Category: The Blog

Podcast 53: style guide v tone and voice. What’s the difference?

Posted on by The Radix Team

Do you italicise titles? Or put them in speech marks? The question may seem barely worth your time, but the fact remains: writing “Ulysses 31” and Ulysses 31 in the same sentence looks more than a little sloppy.

A good style guide can help you keep content consistent, even when you’ve a small army of people writing for your brand.

But do you need one? What should it contain? And is it the right place to lay down the law on voice and tone?

Hear Emily, Fiona and David share their expert perspectives in our 22-minute guide to guides (and still find the time to reminisce over 1980s Franco-Japanese cartoons).

Listen now to discover:

  • The difference between “editorial style” and “voice and tone” guides
  • The one thing absolutely every style guide should contain
  • Our gripes with The Economist Style Guide (which, for the most part, we love)
  • Why blog posts are a special case when it comes to “voice and tone” rules
  • … and much, much more

How to listen:

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

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

Resources mentioned in this episode:

The Economist Style Guide Online

Credits:

Intro and outro music by Industrial and Marine.

Header based on photo by Tim Graf on Unsplash.

Podcast 51: Do you need jargon in effective B2B marketing copy?

Posted on by The Radix Team

You may think you can escape using jargon in your B2B copy. You may believe that you need to write in a way that your Auntie Kathleen can understand. Alternatively, you might feel that your copy isn’t professional unless it’s couched in the latest technical and business speak. Which is right?

It’s easy to see why technical jargon has a place in B2B marketing copy – you need to call things by the same terms the audience is using. Using industry jargon in context can mark your copy out as relevant to customers.

Even copy laden with full-on business speak can have its place in the B2B copy landscape. It’s all a matter of context and audience.

But how do you do that, without turning your copy into meaningless business BS? Can you use jargon and still stand out?

Join Fiona, David, and me as we take a journey down a linguistical rabbit hole, and find out how to effectively use jargon in business-to-business marketing copy.

Listen now and find out:

  • The importance of speaking your audience’s language
  • Why plain English isn’t always the answer
  • How language affects the credibility of copy
  • Business guff that does need to go
  • … and more

Ready to give it a listen?

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

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

Stuff we mentioned

You can find that awesome article on corporate claptrap, by Lucy Kellaway, for FT.com, here.

Check out the picture of that Pokémon and coding language infused recruitment profile here.

And you can see the “Accelerating Next” copy in Fiona’s blog post on why you need to stop using the present participle in your headlines.

Credits:

Intro and outro music by Industrial and Marine.

Header image adapted from photo by Caleb Rogers on Unsplash.

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

Posted on by The Radix Team

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

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

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

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

Listen in now and find out:

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

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

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

Notes from this episode…

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

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

Music by Industrial and Marine.

Podcast 47: Chatbots and virtual assistants are still young – it’s down to copywriters to help them grow up

Posted on by The Radix Team

We’ve all seen the media hype about how robots are going to take over the world like SKYNET. But while some people may worry about Arnie turning up at their door, copywriters need to stay grounded and focus on making chatbots genuinely useful through great copy.

Chatbots and virtual assistants (VAs) might be new, but the theory behind them has been a big part of websites, search and gaming for decades.

Think of a chatbot or VA as an elaborate search bar on a website. You ask it questions, it finds the answer and fires it back to you in the blink of an eye. But what if I use the word pants instead of trousers? (I hear you ask). This is exactly what any self-respecting search bar (or chatbot, or VA) should account for and learn from.

In our latest podcast, Emily, David and George discuss all things bot, and where copywriters fit in to this brave new world.

They take a look at:

  • The difference between a chatbot and a virtual assistant
  • Top tips for writing for chatbots and VAs
  • Why fun interactions with bots have a serious side
  • Fiona’s interview with tech entrepreneur, Wo King of Hi9
  • The best and worst bots around today

Disclaimer: As Chatbot Champion (yes indeed!) for Radix, George has come up against a fearsome array of bots. Cortana tried to defend herself and Alexa refused to comment – so if this podcast goes a bit Jeremy Kyle, don’t blame us.

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

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here.

Alternatively: add our RSS to your preferred podcast player.

Music by Industrial and Marine.

Build a bot

Thanks to Samphire Amps, of Electric Dialogue, for pointing us towards Chatfuel.

