Category: Insights

5 cognitive biases, and what they can teach us about B2B copywriting

Posted on by John Kerrison

As is customary, I would like to start this blog with a magic trick. Please follow the instructions below closely – and remember to tip your wait staff at the end.

First, I need you to count very slowly backwards from fifty.

50

49

48

47

46

45

44

43… you know the rest

Now, quickly, think of a vegetable.

Was this your vegetable?

How did I know that you were going to pick a carrot? (If you didn’t, just play along. No one likes a contrarian.)

Is it because someone told me of your fondness for them? Is it because I’m standing behind you right now whispering carrot into your ear? (Yes, in the case of the person who proofread this post.) Or is it because an inbuilt cognitive bias allowed me to manipulate your thoughts?

An inbuilt cognitive what?

Put simply, a cognitive bias is a systematic error in thinking that affects our decisions and judgements. There are hundreds of them.

(And, if you don’t think you’re susceptible to such weakness then I have some bad news for you – that, too, is a cognitive bias.)

Take, for example, confirmation bias; a pattern of thinking that makes you more likely to favour information that confirms your existing beliefs or notice patterns that you’ve recently been made aware of. To paraphrase the writer Jon Ronson, once you become aware of confirmation bias, you’ll start seeing it everywhere.

Or how about the Dunning-Kruger effect, where unskilled individuals tend to overestimate their ability, while experts tend to underestimate theirs. Which, if you think about it for too long, creates a kind of cyclical loop which makes it impossible to know which you actually are.

For those of us in the B2B copywriting trade, understanding these biases can help us learn a little bit more about how our audience thinks, acts, and makes choices. Which, in turn, should help us engage with them more effectively. Like any superpower, they can be used for good or evil… so I’ll try to keep it ethical.

Here are five cognitive biases I think all B2B marketers should at least be aware of.

1. The Availability Cascade

The theory behind the availability cascade is simple: if you repeat something often enough, people will start to believe it to be true.

That’s why straplines are so useful in marketing. It’s why you know Ronseal does exactly what it says on the tin. And it’s how Kanye West convinced everyone he was the best rapper in the world, simply by telling everyone that he was the best rapper in the world over and over and over again.

It’s also why our political landscape has recently been transformed by a handful of incredibly irritating slogans. You probably don’t need me to name them here, but one of them rhymes with Shmake Shmamerica Shmate Shmagain.

Political opinions aside, these recent campaigns show that there’s actually little need for debate, or even manifestos if you have a good marketing strapline.

If a slogan can sell Boris Johnson – a man who hid in a fridge to avoid a live television interview – it can probably sell your product too. The secret is to make your message both memorable and consistent.

2. Authority Bias

I recently saw a full-page magazine ad in which TV personality Richard Blackwood was the face of a promotional campaign for a toilet.

My first thought was, ‘I bet that was an awkward phone call from his agent’. Followed shortly by, ‘what makes Richard Blackwood an expert on toilets?’ You can come up with your own amusing answer to that, should you desire. But the answer is probably ‘nothing’.

This is what’s known as Authority Bias, a pattern of thinking that sees us attribute greater accuracy to and be more influenced by the opinion of an authority figure – regardless of whether or not they have any knowledge of the subject matter.

The lesson for marketers here is simple. Using case studies, testimonial quotes, and any other instance where an authority can speak on your behalf will always have a stronger impact than simply telling your audience how great your, um, toilet is.

3. Decoy Effect

The decoy effect is used all the time in subscription pricing models. The rule states that the preferences for either option A or option B will change in favour of option B when a third option – C, shall we say? – is introduced.

Horrible and confusing sentence, that. Essentially, if you have two options, and want someone to opt for the more expensive latter one, then introduce an even more expensive third option and Bob’s your uncle.

(I know I said that this would all be ethical, and that definitely sounds a bit…not. But what were you expecting from a blog that started with a magic trick?)

On a serious note, although I absolutely can’t condone doing this, it is a trick worth being aware of. Now you’re wise to it, you’ll no doubt see it everywhere. And although it might not help your marketing much, it might save you a quid or two on your next SaaS subscription.

