Category: The Blog

Should we rename “B2B content”? An interview with Palo Alto Networks marketer Mat Harper

Posted on by The Radix Team

Tweets. Blog posts. Explainer videos. Podcasts. Long-ass web pages. Interactive infographics. Hundred-page ABM reports. Even board games. Each of these marketing formats has a different style and function. But they all have one big thing in common.

Whether it’s the tiniest social seed or a big ol’ whitepaper, we categorise them all under one abstract and indeterminable word: content.

And Mat Harper, EMEA marketing chief of staff at Palo Alto Networks, believes that’s a problem.

Our recent content obstacles survey revealed that 68% of B2B marketers aren’t proud of even half their own work. In our drive to find out why, we outlined six obstacles to creating great content, from stakeholder interference to conflicting priorities. But Mat thinks we need to dig deeper.

In an interview for the survey report, he said we need to reconsider how we actually talk about creative marketing assets in B2B. More specifically, that we need to stop labelling everything as ‘content’ that should yield certain results. Because by doing so, he thinks we lose something equally important – the space for creativity.

And when we asked him how and why, he made some intriguing points. So we’ve put together the full interview for you. Here’s what he had to say…

Radix: You’ve seen the survey results. 37% of marketers say they’re only proud of a handful of work, ever. And 3% said they’d never produced work to be proud of. Having worked in B2B tech marketing for years, did you feel a sense of familiarity in these figures? Did anything make you really stop in your tracks?

Mat: “A lot of them made sense, and there’s definitely a feeling of familiarity there – I recognised many of the points in the observations from my own experiences.

“But one thing that really stood out to me, and we’re taking a bit of a step away here, is the impact of how we refer to all marketing content as just ‘content’. It’s a strange place we’ve put ourselves in.

“If you were a creative person, would you like your work to be defined as ‘content’? I certainly wouldn’t.”

“For a long time, and for the majority of my career, the word ‘content’ has been an umbrella term that encompasses everything – everyone from social media influencers to marketing professionals are using it. It’s always: ‘What is the content? We need more content.’

“And I think we need to understand where it’s come from. Would you refer to an artist’s work as ‘content’? No. So we have to stop and think – if you were a really creative person, and had fully poured yourself into your work, would you like it to be defined just as ‘content’? I certainly wouldn’t.”

Radix: But how does the catch-all word ‘content’ actually create limitations for B2B marketers?

Mat: “When we think about ‘content’, we’re always thinking about it as something that must drive to a result or outcome. And that might not be the smartest idea.

“We’ve got to a point where we’re completely data-driven and obsessed with ROI. We only focus on how many leads content engages with, or how many click-throughs it sees. And we have to ask ourselves: are they actually business results we’re talking about – is a clickthrough a business result? Do we even necessarily need to build content with a specific business result in mind?

“Because when you look at what some people are saying in the content obstacle survey results, it’s clear they’re not satisfied with what they’re producing. They think that in the drive to produce effective ‘content’, there’s too much influence from others, and too many people have their hands in sign-off.

“Can you really be proud something that’s just ‘content’ created by committee? Maybe you can’t.”

“If you are a creative person, the more people add their opinion or want to make changes, the further away it moves from your vision or plan. And can you really be proud or take ownership of something that’s not really you, that’s just ‘content’ that’s created by committee on behalf of the company? The more I think about it, the more I realise – maybe you can’t.

“The idea phase of content creation is brilliant. I get to dive into a project I’m passionate about. But often I see people stop there, because it’s near-impossible to justify an idea that came naturally. There’s no point in starting.

“Any really original idea can become the victim of its own success; it gets a reputation within your organisation, and suddenly it’s like people are putting gambling chips on what you’re creating.

“As the stakes get higher, ideas get interrogated. You need to predict the business benefit, or the pipeline, and justify yourself on all these levels, which is not where the idea came from. It’s demotivating.”

Radix: But the copy we write does have to have a business impact – we’re not just making art.  So how can marketers align that with creating content they’re proud of? And as a tech marketing chief of staff, how would you suggest our readers find that balance?

Mat: “I’m not an idealist who thinks everyone should be a creative artist who expresses themselves on a canvas every day at work. Marketing has a role, and we have to produce ROI and business results for the company. But who’s to say the creator should be focused on that?

“Maybe, to get the best business impact, we should allow our employees who have expertise, passions and interests – and understand our customers – to express that, and have a bit of hope that it will resonate with human beings. Because that’s who we’re marketing to: human beings who can connect on an emotional, personal level.

“We’re marketing to human beings who connect on an emotional level… Perhaps we should allow people to express themselves.”

“Perhaps we should even allow people to express themselves as a journalist would. Within the remit of the role and company values, let your employees find what’s interesting to them, something they can put their stamp on, be proud of and stand behind. Give them the confidence and freedom to go build that on their own. And let that resonance become their measure of success.

“Then it puts the onus on the marketing operations team to figure out how we make the most of that impact, and build the systems to translate it into results.”

Radix: it would be unusual for marketers to be given the freedom to play with content creation without establishing a watertight business case first. Do you think it’s realistic?

Mat: “I think it could be in small doses. Marketers are always having to justify their worth, and their place in the company. That makes it difficult for them to spend time on something that isn’t easily measurable or doesn’t quickly show ROI – which can lead to a lack of originality.

