I’m here to put an end to the rumors that B2B copy can’t be anything but boring. Or, better yet, as Brian Macreadie writes on B2BMarketing.net, “Anyone that says B2B stands for bland-to-boring can kiss my a**.”
Because, guess what? If you have a product or service in the business-to-business sector, you most definitely don’t have to (and ultimately should not) be carrying those misconceptions and rumors around and into your sales copy. Doing just that is a quick and easy way to put your ideal customers into a sluggish state—all because your writing is a serious snoozefest to work through.
That said, your product or service was created by you. Concepted by you. Brought to life by… yup, you. It’s something you should be excited about and that excitement needs to be injected into your sales copy for the B2B industry, like, yesterday.
So, today’s all about guiding you through the process to nip those bad, humdrum business-to-business writing habits in the bud. And, get to breathing life into your sales copy to quickly win the attention of your readers (& sales!). (If you’re doubting it can be done, just check out Zendesk or Help Scout.)
Yet, maybe you’re put into a lackadaisical state when it comes time to actually sit down and write out all your sales copy—from sales letters to email sequences, Facebook ads, and so much more. And, if that’s the case, I’m going to dish out a one-of-a-kind solution that’ll take care of that task for you. You’ll finally be able to get your hands on copy that sells in a matter of minutes—at the push of a button!
No, it’s not too good to be true. Just stick around until the very end of this post and you’ll get the scoop. But, for now, let’s get to what you originally came here for—how to breathe life into your B2B copy.
1. Nail your tone of voice.
Your brand’s tone of voice is your “it” factor. It’s what’ll help make you different from all the other carbon copies out there. But, it’s super easy to get super amped about your business, jumping in head first when it comes to writing your sales copy. All so you can finally release all the good stuff you’ve been putting your blood, sweat, and tears into out into the world.
Yet, this excitement can actually lead you to jump the gun and do the opposite of what I’m here to advise you to do—nail your tone of voice. Instead, you just start writing, making it easier for your stellar voice to be diluted across communication pieces because you just don’t have a concrete roadmap that’ll guide you towards consistency.
That said, before you do anything else, be sure to nail your tone of voice. And, thanks to GatherContent.com, that task is super easy. Take a look at it’s successful structure for writing guidelines, focused on pinpointing that exact thing:
(source)
You might recall us talking about this before. And, for good reason. The last thing you want to do is start writing countless B2B sales pieces only to start questioning whether or not your tone of voice is actually something that perks your audience’s ears up. Thus, leading you to look to competitors who have a completely different tone—not to mention brand, mission, everything—and begin using theirs as a stencil.
Remember, however, your voice should always be consistent. But, your tone should adapt to the situation or context. Take a look at how ZenDesk tackles this perfectly.
On social media, they don’t hesitate to keep things light and fun. On the other hand, their blog focuses more on dishing out less jokes, and more insightful info. That’s adapting their tone to the context. But, their voice never wavers. Follow their lead!
(source)
2. Call acronyms into question.
Think back to when you were first starting out at a new position and your boss started spewing off all of these new acronyms across the room during one of your meetings.
How much anxiety did you start to feel as your hand started spazzing out trying to jot them all down so you could ask him or her about them later (or Google them)? On a scale of 1 to 10, your anxiety level was probably a 12.
You see, businesses in general can often be steeped with acronyms. And, it’s far too common for entrepreneurs like you to feel inclined to include each and every single “important” one in your copy. Thus, you can imagine how much they can really suck the life out of communication pieces.
So, instead, call any and all of your acronyms into question when it comes time to sit down and write your B2B copy. Even, yes, the most “important” ones. Reason being, they mean virtually nothing to your readers until they truly get to know you and your business more.
This to-do is what’s better known by OgilvyOneBusiness.com’s Head of Copy, Glenn Sturgess, as “B2Bull.” So, if you feel a certain one is a must to include, really sit back and think whether or not it’s worth taking the time (and your reader’s time to read) to toss into your sales pieces.
Will the acronym be an integral part of selling your product or service? Will it make sense in the grand scheme of things? Or, is it better to hold off to use until you’re writing sales pieces to upsell to your current customers—those who have a better feel for your product or service?
Take the time to answer those questions and you’ll be on the fast track to writing much clearer than when you first started. And ultimately, making your copy much more exciting, too!
3. Handpick non-robotic words and phrases you’d use if speaking to your readers.
This closely relates to the first point—nailing your tone of voice. But, it’s an important one to pull into the spotlight. In writing, it’s far too easy to write unlike how you talk. Yeah, you read that right. You sit down at your keyboard and all of a sudden you begin pecking away at your sales copy, thinking your digital voice suddenly needs to be buttoned up and wearing a necktie.
While that’s not always a bad thing—especially in the realm of business you’re in—you really need to be sure to resist the urge to turn your copy into some stiff, formulaic piece. That kind of piece will just make it no fun to read and will lose the interest of your audience almost immediately. After all, you’re not just a business. You’re the human face behind your brand!
