Are you trying to learn about B2B copywriting, but not sure where to start?
If so, you’re in luck. Because this post is the ultimate guide on all things copywriting.
We’ll break down 15 copywriting tips for B2B copywriting by channel. That way, you can refine your copy at every stage for higher conversions.
Before we get started, though, let’s get clear on what we mean by “B2B copywriting.”
Business-to-business (or B2B) copywriting is when you target other businesses for your products or services. This is compared with business-to-customer (B2C)s, where you’re targeting consumers directly.
In terms of copywriting, B2B can be more challenging than B2C copywriting.
That’s because when you’re targeting organizations with your copy, you less likely to speak to the person with the credit card than you are in the B2C world. Or, in other words, whoever your sales copy is reaching will likely need to go through some red tape before taking any action.
As a general rule, the style of copywriting changes emphasis.
In B2B copywriting, you really need to make a case as to how your product or services will benefit a company’s bottom line. That way, whoever is on the receiving end of your copy can take those arguments to key decision-makers (or the ones who will actually pay for your product/service).
But with that in mind, you also need to remember that the person on the other end is a human being. They have pains, stressors, and professional/personal responsibilities.
This is important to remember because lots of B2B copywriters tend to write dry, boring messages. They think that selling to a faceless organization needs to be dry de facto. This is far from the case, though.
Instead, you should still think about the individual who will receive your copy and how it will both emotionally and logically persuade them to go deeper through your funnel.
It’s a tricky balance to find, but is essential if you don’t want to increase the number of leads you’re getting.
Now that we know what B2B copywriting is, let’s look at a few ways to make YOUR copy convert.
One of the challenges with the term “copywriting” is that it encompasses so much. There are different strategies for writing copy for:
As such, let’s look at B2B copywriting tips for each channel, starting with blog posts.
When you think about “copywriting,” you probably don’t think about blog posts. After all, those traditionally fall under the umbrella of “content marketing.”
That said, blogs aren’t just about getting traffic. You can also structure/write them in a way that boosts conversions.
In that way, even blog posts have an element of B2B copywriting that are worth addressing.
1) Write With SEO in Mind
Ok, so this first tip isn’t as directed at copywriting. But it’s incredibly important that all of your blog posts have a good foundation of SEO best practices.
Otherwise, you could have the most amazing copy on your web pages, but no one will ever get the chance to see it.
We won’t get into much depth around the SEO best practices you should follow, as it falls out of the scope of this post. The most common tips include:
And a handful of others that you’re probably familiar with if you’ve been in content marketing for longer than a minute.
For a larger list of SEO tips and strategies, check out this foundational post by Backlinko.
2) Make Your Content’s Value Immediately Known in the Title
Like subject lines for emails (which we’ll cover in a bit), your blog post’s title is very important. It can be the breaking factor on how many clicks your articles gets when it appears on search engines.
And the more clicks your page gets, the better chances it has of improving in rankings.
Your posts title needs to have a couple of parts to it:
We can use this post as an example: What Is B2B Copywriting? + 15 Strategies to Boost Conversions.
Here, we immediately get to the heart of what the reader wants to know (“what is b2b copywriting”). Then, we add the number of strategies we’ll provide for improving your B2B copy. You’ll notice a lot of top ranking posts for the keyword “b2b copywriting” follow the same pattern:
This formula tells potential readers exactly what’s in it for them (with a concrete number of tips that they expect to receive).
Note: If you use numbers in your titles, shoot for odd numbers. This is something known as the “odd effect” and has been shown to boost engagement/conversions.
3) Encourage Further Engagement
Now you have people coming to your blog posts organically. You’re ranking, and you made your title highly clickable.
But now for the big question: what happens when people land on that post? Are they converting or just skimming content looking for free tips?
B2B copywriting means taking all of your high-traffic pages and optimizing them in various ways to encourage engagement. Two of the most common ways of doing this are through:
As you’re writing a blog post, you want to add a few compelling CTAs at key points in the post. I recommend adding a minimum of 2 CTAs:
OptinMonster does this really well with each of their blog posts. Here’s a CTA in the first 15% from a post on “hello bar” examples:
And when you scroll to the bottom of the page, you’ll see the same CTA at the end:
You should also know that we saw conversions go WAY up once we added the CTA to the first 15 – 25% of the post, as most blog readers don’t make it all the way to the bottom CTA.