4. Anchoring or Focalism

I went to school with a boy called Ian who had a full beard at the age of 13. He went on to move to Canada where he now works for an accountancy firm, lives in a large house and has two children.

In other news, anchoring describes our tendency to focus on one piece of information when making decisions – and it’s usually the first piece of information we receive.

This is why it’s important in marketing to lead with your main selling point. And it’s also the reason why, when I now mention Ian (who absolutely didn’t exist) the first thing you’ll think is ‘oh yeah, the child with a beard.’

I mean, it’s obviously not the only reason. But you get my point.

5. The Present Bias

Ever been asked where you see yourself in five years? Incredibly hard to answer, isn’t it? But that’s because, in general, people don’t really like working towards long-term goals.

As much as we like imagining a future where we’re richer, healthier, smarter and being asked less tedious questions, research shows that we fall short of effectively working towards that future. Why? Because meeting our present needs will always be more important.

Also known as ‘Hyperbolic Discounting Bias’, the fruits of this cognitive quirk are most often seen in the form of ‘buy now, pay later’ deals.

How does this translate to B2B copywriting? Well, if people want a better future, but are secretly bad at delaying gratification, why not describe both the long and short-term rewards?

So tell your audience what the enduring impacts of your product will be, but also be sure to mention how fast it is to get up and running, how quickly they’ll see results, and how there will be a 20% discount at the point of purchase.

How does your buyer think?

It’s not about manipulating your reader – at least, it shouldn’t be; your brand’s likely after a lasting relationship as a trusted advisor, and you don’t get that by hoodwinking your customer. Instead, smart B2B copywriters use these little elements of psychology (and dozens more like them) to write B2B content that really resonates. Knowing about the reader’s sector, challenges and pain points can get you so far – but if you want to inspire action, it helps to learn how people think.

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

Posted on by The Radix Team

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

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

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

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

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

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

Does company size matter?

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

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

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

Enterprise:

Benefits

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

Obstacles

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

Mid-size business:

Benefits

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

Obstacles

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

Small business:

Benefits

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

Obstacles

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

When we asked Maureen, she said:

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

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

“Results follow good leadership”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Toxic workplaces: “just get out”

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

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

We asked Maureen how she navigates this obstacle:

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

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

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

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

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

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

…You might need to commute a little further.

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

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

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

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

How do you spot your ideal workplace IRL?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Podcast 83: Lean-Agile B2B Content

Posted on by The Radix Team

In this month’s Good Copy, Bad Copy, we’re talking about Agile and Lean-Agile processes, and whether B2B content producers can learn something from software development and engineering.

David’s joined (virtually, of course) by a very special guest co-host: our former host Emily King, now Content Coordinator at Bluefruit Software. She shares her wealth of experience on adapting Lean-Agile processes for B2B content, and tells us how you can create more meaningful copy with less waste.

We also interview Bluefruit’s UX design expert Dan Goodwin on the role of the user in content creation. He reveals how personas can be used more ways than you think,  shares his tips on bringing customers into the creation process, and gives us some really clever ways to get to know your audience when you can’t actually talk to them (which, sadly, is a common obstacle to B2B content).

So, what is Lean-Agile B2B content?

Put simply, it’s content created with maximum collaboration, communication and flexibility. We’ve put together some basic guidelines:

  • It doesn’t mean you do everything; you shouldn’t start until you and your client have a clear idea of what they need and who it’s for. If it’s a drive-by content request, push back. Ask: “is that genuinely what you need?” (Emily told us there’s no room for subservience in true collaboration. Put that foot down.)
  • Once you have that understanding, start small. Think “minimum viable product” – a phrase you’ll become extremely familiar with. Break the project down into smaller parts, get them out, test them, gather evidence and build out from there.
  • Most importantly, keep communication open, stay responsive. Regular reflection from everyone, especially stakeholders, gives you a clear direction on what needs to change and what is going well. Then you can quickly problem solve any issues, together.
  • Bonus hint: Emails can be miscommunication minefield. Picking up the phone is often a safer, more personal option.

