03 Aug, 2021
● Complicated writing is equal to better content
● Bigger words will make you sound intelligent
● Using jargon means you are an authority on the subject matter
These are the biggest myths of B2B writing. In fact, these cannot be farther from the truth.
Writing on B2B content is like walking on thin ice. The write-up has to be engaging enough without being complex. At the same time, it should be simple and easy to understand without dumbing it down. So how do you maintain the balance?
Before we dive into some of the tips that can help you ensure your B2B copywriting is compelling and impactful, I would like to share a small anecdote.
Fresh out of college, I started working for a business technology media brand. Being a noob, forget about cloud computing or Big Data, I did not even know much about basic writing. I was too scared that my readers would be able to see through my lack of, well, everything. So I started reading about technology trends and picking up buzzwords that I thought would make me sound like an expert. The copy editor saw right through it and gave me some of the best advice on B2B content creation that has helped me over the last 15 years.
He told me our readers buy our magazine because they want to learn something. If I am going to confuse them with lengthy sentences and unnecessary buzzwords, they will not go beyond the first paragraph. Secondly, he elaborated while our readers are authorities in their fields, they are not literary experts, so I need to park my fancy language away. Lastly, he said that a wide spectrum of people read the publication, ranging from people starting in the business technology space and established CIOs and CTOs. Hence, I cannot assume everyone knows what I am talking about. This means I have to find a way of engaging both audiences — simple style for someone starting out, as well as compelling writing for a CXO.
In my opinion, his advice sums up what compelling B2B content writing is all about. So here are some tips that can help you ensure that your B2B content marketing is always top-notch:
Watch that jargon: Jargons are not all bad. They are what your readers use on an everyday basis. It is off-putting only when you use them too often or use buzzwords where they are not required. For example, a business technology professional regularly uses words such as AI, SaaS, open-source, cloud hosting, ERP, CRM, BI, and the likes. So it is absolutely ok to use them in your tech B2B content as these are terms your audience relates with. However, on the other hand, using buzzwords such as bleeding edge, hyperautomation or overused ones such as digital transformation and agile, among others, do not contribute to your B2B content writing; in fact, they actually take away from your real message.
Write as you would speak: The golden rule is to ensure that the language is as close to spoken words as possible. This is not to say that the writing should be casual or use slang. This is especially true while article writing for technology and telecom firms. While technical terms are part of a technology professional’s vocabulary, but they don’t embellish with complicated or unnecessary words. For instance, if they are looking to move a certain process to the cloud, they will say exactly that – ‘Let’s find the best way to move it to the cloud’ or ‘I found this use case that I think will work for us.’ They will not say – ‘We need to look at use cases that will help us determine the optimum way to go forward and implement without any unnecessary delay.’ In short, skip the extra words. This brings us to the next point.
Keep it short and simple: Just go through the above `what not to do’ example again. It is way too long. By the time the reader has reached the third line, they have forgotten what they read on the first line. And if the reader has to read twice or thrice to understand, it is the biggest fail of B2B content marketing. So it is not only essential to ensure language simplicity, but the language should be tight and crisp so that every thought is well articulated.
The readability factor: The more complex your topic, the harder it is to ensure that the article or post is easy to read and understand. One of the simplest ways to do it (in addition to the above tips) is to break it up into multiple paragraphs. Every new thought deserves a new paragraph or section so that your ideas are structured, not scattered. As a marketer trying to ensure that your content ranks high on the readability index, you can use tools such as Readable or Flesch-Kincaid. These can help you grade and measure your content piece basis multiple factors such as word difficulty, word count, and sentence length, among others. At the same time, these are just indicative and are not very sophisticated scoring methods; they can act as a helpful guide to nudge you in the right direction.
The best way to ensure a high readability level of your B2B tech content writing is to work with a top-notch B2B content marketing agency with expertise in your subject matter. We, at Deepworkz, come with the proven expertise of creating quality B2B content strategy for telecom and IT firms to help you showcase your thought leadership and generate leads.
Ensuring clarity: Taking the readability tip forward, ensure that the copywriting clearly reflects your brand messaging and reflects your organization’s outlook. This is possible only when you are crystal clear about who your audience is, what message you want to convey, the value you deliver, and what voice you want to use throughout the piece. These need to be communicated clearly to the content marketing agency so they can draft a stellar content piece that continues to generate value for a long time.
Further, ensure that the content piece, whatever be the format, has a clear beginning, body segregated in well-defined subsections and an ending that sums up the key points followed by a call to action. Confused messaging in the write-up will not serve your purpose and might end up driving away a potential customer lead.
High B2B content performance demands subject matter expertise as well as skills to produce impactful and compelling content.
At Deepworkz, we work with exceptional writers who come with years of tech writing experience. Want to know more? Get in touch with us at info@deepworkz.com.
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