the hero has changed now as a result of everything that’s happened.

“Although we’re not writing Hollywood movies, our multipurpose blog structure works in much the same way: set the scene and introduce a challenge, explore potential issues and obstacles, then bring it full circle to see what we’ve learned, and suggest next steps.

“I’ve actually written a whole blog post for B2B Marketing about how to use this structure in B2B content, so do check that out if you’d like to know more.”

Q: A lot of blogs I read are quite long, and often there’s very little in the way of obvious structure. Could subheadings be beneficial – and why?

David: “Absolutely. Subheadings are really important when making content scannable and thinking about SEO.

“You can also make them summarise and interpret the content underneath, so if your reader scans down, they’ll still get value – even without reading content fully.

“When writing subheadings for SEO, the questions function in Google searches can be really helpful. You can see what your audience wants to know and make the questions your subhead. Then, if you’re writing a short, pithy answer, you might end up being the first search result Google picks out.”

Q: The subject I’m writing about has so many technical terms. How do I increase or decrease readability scores?

David: “There are three aspects to complexity in content. Technical specificity is only one of them. So, you might need to think about balancing the complexity of your technical terminology by simplifying the language that surrounds it.

“The water cooler test is a great way to do this. Imagine you are standing by a water cooler, where your engineers or experts are. They’re talking about a problem – and while they’ll use very specific technical terms, the language they put it in will be simple: ‘The vintage tomographer has broken again. I thought the hazmat switch might be jammed so I tried toggling it, and it still wouldn’t work.’ The specifics are technical, but the rest is very readable.

“The vocabulary that you use is only one part of the equation – you also have to think about sentence structure, and the other words you’re using. Try to avoid nominalised verbs, long or list-heavy sentences, and any complicated words that aren’t essential. There should only be one idea per sentence, so you may want to think about splitting longer sentences into two or three smaller ones.”

Q: When I’m writing content in one language and then translating it, the translated copy isn’t always as clear and effective. Do you have any tips?

David: “This is a hard task to get right, and a lot of it depends on the company you’re working with and the budget you have.

“In some circumstances when we work with companies where the content will be delivered multi-lingually, we’re asked to leave out any figurative language, humour or idioms, because they don’t always translate well. Keeping it factual ensures it can be translated at a lower cost using tools already available – Google Translate for example, or another piece of software.

“Other times, the process is more complicated. I once worked for a company where we would write it in English; it would be translated by a specialist, then reviewed by a subject matter expert in the target language and then edited by a journalist in the target language. It’s not cheap, but the results were great, and you had a lot more freedom with the content.

“Usually, the process is somewhere in between those two extremes. A human translator will likely understand most colloquialisms and can translate them easily. But this kind of translation is often software-assisted, and chargeable by the word, so it’s more about not using too many synonyms to say the same thing, and making sure UX stays streamlined – as other languages often use more letters than English.”

Thanks again to everyone who attended the webinar, and took part in the Q&A. Here’s the full discussion:

You are a cartographer (and other hard-won advice on B2B white papers)

Posted on by The Radix Team

Hands up everyone who’s written or commissioned a B2B white paper? Great. Now, keep your hand in the air if you were happy with the way it turned out.

Really, 100% happy? And it was downloaded a heap of times, by people who went on to buy your stuff?

OK – well… you can skip this session, head outside, and enjoy the sunshine or moonlight.

Everyone else, eyes forward. I’m not going to waste your time recounting the political origins of the white paper format, or exploring all the studies which testify to its effectiveness as a mid-funnel content asset. You can Google just as well as I can.

Instead, let me lay out what I’ve learnt over a decade of writing white papers for B2B tech brands.

1. You’re a mapmaker (with a not-so-secret agenda)

You know how the B2B buying process is often characterised as a multi-stage journey? Well, your white paper is going to be the map you hand to your prospects shortly after they’ve hit the road.

It’ll describe all the possible destinations, notable shortcuts, and likely hazards ahead, with scrupulous accuracy. But it’ll still – through careful inclusions and omissions – make the correct route unmistakably clear.

Or, if you prefer well-worn jargon to well-worn metaphors: your white paper will educate warm-ish leads, framing the business challenge or opportunity in the context of the solution you’re looking to promote.

However poetic you want to get about it, your white paper’s primary role is to inform and guide.

