In today’s marketing world, content rules. The quality of your content will make you or break you. That’s why taking the time to write meaningful content will always pay for itself over time. Here’s how you can get the most out of the written word when you’re trying to create B2B leads.
1. Focus On The Customer First.
Many copywriters start with the “me” in team. Are any of these phrases on your website or in your content write now?
- Our company has been in business for X amount of years.
- We are the #1 provider of our products in the X region.
- With $100 million in revenues, our company is a global leader in our niche industry.
We’ve fooled ourselves into thinking that this communicates our experience. B2B leads don’t care that we’re popular, have a global reach, or have won numerous awards. They care about honesty, transparent supply chains, and world-class customer service. Let your goods or services do the speaking for you by showing your leads how they can solve their problems. When you do, your words will make a better first impression.
2. What Language Structure Are You Using?
Every language has become less formal, especially since 2000. That lack of formality has entered the B2B copywriting world and it has influenced sales in a negative way. You might speak one way on a text, but most customers don’t want to see a marketing message that is constructed in such a way.
OMG – IDK if U R rdy to C all this!
Even people who couldn’t care less about how words are spelled or if there’s a dangling participle in a sentence are going to notice errors. Something as simple as not using an Oxford comma when one is needed can be enough to make a B2B lead doubt the quality of a product. Take a triple look at the structure of your words, sentences, and paragraphs to make sure everything is 100% perfect. It will be time well vested.
3. Simple Is Always Better.
Sometimes a sentence seems to continue on for an eternity. Instead of linking 8 different thoughts into one sentence, break them up into a simpler structure. You can create an entire sentence that is 100 words long and still be grammatically correct, but who would want to read that?
Most paragraphs are going to be 3-4 sentences long. Sometimes only a couple of sentences are needed if those sentences are long. If you have more than five lines of text in a single paragraph while composing content, then think about breaking it up. People don’t read long chunks of content today. They read in short bursts.
4. The Product Must Always Come First.
People infer an order of importance based on how content is written. The items that are most important to you, for example, would be listed first in a series of bullet points. If you have certain features that you want to emphasize, then it makes sense to list those features before any others.
Why? The average person will read content until 1 of 3 events happen – and this always happens.
1. They find the one piece of value they need to consider making a sale.
2. They get bored with the content.
3. A good song comes on their streaming app and they start singing it in their head.
You can’t compete with #3. You can prevent #2. Boring content gets shut down. Put value into every single sentence in some way because you never know what might trigger the sale. That one filler sentence you write to hit a specific word count? That’s the sentence that will drive your B2B prospects away.
5. Make It Personal.
You need to build relationships to create a solid B2B customer base. There’s no better way to do it than making your content personal. You can’t reach through a computer screen to shake someone’s hand, but you can make them a promise with your content. Your content becomes your word and that becomes your bond. Inaccurate content is seen as a broken promise. That’s something you don’t want at all.
That’s also why writing in the first person is rarely a good idea. Your B2B leads don’t want your testimony. They want to know what’s in it for them.
B2B copywriting that is built on making a sale is ineffective. Modern content needs to be about providing value now and in an ongoing way. If your words can communicate that value, then you’ll build a sales funnel that is full of leads for your sales team. Consider these tips as you compose your content and you may just discover how powerful the virtual pen can be.
Although millions of people visit Brandon's blog each month, his path to success was not easy. Go here to read his incredible story, "From Disabled and $500k in Debt to a Pro Blogger with 5 Million Monthly Visitors." If you want to send Brandon a quick message, then visit his contact page here.