To reduce content waste, add value for the audience

In theory, by starting small, and being clear about objectives, you won’t waste time or money throwing yourself into big complex campaigns that are later scrapped by indecisive stakeholders. Plus, with frequent communication and reflection, you can make sure you’re always on track – so there’s no falling down expensive rabbit holes.

But Dan points out that user-centred development takes things to another level. At its best, Lean-Agile is about focusing on content that meet the real needs of the people you want to read it – and the more you can learn about their context, the more likely you are to create something that gets read and shared.

But how do you get all that information? Dan’s suggestions include:

  • If you can, ask your clients (d’oh)
  • If you can’t, find the people in your organisation who talk to customers most, whether that’s sales, account managers or field staff
  • Get the whole team on board with what you need to know, and they’ll bring you helpful insights from their own customer conversations
  • Go where your users go – whether that’s the right conferences, the right online forums, or even just the right LinkedIn pages

In Episode 83, you’ll hear…

0.55 – The Return of the King: Emily tells us what she does as Bluefruit’s Content Coordinator

4.36 – What ‘Agile’ and ‘Lean-Agile’ really mean for B2B content marketing, and how you can adopt them

19.56 – How to bring users into content creation: an interview with UX Designer Dan Goodwin

39.55 – Emily’s tips for getting more information from subject matter experts

Read more about Lean-Agile, user-centred B2B marketing content

Resources Emily and Dan mentioned in this episode include:

Send us your thoughts, criticism, spare toilet roll and flour (please)@

Contact us through @radixcom on Twitter or [email protected]

How to listen…

Credits

Thank you to Emily and Dan from Bluefruit Software for sharing your time and expertise. You can find Dan on twitter @bouncingdan and on LinkedIn. And if you haven’t heard Emily’s podcast Nerds Assemble, you really should give it a listen.

Podcast editing and music by Bang and Smash.

How to put a positive spin on your cybersecurity content

Posted on by George Reith

Cybersecurity can feel like an inherently negative topic. Even if you’re a brand that’s trying to focus on the protection and peace of mind you deliver, you still have to talk about the many dangers you mitigate for your customers.

But there are good reasons why cybersecurity vendors should avoid dwelling on the doom and gloom. So how do you put a positive spin on the topic without downplaying the risks – and the need for strong measures to combat them?

In this article, I’ll look at four ways cybersecurity brands can create strong content – without getting bogged down in the risks, threats, and what-ifs.

Why cybersecurity content needs a balanced approach

When writing content for cybersecurity experts, there’s a big reason to avoid too much negative-speak: notification fatigue.

Network analysts, CISOs, and anyone else involved in the security game will get notifications about potential threats constantly. Some are legitimate issues that require attention, but these are needles in a haystack of false positives. When you’re exposed to so many notifications constantly, it’s easy to start tuning out all the alerts and alarms.

So when a cybersecurity vendor comes in with a big, scary headline and an urgent intro, their audience is likely to dismiss this as yet another alert that doesn’t mean anything. They’ll tune your content out, just like they ignore the hundreds of empty alarms that flash up on their monitoring platforms.

And even if they do take notice, the engagement you get from negative content may not be the kind your business is looking for. Research on negative news articles by the American Psychological Association found that while they pique interest, they also cause readers to feel “stress… anxiety, fatigue or sleep loss”. Not feelings you want your content to evoke if you’re looking to develop a positive, mutually beneficial business relationship.

Four ways to balance your content

So how do you strike a positive chord with your content when your entire solution is designed to avoid a negative outcome?

Of course, you can’t just ignore the reality of security threats altogether. But there are a few tweaks you can make to highlight the wider benefits of your solution and tackle the subject of cybersecurity risk in a more balanced way.