Remember this, and let it shape:

  • Your white paper’s content – which should be original, useful, and at least ostensibly objective, drawing on your company’s true fields of expertise
  • Your white paper’s structure – which may nod to academic literature with summaries, named authors, author bios, diagrams and citations
  • Your white papers’ voice and tone – which, whatever your broader brand voice, should be clear, concise and confident, like a born teacher. (Not the jaded, abrasive university lecturer I’m apparently channelling today…)

Do all of the above, and your white paper will be a true map: a practical tool that offers its readers genuine value. And along the way, they’ll get to see the landscape from your point of view.

2. Don’t ask your SME to write your white paper

The person who writes your white paper should understand:

  • Your marketing objectives
  • Where the white paper fits into your marketing activities
  • The technology/trends the paper’s speaking to
  • Your target audience, and their pain points and ambitions
  • How your solutions alleviate those pains and support those ambitions
  • How to use language that resonates with your target audience
  • How to use language – period
  • How to structure a long-form content piece

If you have an in-house subject matter expert who can do all of the above – and there are a handful of genuine B2B tech polymaths out there – then congratulations. But good luck finding them the time to craft you 2,500 words.

They’re almost certainly already contributing to a hundred internal projects, in between excelling at their day job and being dialled in to shore-up crucial sales calls.

At Radix, we have been known to “edit” – i.e. review, rewrite and even restructure – white paper copy drafted by our clients’ regular, non-superhuman SMEs. (The ones who’ve mastered the tech but not all the other pieces of the content writing puzzle.)

While we’ve helped create some stellar white papers this way (like the third example here), they often could have been even more stellar if we’d written the copy from scratch. What’s more, they might have been faster and cheaper to produce. An “edit” might seem like a quick job, but if it goes through multiple rounds of amends it can easily take as long as a project that starts with an intelligent conversation and a blank page, and hits the mark first time.

3. If possible, get a professional

So, who should write your white paper?

Let’s say you’ve no writing resource within your marketing team – or you’re the resource, and writing has never been your strongest suit. You can always find a gun for hire. But who?

White papers are one of the more challenging content formats. So you’ll ideally want a content writer with a solid understanding of B2B sales and the B2B marketing machine, as well as a few years of experience writing for your sector.

They should be a decent interviewer – so they can get what they need out of your SME, even if you can only secure half an hour of your expert’s time. They should also have a portfolio of similar pieces that demonstrate their ability to write with clarity and authority.

My advice? Use your professional networks to find a freelancer you can trust. Or, if you’re likely to need an ongoing programme with supporting content, opt for a dedicated white paper writing service like ours.

4. Be as technical as your audience

It’s easy to think of the white paper as the drier, more technical alter ego of the ebook. Drier, maybe. But more technical? Not necessarily.

I’ve written a lot of white papers that educate C-level decision-makers about business challenges and industry trends. I’ve written very few that educate engineers or developers on the inputs and outputs of specific technologies.

Now, I’m sure there are some white paper projects that simply never cross Radix’s threshold; projects that are so technically niche, even our experienced team would struggle to deliver them. But I think there’s another reason highly technical white papers don’t pour onto our doormat.

Over the last few years, I’ve seen many of our clients arrive at the same conclusion: white papers aren’t the best way to reach technical roles. Better to organize a chance for them to get hands-on with those APIs, or to talk, peer-to-peer, with your own engineers.

All of which is to say: don’t fall into the trap of thinking a white paper has to be more technical than other content pieces. Instead, decide who you’re targeting with your white paper. Check that a white paper is the best way to reach them.

And then, the rule is simple – be as technical as they are.

5. Keep a tight grip on the project

It’s common for white paper projects to involve multiple sales, marketing and product stakeholders. Getting a good paper produced on time and on budget means nailing down costs, and booking input calls. Then it means managing everyone’s expectations, and shepherding busy, opinionated humans through any necessary feedback cycles.

The first part of this process shouldn’t be too tough – especially if you’re using a service like ours, that’s always there when you reach out during office hours, ready to quote upfront, and to arrange SME calls on your behalf.

But the second part can be much harder work. It’s all too easy for great copy to be fed into the feedback machine, mangled, expanded, and spat back out with all of its glorious lustre stripped away.

