Are your B2B blog posts getting crickets instead of customers? Well, it’s not you; it’s the writing!
Crafting words that get businesses interested is massively different from writing that wows everyday people. But master this skill, and you’ll unlock relationship building, lead generation, and sales at speeds your competitors can only dream of.
In this guide, we’ll break down a proven B2B writing framework to create killer content that positions your company as an authority and converts skeptical B2B buyers.
Who are we to talk about this? We’re TrioSEO – a monthly SEO content agency for B2B businesses with 10+ years of experience scaling organic traffic and using blogs to generate leads.
TL;DR – How to Ace B2B Writing
Here are the key steps to master B2B writing:
- Understand your target audience and their goals.
- Research the industry thoroughly.
- Use clear structure and formatting.
- Focus on solving problems and identifying the benefits of your product/service.
- Back up claims with data and proof.
- Keep sentences concise and crisp.
- Optimize content for search keywords.
- Distribute content across multiple channels.
We’ll delve into each of these steps in detail, but if you’re looking for top-notch B2B writing services, consider exploring TrioSEO’s offerings! We can help you create compelling, results-driven B2B content tailored to your business goals.
What is B2B Writing?
B2B writing refers to any content a business creates to reach and resonate with other businesses. This is in contrast to B2C (business-to-consumer) writing, which targets individual customers.
Some examples of B2B writing include:
- Blog posts
- Whitepapers
- Case studies
- Ebooks
- Sales materials
- Email newsletters
- Social media posts
- Website copy
The goal is to provide value, build authority, nurture leads, and ultimately encourage other companies to do business with you.
B2B writing requires understanding complex decision-making processes and appealing to the needs of multiple stakeholders.
What is B2B Copywriting?
B2B copywriting is a specialized discipline of business writing focused on promoting products, services, or the brand itself.
The “copy” aims to influence the target audience’s perceptions, inform their decision-making, and motivate desired actions.
Some examples of B2B copy include:
- Landing pages
- Product descriptions
- Email campaigns
- Sales collateral
Effective B2B copy presents benefits, solves problems, and establishes credibility. It uses proof points and ROI data to appeal to stakeholders’ practical concerns.
What is B2B SaaS Writing?
B2B SaaS (software-as-a-service) writing targets technology decision-makers at organizations that use cloud-based software solutions.
This may include:
- Explainer blogs on features
- Comparison articles
- Case studies from clients
- Social media posts
This writing highlights product capabilities, integration options, security, scalability, and customer support. The goal is to showcase how the SaaS platform can solve complex business problems better than alternatives.
Benefits of B2B Writing
Investing in high-quality B2B content offers many advantages, such as:
- Attracting New Accounts: Useful, informative content helps establish your company as an authority and nurture relationships with prospects.
- Cost-effective Lead Generation: Compared to traditional advertising methods, B2B writing can be a cost-effective way to generate qualified leads.
- Driving Conversions: Case studies, demos, and product info can convince decision-makers that your solution is worthwhile.
- Improving Retention: Existing clients benefit from continued learning that helps them maximize value from your offerings.
- Thought Leadership: Sharing expertise makes your brand more authoritative and influential within your industry.
- Organic Reach: Optimized, valuable content ranks higher in search results, which helps expand your audience because the top results in Google get 27.6% of all search traffic!
Types of B2B Writing
There are several core types of written content used in B2B marketing:
Type | Description | Goals |
---|---|---|
Blog Posts | Informative articles offering advice, how-tos, and insights. | Attract and nurture new visitors. Establish subject matter expertise. Generate leads. |
Case Studies | Stories demonstrating product success with statistics and client testimonials. | Provide social proof. Overcome buyer objections. |
Whitepapers | In-depth reports on trends, challenges, and solutions in your industry. | Establish thought leadership. Capture lead contact info (often gated access). |
eBooks | Long-form guides covering concepts related to your product or service. | Offer value and insights not found elsewhere. Capture lead info. Upsell other materials. |
Product Pages | Descriptions highlighting capabilities, features, and benefits of a product. | Inform and persuade visitors to buy. |
Email Newsletters | Regular emails with blog summaries, guides, product updates, and special offers. | Build relationships & loyalty. Increase brand visibility. Generate repeat traffic. |
Social Media | Bite-sized content for platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. | Expand reach, increase awareness, and drive traffic. |
This covers the primary forms of B2B writing, but the specific approach depends on your business. Personalized emails, web copy, case studies, and other formats apply to B2B SaaS companies, for example.
B2B Writing vs. B2C Writing – How Are They Different?
While both B2B and B2C writing aim to inform, engage, convert, and delight, the approach must match the audience.