Another strategy you can use is creating optin campaigns to gather emails. Usually this is done through newsletter sign-ups, with online events, or using a lead magnet of some kind.
You’ve likely seen examples of optin campaigns in the past. They look something like this:
When you land on ActiveCampaign’s website, certain actions trigger various campaigns. This is an exit-intent popup that appeared on my last visit.
When writing copy for optin campaigns, you need to immediately demonstrate why your offer is worth their email address.
Notice in the example above that the headline is literally the offer: “6 Email Welcome Series.”
It’s important to note that you don’t always have to be “creative” to have copy that converts. As copywriting legend Jay Abrahams once said, “Sometimes the best copy to sell a horse is “horse for sale.”
When coming up with ways to get users to engage with your site, remember to keep the focus on what the reader will get and how your offer will solve one of their problems.
Landing pages are one of the most fundamental elements to creating a sales funnel. The purpose of a landing page is dynamic and depends on your goals. You can use them to:
Plus, you can distribute these landing pages through your blog, on social media, with paid ads, and through email campaigns. That’s why creating B2B landing pages is without a doubt one of the most important skills for copywriters to master.
Let’s dive into a few basic tips.
4) Craft an Immediate & Benefit-Driven Headline, Sub-heading, and CTA
If you haven’t picked up on a theme with copywriting yet, it’s this: always, always, always focus on the reader.
The most important aspect to your landing page is the header.
Here’s a great example from SEMrush:
This is a landing page that appears when you type the phrase “seo tools” into Google.
The header directly confronts the user’s pain point: having the right tools to tackle your latest SEO challenge.
Then the subheading gives a bit more information on what the user can expect and how they’ll deliver on the promise of the headline:
“Get more traffic to your website. With our 20-in-1 toolkit behind the scenes, you’ll become an SEO rockstar.”
This contains a few bits of key information to the reader:
Then, just below, you have the compelling CTA: Try Free.
Everything here quickly explains what the reader will get, why they should get it, and how to start their SEMrush trial.
Note: You’ll find that the CTA “try free” isn’t very “clever.” That’s OK. The best copy prioritizes clarity over cleverness. That said, it’s always worth A/B testing various heading options as you optimize your landing page.
5) Include Social Proof
Social proof is one of the biggest assets to every copywriter. It’s been shown to drastically boost conversions from all channels, and landing pages are no exception.
There are a few types of social proof that work well for B2B landing pages.
First, you have company logos of your current and/or past clients:
You also have any trust badges from awards you’ve won:
Then there are the quotes/testimonials, like this example from CopyHackers:
And you can even grab screenshots of what people are saying about your brand on social media. ClickFunnel websites are really aggressive with this strategy. Check out this example by Copywriting Secrets:
For the record, that’s a pretty good book for Copywriting, but there’s nothing special enough to make it worth the purchase in my opinion. You can get a ton of great advice online through free resources. That book, I think, is more of a lead magnet for a SaaS software they have.
BUT they absolutely nail the use of social proof to get higher conversions for that page.
(And you should do the same 😉).
6) Show How the Benefits Solve the Reader’s Pain
You have your heading, sub-heading, CTA, and social proof.
Now you need a few sections on the landing page that highlight how your products/services will benefit the reader. Remember, you’re not making a list of features. Instead, you’re highlighting the benefits.
Here’s the difference:
In a lot of cases, you can find the benefit by finishing the following sentence:
X feature solves Y problem because…
Then once you answer the “because” part, you can reframe your copy to lead with the benefit. Here’s a great example by Zola.com:
They have a section of the landing page that highlights the benefits of the product that answer pain points from the customer. They show it’s easy, customizable, and “guest-approved.” The last one is particularly good, as it reminds readers how the product will benefit their guests.
Identifying your readers’ pain-points helps you figure out what benefits they want from your product’s features. That’s important because it helps you create more powerful messaging. That way, you can show that you:
a) Understand the reader’s pain point
b) Have the solution to fix that problem
c) Thoroughly understand how solving that problem will benefit the reader
When you check those 3 boxes, you should expect to see a fair boost in conversions.
Even B2B companies are increasingly using social media to generate new leads and keep their customers engaged. LinkedIn can work especially well for B2B companies, but other social media channels may be effective too, depending on your niche.