“But you can manage creativity into an organisation; you just need to be realistic about what is possible.

“Marketers are always having to justify their worth, and their place in the company. That can lead to a lack of originality.”

“I once worked with a manager who didn’t like people to have job roles that were too defined. She’d happily encourage someone who had come up with an idea to go away and produce that work, regardless of their job title. To her, your role is only defined by the eventual outcome of what that role needs to be – how you get there is up to you.

“And that’s a great example of how to build space for creative freedom into a large company without losing sight of the results.

“The only difficult part, is where do you draw the line? You can give people the extra space and time to be creative, but at some point you need to measure the results of that decision, so you can decide whether that time was invested well. And that’s a real challenge.”

Can creative space help you find original concepts and great results?

Mat’s view might sound controversial to you. Especially if you’re currently fighting for a marketing budget that’s been merciless hacked down.

However, the survey results do show the importance of making space for creativity. When we asked content writers and creators ‘what is it about your best content that makes you proud?’, 39% said clever, or original concepts. Yet 75% of the same group aren’t proud of even half their own work.

When we put the same question to CMOs and directors, the tensions became clearer. The results were dramatically reversed – only 18% said clever concepts, while 45% said business results. From those signing off, there is more of an emphasis on business outcomes than originality. But that’s not the only thing preventing marketers from being more creative.

High workloads also play a role. The less time you have to create something, the more tempted you may be to resort to safe, tried-and-tested methods. 9 out of 10 marketers said workload gets in the way of great content. And those who said this was a ‘big problem’ were 25% less likely to say their best content had a clever, original concept.

Making space for originality doesn’t mean you have to reinvent your entire strategy, or should start using every weird and wonderful format you can find. Start small – perhaps with headline formats, subject lines or customer quotes – rigorously collect the results and use that data to justify your choice. Then you can continue to build from there. You can find more helpful tips here.

To quote Doug Kessler (also in the survey report): “There shouldn’t be this tension between the well-crafted, beautiful content and the effective content.”

In other words, the first step is proving that great content works.

Thanks again to Mat Harper of Palo Alto Networks for being so generous with his time and experience.

Eight ways to get other departments more engaged in marketing content | B2B Content Tuesday

Posted on by The Radix Team

Uncooperative departments and a lack of stakeholder alignment are among the biggest obstacles B2B content marketers face. Our Barriers to Great B2B Content study showed 86% have a problem with departmental co-operation – and that if your business isn’t working together, there’s every chance the content you publish will suffer as a result.

So it’s no surprise that the first topic we were asked to cover in our B2B Content Tuesday Q&A webinars was how to create a strong content culture and get your whole organisation engaged.

In this blog post, we’ve outlined eight engagement ideas for you to steal, adapt or ignore. We’ve either seen them work for B2B tech clients, or they’ve been suggested by experts like Maureen Blandford and Doug Kessler. We’ve also summarised some of the questions and answers from the discussion.

If you’d like to watch the session in full, you’ll find a video at the bottom of this post.

Eight ways to get B2B departments more engaged in marketing content

  1. When you talk to your subject matter experts, keep it focused. Many find marketing a bit vague (or even untrustworthy), and asking for a “chat” will add to that. Instead, give the expert a list of questions in advance, so they get the comfort of preparation and their time and involvement is clearly defined in advance.
  2. Make it part of a clear content plan. Establishing a well thought-out content initiative can help subject matter experts feel like they’re taking part in something concrete, and will help them stay on board.
  3. Treat stakeholders like customers. In our study, experienced tech marketer Maureen Blandford said she does her research, and when she approaches stakeholders, only talks about their business needs, values or interests – and how she can help.
  4. Ask subject matter experts questions you already know they’ll like. Experts like to share their knowledge – it might only be the marketing context that’s making them uncomfortable. So help them feel like they’re on their home turf, and you’ll likely get better answers.
  5. Find bright spots in each department. Not everyone distrusts marketing – so start by looking for quick wins. Find the people who like engaging with you, and you’ve hit gold. Plus, when their colleagues see how easy working with marketing can be, and all the good things that result, you’ll get more interest from them too.
  6. Be really, really (really) clear on what good content looks like. If you don’t have a clear standard in your organisation, everyone will nitpick everything. At Radix, we standardise content reviews using a B2B content checklist, which you can steal and adapt if you’d like to.
  7. Back up your content opinions with data. If you can show evidence about what content works, you’re more likely to keep the conversation in areas where other departments can really help.
  8. Use their time well. As much as possible, focus on making people do the bit that you can only get from them – the nugget of wisdom or viewpoint that only they have. Good research (and dare we say good copywriters) can fill in the rest.

Q&A: Establishing a B2B content culture

Q: How do I get colleagues involved while everyone is working remotely?

David: “Sensitively. It might be that people are feeling isolated, and would quite like a chat about something, but don’t assume that nobody is busy right now.

“If you’ve had to cancel a marketing event where subject matter experts were going to speak or run an exhibition stand, you’re handing them back a day’s worth of time. So that can be a really good point to ask to borrow half an hour, where you can find out exactly what they want to say and get them to brief a copywriter or in-house writing team.

“But unless you’re specifically giving them hours back by cancelling something, don’t assume they have loads of time.”