Here is an overview of key differences:
Factor | B2B Writing | B2C Writing |
---|---|---|
Audience | Businesses and influential decision-makers | Individual consumers |
Writing Style | More formal tone | Casual, conversational tone |
Buying Factors | Logic, ROI, problem-solving | Emotions, values, aspirations |
Buying Cycle | Longer, complex, multiple stakeholders | Faster, Individual decision maker |
Desired Action | Contact sales, request demo/trial, sign up for alerts | Make a one-off purchase, sign up for updates |
Topics | Complex industry topics | Broad mainstream or lifestyle topics |
Key Messaging | Productivity, profitability, scalability | Enjoyment, value, self-improvement |
As you can see, B2B organizations have very different interests, motivations, and barriers during the buying journey compared to average consumers. Your writing must align accordingly.
B2B content writers must deeply understand their audience’s pain points and goals, while B2C writers have more leeway to focus on everyday interests.
However, some brands may have both B2B and B2C audiences and will need to create tailored content for each.
Take Apple, for example—a technology giant that serves both everyday consumers looking for the latest iPhone and mammoth enterprise clients managing international workforces.
When addressing everyday shoppers, Apple employs friendly, engaging copy describing their camera capabilities on their website:
“The 48MP Main camera is more advanced than ever, capturing super‑high‑resolution photos with a new level of detail and color. You’ll see the improvements in your portraits…“
However, Apple uses a much more formal, problem-solving, and benefit-focused tone on its business site. Look at their collaboration hub page, which highlights success stories of small businesses using Apple products to collaborate, scale, and simplify their operations.
The copy directly calls out managerial headaches Apple Business Essentials solves around scalability, control, and simplified IT resource costs.
Key Elements of Effective B2B Writing
Crafting results-driven B2B content that attracts, engages, and persuades requires mastering several key elements:
Research-Backed Content
In-depth research establishes your credibility and trustworthiness around complex B2B topics. Demonstrate you truly understand buyer challenges and the industry landscape via data, expert perspectives, and real-world examples.
Clear Structure
Writing should lead readers on an informative yet persuasive journey toward your call to action. Use descriptive headers, useful takeaways, and smooth topic transitions oriented around their interests.
Accessible Complexity
Don’t shy away from sophistication, but explain concepts without excessive jargon. Strike an approachable balance between intellectual wording and clear comprehension.
Persuasive Calls-to-Action (CTAs)
Every piece of writing should direct visitors towards intentional conversion goals, not just drive awareness. Insert clear CTAs for demos, trials, contact requests, or alerts.
Optimized Delivery
Even exceptional writing needs distribution help. Optimize online visibility with metadata and SEO optimization. Promote your content via email and social media.
Of course, excelling in all these elements is easier said than done. If you need help creating optimized, high-converting B2B content tailored to your business, our expert writers at TrioSEO are here to help.
Contact us today to learn more about our specialized B2B blogging services.
How to Ace B2B Writing and Drives Sales
Creating compelling B2B content takes skill. You can’t rely solely on catchy headlines and clever turns of phrase. B2B buyers expect real substance – you must demonstrate deep knowledge and insight.
The good news? There is a framework you can follow to produce high-quality writing that converts consistently:
1. Identify Your Audience
First, intimately understand your target audience:
- Who are you trying to reach and influence? CTOs? CEOs? Mid-level managers? Across which functions?
- What level of knowledge do they have about your offering? Industry terminology? Competing solutions?
- What business challenges are they trying to solve that you can address?
For example, let’s say you run a cybersecurity firm that aims to reach IT managers at small banks. Research their top security challenges, such as data breaches and integrating legacy systems with cloud apps.
Understand their mindset and typical decision-making processes. This allows you to create content that speaks directly to their needs. Don’t take a generic approach.
2. Outline the Reader’s Journey
Outline the path you want readers to take from problem to solution.
- What education and perspectives do they need to arrive closer to the desired action?
- What beliefs must be overcome? What barriers removed?
- How will you guide them – step-by-step – toward conversion goals?
At TrioSEO, we use the hub and spoke model to carefully outline the reader’s journey from problem to solution.
Let’s revisit the cybersecurity business example, which is targeting IT managers; here’s how we would map out content across the funnel:
- Top of Funnel: Broad topics like “Top Cyber Threats Facing Small Businesses” to attract a wide audience.
- Middle of Funnel: More specific issues like “How Phishing Scams Impact Banks” to engage readers with relevant pain points.
- Bottom of Funnel: Targeted solutions like “Choosing the Best Anti-Phishing Software for Financial Companies” to guide readers to convert.
Ensure your content addresses readers’ concerns, overcomes objections, and removes barriers to guide them toward desired actions like free consultations or product trials.
3. Research the Topic Extensively
While some B2C writing can rely more on emotional appeals, B2B audiences expect expertise.
- Collect statistics, case studies, expert opinions, real-world examples, etc., demonstrating deep understanding.
- Outline key takeaways before drafting so insights feel integrated, not tacked on.
Always focus on educating rather than overtly promoting. Provide tips, guides, and insights readers won’t find elsewhere. Demonstrate you understand their problems.