Focus on real benefits

One tactic you can take is to shift the message from the damage your solution avoids to the concrete benefits it delivers. For instance, you can talk about how you offer:

  • Cost savings compared to other security approaches
  • Time savings that can help teams reinvest resources elsewhere
  • A more strategic, proactive approach to security
  • Simpler reporting to stakeholders on the security and cyberthreat landscape
  • Peace of mind for cybersecurity teams and business leaders

When deciding on a different messaging approach, think carefully about what to focus on. Depending on what solutions you offer, some of these messages might not be appropriate. There’s also a chance your competitors are already making some of these claims, and you don’t want to march to the beat of their drum if you can avoid it.

Don’t overclaim the risks

Overpromising is the enemy of all good copy – especially when you’re dealing with a negative topic. Yes, you can say DDoS attacks are a business disruption and impact the user experience. But will they irreparably harm brand image and put the whole business at risk? It’s unlikely, and your reader knows it.

While you clearly want to make your piece stand out and show the real threats out there, don’t get too carried away. Otherwise, you’ll undermine your credibility and erode your reader’s trust.

Avoid the urgency

Most cybersecurity professionals run on a strict time limit. But they know this intimately, and don’t need you to remind them. There’s simply no way you can frighten someone that deals with risk for a living. So, if your content is built around trying to scare people, it won’t work.

That’s not to say you should avoid writing about deadlines completely. Release dates, end-of-support deadlines, and upcoming events in the cybersecurity world are all great topics for your content. But don’t talk in generalities about how the clock is ticking and how they’re letting cybercriminals get ahead. Cybersecurity professionals are well aware of the pressures they face.

Make it specific

Negative talk is always at its worst when it speaks in generalities. So, if you are going to talk about big cyberthreats and risks, back it up with a specific example to keep your content focused.

Writing in vague terms about irreparable brand damage is tired, and likely to paint your content a dull shade of grey. By contrast, referencing specific big attacks that have affected brands in your sector (they’re only a quick search away) will bring some much-needed colour.

Specifics aren’t just a nice way to make your content stand out – they also help your reader build their own business case. Content that shows the reality of high-profile breaches will grab attention, and that will aid your customers in securing executive buy-in for new cybersecurity initiatives.

If in doubt, seek a second opinion

Make no mistake, finding the balance between realism and feel-good benefits isn’t easy. If you’re trying to identify the right approach yourself, a second pair of eyes can give you a great steer on whether your content is too negative (or not negative enough). You can get this from a colleague, from industry peers in other businesses, or you can ask your friendly neighbourhood copywriter.

Better yet, you could ask a specialist tech copywriter who has strong industry credentials and experience working with brands to get the right tone and voice. That way, whether you need to tweak your messaging around cybersecurity or make some changes to your tone, you’ll get the advice you need to appeal to your target audience (without spiking their heart rate).

Keywords and a crowbar: a rant about SEO copywriting for B2B

Posted on by The Radix Team

Keyword stuffing is cheap, tactless and ugly. And yet, it continues to go unchallenged by some as an acceptable SEO practice. Why? Because in the early days of SEO, keyword density mattered.

Today, in theory, quality is what counts. But even in an era where purposeful, relevant and well-written content is the benchmark for all B2B marketing, copywriting briefs still regularly come with a whole spreadsheet of awkward keywords attached.

Let’s make one thing clear: there’s nothing wrong with expecting a copywriter to adhere to your SEO strategy. But when that strategy is “use abstract keywords from this oblique spreadsheet as many times as Google will allow it”, we need to talk.

Keyword stuffing: as rubbish as it is pointless

OK. Imagine you’re an exhaust pipe manufacturer, and you’ve got an exciting new website that you want customers to find with ease. You’re also convinced that you’re the best in the business, and you won’t settle for anything less than hitting the front page of Google for all the most relevant search terms. But those relevant terms? “Car”, “Exhaust”, “Rust Resistant Exhaust Pipes”.

One of these terms is reasonable enough. Use “Rust Resistant Exhaust Pipes” in a couple of strategic places – in a piece of web copy about rust resistant exhaust pipes – and sure, we’re cool.

But asking your writer to stuff “car” into your web copy as many times as they can is just undignified. It’ll only make for word soup. More to the point, it’s a waste of time: do you really think you’re going to outrank the combined might of the entire automotive industry? (Also, an honourable mention to Fintech startups who insist they want to rank for “bank”. Just stop.)

