Real-world insights from today’s successful marketers working in an always-on world.

You’re putting together a new marketing program, and you want it to produce better results than your previous one. You know which program elements that need improvement. But are there others? 

From program idea to post-partum analysis, four basic practices comprise a well-crafted B2B marketing program:

• build your strategy
• develop content
• implement your plan
• measure success

The book Advice from the Top: The Expert Guide to B2B Marketing, published by the Colorado Chapter of the Business Marketing Association (BMA), describes each practice, followed by easy-to-understand strategies and techniques you can implement.

The three main reasons I like this book are:

1. It provides practical advice I can learn today and do tomorrow.
2. Each chapter is written by a recognized expert in the field and in plain language. 
3. It helps me think differently about my business.

Even if you know everything in this book–you likely may–for me, the book’s advice constantly reminds me of what to do.

"Write believable copy."
"Show your prospects you feel their pain."
"Write meaningful marketing messages."

For each piece of advice offered, an example follows, such as what it means to write "believable" copy, or how to show you understand a prospect’s "pain," or why a message is "meaningful."

If you want to recharge your marketing efforts, reading this book and implementing some of its advice may get you going.

Full Disclosure: I am a member of Colorado BMA. I receive no in-kind or cash payment for this promotion. I am simply proud of my chapter and the authors of this book.

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

I am always in search of targeted questions to ask new clients so I can do two things: 

1. Properly scope a client’s project needs to write a meaningful project proposal and do great work while avoiding scope creep.
2. Determine how I can build value into the project and into my services in general.

It’s no secret that the more you know about a client and his or her industry, project, and target market, the better service you provide. Asking targeted questions reveals not only the big project picture, but the most important details you must tend to. As the devil might be in the details, surely that’s where great client experiences begin.

I recently read two articles containing targeted questions I will add to my client intake form. I thought you’d like to know about them.

Five Questions to Ask Every New Client
Excellent big-picture questions that will help you craft your writing and align your services to your client’s most urgent needs.

Pricing Strategy for Creatives
This article obviously covers pricing your services. It also contains the section "Establish a client intake process." In it you’ll find great questions that will help you add value to your work. Even though this article is written for web developers, any service provider can apply the advice shared.

Related Reading
How to Analyze Your Audience
Writing & Editing Projects–Budget Time for These Tasks

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

In exchange for some information about your business, HubSpot, an inbound marketing software company, provides free marketing whitepapers. Well-written with practical information you can apply immediately, I thought you might want to know about these high-quality freebies.

About HubSpot: For a monthly fee, HubSpot’s inbound marketing software essentially becomes the nerve center for your social media marketing efforts. The software helps you develop content, conduct SEO, communicate throughout your social media platforms, generate leads, and analyze your aforementioned efforts.

I’ve not used HubSpot’s marketing software, but enjoy downloading its free whitepapers. Take a look. You might find something that will take your marketing project from "What should I do next?" to finished.

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

Stumped over what to blog about?

The internet is loaded with ideas for blog posts. Not wanting to feel left out, I created a list of my own.

Take a look. If something here inspires, get writing!

• Announce industry events you attended and the changes you made in your services as a result.
• Announce a new tool, software, or online subscription you use for your business. Explain how it helped you and whether it improved your service in any way.
• Announce events (workshops, seminars, etc.) your blog readers might be interested in attending. (Explain why they would be interested.)
• Provide a thoughtful point of view on an article about your industry or service.
• Refer readers to a helpful resource. Explain why you like it and how it might help your blog readers.
• Announce new industry rules or trends, or new public policies that might affect your blog readers. Explain the potential effects.
• Post a great quote and how it relates to your industry.
• Post an interesting industry fact and the significance of it.
• Lighten it up now and then. Post a funny industry-related story about something you saw or did.

Related Reading
From problogger.com
5 Ways to Never Run Out of Blog Post Ideas
Monthly Trends + How to Instantly Triple Your Post Ideas
12 Essential Tips for Revitalising Your Blog in 2012

 Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

You’re an expert at writing persuasively. But how you manage your social media apps and what calls to action you make can help you be persuasive.

Read all about it at mashable.com.

6 Ways to Be More Persuasive with Social Media

Neil Patel, the author of that mashable post, creatively took Robert Cialdini’s six principles of persuasion presented in his book Influence—The Psychology of Persuasion and applied them to social media. (I just ordered read the book. Wildly fascinating.)

Great post.

Related Reading
B2B Persuasive Writing—Objectives, Techniques & Publications

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

When every word you publish is scrutinized by regulatory agencies, how can you go about writing persuasively without feeling like you need to constantly look over your shoulder?

By first developing a Key Message Copy Platform.