Q: People I need for content aren’t responding to email – how can I get through to them?

David: “There are just TONNES of emails around at the moment, and our inboxes are all full of companies emailing us about how they are there for us at this ‘difficult time’.

“So pick up the phone, or jump on a Zoom call. Being able to see people’s faces is really helpful when you’re trying to figure out what they’re dealing with.”

Q: At Radix, how do you define good content beyond achieving the client’s business goal?

David: “That’s the number one – the ultimate ‘did it work, yes or no?’ But unfortunately, we writers don’t always get to find out if our content achieved its goals. Clients are so busy that they often don’t circle back to us with the results.

“When we’re reviewing internally, we use a clear, 16-point quality assurance checklist. Before any content goes to the client, it is assessed by another writer, and we’ve tried to standardise that process as best we can – so we know we’ve covered aspects like readability, technical accuracy, and voice.”

(You can find the checklist here – feel free to steal it for yourself.)

Q: How do you reconcile different ideas of good content – data, emotional impact, and perceptions of what different audiences expect?

David: “Emotion is always important – but you do still need to be clear, and use data to your advantage.

“When someone says: ‘our technology is very complicated, our audience is very intelligent – why are you writing in a way that’s so simple?’ bring them back to the facts. Show them the number reading on a mobile device – with the extra cognitive load that entails – or the proportion of your audience reading in a second language. When you’re talking about what good content looks like, you need to have evidence.

“For example, case studies that specifically name the client and have a quote are statistically more successful than those that don’t. So if you’re talking to a salesperson who doesn’t want to put you in touch with a customer, your data can give them clear evidence that by getting that interview you can help them to sell more.

“When it comes down to defining good content, move away from your opinion vs their opinion – especially if there are good, data-driven reasons to do it your way.

“Remember, the stakeholder will usually last have had their content reviewed in school or university. So to them, the writing that got good marks involved passive voice, reeeeaaaally long words and generally showing off a bit. People internalise that as ‘good writing’, and when they go to work, they think their writing has to put a tie on. So your first job is to reset that – which is where data helps.”

Q: As a content writer talking to subject matter experts, how do you guide that conversation to make use of your storytelling expertise without getting bogged down in technical detail?

David: “One of the things that helps us, is that we work in specific, technical niches. So if someone wants to talk to us about a technology or subject, we’ll generally have a writer who understands the area. We’ll never be technical experts, but it gives us just enough to ask the right questions.

“But in that interview, the most important thing is to know and explicitly represent your audience. If the subject matter expert is talking about things your audience wouldn’t be interested in, it gives you licence to gently guide them away from that.

“That makes it essential to do your homework. Especially if they’re a technical expert writing to another technical expert.”

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

If you’d like more, we’re building a playlist of all our B2B Content Tuesdays webinar recordings on YouTube.

How can I make complex B2B content readable and compelling? | B2B Content Tuesday

Posted on by The Radix Team

Great B2B content is clear, understandable and engaging – however complicated the subject. But it isn’t easy to simplify technical content without losing technical authority. In fact, we’ve written this blog about readability scoring in B2B, this blog about readability techniques, and even recorded a podcast with readability professor Chris Trudeau on tackling the task.

So when we were asked to cover the topic in our B2B Content Tuesday Q&A webinars, we jumped at the chance.

In this blog, we’ve put together our top three tips to help you reduce unnecessary complexity, and answered some of the great questions we were asked during the live session about readability tools.

(And if you’d like to watch the discussion in full, you’ll find the video at the foot of this page.)

Three tips for simplifying complex B2B content:

Tip 1: Complexity and jargon are not the same thing

Understanding the difference between jargon and complexity is vital. Jargon is the technical language your audience uses every day in their jobs. But complexity can also include the overly long sentences or unnecessary buzzwords that creep in with technical specifics. And that’s the stuff you can do without.

Look out for passive voice, nominalised verbs or anything that could be considered marketing waffle.

And “use” is almost always better than “utilise”.

Tip 2: The water-cooler test

Imagine you are reading your copy, out loud, to a single reader in your target market. Does it make you cringe? Are you being patronising? Or feel like you should be explaining something?

Try running it through the water-cooler test (patent pending):

Two IT engineers (or whoever you’re writing for) are conversing by a water cooler. The language they use will be absolutely specific to what they do, and they’ll use the correct technical terms. But they won’t surround it with any really complicated stuff – or speak in a way that you need a degree to understand.

(They might well say something like: “This is the third time the nozzle-alignment flangelator has corrupted this morning. I think the embedded system needs an update.” They certainly won’t say: “I am experiencing significant downtime as a result of nozzle-alignment flangelator’s sub-optimal reliability. Surely we must acquire and implement an automated embedded system update solution without undue delay.”)

Ask yourself: can you imagine what you’ve written being said over the water-cooler?

Tip 3: Readability algorithms are helpful – but not the be-all and end-all

From Flesch-Kincaid to Gunning fog, each readability measure has its own nuances and measures different things. Indeed, tools like Readable will let you grade a piece of text against several scoring methods at once.

As a general rule, the more complex a topic is, the harder you should work to make the copy easy to read and understand. Because readability algorithms tend to measure combinations of word difficulty and sentence length, they can help you to retain this balance – forcing you to make your prose simpler to compensate as jargon increases.

