B2B writing, also known as business-to-business writing, is when one business writes content (like blog posts or case studies) for a target audience of other businesses.
For example, this blog post may be considered B2B content—Alien Road is a business, and our readers are often other businesses.
The Purpose of B2B Writing
The goal of B2B writing is to provide valuable resources for potential buyers and current customers.
On the other hand, current customers might find help guides useful so they can troubleshoot issues.
Beyond helping an audience, B2B content also helps businesses build brand awareness , increase conversions, and establish themselves as an authority.
B2B vs. B2C Writing
B2C writing is often more casual and conversational. It tries to appeal to people’s emotions, dreams, and desires. Like how a travel company might tug at their target audience’s desire for adventure.
In contrast, B2B writing typically focuses on how a product helps with business challenges, like scalability and efficiency. And it tends to be more formal.
However, some brands may have both B2B and B2C audiences and will need to create tailored content for each.
Apple is an example of a company that is both B2B and B2C. Let’s see how they tailor their writing to B2C and B2B readers.
To address their B2C audience, Apple discusses what it feels like to play mobile games on their latest phone:
Apple uses conversational language like “And with industry-leading speed and efficiency, A17 Pro takes fast and runs with it” to connect with consumers and get them excited about the product.
Now, let’s look at the writing on Apple’s B2B page that focuses on benefits and features. The page features case studies and calls out the goals of businesses: to collaborate, scale, and simplify.
Why B2B Writing Matters
Cost-effective : Forms of B2B writing, like blog posts, help businesses drive organic (unpaid) website traffic. Compared to paid ads , this can be a long-term cost-effective approach for getting traffic to your site.
Builds relationships : Consistent, value-driven communication is key to nurturing customer relationships. Quality forms of B2B content can build trust and improve your relationship with your audience.
Solves pain points : Each piece you write will help your audience with their biggest struggles. As you help them overcome their challenges, they may view your business as an authority within your industry.
Increases reach : Businesses can reach a global market and increase their reach with published content, like blogs and case studies. And the increase in website traffic can turn into leads and, ultimately, sales.
Tools for sales teams : Sales teams rely on documents like product guides and case studies to help potential customers make informed decisions. By crafting these documents, your sales team will have the resources to do their jobs effectively.
The Economic Impact of Effective B2B Writing
The economic impact of B2B content varies among content types (like emails and blog posts) and within each industry.
For example, emails drive $36 for every $1 spent, according to email marketing company Litmus . And blogs have the highest return on investment (ROI) of any marketing channel (along with social media shopping tools and influencer marketing), according to research conducted by HubSpot .
But B2B writing also provides intangible results. This can include improving brand reputation and customer satisfaction, which can lead to higher sales.
Later, we’ll give you tips to calculate the impact B2B content has on your business. This way, you’ll know which forms work best—and which to keep investing time and money toward.
10 B2B Writing Types (and Examples)
1. Blog Posts
Blog posts are online articles published on a website. They usually cover topics related to the business’s niche and customer pain points.
B2B blog writing tends to be long-form . This ensures the blog post covers the topic in-depth, so readers don’t walk away with additional questions.
Another great thing about B2B blogs is that they can be created to satisfy any stage of the marketing funnel , depending on their topic and format.
Top of the funnel (ToFu) : Blog posts should focus on providing valuable educational content, using attention-grabbing headlines, visuals, and infographics to attract a broad audience
Middle of the funnel (MoFu) : Content should address specific pain points, offer in-depth guides, and present actionable solutions, incorporating case studies and testimonials to build trust and credibility
Bottom of the funnel (BoFu) : Blog posts should emphasize product/service benefits, offer demos or free trials, include strong calls-to-action, and highlight discounts or promotions to encourage conversions
If you optimize blog posts for search engines , you can improve your chances of ranking in search results and driving traffic back to your site.
The Alien Road Keyword Magic Tool will help you find relevant keywords to target in each blog post you write.
When your audience searches for topics related to your industry and uses the keyword you targeted or a variation, you’ll have a chance of appearing in search results.
For example, searching for “app components” yields search results with this blog post from project management software Asana:
Ensure your B2B content is high-quality, meets search intent, and thoroughly covers the topic to improve your odds of ranking well for each keyword.
2. Guides
They’re often broken down into chapters. Each chapter covers a different subtopic for the overall topic of the guide.