The same goes for vague, overly-long technical terms. By all means, commission a compelling deep dive into your latest tech innovation, but don’t expect multiple instances of “z-buffer techniques for legacy GPU emulation” to make for a graceful read. Just ask Harry Kapur about life before he became Head of Writing at Velocity Partners.

I once had to crowbar “personalized phone cases for Samsung Galaxy S7 or S8” into multiple 400-word articles. 8 times each. I do NOT miss ‘article marketing’.

 – Harry Kapur, Head of Writing, Velocity Partners

Ouch.

In short, keyword stuffing is a quick way to make your copywriter hate you and (more importantly) instantly undermine your credibility with your audience. And the worst part? It doesn’t even work.

Google’s relationship with keywords: “it’s complicated”

With the launch of its Panda algorithm back in 2011, Google began demoting low-quality, duplicate, and unhelpful content. Subsequent updates like Google Penguin homed in on keyword stuffing, actively prowling copy for the unnatural use of keywords as well as low-quality backlinks and narrow anchor text.

To quote John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google back in 2014: “Keyword density, in general, is something I wouldn’t focus on. Search engines have kind of moved on from there.” In fact, many SEO influencers now argue that the ideal keyword density percentage is a myth, and the recommended minimum target density of 3-5% once preached by “experts” is now moot.

The law of SEO changed again in 2013 when Google launched its Hummingbird update, shifting the way Google reacts to different types of queries. Rather than locating content containing similar terms to those typed by a user, it takes a more natural, conversational reading, and locates content that best matches the user’s intent. It’s an approach called Latent Semantic Indexing, or LSI.

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI): a quick introduction

LSI keywords are conceptually related to the main subject. They help search engines to understand content at a deeper level, including what it is about, and what search terms it relates to. For example, if a blog contains keywords like “stylus”, “cartridge”, “oxidisation”, and “anti-static brush”, the search engine might identify that the content is likely about record player maintenance (regardless of how many times the actual words “record player maintenance” appear in the text).

Why? Because, as Google says, it uses “words frequently occurring together” to understand the content topic. That’s why using keywords like “car” in a blog about exhaust pipes acts as more of a backbone to the wider piece, just not the exact word you would want to rank on.

The trick is to separate your LSI keywords (other relevant terms you’d reasonably find on a page about this subject) from the thing your content is actually about.

What’s more, Google has become smarter about offering up content types based on conversational searches. So by searching “how do I clean my stylus”, you’re likely to end up with a blog about record player maintenance. Or, for example, by searching “how many albums has Radiohead released”, you’ll get both a quoted number in bold, and a top link leading to the band’s discography.

Be realistic about your keywords

Google’s search algorithms are now so sophisticated that they can tell pretty much off the bat whether your copy is junk or not. So, the trick is not to have your writers write for Google, but for people who use Google.

As long as Google exists, it’s unlikely that keyword research and lists will go away. But the job now is to use that research as information, to help us create content that matches user intent. Let me sign off with this quote from our very own Creative Director, David McGuire.

As B2B web writers, we need to remember that our reader is not Google… but they are using Google, and we need to make that easy for them. The job is really to look at each search term, picture the page that user most wants to see, and write it.

 – David McGuire, Creative Director, Radix Communications

 

65 real quotes about B2B content marketing problems

Posted on by The Radix Team

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

B2B marketing balance quote

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

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

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

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

Stakeholder micromanagement

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

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

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

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

Executives who don’t “get it”

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

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

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

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

Maureen Blandford B2B leadership quote

Forgetting about the reader

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

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

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

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

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

Changing priorities and briefs

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

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

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

Sales versus marketing

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

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

Basically, the internet sucks

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

Hell is other departments

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

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

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

Doug Kessler Quote 2

How do you prove it works?

