6 B2B copywriting tips to explode your sales

Writing B2B copies is hard. And writing persuasive B2B copies is even harder.

Understanding your audience, finding the perfect angle for your copy, selling without appearing sleazy and getting through the awkward first draft can be complicated and often daunting. 

But discovering the secrets of boosting your readers’ engagement can get you very far: setting the right tone; adding personality; and bringing your content alive with visuals or interactive data are just a few techniques that make a great B2B copy.

In this post, we’ve gathered 6 goal - oriented copywriting strategies that can maximize the persuasiveness of your message and get the best possible results from your marketing campaign. Let’s dive in!

Strategy 1: Drop the unnecessary jargon. 

Believe it or not, but when your writing is unnecessarily complex, readers see you as less intelligent.

Yes, your audience most likely consists of experienced, intelligent business people. But that doesn’t give you an excuse to throw in every overly complicated word you can think of clarity and readability is the main objective of your copy, and unnecessary complexity is the opposite of clear. A concise writing style is what we should all be aiming for.

Fun Fact: A research-based study claims that if you have trouble processing written content, your brain experiences a negative emotion. It then associates that negative emotion with the content that you’re reading.

So, to improve the fluency of your copy and to prevent these harmful responses — you need to simplify your message and drop the unnecessary jargon.

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Strategy 2: Describe Action with Positive Frames

Information that’s delivered through negative frames describes an absence — something that isn’t happening. Positive frames, on the other hand, describe something that is happening. Likewise, positive framing triggers happiness and satisfaction while negative framing evokes unhappiness, dissatisfaction, and even fear. Let’s look at a few sentences: 

NEGATIVE: Don’t be late.

POSITIVE: Arrive on time.

NEGATIVE: Our software won’t disrupt your daily routine.

POSITIVE: Our software fits perfectly in your daily routine.  

NEGATIVE: Reduce Your Production Time by 30%

POSITIVE: Increase Time Efficiency by 70%

Framing is not about what is said. It’s about how it’s said. As humans, we need more mental resources to process sentences with negative frames. So, sentences with a negative framing delivery can reduce comprehension and lower the impact of your message. And besides, the human preference for the positive  - is a trait that’s deeply rooted in our cognitive system. 

Strategy 3: Accurate Claims over Generic Statements

Generic statement equals a generic copy. It’s not persuasive. It’s not descriptive. It’s just vague and incredibly boring. Surely you’ve seen claims similar to these: “Our support team is very quick”; “Our customers love us”; “Our software is very reliable”

The underlying messages are great! But it sounds like you’re selling, rather than telling. Watch what happens when you transform these generic statements into concrete, accurate and promising claims: 

• We’ll get you an answer within 12 hours
• 327 companies love our new software
• You’ll have 90% guaranteed uptime

Suddenly your message becomes significantly more believable and persuasive. And in this case, you’re telling, rather than selling.

Strategy 4: State Your Strongest Points in the Beginning

Always position the strongest benefits of your product/service towards the beginning of your copy.

All because of the primacy effect. The primacy effect refers to a cognitive  tendency to recall information presented at the start of a list better than information at the middle or end. (See this study for more info - Murdock, 1962).

That being said, an offer that is presented in your copy, has a stronger impact when it’s presented at the beginning of your message. When your first benefit is strong, you raise expectations for the upcoming information. In turn, these expectations generate a more favorable response from your prospect: they continue reading your copy and hopefully reach the Call-to-Action.

Bonus: Your initial offer will also generate a stronger impact on long-term memory. When readers recall the benefits of your product/service, they’ll be more likely to remember the initial reasons that you presented them with. So you want those reasons to be very strong. 

Strategy 5: Tell a Story

Stories aren’t just for fiction writers. They belong in every piece of copy you create. 

Stories can trigger a variety of emotions in your reader: a good story can change how someone’s perspective on life and even how they view themselves. If you use the element of storytelling in your copy, you’ll be able to create a strong emotional bond with your client and make your offer truly irresistible. 

All of the best stories involve a change in one of the dynamic characters. In this case, your prospect is the main character (This also stems from having a buyer persona)

The major change happens when the character (your reader) realizes that he/she has an opportunity to have a better life by choosing your business: they learn about the positive change that’s possible only with you. 

You don’t have to be a literature expert to create a good story. In fact, it doesn’t have to be a traditional “story” at all. You can entwine your story into your content by using little snippets of it throughout your copy. You don’t have to write out every little detail all at once.

Strategy 6: Use the Element of Urgency 

Imagine yourself walking by a lemonade stand owned by a little kid. He’s got jugs upon jugs of lemonade. Seeing that, you wouldn’t be in much of a rush to buy a drink, right? But, if that kid only had a few cups left, you’d suddenly be more inclined to give them every quarter you have, just to get that drink.

That’s the power of urgency. 

You’ve spent hours researching, drafting, and polishing your tech copy. It’s perfect – it has a compelling headline, great structure, and absolutely no misspellings or grammatical errors.

But does it create a sense of urgency with your prospect? Does it make them fear missing out on a valuable solution?

Urgency is the engine that drives people to do something they wouldn’t normally do. So if you create a sense of urgency surrounding your service - your prospect will be more inclined to take massive action to acquire this limited offer. 

You can incorporate the element of urgency using words: Don’t miss out. Now. Today. Limited Time. Rare. Unheard of. Limited Edition.

The end goal is to get readers so interested and motivated in your offer - to either continue reading or to make a conversion action.

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Conclusion

Copywriting can be tough. But with a few small changes, you can make a large impact on the persuasiveness of your message.

But at the end of the day - copywriting is an art form. You can’t transform a bad painting into a masterpiece with a few brush strokes. Similarly, you can’t transform a bad copy into a persuasive message with a few minor tweaks. You need a good copy at the heart of your message.

That’s where these 6 techniques come in: build them into your copywriting and you’ll see your content improve and your conversion rates explode.