Because guides are so comprehensive, one guide (with all its chapters) can often cover the entire marketing funnel.
Take the following guide on UX research from user interview software company User Interviews , for example. The various chapters cover different stages of the funnel to engage, inform, and persuade readers.
Like blog posts, guides can also rank in the search results. And drive targeted traffic to your site.
3. Case Studies
Case studies showcase how your customers overcome challenges using your product. This information is often backed up by persuasive internal data.
Case studies aim to help readers see what they could achieve if they choose to become a customer of yours.
This B2B content type typically falls within the “consideration” stage of the marketing funnel. The funnel follows this order: awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty.
Case studies often include statistics, customer quotes, infographics, and customer photos. These elements make them engaging and help tell a compelling story.
Stack Against used compelling statistics from a customer that showed how their product helped the company grow, including how many signups the company got and the ROI.
4. White Papers
But they shouldn’t be overly promotional. The main purpose of a white paper is to highlight a problem the audience faces and provide facts and evidence that point to a solution.
White papers are often—but not always—gated. Meaning people need to enter information (like an email address, where they work, and their job title) to access the report.
Gated white papers let you grow your email list with qualified leads in the “consideration” stage of the marketing funnel.
5. Emails
Emails are a form of direct marketing where businesses send content (like newsletters and promotional emails) to people who’ve opted to be on their email list.
Emails are typically shorter than other types of B2B writing, like white papers or guides. In fact, emails that are less than 200 words tend to get the highest click-through rate, according to Constant Contact .
That’s why it’s best to get straight to the point with concise B2B emails that direct the reader back to your main site, blog, or landing page where they can read more.
For example, authentication platform Stytch uses links to direct readers to more in-depth information in their email marketing efforts:
For example, sending information about a free trial could lead to a conversion. However, sending a white paper will help people in the “consideration” stage.
6. Use Cases
This B2B asset helps potential customers in the “consideration” stage see how versatile your product is.
Use cases also help current customers get maximum use out of your product—which can build loyalty.
Use cases are a staple in B2B SaaS content writing but can be applied to many other industries. Like this example from cleaning product supplier SuperSteam , which details product features and where to use their steamer for the best results.
Use cases should be simple, containing a few ideas on the most effective ways to use your company’s products.
7. Press Releases
Press releases are documents that announce key developments for a business. They can shape public perception and help a business gain media attention.
Food supplier McCormick & Company often publishes press releases to their website under their “News Release” page, like this one:
You can see that McCormick & Company’s press release is straightforward and follows the recommended format above.
8. Product Landing Pages and Descriptions
Product landing pages and product descriptions are important types of B2B content used to convert readers in the marketing funnel.
Product Landing Pages
The length depends on your customers and how much copy you need to explain your product succinctly.
To write product landing pages, you need to understand what customers want/need from your product. This way, you can highlight those wants and needs throughout the copy.
For example, video creation software SundaySky ’s landing page dives into its video creation platform by highlighting features and benefits throughout:
In many cases, you can benefit from optimizing your product landing pages for search using keywords. Find the right keywords and rank in search engines for them, and your product landing pages get relevant traffic.
Product Descriptions
A product description is a brief and informative statement describing a product’s features, benefits, and specifications.
They aim to provide potential customers with a clear understanding of what the product entails and why it’s valuable.
For example, packaging supplier EcoEnclose highlights various benefits and features of their bulk twine in the below product description:
It’s important to optimize product descriptions for search engines to drive traffic from search to your site.
9. Technical Documents
These documents help potential customers learn more about your product to make an informed purchasing decision, leading them toward conversion.
Technical documents also give current customers an easy way to troubleshoot issues and learn how to use your product better. This fosters loyalty.
With NetAlly’s user guides, their target audience can search for a product and download a corresponding PDF guide:
10. Social Media Content
Writing content for social media platforms like LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram can help build awareness with your audience.
Then, write social media posts that will engage your audience. End your post with a strong call to action (CTA)—the action you want your audience to do after reading.
For example, CTAs for social media can include asking people to “like” or “share” your post, leave a comment, or visit a link.
In a social media post by Alien Road , we asked followers to leave a comment.
For example, posts on X can only be 280 characters (unless you’re verified, in which case you can post 25,000 characters).