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

Mat Harper business results quote

Agencies versus clients

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

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

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

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

Lack of alignment

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

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

Doug Kessler stakeholder management quote

“A new player has entered the game…”

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

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

Lack of time, investment and resources

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

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

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

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

The usual suspects…

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

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

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

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

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

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

B2B Marketing Pain Quote

A question of attitude

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maureen Blandford B2B results quote

Research report: barriers to B2B marketing content

Posted on by The Radix Team

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

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

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

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

Big surprises in the survey results

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

Responses from all kinds of B2B marketers, everywhere

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

B2B marketers are really, really angry about this stuff

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

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

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

– Maureen Blandford, VP of Marketing, Community Brands

Pretty much everyone is dealing with the same crap

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

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

All the assumptions about B2B marketing are wrong

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

– Doug Kessler, Creative Director, Velocity Partners

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

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

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

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

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

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

And this is where things get really interesting:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

– Shaema Shazleen Katib, Intel

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

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

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

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

Time to break the B2B content cycle.

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

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

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

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

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

– Doug Kessler, Creative Director, Velocity Partners

Ultimately, the fight is yours.

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

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

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

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

– Maureen Blandford, VP of Marketing, Community Brands

 

7 ways to liven up old-school B2B copy

Posted on by The Radix Team

B2B tech copywriting has come a long way over the years. Not just in the technology we write about, but also how we write about it.

In B2B, writing in a snappy, engaging style is an instant, effective way to differentiate your brand. When your text gets to the point, in sentences that are quick and easy to read, it shows you value your reader’s time. It also proves you know your stuff well enough to explain it clearly.

And that’s an opportunity, because many brands still take a formal or “old school” approach to B2B content. A lot of your competitors are making noise, but not much more.

So, what can you do about it?

There are plenty of easy tweaks you can make right now, to give your copy a little more impact and set your brand apart from the old-school crowd.

Let’s take a look.

“Old school” writing wastes readers’ time

For the purposes of this post, “old school” writing is the traditional style of copy that’s been used in B2B marketing for several decades.  You know the stuff: it’s academic, formal, sometimes stuffy, and is often wordy where more concise sentences would do.

There are people who believe there’s more legitimacy in a formal, academic-style – which can be fine in the right format or environment. It’s all about audience and context.

The problem is, reading complicated text takes longer, and B2B decision markers are time poor. People often don’t have the time or attention span to read dry and complicated content.

Research by Prezi suggests that longer content can still hold attention, but people are being more discerning with what they read. This means that it’s more important than ever to make your content as interesting as possible.

Here are seven ideas to get you started.

1. Look outward and focus on challenges

The most effective copy in any format talks about the reader and their challenges – not about you and your capabilities. This is your opportunity to empathise with your audience and offer solutions – and only then bring in your products, services, and expertise.

Instead of talking about what you do and what you can do for your customers, focus on your audience. What do they care about? What challenges do they face?

Moving from a feature-led approach to focusing on the benefits to your reader will ensure your customers aren’t left thinking “so what?”

(In fact, my colleague David created a fantastic short video explaining how this works with web copy.)

2. Be specific

There’s more content being created than ever before and it’s only set to increase. But here’s the problem: there’s also a skills gap, so you’ll find that there’s a tonne of re-hashed topics out there.

You’re unlikely to win customers’ attention with content they’ve already read elsewhere.

The fact is, to break through the sea of content out there you need to say something unique or useful – and a great place to start is by being more specific than your competition. Think about the particular people you want to reach: their challenges, their hopes, their attitude to work. Then ignore the crowd, and write directly to your ideal customer.

Remember: if you try to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one.

3. Be careful with jargon

How much jargon does your audience understand?

If you’re writing for a non-technical business reader, maybe not a lot. And you might want to dial things back a bit to make your content easy to digest.

But if they’re engineers or techies, the likelihood is a lot; potentially, more than you. And in B2B, that’s potentially a bigger worry than blinding your audience with science. You need to speak their language, and if you mishandle industry terms your reader uses every day, you’ll blow your credibility in an instant.

The crucial thing is: make sure you and your audience are on the same page, and understand the same thing by every word you use. Scattering jargon you don’t understand is a bigger risk than using none at all.

