B2BGuide

What is B2B content writing?

B2B content writing is the craft of writing content for the web to suit the needs of business to business marketing e.g. blogs, social media posts, white papers, video and audio recordings and web pages.

Hot Tip: Each piece of writing has its own tone, style and audience eg. a blog is friendly and personal, a white paper is long and formal, and social media is short and catchy.

What is B2B copywriting?

B2B copywriting, or business-to-business copywriting, is writing persuasive words (AKA copy) for businesses which appeal to customers who are buying on behalf of or for another business e.g. the text on brochures, websites, emails and newsletters.

Tip: We’re all humans first and business people second, so engaging copy which highlights the personal benefits of a product or service are just as important when you’re communicating with business.

What is B2B marketing?

Business to business marketing e.g. Xero markets to other businesses who want to manage their finances.

What is B2C?

Business to consumer marketing e.g. Coca-Cola markets to people who want a soft drink.

What is B2G?

Business to government marketing and communication e.g. the Department of Justice markets their services to the community.

What is a brand story?

Your brand story is the story of you and your business. It’s personal and should allow the reader to connect with the heart of what you’re doing and why.

Tip: Be authentic. Don’t be afraid to share your warts and all journey – no-one is interested in the Botox version with all the mistakes ironed out. Your errors are your currency.

What is click through rate?

Click through rate (CTR) is a percentage which shows how well your keywords and ads are doing. CTR is calculated by dividing the number of clicks on your ad by the number of times your ad is shown, with a high percentage showing a successful ad.

What is a content audit?

A content audit is where you assess all your content, usually on your website, for quality, relevance, strengths and weaknesses. A good audit will show what content is performing well, what is outdated, and where to focus your feature efforts.

Tip: A content audit is a big job, so plan for it and delegate if you can.

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is advertising which aims to be useful and interesting rather than irritating and intrusive. Content marketing provides something of value to a person in the form of a story, an infographic, a podcast, video or book.

Tip: people will go out of their way for good content (marketing) and avoid the bad like a drunk on a train.

What is a content strategy?

Your content strategy is the who, what, when, where, why and how of creating content. Who is your audience, what is the problem you’re solving, when and where do you create and publish, how do you use the content you have, and the big WHY – what is your goal?

What is your conversion rate?

In marketing, a conversion rate is the percentage of total visitors to your website who do what you’re trying to get them to do – usually buy a product.

What is a CRM?

CRM stands for Client Relationship Management, a system and a strategy which manages a business’s interaction with current and potential customers. A CRM system will ideally give your potential customer a smooth and consistent experience, as well as enabling you to collect information about your target audience and how to serve them better.

What is customer experience – CX?

Customer experience is far more than just customer service – it’s the total impression your business makes on the customer and affects not only what they think of your brand, but what they tell other people. CX includes both people and product and usually involves more than one team.

What is a customer persona?

A buyer persona is a made-up character who represents your ideal customer.

Hot Tip: think about the demographics, behaviors, motivations and goals of your perfect customer

What is data-driven marketing?

Data-driven marketing is as it sounds: marketing activities and strategies built around data collected from customers, usually through website traffic figures, social media metrics and email newsletters, but also through direct surveys and questions.

Hot Tip: Data is important, but a good marketing campaign will require more than numbers.

What is direct mail?

Direct mail is a form of direct marketing where potential and existing customers are sent unsolicited advertising material through the mail.

Hot Tip: Another name for direct mail is junk mail – if you’re going to send someone something they didn’t ask for, make it valuable.

What is email marketing?

Ideally, email marketing is a well-crafted message to your customer in the form of a newsletter or email, which provides value to the receiver in some way.

Hot Tip: Nobody likes SPAM. Respect your customer and create something worthwhile.

What is employee experience – EX?

Employee experience is creating an integrated approach to the experience of being an employee in order to create a productive, engaging and enjoyable place to work.

What is a featured snippet?

A featured snippet is what the Google algorithm believes is the best answer to a search query, shown above the search results. A featured snippet can be in the form of text, image or video, and is taken directly from the webpage linked to in the snippet.

What is the Google Algorithm?

The Google Algorithm is not just one but many algorithms which help to sort through hundreds of billions of webpages to find the sites which are most relevant to your query.

Hop Tip:

An algorithm is a set of rules to follow in order to solve a problem, like a math sum or a set of instructions.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a service provided by Google to track the activity on your website, such as how long a person was on your site, how many pages they visited, what they clicked on, the website that sent them there, and their geographical location.

What is Google Search Console?

Google Search Console used to be known as Google Webmaster Tools, and is a free service provided to website owners to help you maintain, monitor and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google search results.