If you want to send in bot name and personality suggestions, you can email them to [email protected].

Podcast 46: Time to give B2B web copy the attention it deserves

Posted on by The Radix Team

Lately (say, for the last three years or so), we’ve been writing an awful lot of B2B web copy (as opposed to a lot of awful web copy, hopefully). In 2016, it was up 60%. So it’s as good a time as any to talk about what makes B2B web copy work. (We even wrote an ebook about it.)

What’s driving the surge? Could be that mobile web usage has been on the rise since 2013, while desktop use has been slipping. And changes to Google’s search algorithm have been extensive over the past five years, so many enterprises still have to update their online content accordingly.

Undergoing a website refresh is no simple task, but why do so many brands leave web copy to last when it plays such an important role in user experience and SEO? And does it have to be this way?

Join Fiona, David and me as we discuss how to make the most of your web copy, giving it the attention it deserves so it gets the conversions you need.

Listen in now and find out:

  • What’s different about B2B web copy projects
  • Why your homepage should always come last
  • How to plan content around users and not you
  • … and more

Plus: we look at several B2B websites to see what they’re doing right…. or otherwise.

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

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

Music by Industrial and Marine.

If you’d like to play along, here are the web pages we discuss in this episode…

www.grammarly.com – shared by Giles Shorthouse, The Octopus Group

https://www.topazlabs.com/remask – shared by Joanna Weibe, Copyhackers

https://velocitypartners.com/ – shared by Shelly Lucas, Dun & Bradstreet

http://universe.consignor.com/ – shared by Sean Fleming, Enigma…

…plus one we didn’t quite have time for this episode…

http://www.sdl.com/languagecloud  – shared by Bojan Ambrus, SDL Managed Translation

(Bojan explains that these are landing pages for a marketing campaign, and performed particularly well. We appreciated the puns, and wondered how they’d work for people who weren’t native English speakers… or whether perhaps that’s the point.)

http://sciencecanchangetheworld.org – shared by Paul Hewerdine, Earnest

(Paul says: “This is my favourite B2B site. Its aim is to celebrate the unsung heroes of science, but it is in fact a fine piece of content marketing and community building by a company called DSM (who from what I can gather are scientists for hire used by big brands to do R&D work). Anyway it’s based on a brilliant insight that the science industry is full of bright, passionate people who are out to change the world – but no one’s really championing their cause… until now. The current campaign is essentially a competition to get ‘Bright minds’ to put forward renewable energy solutions – where others can vote on them & the winner gets $100k worth of hours (presumably from DSM) to make it a reality. Real content with a real purpose. Like.”)

Free ebook

If you’d like to get your hands on the ebook we discuss in this episode, you’ll find The Nine Sacred Principles of Badass B2B Web Copy here.

And there’s a Video series available here.

Podcast 45: Is BOFU content sexier than TOFU? Ooft, absolutely.

Posted on by The Radix Team

After a hefty winter break (and far too many of Matt’s yuletide treats), the Radix team are back in action (albeit slightly bloated) for another year of B2B content adventures.

And we’ve been thinking hard this past week about BOFU content –why all the ambivalence towards it? The bottom of the funnel is where all that hard work pays off and the money comes rolling in; what’s not to love?

Case studies, product sheets, implementation guides – for us, these are the poster boys of content marketing. Shexshy.

You probably think we’ve lost our marbles; how can a case study be sexy? But bear with us: check out the latest episode of Good Copy, Bad Copy with Emily, Fiona and David.

Tune in now to discover:

  • Our favourite examples of great BOFU content
  • Why BOFU content is just as glamorous as TOFU
  • At least three actionable BOFU tips
  • The right content to use with a ‘freemium’ signup model
  • Why David is so worryingly attached to Maxon’s latest motor catalogue?

Alongside insightful chatter on Xero’s frankly excellent case studies, Emily and David finally acknowledge Bee Movie and its (totally justified) influence on our writers’ relationship with Slack.

(If you happened to have missed the recent buzz around Bee Movie, born from the internet’s most asinine depths, click here – but be warned, a tolerance for memes is essential.)

Finally, if you’d like to guess how many pages are in the Maxon 2016/17 Motor Program as asked by David (it will make his day if you do), please tweet us @radixcom.