4. Get to the point

For me, a long, wandering preamble immediately puts me off reading a piece – and I’ll never get the chance to find out how interesting the subject might be. Because if the language you’re using is boring, the automatic assumption is that the subject matter will be boring too.

And I’m just a B2B copywriter. Imagine how little patience a time-poor B2B decision-maker would have.

That’s why it’s vitally important to get straight to your argument, cut the waffle (remember: more words don’t equal greater value), and inject your own personality into the copy, right from the start.

5. Lose the passive voice

Switching from passive to active voice is one of the most effective ways to give your copy more punch – and give you an edge against your competitors.

Grammarly has some useful advice on how to spot if you’ve written a sentence in the passive. Simply, if you can add “by zombies” after the verb (highlighted in green in the example below) it’s passive.

For example: “the new servers were installed overnight” would become “the new servers were installed by zombies overnight”. The sentence still makes sense, so it’s the passive voice.

(Whereas “the company installed the new servers overnight” wouldn’t make sense as “the company installed by zombies the new servers overnight”. So it’s active voice.)

6. Appeal to emotion (where appropriate)

Most decisions – even in a business context – aren’t made using logic or reason. They’re based on challenge-driven emotions (and then rationalised later).

It’s why using emotive language that taps into people’s challenges is far more effective in selling your products or services than simply setting out bare facts.

One of the best ways to resonate with an audience is to set up a piece of content with relatable challenges that make people say, “these guys genuinely understand my issues and what I’m trying to achieve”. You can tell a compelling story, and offer the immortal copywriters’ phrase “if this sounds familiar…”

Only then should you propose your solutions to these challenges.

7. Use design to your advantage

And finally, no matter how great your copy, it’s worth investing in some decent design work.

If your content looks eye-catching from the off, it will not only be able to shine through the masses of other content out there, but your audience will also be more likely to engage with it.

After all it looks different, and it sounds different. Why wouldn’t they want to find out if the content is different too?

Graduate from the old school – one step at a time

If you think these changes might be a bit much for your stakeholders, remember: you don’t need to make them all at once. Even applying a couple of these tips will have a significant impact on your content, and once you start to see results, it’ll be easier to justify doing more.

Or, if you’re not confident in your ability to make the break into a clearer, more modern style of content, feel free to get in touch with us. It’s exactly what we do all day, and we’d love to give you some idea of how a fresh approach to your writing might sound.

How to give copywriters better feedback

Posted on by George Reith

Amends are a natural part of the copywriting process. Sometimes it’s because a writer missed something in a brief or didn’t fully grasp the topic. In other cases, new information comes to light halfway through a project, plans shift and change, or a new stakeholder wakes up and wants their say.

Regardless, if you run projects that involve copywriters, you’ll likely have to give them feedback so they can amend their first draft. But not all feedback is created equal.

If you can deliver your comments in a precise, constructive, positive way, you’ll get far better results from your writers – both on that project and in the long term.

Follow these five feedback tips, and you’ll find your writers are better motivated, and better equipped to make the right changes to their drafts.

1. Be specific

Try and be as prescriptive with your feedback as possible. Telling a writer the piece is “generic” or “lacks impact” leaves them guessing what needs to be done.

But if you instead highlight specific phrases you feel need more authority, or give concrete examples of areas that need more detail, your writer will have a much better idea of what you’re looking for.

This isn’t to say you need to hold your writer’s hand. But if you don’t give them a good idea of where changes are needed, they’ll be left guessing – and likely missing the mark once again.

(This is also true of things you do like. If you can highlight specific sections for comment, rather than saying things like “this reads well”, then your writer will be able to carry that feedback into the next piece.)

2. Use positive framing

Just in case you roll your eyes looking at this subhead: yes, we’re all adults working in this industry. So no, you don’t need to sugar-coat our feedback unnecessarily.

But we’re human beings too – and nobody likes re-writing work they’ve already done. A little psychology can help you get a more engaged writer – and a better result.

If you come in with strong negative criticism right from the first round of amends, you’re likely going to put your writer on the back foot and make them feel defensive. And defensive people seldom do their best work.

