#LoveB2B – why every word should be special

Big ones.

Small ones.

Antiquated ones.

CoLlOqUiAl OnEs.

Sometimes I pinch myself that I get paid to spend 8 hours a day playing with them.

But when I talk to people about what I do, they often (mistakenly) assume that my job is boring, just because I work in B2B content marketing.

Quite the contrary.

It’s easy to make a car sound sexy – or make-up, or fine dining.

We’re in the business of influencing high stakes deals. Investments that are only made every 3-5 years, and could make or break a company’s growth over the next 3-5 years once their chosen technology has been rolled out.

The mere thought that their first spark of engagement could be down to something I’ve written makes me grin from the inside out.

Of course, it’s starts with a great idea. Something different, yet relevant. Something that will cut through the swathes of boring content and make people sit up and listen.

That idea then needs to sing.

Too many people in content marketing are happy to whisper under their breath; to choose the blandest, most conservative, inoffensive means of communicating their concept.

Not us.

We’re not talking to men in grey suits. We’re talking to intelligent upstarts in one of the fastest moving international industries. These people are sharp, they’re savvy. So let’s speak to them in that way!

Nothing makes me happier in my professional life than a client who’s willing to throw away the shackles of what a business-to-business conversation should look like, and communicate on a human level.

Because whoever we’re talking to and whatever we’re talking about, we want to solve problems.

My greatest love in B2B content marketing is being able to explore how far I can craft this message, finding just the right quip or phrase that will make someone, somewhere sit up and listen.

The kind of perfect statement that, when I read it back, makes me think ‘yeah, I wrote that!’

(Usually with an affirmative head nod…)

Or to sit with a red pen hovering over a first draft, toying with synonyms that could be substitute to make the content that bit more powerful…

You know that phrase ‘only boring people get bored’? The old chestnut uttered by many a parent over the generations?

Well, only boring copywriters find certain subjects boring.

The live-to-breathe-wordsmiths like me love nothing more than trying to make a complex subject matter stand out in a crowded marketplace.