In case you haven't gone to business school or had the pleasure of writing for B2B companies, then the term itself might be somewhat unfamiliar to you: “B2B.”

Before I go on, I should probably clear up what it means.

Basically, it stands for “business to business,” and it denotes a type of business where a company sells to other companies instead of to individual consumers.

Selling to consumers is called “B2C,” or “business to consumer.”

The B2B arena is a completely different beast than that of its B2C counterpart, and once you start writing for it, you will find out that this can be quite tricky.

It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about producing sales copy, marketing materials or if you’re simply running a blog for a B2B company—it’s a very unique style of writing.

Things Might Get Boring

The first thing you need to prepare yourself for if you plan on writing for B2B brands is that things can get a bit boring. Quite often, B2B companies will be so narrowly niched that you might feel as if you were crammed into the tiniest writing room known to mankind.

For instance, you may end up writing for a company that provides an extremely specialized piece of software that is can be used, realistically, by about 3,000 companies in the world.

It goes without saying that in such a situation, your writing will be more restricted than normal.

You Will Need To Know Everything

Another irregularity of B2B writing is that you need to be on top of things—completely on top of things.

For example, let’s go back to our hypothetical company that sells specialized software …

If you wish to write for them, you will need to know every single thing about this piece of software, as well as tons about the overall industry and its potential customers.

This can be nerve-racking and time-consuming, but the absolute worst thing you can do in B2B writing is to try and bluff your way through it—“fluff” simply won’t work …

The good thing is that most B2B companies understand the complexity of what’s going on and are willing to teach you as much as possible about what they do.

Get to the Point

If you think that you need to learn a thing or two about writing more concise copy or getting to the point quicker, then B2B writing is the crash course you’re needing.

B2B writing is an exercise in brevity and precision.

Your readers don’t want to hear a lengthy story, or be wooed with empty promises. They want to see hard facts, and they want to see them as quickly as possible.

If you can say something in a sentence, don’t write two.

If your sentence is complete with 6 words, don’t use 8.

You will probably find yourself feeling like somewhat of an automaton at times, but precision in writing can also be art.

Try this on for size—there are many solid reasons for which people love haiku poetry, and concision is one of them.

Once you come to see precision and brevity as an art, you will see the world of B2B writing open up to you.

Always Solve Problems

The company that’s hired you is trying to attract client companies by solving a certain problem that they have. In the case of our imaginary B2B software company, it’s a very specific problem that those 3,000 companies regularly encounter.

Your writing needs to convey exactly how this piece of software will solve the problem.

B2B is 100% about making money.

Clients of a B2B service or product provider (your employer) are also companies that are trying to make money. As such, they do not have the time to work out what your writing can do for them.

They want to understand it within seconds.

Solutions that help them make money are good solutions. Write in a way that will make it clear to them your that your employer makes their problems go away.

Keep the Salespeople in Mind

In the B2B ecosystem, making money is what matters most.

If you happen to start writing for B2B companies, you need to remember that your success will be measured by how much your content is able to produce real, quantifiable leads.

In other words, your job is to produce content that will attract people from potential client companies who will then be turned into actual clients by your company’s sales staff.

It’s tough writing, but when done well, it’s effective writing, at that.

Closing Word

As you can see, B2B writing can be just as much of an art as any business-oriented writing.

It's just that it’s a different kind of art …

Whereas B2C writing is Renaissance art with an abundance of color, volume and drama, B2B writing is traditional Japanese art or Suprematism where every single stroke and line matters.

Even better, it’s just as amazing.

James D. Burbank has spent almost 15 years in the trade show industry. He’s been writing about business for a few years now. He runs a business blog called BizzMarkBlog with some friends of his. You can also find him on Twitter.

My name is James (not that it matters, but my parents always taught me it is polite to introduce oneself) and I have been writing business-related articles for quite a few years now.