Having an objective readability score can also help you to avoid disagreements over your copy’s style.

If you don’t write for a living, it can be easy to think that complicated writing is somehow “better” content – although in fact it’s quite the opposite. Using a readability measure can help you move away from subjective conversations about writing style towards concrete, objective criteria.

Remember, though, that calculations based on word count and difficulty are still a fairly crude measure of our content’s quality. Algorithms can be a useful guide, but don’t be too slavish about aiming for a particular number.

Q&A: Measuring readability in B2B content

Q: What readability scoring model is best for B2B?

David: “Flesch-Kincaid grade level is quite simple and user-friendly. However, the way it’s aligned to an educational grade system might prove confusing for some stakeholders.

“For example, I’ve seen pieces of content about managed IT services, that have a Flesch-Kincaid readability level of 21 – that’s incredibly difficult, post-doctorate level text for an eBook on managed services. But if you talk about it in those terms to a stakeholder, they may point out that your audience do have doctorates, and assume it’s fine. In fact, they might decide anything less is “dumbing down”.

“But the truth is, most of the content we read at work is much, much more readable than that. Broadsheet newspapers have a Flesch-Kincaid grade of around 9, and they’re hardly simplistic.

“In that case, a model that gives you a readability score rather than a grade level could be more useful.”

Q: What readability score should B2B content aim for as a general rule?

David: “That really depends on your audience. For example, you might think about how many of your readers will engage on mobile, or have English as a second language.

“But in the areas of B2B tech where we work, I commonly see Flesh-Kincaid grade levels of 15 and more. Some sectors, like consultancy, are higher still. So if you want B2B content that is more readable than most, but without ever appearing simple, a Flesch-Kincaid grade of around 10 or 11 will help you to stand out. At that level, you can include pretty much all the technical detail you need, without overcomplicating things.”

Q: What tools can I use to judge the readability for microcopy?

David: “Unfortunately, most of the algorithms need 100 words or more to provide you with a reliable answer, as otherwise one long sentence could throw it off.

“But there are a few that could be useful for judging its readability: take a look at Readable and Hemingway.

“And for conversational interfaces, or chatbots, you could take a look at the XKCD comic site. They have a text editor that will keep you to the 1,000 most common words in the English language. It’s surprising how much you can write within that limit.”

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.)

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:

The best B2B content of 2020: cast your vote now

Posted on by The Radix Team

By rights, 2020 should be a landmark year for B2B marketing content. The best content can educate people about new challenges, help them implement change, and release strong emotions about work. It also fights hard to secure engagement in the face of other distractions.

To put it mildly, this year has presented plenty of opportunity to do that kind of work.

So we asked friends and colleagues around the industry to nominate their favourite piece of B2B content from 2020… and compiled 15 inspiring nominations below.

After last year’s best content nominations, we were excited to see what you would send us this time around. In a year that has been straight-up weird, would 2020’s B2B content follow suit?

Spoiler alert: pretty much. This year’s shortlist includes everything from a homemade productivity-rewarding cookie dispenser (yup, it’s exactly as it sounds) to an erotically-charged cyber-security Q&A that’s almost as informative as it is disturbing. Almost.

Thankfully, the nominations you sent us aren’t all about COVID. But they do all show the real value B2B content can have in a crisis – and many creative ways that marketers have addressed the unique challenge of speaking to B2B audiences in a year that changed work forever.

Here’s the full list of 15. Enjoy.

(Alternatively, if you already know your favourite, you can skip straight to the voting.)

A) Apple: The whole working-from-home thing

Seven-minute video story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_pru8U2RmM

Emily King, Senior Writer and Editor at Bluefruit Software, says: “It’s chaotic, human, relatable… just a joy to watch. One of the few pieces of content relating to the events of this year that didn’t make me want to pull my hair out.”

B) B2B Institute / LinkedIn: 2030 B2B Trends

In-depth research report

b2b institute 2030 trends reportRuss Powell, Managing Director and Founder at Sharper B2B Marketing says: “My nomination is the 2030 trends report from the B2B Institute at LinkedIn. It backs up what we’ve been saying to our clients about the long term approach needed in B2B, and gave me some ideas around targeting and personalisation. A useful report that we can use to build into our strategy for the next decade.” 

C) Bottomline Technologies: Think These 5 AP Opportunities are Myths? Think Again

Horror-themed assessment quiz

bottomline.comLizzie Cresswell, Junior Copywriter at Radix Communications, says: “Bottomline make complex business payments simple and secure for organisations across the globe (cash management tools/payment automation etc). This is fun, and on-brand with their tone – it takes a boring subject and creates an interactive piece of content marketing that is both informative and engaging. Plus it’s a bit weird, so right up my street. Looks at the ‘myths’ of AP/revenue opportunities you might be missing, with a series of mythical creatures featuring on the way. Yes, it’s a little cheesy in places, but its good fun and, for a subject that is (let’s face it) a tad boring, it’s genuinely engaging.”

D)  Cognizant Center for the Future of Work: After the Virus

Part Turtl story, part prophecy

after the virusNominated by Karla Rivershaw, Head of Marketing at Turtl.

