Does your B2B content pass the tiptoe test?

How to grab your readers by the scruff of the neck every time

If you’ve ever had a friend sit you down and describe a dream they had in painstaking detail, you’ll know what an imbalance of interest feels like. Your friend is all rapt wonderment - such a vivid experience! The monkeys! The boat! The scarf they haven’t seen since 2007 and had completely forgotten about! They assume you will find this as thrilling as they do. But to you, it’s just a dream that someone else had. And there is nothing more boring than other people’s dreams.

Correction. There is nothing more boring than other people’s dreams EXCEPT B2B content that assumes you are agog to hear what the writer has to say.

Picture your reader: what are they doing?

Too many B2B blogs, articles and LinkedIn posts seem to have been written for the man in the Werther’s Original advert. You know the one. He spends cosy afternoons relaxing in an armchair by the fire, nothing more urgent on his to-do list than stuffing his face with sweets and tousling the hair of the angelic grandchild by his side.

These aforementioned blogs, articles and LinkedIn posts ramble expansively like a drunken uncle over Christmas dinner. They clear their throats, circle coyly around their topics and indulge in whimsical detours down dead-end sideroads.

They make the fatal error of assuming their reader has emptied their diary and put their feet up to savour every word.

But like your dreaming friend, as the content writer, you’re the one who thinks this topic is interesting - you still need to convince the reader they should feel the same.

Try the tiptoe test

Here’s my suggestion to help you earn attention with every line.

Imagine your blog, whitepaper or whatever has been printed out and stuck high up on a wall. Anyone who wants to read it must stand on tiptoe.

Is your title strong enough to make the reader bother to crane their neck up in the first place? Will the first line haul them onto their toes, eager to find out more? At which stage in the piece might they drop back onto their heels, deciding the content is no longer worth the effort required? Those are the areas that need more work.

To identify and fix those bits, think about:

• Pace. From your 60mph start have you dropped down to 20mph because you’re struggling to explain your concept or are waffling to reach a wordcount?

• Word choice. Be brutal with filler words and phrases like ‘really’, ‘quite’, ‘just’, ‘a bit’, ‘simply’, ‘slightly’, ‘in order to’, and ‘very’.

• Repetition. In your eagerness to make sure your message lands, have you started saying the same thing in different ways?

• Over-explanation. Give your reader some credit. We all like the reward that comes from joining the dots. Be clear, yes, but leave room for the reader to use their brain.

Go in all guns blazing

I’m a big fan of the ‘Let’s make this more interesting’ podcast from eatbigfish. In a recent episode, former BBC reporters Luisa Baldini and Louisa Preston explained to host Adam Morgan how to create a riveting news report within the standard ninety second timeframe. ‘For TV,’ they said, ‘we were taught you start with your strongest picture’. (They go on to expand on the importance of structure, variety and focusing on what the audience needs to know rather than what you want to tell them - also good principles for written content.)

Nine times out of ten B2B content should lead with the strongest message. Smack your reader round the chops with your biggest idea first, then expand on it or lead into associated messages. Don’t hoard your crown jewels, producing them with a flourish three-quarters of the way through your piece. Most of your readers won’t have made it that far.

From this point of view, it’s useful to keep the press release approach in mind. A press release is written with the lead message first, then each succeeding paragraph is less and less important. Why? Because a busy editor will cut your copy from the bottom up to make it fit the available space.

Keep them on their toes

There are instances where you might not want to bring your big message out immediately. Maybe you’re trying to create intrigue to tempt your reader to click on a link or turn a page. But however you’re earning their attention, remember they’re balancing on their metaphorical tiptoes - so whether you’re hitting them with the hook or holding it back, you must respect their time and effort. Make it worth their while.

And finally…

Normally I’d add a video here, but I wanted to use this space to let you know about a comedy event I’m performing at on Thursday 8th May. If you work in B2B tech and you’re in the London area, come along!

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I’m Heather Barnett, a freelance B2B copywriter and creator of silly videos about marketing. This is my regular newsletter with tips on creating better B2B content.

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