Medical copywriter Casey Demchak carefully words the marketing and sales publications he writes for his clients. Every product claim his clients make must first be substantiated by facts, figures, and clinical evidence. The more technical the claim and number of marketing outputs, the bigger the challenge.

In developing a Key Message Copy Platform prior to publishing any marketing copy, Casey helps his clients carefully substantiate all product claims in writing, then develops marketing messages around those claims. Those messages become the basis of a client’s Key Message Copy Platform.

The convenience of working from a Key Message Copy Platform is that no matter the marketing output—web, collateral, sales support documentation—the message behind each product claim remains consistent throughout. So once those key messages are decided upon, Casey moves on to writing persuasive product copy for his clients.

Learn more about creating a Key Message Copy Platform from Casey himself:

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

At the root of persuasive writing is connecting with your readers on intellectual and emotional levels. That’s the hook. Then you need to demonstrate how you will meet business needs. Buried in them is the cry: Please, make my life easier and better!

In front of your persuasive publications sit people who make decisions. What to buy. Whom to buy from. How to change a behavior. How to break off a relationship.

These people also make decisions about you, the writer. Do you connect with their sensibilities? Do you understand the subtext of the problems they must solve? Are you BS-ing them in any way?

We all have basic needs to connect with others, be understood, and be told the truth. As you write your publications that teach, market, or sell, you can meet these basic needs by appealing to your readers’ sensibilities (emotions) and intellect (facts and data).

Objectives of Persuasive Writing

You want your readers to act—to request your free report, make a purchase, sign up for your workshop—so you need to convince them it will be worth their while. You can begin by demonstrating that you:

• clearly understand their needs, issues, or problems
• can competently address them
• are different than your competitors
• are the clear choice

How do you do all that?

Listed below are some persuasive writing techniques you can use to motivate your readers to act—to demonstrate that you are the clear choice, the one who will make lives easier or better. 

Pinpoint the Definition of Success
Know what will be different when everything is going right. Finding out what that is reveals the subtext of your readers’ needs—the real value your product or service could bring: What else your target audience wants and needs in addition to your solving the "business problem."

Speak Your Target Audience’s Language
As you demonstrate what it is that your product or service is really good at doing, speak to your readers in a vernacular that resonates with their life experiences.

Say it with Numbers
A financial planner successful at helping people retire sooner than thought possible might state that each day, 8,000 Americans turn 65 years old^[1], yet 36 percent of them expect to retire after age 65, compared with 25 percent in 2006^[2], then go on to explain how she helps clients beat the odds.

Using numbers can also demonstrate tangible evidence of a benefit, such as dollars or time saved, or availability of a tax credit or tax incentive.

Be Real by Being Relevant
Tell the truth. Of course you’ll point out the features and benefits of your product or service, acknowledge also weaknesses and how clients might overcome them. How completely does your product or service fulfill a client’s need? In what circumstances does it not fulfill a need at all? State these things, clearly! Your client will appreciate instantly understanding whether or not your product or service can fill a need.

Quote Thought Leaders and Experts
The retirement statistics cited above are from leading organizations addressing challenging retirement issues: AARP and the Employee Benefits Retirement Institute (EBRI). Connecting your business case to thought leaders’ and experts’ research, insight, and commentary is persuasive.

See also the Related Reading section below for expanded presentations of persuasive writing techniques.

Types of Print or Digital Publications that Require Persuasive Writing 

Learning how to write persuasively and then practicing the craft takes time. Or maybe you’re a natural! But the persuasive writing techniques presented here and in the other publications listed below have long been used successfully in these types of publications:

• blog posts
• business plans
• case studies
• direct mail
• emails and letters
• feature articles
• grant applications
• how-to articles and books
• press release
• proposals
• product and service sales guides
• web copy
• white papers

^[1] AARP: Boomers Turning 65
^[2] Money.com: Most workers have saved just $25,000 for retirement

Related Reading

"Mastering Persuasive B2B Sales Writing Techniques" by Casey Demchak in Advice from the Top: The Expert Guide to B2B Marketing

Seven Simple Steps to Persuasive Writing by Elizabeth Evans Fryer

B-to-B Insights: A Perfect ’10′—Achieve success by adhering to the fundamentals

Ten Timeless Persuasive Writing Techniques by Brian Clark, CopyBlogger.com

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

The similarity in writing and editing business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) publications is that you need to speak persuasively to both groups. The differences lie in each group’s buying process.

B2B transactions can be complex. Many stakeholders usually participate in the buying process, lengthening it from inquiry to sale. B2C transactions are simpler. The buyer usually conducts a purchase without significant input from others, and conducts the transaction rather quickly.

How companies approach these two groups differ greatly, for each has different needs and buying styles. In her article Marketing for B2B vs. B2C–Similar but Different, Debra Murhphy, small business marketing coach, provides a detailed description of each audience and how to market to them.

