Business to Business Copywriter

An excellent business to business copywriter is essential for maintaining contact with regular clients, encouraging an ongoing relationship, and also attracting new clients.

Outstanding business-to-business (B2B) copywriting can help generate massive profits for companies who want to sell to other companies - but there's a strange paradox in this market: despite the rewards available for both writers and businesses, B2B copywriters who can deliver results are very hard to find.

Why Such a Shortage of B2B Copywriters?

Talented copywriters in general tend to be few and far between, and even then most choose to focus on learning business-to-consumer copywriting techniques. Those who can craft effective business-to-business copy are rare indeed. Even top B2B marketing companies often don't have the copywriting talent they need to get results.

This article will explain some of the major differences between copywriting that speaks to a consumer audience and copywriting that speaks to another business, and the key skills of a good business to business copywriter.

Speak Their Language

As a general rule, copywriting that is aimed at the general consumer should be written in basic, uncomplicated language. This is not necessarily true for B2B copywriting.

While the language should still be clear and concise, the writing must also demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental concepts and terminology of the businesses you are pitching to. If your copywriter can't use industry lingo effectively and smoothly, your marketing efforts will run the risk of sounding hokey or unprofessional.

For this reason, thorough research of the market and industry are necessary for B2B marketing companies to develop effective copy.

Knowing How to Write Benefit-Focused Copy for Businesses

One of the fundamentals of good copywriting is to focus on benefits, rather than features. Average B2B marketing companies can easily produce a few pages about what a company does, without saying a word about how potential clients can benefit from the services or products being offered.

Business-to-consumer copywriters may be able to find the emotional benefits that appeal to individual customers, but in a B2B scenario it's harder to hit those push-button emotional switches.

After all, companies don't have emotions - although the people who own and work for them do. Good business-to-business copy must point out the benefits to the business itself, such as an increase in ROI, while also pointing out the benefits to the company's people.

That said, the writing must also provide plenty of logical reasons for a transaction or working relationship to go ahead so that any concerns can be dealt with and a buying decision justified on a rational basis.

The decision may have to be confirmed by someone higher up in the company than the employee who initially reads your copy. Make it easy for people within the company to talk up your solutions to one another.

Building Credibility

While credibility is important for both business-to-consumer and business-to-business transactions, it's particularly important in a B2B scenario where contracts may be worth thousands or millions of dollars.

It's also particularly easy for an unskilled writer to destroy a company's credibility with a simple blunder, such as misunderstanding a key fundamental of the industry or the business being pitched to.

Providing Key Details

Again, due to the fact that business to business transactions can potentially involve vast sums of money, business copywriting needs to cover all the essential details an interested prospect might possibly need to know in order to make an informed decision.

For this reason, business-to-business copywriting often runs longer than writing directed at an individual consumer.

A Common Misconception About Business to Business Copywriters

Unfortunately, many B2B copywriters have developed a "boring" reputation. This is actually part of the reason good ones are so hard to find - B2B writing is widely considered to be a boring gig.

However, a talented business copywriter can bring out the creativity and excitement in any topic - and that's the writing which produces the best results.

Author: Tom McSherry