A history lesson from the future – telling the story of what happened in the five years after COVID. It includes some pretty bold predictions.

E) CyberOff: Meet the Bearded Babe

Nausea-inducing cybersecurity video (you have been warned)

Nominated by Giles Shorthouse, Head of Business Development & Marketing at Octopus Group.

(So blame Giles, not us. Now, has anyone seen my mind bleach?)

F) Google: What board members say about the CMO—off the record

Long, scrolling web page

Google CMO Insights ContentAndrew Last, Managing Director at Harvard, says: “I nominate ‘Think with Google’ for their industry insights on the role of the CMO. Fortune 1000 board members discussed the CMO role anonymously. They gave Google over 100,000 words with insights. Google then distilled them into one single paragraph: Great expectations: What the board wants from you…”

G) LinkedIn Marketing Solutions: An interactive video content experience for B2B Marketers

Interactive explainer video

an interactive video content experience for B2B MarketersNominated by Giles Shorthouse, Head of Business Development & Marketing at Octopus Group.

Unusual concept, this: a mash-up between an explainer video and a choose-your-own-adventure game.

H) McKinsey: These eight charts show how COVID-19 has changed B2B sales forever

Data-packed article… and a whole body of work

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/these-eight-charts-show-how-covid-19-has-changed-b2b-sales-forever#Paul Hewerdine, Strategy Partner at Earnest, says: “My favourite content this year is not one piece, but a whole body of work. For me, McKinsey has completely bossed COVID-19 with its regular briefings and insights. They’ve become a go-to source, a real barometer of the state of play out there and how business leaders need to adapt. This is a really prime example, it’s Informative, enlightening, and thought-provoking. But it’s not all COVID-related content; they recently launched their McKinsey for Kids series (for an example, see “Hungry fish, baffled farmers, and what happened next”) which definitely appealed to big kids like me. It looked like it started as an initiative aimed at kids of McKinsey employees to explain what their parents do, but it’s got far wider appeal. Beautifully executed and again truly insightful. McKinsey = content marketing team of the year.”

I) Megan Rose: Looking for examples of great content and tone of voice?

Blog post with practical examples

Tone of Voice - Megan RoseAndré Spiteri, Director and Chief Copywriter at Maverick Words, says: “This is amazing. It’s a bit meta, granted (as it’s by copywriters for copywriters) but I think it’s a fab one for the swipe file.”

(Think that’s meta, André? Try including a best-practice roundup post in a best-practice roundup post…)

 

 

 

J) monday.com: I built a cookie machine to motivate people at monday.com. It didn’t work.

Man annoys colleagues on video

Doug Kessler, Creative Director at Velocity Partners, says: “It’s about someone who invented a machine that delivers cookies to people’s desks whenever a project is completed, and it’s funny!”

K) Nationwide Children’s Hospital: PediaCast CME

Podcast for paediatricians

https://www.pediacastcme.org/Kerry O’Shea Gorgone, Educational Content Director at MarketingProfs, says: “This podcaster didn’t even realize his show is B2B! Dr Mike Patrick is a board-certified paediatrician and Fellow of the American Academy of Paediatrics. He’s done a show called ‘PediaCast’ for parents since 2006, then in 2015 he started a show for paediatric professionals. This is AMAZING B2B content, sponsored by Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio.”

L) Profitwell: COVID basically doesn’t exist in B2B SaaS

Twitter thread and video

https://twitter.com/i/status/1316385881188708352

Harry Kapur, B2B tech marketing consultant and freelance copywriter says: “Patrick Cambell, CEO at Profitwell, reveals that their B2B SaaS index hasn’t been affected by COVID and new revenue has accelerated.”

M) Turtl: Spock vs Homer and the psychology of personalization

Blog post and presentation

Spock v Homer

Joel Harrison, Editor in Chief at B2B Marketing, says: “I loved the piece by  Turtl on different buying decision making – Homer versus Spock.”

 

 

N) Xero Accounting Software: Capture bills and receipts in a snap

Cute, funny video ad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFmC8PejW30

Lisa Woodruff, Marketing Manager Radix Communications, says: “This ad is great because it addresses the pain that most sole traders feel, spending time doing paperwork. It’s funny but it works.”

O) xiQ: New-Age B2B Marketing – Innovate or Die

Post-COVID infographic

Covid B2B Marketing InfographicNominated by Eman Malik, Client Success and Support Manager at xiQ.

(There’s nothing in the rules against nominating your brand’s own content if you’re proud of it, especially if it’s as timely and informative as this.)

 

Found your favourite? It’s time to vote…

Simply click your favourite in the form below and hit “submit”… then sit back and wait for December’s edition of Good Copy, Bad Copy: The B2B Copywriting Podcast, where we’ll be joined by leading B2B marketers to count down the top ten… and finally reveal the winner.

You have until Tuesday 8th December at 09:00 GMT.

Or, if you think we’ve missed the year’s piece of standout B2B content, let us know on social media or [email protected]!

Will your B2B blog post perform better as a LinkedIn article? Let’s investigate.

Posted on by The Radix Team

It must’ve been four years ago when I first heard that B2B blog writing was on its way out. But here we are in 2021 and I’m writing this, a blog.

Of course blogs didn’t die. But they did change.

