Category: Technology Copywriting

Radix Copycast episode 9 – designers vs. copywriters (it doesn’t have to be all-out war)

Posted on by The Radix Team

Why is it so important for designers and copywriters to work together?

More than ever, today’s B2B copywriters need to work closely with designers in order to meet the demands of enterprise marketing campaigns. The explosion in the use of design in traditional formats – white papers, case studies – and the increased use of visually-led content – infographics, comics – has seen the relationship between copy and design become far more involved.

Fiona and I are joined by designer Tim Hendy to explore this changing relationship between design and copy – and in particular:

  • How the use of external copywriters affects the design process
  • The risks involved if copywriters and designers can’t work together effectively
  • Designers’ frustrations with copywriters and vice versa
  • Which should come first: writing or design?
  • Plus: tips for how copywriters can work more effectively with designers

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

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here.

Music by Industrial and Marine.

 

Radix Copycast episode 8 – how to get B2B tone of voice right (and how to get it wrong)

Posted on by The Radix Team

Welcome to episode 8 of the Radix Copycast – this time we’re discussing tone of voice in B2B copywriting.

What we mean by tone of voice, and what can you do to ensure it’s authentic and consistent,  regardless of the organisation’s size and complexity?

Anyone who’s been frustrated by a flippant “Oops, we broke the internet” error message when trying to complete an important transaction knows that a single tone doesn’t work in all situations. Equally, the language used in an annual report could seem out of place in a Facebook update, so the key is to establish a range of tones that nevertheless all speak with the same brand voice.

Fiona and I are joined by David McGuire of copywriting consultancy Lungfish to discuss this issue and much more, including:

  • Is it tone of voice or tone and voice?
  • How tone needs to be adapted for different mediums
  • When translation needs to become transcreation
  • Who’s great at voice and tone, and who isn’t?
  • The importance of remembering that you’re dealing with people
  • Plus: the perils of sounding overly familiar

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

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here.

Music by Industrial and Marine.

Check out Voice and Tone here.

 

Radix Copycast episode 5 – is shorter always better in marketing copy?

Posted on by The Radix Team

In 1953 Watson and Crick published their paper on the structure of DNA – drastically changing our understanding of all organisms. The paper was only 800 words long.

Technology copywriting often involves complex subjects and products, but how do you ensure that length doesn’t get in the way of the message you’re trying to put across?

In this episode, Fiona and I are joined by one of our associate copywriters, David McGuire of Lungfish, to debate the issue of succinctness in B2B technology copywriting.

Points covered include:

  • Whether shorter is always better
  • The role of signposting and design in creating readable longer-form content
  • Understanding how audiences and platforms affect the length of your copy
  • How to ensure long-form copy remains concise and to the point

Improving your ability to be succinct

For David, using Twitter is like a gym workout for copywriting – you need to make each word count. We share tips on how to write succinctly and explain what tools are available to you to help put your message across. Words are not all you have in your arsenal.

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

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here.

Music by Industrial and Marine.

Radix Copycast episode 4 – how to create better B2B case studies

Posted on by The Radix Team

They are the ‘bread and butter’ of enterprise technology marketing, with 78% of business to business marketers citing them as the most effective format for generating leads.

But if that’s the case, why do so many customer case studies follow the same dry, stale format?

In this episode, Fiona and I discuss how copywriters and marketers can work together to make case studies more engaging – and even more effective as lead-generation tools.

Points covered include:

  • What a typical B2B case study looks like today
  • How to make case studies more engaging
  • The difference between ‘bread and butter’ case studies and ‘superstar’ case studies
  • Why you may need to interview more than one person
  • Techniques you can borrow from journalism

Polishing your interviewing technique

For every good case study writer, the interview is a crucial part of the process. We share tips for getting more value from interviews, including what kind of questions to ask, when to go off-topic, and how to overcome language and knowledge barriers.

(And somehow, we end up wondering if virtual presence robots might be the answer to all our case study interview problems.)

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

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here.
Music by Industrial and Marine.

Radix Copycast episode 3 – getting to grips with storytelling in B2B

Posted on by The Radix Team

Telling stories is a hot topic in B2B marketing, as evidenced by recent articles covering transmedia storytelling and brand storytelling, among many others. But with so many different techniques and approaches being discussed, we wanted to take a closer look at what storytelling actually is, and how B2B marketers can use it to best effect.

Emily and Fiona are joined by James Henry*, a television scriptwriter with titles like Green Wing, Shaun the Sheep and Bob the Builder under his belt, and several comedy and drama projects currently in development with the BBC and independent producers.

We believe marketers can learn a great deal from professional storytellers like James. Listen to this episode and find out:

  • The difference between a story and a series of events
  • What makes an engaging story
  • How the three-act structure works in business
  • The importance of a “relatable character”
  • Why brand storytelling is not customer friendly
  • How companies can use the seven basic plots to create stories about their customers (like this video from AtTask)
  • … and more

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

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here.

Music by Industrial and Marine.

* Disclosure: James is Fiona’s husband, podcast relationship-spotters.

Radix Copycast episode 2 – the jargon conundrum and making boring things interesting

Posted on by The Radix Team

Welcome to the latest Radix Copycast – a podcast exploring the trends and issues in B2B technology marketing through a copywriting lens.

Fiona, David and Emily in our “podcast studio”.

Emily and Fiona are joined by David McGuire of Lungfish to discuss two topics that B2B technology copywriters often wrangle with: how much (if any) jargon to use, and how to make a seemingly dull topic interesting enough to excite and inspire the audience.

On jargon, George Orwell once wrote:

“Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.”

from: Politics and the English Language

Lots of people will tell you to avoid jargon in marketing copy. But is it really a good idea to cut it out altogether? And if not, how can copywriters find the right balance between demonstrating technical knowledge and keeping content approachable?

In the second half of the episode we look at how writers can make boring topics interesting. David is certain that “nothing worth saying is innately boring” – but how do you find the angle or approach that will bring an apparently dull subject to life?

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

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here.

Music by Industrial and Marine.

Welcome to the Radix Copycast – a copywriting podcast for B2B technology marketers

Posted on by The Radix Team
Emily recording the Radix copycast
Emily at the controls in the Radix ‘podcasting studio’

This week we unveil the Radix Copycast – a new podcast exploring trends and issues in B2B technology marketing through a copywriting lens.

Direct download available here (right click and “Save As”). Or listen in the player at the top of the page.

In this first episode, Emily and Fiona discuss email marketing and B2B video marketing.

With 36% of emails now being accessed through mobile devices, what needs to change in email copywriting? What sort of subject line works best? And how can copywriters get to know which tactics work, and which don’t?

We finish with a look at the rise of video in B2B. It’s a relatively expensive medium, so how can content marketers create videos that make the right impact on the audience – and how can the script help with that?

Here are links to some of the things we talk about in the podcast:

Hope you enjoy it, and look out for future episodes, when we’ll be talking about whether it’s OK to use jargon in tech copy, and what Google’s recent algorithm updates mean for online copywriters. We may even have a guest expert or two!

Music by Industrial and Marine.