When writing for B2B companies on social media, there are some guidelines to bear in mind.
7) Keep it Professional
Social media has a range of tones and voices. That means you need to take the following advice with a grain of salt.
When I say “keep it professional,” I don’t mean, “write dry, dull copy.”
Instead, I mean you should keep your business copy related to business and shy away from social issues or politics. Now, to be clear: your personal accounts can take whichever moral or political stances you’d like.
But the social posts from your company’s page should, for the most part, stick to your products/services and how that can benefit your ideal customer.
In some cases, you’ll find large companies take a stand (or a knee, as in this next example). Nike did this when they backed Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee in protest against police brutality:
Nike is a well-established, multi-billion dollar company with a larger audience base to work with. While it took guts to make that kind of stand, they weren’t risking their entire business.
While I don’t suggest writing posts that go against what you believe, most business copywriting should stick to business.
And if you do decide to get your company involved in larger social issues (which is fine), just make sure it’s a hill worth dying on.
8) Focus on Your Hook
This tip is especially true with LinkedIn.
As a general rule, you only have a few seconds to grab your readers’ attention. That means you need to write something that’s punchy, short, and engaging. Here’s a good example from a FinTech software company:
Notice that the hook has nothing to do with the product or even the company’s niche. Instead, it sets up a scenario that’s engaging to the reader: imagining you have a vacation.
But within that hook is a bit of a set up. It’s giving the reader two options…
Then it gets into how obvious the shorter flight would be, assuming cost is the same. From there, this post transitions into how their product saves Treasury teams lots of time to address a specific pain-point.
Spend some time coming up with your hooks and use them to frame how your products will solve a readers problem.
Personally, I try to write LinkedIn posts around a single paint-point. Then I write the post first to see if any interesting ideas/hooks pop into my head naturally.
There’s no “right” or “wrong” way to do this. Simply practice coming up with hooks and track which posts get the most engagement. Over time, you’ll sharpen your feeling for which hooks will work and which ones won’t.
9) Test Social Post Lengths
It’s hard to tell what length your post should be. In some cases, I’ve seen long-form posts perform really well.
In other cases, shorter posts (50 – 100 words) performed phenomenally.
The best approach is to do some testing with YOUR audience. You won’t know what messages engage your customers the most until you start creating some testing parameters.
And post length is definitely something worth exploring.
There’s no hard and fast rule for how long a social media post should be. In my own experience, I’ve noticed the following trends:
Again, this is general and anecdotal advice at best. You won’t really know what’s working for your audience until you test it.
Ok, but how?
The best way is to create posts based on pain-points. For one month, focus on a specific pain-point and plan on posting 2x per week.
Write one post at a longer length and write another at a much smaller length. Then track which posts are getting the most engagement in those 4 weeks.
In the next month, choose another pain-point and run a similar type of test. Rinse and repeat for 6 months, and you should have an idea about what types of posts are moving the needle most for your business.
There are plenty of different types of email sequences that can help B2B companies grow their customer base. But with so many emails reaching our inboxes every day, your copy needs to be on point to convert readers.
Follow these tips to improve your B2B email copywriting skills.
10) Write for the Stage of Awareness
When you’re sending emails to your audience, you need to understand where the reader is in your funnel. Are they more curious about your niche and just educating themselves (top of the funnel).
Or are they dealing with a specific problem and actively looking for a solution with credit card in hand (bottom of the funnel). Here’s a great chart by WebAscender.
Most of your emails will be to people who are middle of the funnel (MOFU) or bottom of the funnel (BOFU). That’s because anyone joining your email list likely converted from somewhere on your website because they’re interested–to some extent, at least–in your products/services.
It can be hard to segment your email list based on where people are in your funnel.
The best way to do this is to create unique email series for each of your lead magnets or events. That way, you can send personalized messaging to your audience depending on the actions they took on your website.
If someone downloads an eBook, for example, you’d want to follow-up with emails that touch on the same pain-points as the downloaded content.
Or if someone signs up for an event, you might craft a follow-up email series that nurtures that lead toward a sales call.
Let the user’s behavior with your website dictate what email campaigns your leads will get, and write your emails based on the specific actions taken.