In fact, B2B blog content has only gotten longer and more versatile, with the average blog post now hitting 1269 words. And of the 94% of B2B marketers using the format, many seem to be spending more time than ever ensuring their blogs provide genuine value and, in turn, deliver stronger results.

To get those results, though, you need to put your content in the right place.

The B2B content dilemma: dedicated blogging vs LinkedIn articles

Where should your blog posts live to perform at their best? It’s not the simple question it once was.

In B2B, you have a couple of strong options. You can publish content on your dedicated business blog, or as an article hosted natively by LinkedIn.

Let’s weigh up the pros and cons of both approaches.

The dedicated B2B blog: expertise where it counts

For many businesses, an on-site blog is more than just a means to share thought leadership and respond to the latest industry trends; it’s an SEO powerhouse.

Even back in 2017, our Creative Director David noted that search algorithms were increasingly rewarding quality content. And that’s as true as ever for your blog content today – especially since Google E-A-T and YMYL came on the scene.

What is Google E-A-T – and why should a B2B marketer care?

According to Google, “E-A-T” stands for “expertise, authority, and trustworthiness”. And that’s what your content needs to successfully rank where you want it to.

It’s also one of the three guidelines used by Google’s human search evaluators when assessing whether its algorithms are doing their job properly. It’s easy to get lost down a rabbit hole here, so let me break it down for you: E-A-T works to stop Google from serving you rubbish content.

Today, approximately 86% of content marketers include blogs as part of their marketing strategy. And when companies who do so are likely to get 97% more links to their sites compared to those who don’t, it’s easy to see the appeal from a marketing perspective.

The proof of the pudding

But remember, your blog is also evidence of your expertise; it’s proof that you have the knowledge to really deliver the goods. When a technical expert publishes a blog sharing their expertise, it’s more convincing than just saying how smart they are.

A dedicated blog is also a means to take ownership of your content, giving you full authority over how it looks and feels. And because it sits on your website, with your look and feel, there’s an immediate association between the quality of your content and your brand.

So, if it’s easy to just share a URL to your dedicated blog, why on earth would you post your content natively on LinkedIn instead?

The LinkedIn article: building networks and conversations

Just to clarify, as this can get a little confusing: when we talk about posting a LinkedIn article, we don’t mean lifting your blog’s URL and sharing it socially. We mean your blog is published on the LinkedIn platform – that’s where it lives, and it’s tied specifically to your account.

(If you happen to remember LinkedIn Pulse, that’s exactly what I’m referring to. Except they’ve now retired the Pulse name and integrated its features into the standard LinkedIn experience.)

Anyway, before we go on, let’s pull out some statistics. Mull over these for a moment:

What’s more, 91% of decision-makers consider it the place to find valuable content. And it’s not hard to see why.

LinkedIn encourages awareness, networking, and discourse. It’s easy to share your opinion, and it’s democratic too – it must be one of the only places online where you’re likely to see an enterprise CEO discussing content with, say, a graduate developer in a public forum.

So, back to our original question: what’s better – posting your blog as a LinkedIn article, or on your website?

What’s best on LinkedIn: native content vs external links

On LinkedIn, you’re serving people content where they already are. They don’t need to click out to your site to read your blog. What’s more, you’re creating opportunities to build your personal network, and even sell socially.

For example, when people comment on your content, they create visibility for you on their own network – often, likeminded people, in similar sectors and roles. This helps your content to extend its reach, and with luck, attract the kind of lookalike customers you want to appeal to.

Most importantly, it plays to how LinkedIn decides who sees what. In May 2020, LinkedIn engineers kindly published the details of their new algorithm, and for some, it held a few nasty surprises. You see, LinkedIn largely determines content visibility based on the amount of time people spend interacting with it – that includes likes, comments, and shares. Now, this has a knock-on effect: it means external links will be penalised. Why? Because they pull users away from LinkedIn and decrease the time they spend on the post.

Ouch. That’s a score for posting content natively if ever there was one.

But then again, with LinkedIn articles, the content is associated with you – an individual – and there’s no immediate indication that it’s tied to your brand. Even with a powerful call-to-action, there’s still no guarantee they’ll click through to your site. Chances are, they’re in browse mode, and they just want something to read while eating lunch at their desk. And that means they’re not being reeled into a buying journey.

And maybe you risk your content getting lost in a sea of voices, because, hey, if anyone can post an article here, what’s to say they’re the real deal?

Can we have the best of both worlds? I think so.

Is there any reason you can’t just use your blog in two places at once?

Well, having hunted around online for a definitive answer – all for the sake of this blog, of course – I concluded that there’s no harm in doing both. Albeit, posting two ever-so-different versions of the same blog.

The relentlessly helpful John Espirian covers this approach really well (both in a LinkedIn article and on his blog, of course). But very briefly, here’s how it works:

First, publish the full-fat version of your blog as you normally would, on your website. This gives you all the benefits I mentioned earlier, like SEO authority, brand association, and greater control over how it looks and feels. Then, for optimal visibility, share it on your preferred social media platforms.

Next, create an abridged version of your final draft. One that delivers the same value but isn’t likely to supersede your original post in Google’s rankings. Not necessarily because duplicate content can score you poorly, but because – as Google’s John Muller testifies – its algorithm will always try and promote the best matching page to a user’s search, and you want them to find your site first.

