What to Look for in a Copywriting Service: The B2B Marketer’s Guide
A copywriting service can feel like a nice-to-have luxury. Anyone can write content, right? There are so many other important places to allocate your budget
If you’ve gone down this line of thinking you’re not alone, but we’re here to tell you that it’s a trap. A copywriting service for B2B companies is one of the most worthwhile investments you can make for your business.
Why? Because reading your content is the first way potential buyers learn about your company. In fact, buyers are up to 70% of the way through their research before they ever reach out to you about your solution.
If you lump copywriting into a job description for someone who isn’t specialized to create content that converts, you risk losing leads and ultimately hurting your sales results. In today’s digital world, B2B copywriting isn’t a luxury, it’s an essential.
Quick Takeaways
- B2B copywriters are quick learners who can manage multiple clients and their individual needs.
- B2B copywriters stay customer-focused, always keeping the end goal of the content in mind.
- Highly technical or regulated industries may require a copywriter with more industry experience.
- The best copywriters have both strong technical skills and the ability to use empathy to resonate with audiences.
What to Look For in Your B2B Copywriter
Quick Learners
B2B copywriters typically work for multiple clients in different industries. Their goals, brand voice, style, and target audience will also vary. To keep clients happy and ensure their content is accomplishing its goals, B2B copywriters need to be quick studies. They also need to be willing to put in the required work — specifically, taking time to get to know each client well and deliver based on their needs.
Customer-Focused
Staying customer-focused is key to successful B2B copywriting, and we don’t just mean focused on the immediate client. B2B copywriters need to know their clients, but they also need to know the audience they’re writing for. Namely, the client’s customers.
A quick look at the issues B2B buyers have with marketing content shows how important it is for content to be relevant, direct, and targeted to the customer needs.
This expectation goes hand-in-hand with getting to know each client, but writers should stay even more laser-focused on what will resonate most with their target audience.
Goal-Oriented
Not all writing is created equal. The copywriting world is full of writers with different aspirations of their own, a not-uncommon scenario is writers looking to do copywriting as an in-between gig, a way to make money on the side because they love to write, or as a means of making an income while they work on their “real” project (we’re all writing a novel, aren’t we?).
That’s not wrong inherently, but it is important for B2B copywriters to understand that there are specific goals to keep in mind when they’re developing content for businesses. It’s less about being personally creative and more about hitting the topic points and content KPIs outlined by the client.
Knows the Industry
This one depends. Like we said, B2B copywriters are quick learners, and they definitely don’t need to be experts in every industry they write for. In fact, many writers enjoy taking on projects in fields they don’t know because it gives them an opportunity to learn something new.
That said, when you’re looking for a B2B copywriting service, you should be aware of the level of existing knowledge you think your specific industry requires. If you’re in a highly regulated or technical industry like law or finance or government, you might look for someone who has some experience in the field so you can be assured the content will meet industry standards.
Attention to Detail
You see it on every job description out there, but when it comes to B2B copywriting services, attention to detail really is a must. Even more than B2C consumers, B2B buyers are looking for expertise and industry knowledge. They’re often doing research of their own about your company before they ever reach out to talk to someone from your sales team.
This means your online content is often your first impression, poor writing can be the difference between capturing that lead or sending them elsewhere. Grammar errors might seem harmless, can undermine your credibility and make a potential buyer think twice about your company.
When you look for a copywriter, you want to find someone who you can be confident in to turn in consistently high-quality, mistake-free content.
Ability to Shift Gears
Just as B2B copywriters must be quick learners, it’s important they can shift gears quickly as they move from project to project. Brand voice changes even between companies who operate in the same industry. Your copywriter should be capable of moving from one project to the next quickly and effectively while addressing each client’s goals, audience, voice, and overall needs
That Extra “Something”
This article from Radix Communications calls it wizardry, and we don’t disagree. The B2B world is competitive, and your content needs to stand out and be unique. You want your copywriter to have a knack for creating content that really resonates.
Evaluating copywriters can be challenging, and Radix also published this really useful hierarchy of traits to look for in writers you’re considering. It can be used as a checklist for reviewing content or shared with writers as a guide. Either way, it includes a balance of both the technical and emotionally-intelligent traits good B2B copywriters possess, providing a solid reference for recognizing good B2B content.
Hiring a B2B Copywriting Service?
Marketing Insider Group has writers who can deliver high-quality content that delivers for your company, and they can do it every week for the next year (or longer!).
To learn more, read about our Content Builder Services or schedule a free consultation today.
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