With exception to high-end electronics or other expensive items, consumers typically don’t need detailed and lengthy information about the products they purchase. In other words, B2C buyers don’t need to read white papers or case studies to make purchasing decisions. Shorter publications such as flyers, brochures, tweets, and web copy can help make B2C sales.

Not so with B2B sales. Even though a flyer or brochure may pique interest, B2B buyers need more information to justify purchases because the dollar amounts at stake run into the millions. Longer publications, such as white papers and case studies, tailored to each stakeholder help B2B buyers along the purchasing process.

Related Reading
What Are B2B Publications?

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

In writing and editing business-to-business (B2B) publications, you serve individuals employed by companies and who buy from or sell to individuals in other companies. Because the B2B buying process involves people from many departments (engineering, production, marketing, sales, and the c-suite), craft your B2B publications with specific readers in mind.

B2B writing and editing covers many different types of publications and audiences who read them. As a B2B writer and editor, you’ll likely specialize in a certain type of writing and editing. For example, a B2B writer and editor may work on technical product summaries for Boeing or glizty ad copy for Chanel.

The type of copy you write and edit is driven by the audience who reads it. And since the corporate buying process is complex, a one-size-fits-all B2B publication never works. Each B2B publication should target a specific audience.

Take a white paper, for example, on a new product that aggregates social media platforms, enabling companies to promote and share their products and network with customers, partners, and vendors. Information Systems Managers need to know the details of how this product works. VPs of Sales must be confident it will help increase sales. And purchasing agents will look for after-sales service guarantees and comparative cost data. So for this new product, your client may want you write three white papers; one for each audience: technical, sales, and purchasing.

Types of B2B Audiences
Types of B2B Publications
Types of B2B Writing and Editing

Types of B2B Audiences (top)

• engineering and technical
• product development
• production
• sales and marketing
• social media
• management and c-suite
• human resources
• trainers
• strategic partners
• suppliers

Types of B2B Publications (top)

• advertisements
• annual reports
• professional bio’s or profiles
• blogs
• branding guidelines
• case studies
• competitive intelligence reports
• direct marketing pieces
• emails
• Facebook summaries and conversations
• instructional (curriculum, scripts, how-to pieces)
• landing pages
• letters
• LinkedIn summaries
• marketing research reports and summaries
• mission statements
• newsletters
• press releases
• product and service summaries
• product and service reviews
• proposals
• professional development, education, and training
• sales guides
• tweets
• web copy
• white papers

Types of B2B Writing and Editing (examples in parentheses; top)

• technical (hardware and software user manuals)
• copywriting (marketing and advertising web copy, brochures, flyers, tweets)
• how to’s (video scripts, application guides, blogs)
• sales (white papers, case studies, research summaries, web copy, Linked-In profiles)
• business (emails, letters, reports)
• narrative (in-depth research articles)

Related Reading
How to Analyze Your Audience
How to Write for Your Audience
Writing and Editing Projects–Budget Time for These Tasks

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her work samples here, and contact her here.

Attention social media wing nuts: Offend no more. Let your witty and derisive chatter flow like melted butter over the good humor of your readers. \Sartalics\ is about to enter the social media fray.

The temptation to hold back a sarcastic comment while using social media is often too great; many writers just let it rip. Many readers take offense not knowing the quip was launched tongue-in-cheek. 

Problem: Social media platforms presently don’t allow you to style text. For example, using font styles to bold or italicized text helps writers insert the equivalent of a tone of voice, even a body movement, as if speaking in the physical world—similar to WRITING IN ALL CAPS as the equivalent of shouting at someone.

Solution: Sartalics—a new font style of backwards italics, indicating you mean the opposite of what you just wrote. Until social media platforms incorporate code, you can "use" this font by placing a sarcastic word or phrase in between backslashes. Now, you can be your ‘ole sarcastic self and be understood as just that, not some flamer cloaked in bits and bytes.

Check out the sartalics movement, then join the Twitterblitz to get the attention of the Social Media kingpins. They are the ones who can instruct coders to transform words book-ended in backslashes into words styled in backwards italics, or, sartalics!

So, editorial style guide managers, now you can \lord over\ all sarcastic content!

Thanks go to Bette Frick, The Text Doctor®, for posting this latest-and-greatest language trend in her newsletter.

Further reading (also from Bette’s newsletter):
Sartalics: Company Develops Sarcasm Font (Huff Post)
Have a Snarkfest with Sartalics, the Font Designed for Sarcasm (MediaPost)

Rita Braun writes and edits B2B publications for people who research, teach, market, and sell. Take a look at her portfolio here, and contact her here.