Once you’ve done that, publish your second draft as an article on LinkedIn where, with any luck, you’ll reap the benefits of a larger audience and maybe get some killer conversation going too.

You do you.

Where do you prefer to post your blog content? Does our research line up with your experiences, or is there a smarter way to solve this puzzle? Or maybe we’ve got this whole LinkedIn business totally wrong? Let us know.

You can tweet us at @radixcom, pop us an email at [email protected], or join the conversation over on (where else?) our LinkedIn page.

We’re a B2B copywriting agency. So why are we planting trees?

Posted on by The Radix Team

We’ve been writing B2B copy against the stunning backdrop of Cornwall for more than 13 years – so, we thought it’s about time we start giving back to our environment. And we’re happy to be doing it with our new partner, Plant One.

Logo: Plant One Certified Partner. The words form a green circle, around a number one styled to look like a tree with fresh leaves. It's also a hyperlink to the Plant One website.Plant One is a registered Community Interest Company here in Cornwall,  that plants trees in the ground to benefit the local area, the region, and the world. It partners with small businesses and entrepreneurs, matching them with landowners to help make a positive impact on the environments where they work.

At Radix, we’re pledging trees (one for each member of our team) every time we reach a company target; the better we do, the more we’re able to help. And later in the year, we’re looking forward to visiting the site ourselves, to plant the trees we’ve pledged and see the impact we’ve made.

Our Creative Director and company co-owner, David McGuire, offered his perspective on why the scheme makes such good sense for the company:

“There’s no point in having a successful business if it comes at the expense of the world. As owners of Radix, we’re attracted to the ideas that help us give back and make a positive difference as we grow – so Plant One is perfect.”

So far, we’ve pledged 76 trees in our first quarter with Plant One, and that number is growing fast.

A person in jeans and boots, planting a sapling tree in a woodland.David added: “It feels really good to be doing something so tangible to fight climate change while also improving our local environment. It’s amazing to have such a stake in the future – we’re planting something that might grow for hundreds of years and will hopefully benefit many generations to come.”

Want to partner with Plant One?

If you run a business, and you like this idea, we warmly encourage you to copy us. Plant One is always searching for new small business partners that want to give back to the environment. Explore the website and get in touch to find out how you can get involved.

Want to work with Radix?

If you might be interested in joining the Radix team – and making a difference of your own – have a look at our careers page. We’re always looking for talented writers and account managers, and this is just one of the initiatives we’ve got planned to make sure that when we succeed, our community does too.

Radix employees have taken over the company

Posted on by The Radix Team

On Friday 21st December, we signed papers to set up a new Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), which now owns 100% of our shares. 

The EOT will hold the shares for the benefit of all our employees and, as Radix’s sole owner, gives our team a powerful say in the company’s strategic direction. It can also pay staff bonuses based on profits.

Our directors Sophie Reynolds and David McGuire will stay responsible for running the business day to day.

Sophie said: “As Radix continued to grow, it became obvious that our hardworking people deserved to benefit more directly from their success. We’re one team, and this new structure feels like a good reflection of that. Now we’re ready for the next step of the journey.”

Sophie and David will be joined on the board of the new trustee company by two elected employees, Nick Prescott and Ben Clarke. SouthWestFD regional director and long-time Radix advisor Jeremy Kirk completes the board.

Employee trustee director Ben Clarke said: “We’ve always known that Radix values our perspectives as employees, but with the creation of the trust, it really feels like we have an even greater stake in the company’s direction and success. Nick and I are excited to be representing the rest of the team.”

Radix would like to thank Murrell Associates for their advice, good humour, and sheer stamina in preparing all the many documents we needed. Lang Bennetts also advised on the deal.

If you’re interested in joining a company like this, we’d be delighted to hear from you. Take a look at our careers page.

Common maths mistakes in B2B content – and how to overcome them

Posted on by The Radix Team

You’d think being a copywriter would mostly involve writing, well… copy. But for B2B copywriters, maths is a big part of the job too.

In this blog, I’ll offer some tips to help you overcome the most common misconceptions we see around numbers and statistics in B2B content.

Breaking big numbers down is good for understanding

Like many elements of writing, it’s best to keep numbers simple.

The Royal Statistical Society’s (RSS) ‘Statistics for Journalists’ course recommends breaking big numbers down and scaling small numbers up.

(In fact, there’s all sorts of recommendations in the RSS course, which might be why it got glowing reviews from Lucy Rycroft-Smith of Cambridge University when she joined us on the Radix podcast: Good Copy, Bad Copy 78: Maths for B2B Marketers.)

In short: it’s easy to get lost when trying represent extreme numbers – whether that’s billions and trillions or numbers to five decimal places (0.00003).

Instead, deal with huge or tiny numbers by putting them on a scale your audience can relate to.

For example, let’s say you’re writing about the very fictional B2B copywriting company ‘Cadix Rommunications’. It sounds impressive to say the company writes a million blog posts a year, but sometimes big numbers that end with ‘illion’ can feel so big they’re unimaginable. They’re not meaningful to a reader.

But it might be meaningful to scale those one million posts a year down to 83,000 blogs a month or 20,833 blogs a week (give or take a recurring .3).