4. Structure Content Intuitively
Use clear structure elements:
- Use descriptive headers and bulleted takeaways to orient readers despite the complexity.
- Break down concepts without losing rigor – brevity has limits with B2B.
- Balance text, data, multimedia elements, and white space for engagement.
Also, the tone of writing should be concise and clear:
- Favor short, direct sentences whenever possible.
- Avoid excessive jargon – simplify complex concepts.
- Use active voice and friendly language.
Write in a way that builds relationships with readers. Avoid overly formal or dry language. Maintain professionalism but relate to them.
For example, let’s compare two introductions to a blog post on supply chain optimization:
Ineffective:
“The multidimensional permutations inherent in ameliorating suboptimal supply chain procedures necessitate holistic calibration of tactical inputs.”
Effective:
“Improving your supply chain requires looking at the big picture. You need to carefully fine-tune many different parts, from inventory to delivery.”
5. Choose Appropriate Format
Align format to goals and audience expectations:
- Blog posts work well for building awareness and nurturing leads.
- Ideal length: 1500-2500 words
- In-depth reports (ebooks or PDF guides) demonstrate thought leadership through deep analysis.
- Ideal length: 10 to 50 pages
- Short social media posts and emails are better for promoting offers, events, and high-funnel content. These formats speak to your existing followers.
- Ideal length: Varies depending on the platform
Don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach.
6. Include Social Proof
Most B2B buyers are skeptical, so you need solid evidence that your solution/service really helps:
- Weave in client success stories, testimonials, and case studies.
- Cite statistics, awards, and credible third-party data reinforcing your expertise and achievement.
- Share valuable insider expertise readers won’t find elsewhere.
- Quote respected industry experts and thought leaders who validate your perspectives and approach.
Make your audience believe what you say – and view your brand as a trusted partner.
7. Include Clear Calls-to-Action
Convert visitors who appreciate your expertise into leads via:
- Free consultation request buttons after blog posts. These capture contacts interested in discussing their needs.
- Gated premium content like research reports or eBooks that readers can access by providing their email and basic info. This gives you qualified leads.
- Eye-catching buttons prompting product demos, free trials, or access to sales materials. These motivate ready-to-buy visitors to convert.
For instance, an IT security blog post could end with a CTA like “Schedule Your Free Security Consultation” linking to a contact form.
Or an email newsletter could promote “Download Our Cybersecurity Buyer’s Guide” by providing a link to a gated landing page.
Calls-to-action turn page views into conversions. Make them stand out and align seamlessly with content.
8. Optimize Content for Search
To maximize discoverability, ensure every piece of B2B content is fully optimized for search.
Here are some best practices:
- Research target keywords using B2B SEO tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs. Identify low-hanging fruit keywords with sufficient search volume and low difficulty that align with your topics.
- Naturally, incorporate the primary keywords in titles, headers, content, URLs, alt text, etc. Avoid awkward over-use.
- Craft compelling SEO titles and meta descriptions that make readers click.
- Structure content and site architecture focused on relevancy and usability. This helps search bots crawl and index pages.
- Insert relevant internal links to enhance topical authority and keep readers engaged.
- Produce useful, high-quality content that satisfies search intent to increase dwell time and decrease bounce rate.
- Use schema markup to highlight key data like company info, events, and more.
Our expert SEO content writers at TrioSEO follow proven optimization best practices to improve rankings, drive traffic, and eventually gain qualified leads through compelling CTAs.
Get a free B2B SEO audit from us to evaluate how optimized your current content and site are, along with recommendations to reach the next level.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are answers to some common questions about mastering B2B writing:
Can a Technical Writer Become a B2B Writer?
Absolutely. Technical expertise is a big plus. However, B2B writing also requires an understanding of sales psychology and marketing principles. Excellent B2B writers blend technical knowledge with business communications skills. Our B2B SEO services master this combination.
How Can B2B Writing Improve Business Relationships and Sales?
B2B writing nurtures relationships by providing valuable help and insights. Consistently creating content that solves problems builds trust. Over time, this reduces sales resistance and positions your company as a preferred partner, ultimately driving revenue.
How Can You Measure the Success of B2B Writing?
We track metrics like leads generated, traffic, conversions, and ranking for target keywords. Compare content performance to determine what resonates best with your audience—survey or interview customers to learn what content influenced their buying decisions.
Many of our clients at TrioSEO either implement tracking links or include a “How did you learn about us?” section in their sign-up form.
Conclusion
High-impact B2B writing is crucial for resonance and revenue in competitive markets. It can transform brand awareness, relationships, and growth. So, don’t hesitate to ask the experts who’ve been doing this for years for help.
Let the experts at TrioSEO handle your most complex, high-value writing needs. Our dedicated team of strategists, editors, and battle-tested writers has generated tens of millions in revenue for brands of all sizes.
Get started with a free B2B content audit of your current content and receive data-driven recommendations to improve results. Let’s start driving more B2B leads through the power of search!