But what if, instead of saying “you missed out points x, y and z”, you said “can we include points x, y and z?”

Your writer isn’t an idiot – they’ll be able to read between the lines and realise they forgot to put the points in. But they will absolutely appreciate you helping them save face.

A little positive framing can make the world of difference to your copywriter. It will keep them better motivated during the amends process, help them act on the spirit of your comments, and ultimately lead to better changes to your piece – and better content overall. And that’s the real goal, isn’t it?

3. Consolidate your criticism

Maybe you have a lot of stakeholders who need to offer their feedback on a document. Or maybe you come back to a piece a few days later and have additional thoughts. Either way, you should avoid the temptation to send feedback to a writer in bits and pieces.

The average copywriter needs several reference documents at a time (brief, product spec, company website etc), and if you add several different emails to the mix, you’re making their job far harder than it needs to be.

And if the various comments conflict (believe me, they often do), you’re far better placed than the writer to consider which should take precedence. If you don’t want to go to another round of amends, it’s best not to make them guess.

4. Consider what’s possible (and what isn’t)

We’d all love the perfect stat to come falling from the heavens to give every blog a punchy intro. But if no one’s published the study, that stat simply doesn’t exist. And if it doesn’t exist, no amount of desk research will help your copywriter find it (no matter how nicely you ask).

Similarly, your writer might be limited in other ways. If they can’t talk to any subject matter experts, end customers, or other specialists, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to add the extra depth or unique insights you’re asking for. Even an experienced B2B tech writer is only a writer.

So, before you request a change, consider what your writer will realistically be able to do with the time, information and resources available.

5. Build in time for changes

It’s well understood that rushing any creative process leads to poor results. For the first draft at least. Yet, when it comes to amends, there’s always an expectation that they should be done quickly to avoid derailing the project. But just as rushing the initial draft leads to suboptimal copy, editing a document too hastily can also lead to ineffective changes.

The key is to keep amends in mind when first planning out your content delivery schedule. A good rule of thumb is that any writing project will require two rounds of changes – one round for any big tweaks or new additions, and another to sand off the remaining rough edges. So plan for that, and anything else is a bonus.

(That’s also why we allow for two rounds of amends in all our quotes.)

Good content needs a good feedback process

Robert Graves once said, “there is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting.”

Were he around today, he would no doubt approve of a great amends process. And once you see the impact changing your feedback can have on the quality of your content, you’ll probably be converted too.

So, take these lessons to heart, and show your copywriter a little kindness during the amends process. They’ll likely be very grateful for it – and deliver you even better copy as a result.

Webinar: What does good B2B content look like? 15 essential checks

Posted on by The Radix Team

What does good B2B content look like? 15 essential quality checks
Thursday 7th November, 4pm GMT / 11am EST

It’s hard to create great B2B content when everyone’s idea of quality is subjective. You get vague, unhelpful feedback like “this reads well”. Eight sets of conflicting amends to consolidate. Stakeholders – who should be fine-tuning technical accuracy – spending precious time changing “use” to “utilize” because they think it sounds “more professional”.

It’s a lot of noise. And importantly, there’s nobody speaking up for your reader. The process that was supposed to improve your content ends up focusing on the wrong things, and ends up making it worse.

At Radix, we can’t afford to work like that. We write a lot of B2B content, and every scrap of it is reviewed by our own editors before it leaves the warehouse. We need to work fast, and keep our standards consistently high, or we’ll be broke.

And that’s why we created our 15-point content checklist, covering everything a piece of B2B content needs to work – from basics like grammar and spelling to audience value, voice and tone.

In this one-hour webinar, we’ll take you through every point of our list, and give you some tips on how to create your own. We’ll also talk about how you can use it to:

  • improve your content
  • wrangle your stakeholders
  • guide your training and development

As B2B content creators, none of us have as much time as we’d like. So I solemnly promise to cram as much valuable stuff into the hour as I can. Spaces on the webinar are limited, though, so do reserve yours ahead of time.

This webinar has now finished.