That said, don’t be afraid to handpick words and phrases you’d actually use as if you were speaking to your readers in person. Drop the voice of your high school English teacher in your head to make it feel less robotic and more relaxed.
Embrace contractions—like converting is not to isn’t or you will to you’ll. Ah, those simple changes make me swoon. What about you? See how much more relaxed that makes things feel?
And, replace puffspeak with more informal, casual words and phrases like the following:
- “Now” instead of “At this point in time”
- “Think” instead of “Conceptualize”
- “Finish” instead of “Finalize”
- “Take advantage of” instead of “Leverage”
- “Profitable” instead of “Cost-effective”
- “Motto” instead of “Mission statement”
- “Rules” instead of “Methodology”
- “Latest” instead of “State-of-the-art”
- “Organize” instead of “Systematize”
Best of all, this task doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice your professional image. You’re simply allowing more room to express your true personality within the written word.
4. Just get to the point already.
You know those friends of yours who are completely lousy storytellers? Meaning, what they could’ve said in a minute, they ended up dragging out into 15 minutes? Yeah, don’t run the risk of thinking you’ll never turn into them because it’s pretty dang easy to pull that move on your readers in writing, too.
Therefore, avoid dragging out your message any longer than it needs to be. If what you need and want to say can be summed up in two sentences, stop feeling pressured to add a nonsense-filled, unnecessary paragraph to go along with it. In the B2B world, everyone’s busy. So, no one will want to or have time to read your sales copy if you’re just doing the word tango across the page.
Cut to the chase. Quickly explain what it is you can do for your audience. And, go on your merry way.
5. Write for your readers, not for anyone (or anything) else.
As I mentioned earlier, your product or service was created by you. Therefore, I’d say it’s a safe bet that you love to talk about it—down to every single itty bitty bit of it. The problem with this in B2B copywriting is, you end up forgetting exactly what it is your readers want to know about it. And, your sales pieces start to drown in unintentional narcissism. Yikes.
So, to stay far, far away from this, always remember to write for your readers. Not for anyone, or anything, else. Make it personal. Keep it personal. And, craft copy based around what it is they want to know about. Stop rambling on and on about your awesome features and start talking about how your people can benefit from what it is you have to offer.
And, enough is enough with the keyword stuffing to boost your SEO. Your people will catch on quick once you start injecting the same phrase or word into your copy over and over and over again.
So, as Goose Digital eloquently advises, “Stuff the turkey, not the content.” When it comes to sitting down and putting words to the page, keep your tribe top of mind—not anyone or anything else (*cough* Google bots). That alone is enough to make them stick around!
Okay, ready get your hands on that solution mentioned earlier? You know, to avoid feeling lackadaisical when it comes to actually writing this sales copy?
Yeah, I bet you are. You’ve been patient long enough, so I won’t keep you waiting any longer. Meet ScriptDoll, your new software companion.
It’s a sales copy engine dedicated to assisting you with composing persuasive sales content in minutes. Once you create your product portfolio and answer a handful of painless questions, ScriptDoll drops those answers into thoughtfully crafted content scripts that sell—sales letters, email sequences, you name it.
Here’s why ScriptDoll is so beneficial to entrepreneurs like you:
- Frees up your time to put focus towards more productive tasks—simply complete your product portfolio, answer a handful of painless questions regarding your product details, features and benefits, and more, and ScriptDoll turns your answers into engaging sales copy in a matter of minutes.
- Keeps your content fresh with an ever-growing, extensive library of templates—new templates are added on a monthly basis, from sales letters to email sequences, video sales scripts, native ads, and much more. You’ll avoid putting your audience into a zombie state-of-mind, steering clear of sharing the same thing over and over again.
- Saves you some serious moola by keeping your copywriting in-house—there’s no need to drop loads of money on outsourcing your writing tasks to copywriters. And, you can also avoid investing hours of your time trying to improve your skills in a copywriting course. That’s because ScriptDoll crafts its effective templates thanks to its connections with champion copywriters around the world!
Remember, your B2B copy needs to be resuscitated. So, don’t waste any time—get to breathing life into it ASAP!
It’s obvious you love what it is you do. So, just because you’re in the B2B world, it doesn’t mean that love and excitement can’t shine through in your sales copy.
Take the tips shared here today and get to breathing life into it ASAP! Best of all, you’re finally looped in on a tool that can help save you time crafting all this sales collateral.
Entrepreneurs like you are raving about ScriptDoll—relieving them from the struggles of writer’s block to create alluring content with little to no effort. We hope you’ll join them and look forward to you getting the results you’ve been searching for. They’re ready and waiting for you.
Have questions on B2B copywriting? We’ve got answers. Just drop us a note in the comments section below—we’d love to hear from you.
Leave a Reply