Recently, during one of those late-night introspection sessions that we all have to deal with from time to time, I started honestly and almost brutally dissecting the stuff I write on the blog I run with a couple of friends and on other websites.

After about half an hour of palm-sweating and ulcer-inducing pondering, I came to the realization that I have definitely started writing boring business articles, or at least more boring than I used to write back in the day when I still believed business articles needed to be creative and unique.

It was only logical that I spent the next couple of hours trying to figure out why this was the case. Let's just say I didn't sleep too much that night and leave it at that.

In any case, I have come up with a few observations and theories that I feel the need to share with other writers just like me.

The Early Days

Ah, the early days—how fondly I remember you! I was only becoming a true family man back then; fresh off years spent traveling around the world as part of my career in the trade show industry and ready to revolutionize the world of business writing with my spectacular articles and extraordinary literary prowess.

As I started reading up on business blogging (as is common), I was finding out that most "experts" shared my initial instincts, i.e. that creativity and a unique voice is the best thing you can do for your business blogging.

Even now, if you check out the basic 'how to write business content' articles, guides and even infographics, you will often hear that it is vital to be creative and that only unique business content gets noticed and shared.

So, what were novice bloggers like myself to do in such a situation? Well, they're to buckle down, tap into the deepest wells of insights they have obtained over a decade-plus of traveling the world and interacting with all kinds of businesses and belt out articles that would turn this blogger into the next big thing in the world of business blogging—right? That’s how it works?

The Sobering Truth

Well, not so much …

As it turns out, writing half-decent (I am not a delusional prick) content that is going to be somewhat more creative and unique is not enough to garner much attention. In fact, it might actually harm your chances of getting such content accepted and shared once it is published.

Whenever I would offer blog owners and webmasters articles that were challenging some widely-accepted concepts and ideas, it would be as if I was talking to a wall. They would either not respond at all or they would ask me if I was open to modifying my article so that it resembled every other article on the subject ever written.

At times, I would strike gold and get published, writing some really innovative and interesting articles which often spoke about subjects from a standpoint that had rarely been considered. Unfortunately, when this happened, the amount of shares and comments was just plain discouraging.

My Theories

We are finally completing the circle and coming back to that waking night when I ultimately came up with a few theories on why too much creativity can actually spell trouble for business content.

My first theory is that basic, almost painfully boring content has the biggest potential audience. It is the same with any other art form. You are far more likely to make it with mainstream, middle-of-the-pack stuff than with something that might challenge people or actually take sides.

Basic content also makes people feel involved. When they know they understand as much as the next reader, they are more likely to have a positive response to the content. It is quite simple. No one likes feeling left out.

As far as blog owners or webmasters go, they might be afraid to alienate some of their readers by providing content that might be controversial or at least to some extent dares to unsettle the status quo.

Of course, it would be nearsighted not to realize that business writing often needs to meet certain prerequisites that other niche writing does not have to. I am talking about enormous amounts of references and data that can be checked. Sometimes it is difficult to make content pop and sizzle when it is based around dry numbers.

What About the Future?

In case you were wondering, I haven't stopped trying. My articles have definitely become more boring in the sense that I am now more likely to settle for an idea that has been regurgitated dozens of times before to please a publisher. Still, I have been trying to find new ways to make my content challenging or at least interesting.

Moreover, there are still websites and blog owners who are not afraid to publish creative content. For example, you are now reading an article called Why I Started Writing Boring Business Articles, and that's not a bad thing.

Other people are trying, too. From both successful bloggers and content marketing companies, you will still hear about the importance of great, unique content. In fact, I recently come across a great blog with articles that are definitely not your ordinary digital marketing articles.

My plan is to keep trying, definitely. If you'd join me as a business writer, I'd really appreciate it. Take care, and thanks for reading!

James D. Burbank has spent almost 15 years in the trade show industry. He’s been writing about business for a few years now. He runs a business blog called BizzMarkBlog with some friends of his. You can also find him on Twitter.

Copywriting

The Unique Nature of Writing for B2B