This leads is perfectly to our next tip…
11) Make Your Email Copy Personal
You should write to your readers like they’re the only person getting your email. Everyone knows these campaigns go to massive audiences, but it shouldn’t feel that way.
When you create content, try to personalize it based on the action the user took on your site (as discussed in the tip above). But another low-hanging fruit method is to simply use dynamic text tags to personalize your emails.
Most email service providers (ESPs) let you add custom tags to change the text based on data you own. It’s why so many marketing emails contain the reader’s first name:
This is an easy way to personalize your emails a little bit more. Other things you can add include:
And a host of others. Check with your ESP to see what personalization tags are available to you. And here’s a list of tags from Mailchimp to get you started.
12) Subject Lines Matter
Ok, you probably saw this coming:
Your subject lines are THE MOST important part of your emails.
The best email copy on the planet won’t do a damn thing if nobody reads it. That’s why it’s so important for you to spend a lot of time on subject lines, A/B test different versions, and track which subject lines get the most opens.
This will vary from niche to niche.
I’ve seen some niche’s do really well with subject lines that have stats; others do great with subject lines that ask questions; and other companies do well with random subject lines that almost work as hooks (one of the best subject lines I wrote was something like “Here’s what fat penguins can teach you about conversions”).
To help you do this, here’s how I suggest writing emails:
I write my subject lines last simply because I naturally brainstorm them while writing the body and hook of the email.
Again, your exact process might be different, but I’ve found this order helpful in crafting email subject lines.
Pro-Tip: Whenever I write marketing copy for a client, I provide 4 subject line “tones”:
Then I recommend the client A/B test either dry, fun, or punchy tones depending on the audience. From there, I tell clients to re-send emails with the BoB subject line to people who didn’t open.
For more information on BoB emails, check out this helpful post by CopyHackers.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a vital part of many B2B companies’ marketing strategies. With a short space to make an impact and encourage click-throughs, this is one of the hardest forms of B2B copywriting to get right.
However, when you do hit the right note, this is somewhere your copy can really boost ROI.
13) Choose Your Platform
Before you start writing any copy, you need to thoroughly understand the platform you’ll be running ads on. The most common spaces are:
I always tell clients to focus on Google before anything else.
Yes, Facebook ads are amazing when they work. But they’re expensive and usually require videos/high-quality images to gain any traction.
That means you won’t just need copy. You’ll need to hire a designer to make your words look right.
Plus, like other social media platforms, advertising is based on demographic information. For example, you might run a Facebook ad and target it to women in their 30s who live in Manhattan.
These are great targeting rules, but don’t tell you anything about that demographics current needs.
Google, on the other hand, literally lets you buy the user’s intent. That’s because you’ll bid on keywords that people are typing into the search engine in real-time.
That means your ad will be displayed to people as they’re actively trying to solve a problem.
So when someone is looking for “email marketing services,” for example, companies can instantly position themselves at the top of the SERPs without ranking organically:
This gives you a HUGE opportunity to get stellar copy in front of your target audience.
14) Be Direct
There’s a time to be subtle and a time to be direct. PPC ad copy falls under the latter category.
You don’t have much space (or time) to showcase your offer and convince people to find out more. So, don’t be shy.
List your best features/benefits upfront and tie them to the challenges that your target audience is trying to overcome.
The best thing to do is to have your copy match the keywords users typed in (if you’re advertising on search engines like Google).
Check out this example by ClickUp:
This short copy tells me SO MUCH about the company. It’s:
It’s clear, simple, and powerful for anyone looking for a project management tool.
Your copy should be just as direct, and make sure you’re using the limited space to immediately show readers why your solution is best.
15) Address the Competition
This last one is a bit of fun, and admittedly works best on search engines. Asana is really aggressive with this. They’ll bid on keywords of their competitors, like Trello:
Notice they don’t say anything negative about their competitor. Instead, Asana simply ensures that they’re the #1 website sees when customers type in a competing brand.
This is apparently a popular strategy in the project management space, as you can see from other PPC campaigns in that niche:
You can do the same by bidding on your competitor’s name as a keyword and encouraging users to try your product as an alternative.
And with that, this BEAST of a post is complete. These have been 15 B2B copywriting tips broken down by channel.
I hope you enjoyed this post and, if you did, you might want to check out these related posts:
These articles contain even more information to help you increase conversions and improve your bottom line.
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