Say ‘Cadix Rommunications’ employs 100 people. You can go even further by saying those 20,833 blogs a week represent an average of 208 blogs per person. That’s much easier to imagine (even if it’s much harder to believe).

This advice also works in reverse. Avoid small percentages like “0.003% of Cadix Rommunications’ website traffic came from the International Space Station”. It’s easier to understand decimals that are scaled up (e.g. ‘3 in every 10,000’.)

You can also help your reader visualise extreme numbers by comparing them to well known objects. For example, if the ‘Cadix Rommunications’ office drunk 8,333,333 average-sized cups of coffee, they’d fill one Olympic size swimming pool. (This one’s much easier to believe.)

Percentages and percentage points

Percentages are an effective way of scaling numbers for comparison. Something is set as 100 and then everything else is worked out in relation to that.

But people often confuse percentages with percentage points. Here’s an example to demonstrate how easy it is to make a mistake:

Last year, Shmavid, a very fictional employee at ‘Cadix Rommunications,’ wrote 2% of the total blog post output (one million blog posts). And this year, he wrote 2.5%.

If Shmavid wrote 2.5% of the blog posts this year and 2% last year, then it’s tempting to guess that Shmavid’s output increased by 0.5%. But that’d be wrong because you’re measuring in percentage points, not percentages.

Shmavid’s actual output increased by 25%.

Looking at the absolute numbers, Shmavid wrote 25,000 blog posts this year (2.5%) and 20,000 blogs last year (2%). That’s an increase of 5,000 blogs and 25% of his output from last year (because 5,000 blog posts are a quarter or 25% of 20,000 blogs).

So, Shmavid’s actual blog post output increased by 25% from last year to this, and by 0.5 percentage points (the difference between 2.5% and 2%).

It’s also worth noting that if the situation David’s was reversed and David’s output decreased from 25,000 to 20,000, it would only be a 20% decrease. That’s because 5,000 blog posts are a fifth or 20% of 25,000 blogs.

But the percentage point difference, from 2.5% to 2% of the total output, would stay the same (0.5, except it’s decreasing and not increasing).

If you’re ever in doubt, head to this handy percentage change calculator. Lucy also shared a lot of other great recommendations on how to handle percentage changes in the 78th episode of the Radix podcast: Good Copy, Bad Copy 78: Maths for B2B Marketers.

If nothing else, just try to remember that:

A change in numbers refers to percentages.

A change between percentages refers to percentage points.

Percentages: bonus tips  

  1. Be careful when you’ve got increases greater than 100%. If your blog post output increased by 100% it’s simpler to say it has doubled. But be careful because it’s a common mistake to assume a 200% increase is doubled, a 300% is tripled, 400% is quadrupled, etc… but it’s not, because you’re adding to the amount your already had.
  2. If you’re talking about just percentage points, it’s often clearer if you mention the actual number that’s changed as well.

Displaying data? Choose the right format

If you can avoid writing numbers on their own, then do because it makes things easier for your reader. Draw a graph, mock up a chart, get into excel and track your increasing blog post output. Take this example:

Bar chart displaying data

Displaying the data from my earlier example in a bar chart gives the reader the same information without all the written explanation. By just glancing at this graph, Shmavid’s increased blog post output is immediately obvious and it still includes the absolute numbers (Shmavid’s actual blog post output) as well.

It also provides a visual cue for calculating percentages because the bars are split into sections for every 5,000 blog posts.

But don’t assume visualising data is error-free. A common mistake is using the wrong type of graph or chart to represent your data type. For example, you could show the same information like this:

Pie chart displaying data

Displaying the same data in a pie chart does give the reader the same information, but it’s much less clear because pie charts are designed to show contributions to an overall whole. Shmavid’s increased output over time isn’t as clear to see and a pie chart provides little visual support in calculating percentages. So choose wisely.

I’ve got the percentages right. Are we done now?

Unfortunately not.

While your stats and percentages may now be technically accurate, they still may not mean quite what you think they mean. While it’s easy to throw figures out and assume we now have instant, objective authority, the reality is data is not as objective as people like to think.

‘Mathwashing’ is the name given to taking fundamentally subjective opinions and turning them into stats, suddenly creating the impression of rational and objective information.

Question your statistics and where they’ve come from. When writing about polls and surveys in particular, it’s important to know who and what is being asked.

Understand that no poll can ever be truly representative – not even the UK census (that is a crime to not complete) succeeds in asking everyone in a given group.

You can assume for most surveys that a proxy measure is used: an indirect measure of an outcome. For example, a blog post’s audience might be measured by the number of clicks but there’s no way to know how much the people who clicked actually read.

Get the confidence to check the maths

Whether you’re writing or reviewing a piece of content, you’re just as responsible for the accuracy of the numbers as you are the words and grammar. Make sure you’re confident enough to identify and fix mistakes.

In this post, I’ve collated some of the most important maths tips and explanations for B2B marketers and content creators to know. But the RSS’s ‘Statistics for Journalists’ course also delves into the margin of errors, confidence intervals, how we can define relative and absolute risk, the difference between correlation and causation, and what the regression to the mean really is.

By all means check out the course for yourself,  and maybe listen to Good Copy, Bad Copy 78: Maths for B2B Marketers, which, if you’re feeling confident, includes a test to see how much you really know.

Further reading