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

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here.

Alternatively: add our RSS to your preferred podcast player.

Music by Industrial and Marine.

Podcast 44: Our roundup of this year’s B2B content marketing predictions

Posted on by The Radix Team

Yes, it’s that time of year where people eat and drink too much, catch up with family and, of course, make wild and ill-advised predictions and wishes about what the next year will bring B2B content marketers and copywriters.

And what could be more seasonally appropriate than a roundup podcast where Fiona, David and Emily reflect on the B2B marketing content predictions we made in 2016, and offer up bold forecasts and Christmas wishes for 2017.

(Turns out a surprising number of our predictions were proved correct this year. Perhaps the most important was about content going longer: research from Andy Crestodina states the average blog post is now over 1,000 words for the first time.)

We also react to a whole bunch of listeners’ predictions and Christmas wishes for 2017 – featuring:

(We’d like to thank everyone who took the time to submit a prediction or wish – we’re sorry we couldn’t use them all.)

Inevitably, there were some wishes and predictions from 2016 that (sadly) did not come to fruition. The word “impactful” still survives, and B2B Expressive Dance has yet to take off as a content medium. Maybe next year…

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

(And for anyone struggling to find Doug Kessler a present: Ardbeg. And socks.)

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes here.

Alternatively: add our RSS to your preferred podcast player.

Music by Industrial and Marine.

Ed: If you’re wondering what the header image is – that’s the top of our Christmas tree with a fairy that has John’s face on it.

Podcast 43: Content writer v copywriter – is there a difference?

Posted on by The Radix Team

Does your project need a copywriter or a content writer? Or does it need both? Could you hire one and not the other? Or are they basically the same thing?

These were just some of the questions we were left asking at the November Bristol Content Group’s Big Content Skills Debate, organised by Valuable Content and hosted at The Real Adventure Unlimited.

Clearly, different writers’ strengths suit different tasks. A writer who’s excellent at writing blog posts may struggle with writing an ad, for example.

In the US, copy is often seen as persuasive, sales-focused writing, where content is more informative. Could that same distinction help marketers in the UK to hire the right kind of writer?

Knowledge gap

In this episode of Good Copy, Bad copy, I talk with Fiona and David about this issue, and also the wider subject of The Big Content Debate: the skills gap currently facing marketing.

It includes interviews with:

  • James Ainsworth (Head of Content at The Real Adventure Unlimited)
  • Matt Turner (co-founder of Writers Ltd)
  • Chris Hull (Director of Marketing Communications at RedstoneConnect plc)
  • Sonja Jefferson (Content Marketing Consultant and Trainer at Valuable Content)

Listen now to find out:

  • Are copywriters and content writers suited to different tasks?
  • Is copywriting purely about persuasive writing?
  • Does content marketing try to sell?
  • Are there types of content that marks out content writers from copywriters?
  • What skills are needed for today’s content marketing?
  • How important is collaboration in writing and creating content?
  • … 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.

Alternatively: add our RSS to your preferred podcast player.

Music by Industrial and Marine.

Podcast 42: What does the 2017 B2B Content Marketing trends report mean for copywriters?

Posted on by The Radix Team

The new 2017 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report for North America from Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs has already caused discussion about what is and isn’t content marketing.

The report showed that 37% of B2B marketers in the US now have a documented content strategy, a five-percentage point increase from the 2016 report.

(In case you don’t know: I attribute a lot Radix’s own content marketing success to us having a documented content marketing strategy.)

The report also suggested that 39% of US B2B organisations are planning to increase their spending on content marketing over the next 12 months.

And interestingly, certainly for copywriters, was the news that 76% of B2B content marketers in the US are planning to prioritise quality content over the volume of content they produce.

Welcome to the future

There are a host of other insights in the report that are of interest to those of us who work in B2B marketing.

In this episode of Good Copy, Bad Copy, I talk with David and Fiona about what the report’s findings mean for copywriters and marketers.

Listen now to find out:

  • Why case studies may no longer be considered content marketing
  • Could UK content marketers actually be ahead of the US?
  • Whether there’s an identity crisis for white papers and ebooks
  • If B2B marketers killed infographics
  • Why there could be blogs galore in 2017
  • … 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.

Alternatively: add our RSS to your preferred podcast player.

Music by Industrial and Marine.