What is inbound marketing?

Inbound marketing aims to draw your customers towards you through a tempting array of remark-able content, engaging social media, search engine optimization and eye-catching branding.

Hot Tip: The opposite of inbound marketing is outbound marketing which pushes a business’s product outwards. One earns attention and the other buys it.

What is lead generation?

A lead is a person who has somehow shown you they are interested in your business’s product or service. Lead generation is the process of changing strangers into delighted customers, a form of inbound marketing.

Hot Tip: You must offer something of value or interest in order to generate leads and convert them into customers.

What is lead magnet?

A lead magnet is a something tempting which persuades your lead, or potential customer, to exchange their contact details for. A lead magnet is usually something digital your lead can easily download, such as a report, eBook, chart or poster, or video.

Hot Tip: Your lead magnet must provide value, solve a problem, be specific, easy to understand, instantly available or show your expertise. If you can combine two or three of these, you’re onto a winner.

What is on-page SEO?

On-page Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of enhancing individual pages on your website to rank higher and earn more traffic in search engines.

Hot Tip: A fully optimized webpage provides value, gives a great experience for the user, uses keywords, is easily shared, works well on any device, has complete metadata details and can be indexed.

What is paid search?

Paid search are the ads you see at the top of the search engine results page. Businesses pay search engines such as Google or Edge for each click on their ad.

What is qualitative research?

Qualitative research gathers information about a subject to understand the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of what is happening. Researchers may use focus groups, individual interviews and observation.

What is quantitative research?

Quantitative research collects numerical data to understand the ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘who’ of a subject, through polls, questionnaires and surveys.

What is remarketing?

Remarketing is a general term which describes marketing to the same person more than once and includes offline, phone, email, social media and online promotions.

What is review mining?

Review mining is using the reviews on competitor apps to access customer opinions about features, functionality and trends and using that information to make your own product better and avoid the mistakes of your competitors.

What is a sales funnel?

A sales funnel is the path a person takes on the way to buying what you’re selling. This path is described as a funnel because it narrows as it reaches the end, with more prospects at the top of the funnel than at the end. See also: TOFU, MOFU, BOFU

What is a sales page?

A sales page has one function – to create sales for your product or service. It’s a all-out pitch that usually includes bits like proof points (testimonials, case studies, impact), a strong and consistent call to action, and XXX.

Hot Tip: Sales pages can and do increase sales for your business IF they’re done right. If they’re done wrong, it reduces your credibility and makes what you’re offering look like a scam.

What is SEM?

SEM or Search Engine Marketing aims to increase website traffic by buying ads on search engines. SEM is also known as paid search.

What is SEO?

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is using a set of best practice techniques to help the content on your website be discovered and understood by search engines and therefore your customers. Examples of SEO techniques are intelligent use of keywords, adding new content regularly, gaining links from reputable websites and updating your meta descriptions, which tell the search engine what your page is about.

What is sponsored content?

Sponsored content is advertising, usually in editorial or article form, which looks and feels like the rest of the content on a media outlet.

What is a swipe file?

A swipe file is your go-to collection of ideas for marketing and creative brilliance, stored and updated in preparation for a much-needed moment of inspiration.

Hot Tip: File your ideas in an orderly fashion so you can find what you need. Create categories such as email, social media, video, blogging and podcasts and file your ideas and inspiration for a later date.

What is a tagline?

A tagline is a short, catchy description which describes a product or service. The best taglines are designed to leave a lasting impression, embedding themselves into the imagination of a culture for years to come.

What is a target audience?

A target audience is the group of people who are most likely to be interested in what you’re offering.

Hot Tip: when you understand your target audience, you can direct your marketing to the exact people who are most receptive to your efforts.

What is tone of voice?

Tone of voice is not what we say, but how we say it. It’s not what we write, but how we write it. Your tone is how you communicate your personality, how you feel about what you’re writing about, and what you think about your audience.

Hot Tip: There are four dimensions to tone of voice: humorous/serious, formal/casual, respectful/irreverent, enthusiastic/matter-of-fact.

What is user experience – UX?

User experience incorporates usability and design as well as experiences around purchase, first use, branding, function, service, help and maintenance to develop a seamless experience for the user.

What is a USP?

Unique selling point, or USP, is your competitive edge, the unique thing about you and your business which makes what you’re doing different and better than what your competitors are doing.

What is a website audit?

A website audit is the process of evaluating your website for content and technical performance. It’s a broad sweep of your website’s functionality, including assessing the structure of your website, the overall user experience, as well as inspecting the website’s search engine optimization needs.