There are a few things you can do to shepherd your content safely through the feedback cycle:

  • Know exactly what you want the white paper to achieve, and communicate this to all stakeholders, at every opportunity. “Mission creep” is one of the leading killers of white papers that show up DOA.
  • Provide (or use writers who provide) a rationale for contentious decisions. When you delete the features table your product manager has pasted into the middle of page two, add a comment explaining that, at this stage, your readers are still understanding why they need your tech – instead, let’s link to the data sheet at the very end of the paper?
  • Remain open to legitimate complaints. Feedback cycles are there for a reason. However rudely someone sticks their finger through a hole in your work, don’t take it personally – acknowledge their wisdom, and make the change. Welcome your stakeholders’ good ideas, and it’ll be much easier to countermand their bad ones.

We have reached our destination

Have you ever noticed how much a long blog post can have in common with a short white paper? Well… I hope you find this little map helpful. Class dismissed.

(You can find out more about our white paper content writing service here.)

Podcast 86: stakeholders and storytelling

Posted on by The Radix Team

In this month’s Good Copy, Bad Copy we’re joined by guest co-host Angela Cattin, as we find out just how much behind-the-scenes work it takes to align stakeholders behind an award-winning B2B campaign.

Our interviewee is Mwamba Kasanda, from Barings. In her previous role at Korn Ferry, Mwamba spearheaded the Global Talent Crunch campaign, which managed to bring a new perspective into the crowded space that is “Future of Work” thought leadership. It ended up garnering hundreds of PR features, reaching a business leadership audience, generating millions of dollars in revenue, and winning pretty much all the awards.

But that success is just the last mile in a long, long journey. And Mwamba shares the process she used to secure global stakeholder support for the company’s biggest and most ambitious campaign to date.

Ideas for aligning your stakeholders

The interview is a real eye-opener, with inspiration and ideas for B2B marketers in all kinds of organisations – especially if you’re in a sector with a lot of companies talking about the same subject. You’ll hear:

  • How Mwamba used a small, preceding campaign as a springboard to the big idea
  • The challenge – and benefit – of involving stakeholders right from the idea generation phase
  • Tips for preparing global champions to tell resonant local versions of the same story
  • The eleventh-hour stakeholder intervention that improved the campaign’s international appeal
  • When to fight for your idea, and when to compromise
  • Why data and storytelling are both essential factors in winning stakeholder support

Mwamba’s unusual approach succeeded in elevating the idea from a marketing campaign into an organisation-wide business initiative. And ultimately, this helped colleagues around the world to run with the story, and turn the content into sales.

The Anonymous Five: SME IT Director

This month also sees an outsourced IT director tackling the “Anonymous Five” – our semi-regular feature giving you a quick window into the minds of the real people behind key B2B marketing personas.

The subject, who works with small and medium-sized businesses, opens up about their ambitions, which content they actually read, and whether cybersecurity can ever be anything more positive than an annoying pain in the bum.

(Thanks, anonymous IT director, for your time. We’ve made a donation to your nominated charity: Pregnancy Sickness Support.)

Here’s what you’ll hear in episode 86…

2.25 – Angela shares how different tech companies are responding to COVID

5.33 – How Mwamba and Man Bites Dog gave “The Future of Work” a human angle

8.16 – Winning stakeholder support though involvement in the idea generation phase

11.40 – The stakeholder conversation that inspired a key campaign improvement

17.17 – Building on a smaller campaign to secure support for the big idea

25.15 – Mwamba’s key tips for winning stakeholder engagement

29.10 – Creating a global  “Champion’s Pack” with instructions and a social contract

32.34 – Angela shares her own perspective on global stakeholders and storytelling

44.34 – The Anonymous Five: an IT director talks technical content and cybersecurity

Send us your feedback, questions and thoughts…

Contact us through @radixcom on Twitter or [email protected] (best of all, email us a voice memo from your phone).

How to listen 

Credits 

Mwamba Kasanda is now Global Head of Client Communications at Barings. Mwamba, thanks for sharing your stakeholder engagement process in such detail. We’re certain our listeners will be inspired.

Angela Cattin provides specialist marketing support for B2B technology businesses – including interim marketing leadership – through Interalia Marketing. If you’d like to chat, you can find her on LinkedIn. Thanks, Angela, for being an awesome co-host.

Podcast editing and music, as ever, by the masterful talents of Bang and Smash.