The cornerstone of any successful B2B marketing campaign is effective and engaging content. While alternative content formats like video have shifted marketing significantly in recent years, textual content remains a powerful part of content marketing. While B2B content marketing is not new, its effectiveness depends on how well the content is written and structured.
Writers who can create effective B2B marketing copy have mastered specific B2B copywriting strategies. With these strategies, their content is more effective at convincing and converting. This article will look at powerful B2B copywriting strategies that drive conversions.
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What is B2B Copywriting?
In general, copywriting uses written content to convince people to take action after consuming it. Marketers and copywriters use it to drive sales for the businesses they work for.
You can think of copywriting as a massive call to action. Copywriters use the copy they write to evoke feelings, responses, and thoughts. With the aim being to get interested audiences and potential customers to search for the business they are writing about or convert.
B2B copywriting aims to foster relationships between businesses and enhance sales between them. It can also be targeted toward the people who make crucial decisions about sales and purchases. Marketers use B2B copywriting alongside their marketing funnels to create memorable experiences for potential B2B customers. This attracts leads, generates awareness, and closes deals.
While B2B targets buyers and decision-makers in businesses that are the right fit for another business’s products and services, B2C focuses on specific demographics. B2C copywriting uses emotional appeal in its targeting, while B2B copywriting focuses on facts and logic and is usually more concise.
Understanding these key differences is crucial for understanding the B2B copywriting techniques below.
Write How You Would Speak
One of the biggest problems B2B copywriters have is sounding like robots. While statistics and numbers can help convince a decision-maker, they can also make your copy seem so complicated that they do not know what to do with it.
Recognize you are talking to key decision makers you want to understand what the product is, how it benefits them, why they should do business with your client, and so on. For this reason, always assume you are talking directly to them when writing your copy.
If you are new to doing this, you might think talking to B2B clients casually is unprofessional. You might be tempted to load your content with the latest jargon and buzzwords to remain or seem professional. In many cases, only a few people will understand what you are saying, and your copy will likely be boring when trying to convince a decision-maker.
Research Your Targets and Write for Them
As with any other type of copywriting, you need to have a firm grasp of your targeted B2B audience before you start writing. Are you writing for a CEO? A sales manager? A department head?
When defining your audience, consider who will benefit from your content, why your content is important to them, what businesses you are targeting, and who will read your content. You can also do some competitor research to understand who similar companies are targeting so you can tailor your research and content appropriately.
Once you know your target, you should research everything about them. Understand their needs, wants and pain points, the customers they typically sell to, how you or your client’s product or service will benefit them, and everything else you can learn about them.
Focus on Both the Benefits and Features
Many copywriters say you should focus on the features more than the benefits when writing B2B copy. While features can get potential customers interested in the product you are writing about, it is the benefits that evoke the emotions that push them to convey. Additionally, the benefits arise from the product’s features, even though businesses consider both when choosing a product.
Remember, features tell you what a product does for a business. While benefits tell businesses what they will get from using that product and what pain points the product will solve. For example, businesses looking for digital or physical Mastercard gift cards want to know the usage limits or where holders can use the cards (features) and how they can help them with employee recognition or foster customer loyalty (benefits).
Because they work together by catering to the logical and emotional sides of persuading potential customers, you should focus on both when creating B2B copy. Let customers know what exactly they are getting upfront. As well as how the product is making their life easier or solving a problem they have.
Remember the value the product is providing when writing B2B copy to make it more likely to convert.
Craft a Brand Narrative
While B2B copywriting is typically more concise than B2C copywriting. That does not mean you cannot use emotional storytelling in your copy. As with B2C customers, B2B customers are more likely to convert if they have some emotional attachment to specific brands.
Creating a compelling brand narrative is one of the best ways to appeal to these types of customers and decision-makers emotionally and for increasing brand recognition and loyalty.
A great example of creating the emotional appeal that leads to conversion is creating a story that uses the customer as the protagonist. You can use customer testimonials to show how a product helped the customer in question. Such testimonials allow you to insert the business, product, or service you want to discuss or market.
Continue Reading: The 5 Most Effective B2B Copywriting Strategies
Write with SEO In Mind
While outbound outreach is crucial in B2B marketing, many businesses and decision-makers find new businesses, products, and services online through search engine searches. For this reason, B2B copywriters should always write with SEO in mind.
B2B copywriting drives sales in the same way B2C copywriting does. However, there are some differences between the two that copywriters should keep in mind when creating B2B copy. Copywriters should understand who their target audience is, what they are trying to sell, how to be persuasive in their copy and how to appeal emotionally and logically to their target audience for increased conversions.