B2B Writing Best Practices and Techniques
These six best practices will set you in the right direction as you create various B2B content.
1. Understand the Marketing Funnel
When you understand how people find your business—and turn into loyal customers—you’ll know which types of content to write.
Keep in mind that stages in the funnel can include multiple types of content. You might have blog posts, social media posts, and guides in the awareness stage.
For example, you can write a problem-solving blog post to build awareness. But you can also write a blog post that discusses in-depth features of your product to build loyalty.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. The type of content you write will be unique to your goals and audience’s needs.
2. Follow a Logical Structure
Conclusion/CTA : The conclusion ties any loose ends and tells the reader what they should do next through the CTA
Press releases , which have their own structure (your logo, headline, release date, introduction, body content, boilerplate, and contact information)
Technical documents usually state the problem immediately and then list the solution in a step-by-step manner
Product pages/descriptions , which usually start with a headline followed by the features and benefits of the product
3. Use Clear and Concise Language
To be an impactful B2B content writer , be direct with your words so readers stay engaged.
You can do this by writing the way your audience speaks. And by reducing jargon and industry terms your audience might not know.
4. Weave Stories into the Narrative
Stories like customer testimonials and summaries of case studies can help readers relate to your brand. And keep them engaged with your content.
For example, behavioral analytic software company Hotjar adds customer stories to blog posts to highlight how businesses use their product:
5. Edit and Proofread
Writing that contains errors decreases trust with your readers. So, make sure anything you publish is polished and error-free.
6. Test Your Strategy
Testing your B2B writing strategy helps you find what your audience wants. And which types of writing convert best.
You might think that short posts on Instagram are the way to go, but after collecting feedback, you realize your audience prefers in-depth research.
So, you test out guides and white papers. And find that white papers actually drive more engagement.
How to Write Optimized B2B Content
When your writing is optimized, you have a better chance of ranking highly in search results—and driving traffic back to your site.
Research Keywords
To start, navigate to Alien Road and open the tool. Enter a general topic, change the country to where your audience is, and click “ Search .”
Review the keywords and look at the “Volume” column (the estimated average number of monthly searches).
Next, look at the “KD %” column. This stands for Keyword Difficulty. It estimates the difficulty to rank on page one of Google for each keyword from zero (easy) to 100 (very difficult).
Use a Content Optimization Tool
The SEO Writing Assistant is a helpful tool that grades your writing based on readability, SEO, tone of voice, and originality.
Enter your keyword(s) in the “Keyword” input area, adjust the target audience in the drop-down menu, and click “ Get recommendations .”
You can write your text in the text editor directly or copy and paste existing text.
SEO Writing Assistant also gauges your text’s tone of voice. This tells you if you’ve maintained a consistent voice throughout.
If you get stuck, use the built-in “Smart Writer” AI to help you write and rewrite sections.
Before you hit publish, write a click-worthy title tag and meta description (a summary of the webpage often displayed in the search results).
The title tag should be around 600 pixels (50 to 60 characters). For meta descriptions, aim for around 105 characters (680 pixels).
To The Web lets you preview your title and description to ensure it’s not too long for the search results. Otherwise, search engines may truncate your title and description.
Enticing titles and meta descriptions can help you attract more traffic from the search results to your website.
B2B Writing Metrics to Measure
Tracking different metrics provides insight into your B2B content so you can measure its impact. It’ll also help you identify what’s working and what’s not.
Use the Organic Traffic Insights report to keep track of specific metrics (like conversion rate, return on investment, average engagement time, and bounce rate).
This report combines data from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Alien Road into one consolidated dashboard.
Conversion Rate
Your conversion rate is the percentage of people who took a desired action while on your website.
For product pages, this likely means buying a product. For blog posts, this could be signing up for your email list.
Look at high-converting pages and identify why they convert so well. You’ll also want to look at low-converting pages to see which improvements you can make to increase their conversion rates.
Improvements include using stronger CTAs so readers know what they should do after reading your content and using bullet lists to improve readability.
Return on Investment
First, keep track of any investments, like tools, hired help (like freelance writers ), and in-house resources.
Average Engagement Time
In Google Analytics 4, average engagement time is the length of time users are focused on your site on average.
For example, if someone visits your site and switches tabs to another site after 30 seconds, their engagement time is 30 seconds.
Higher engagement times might mean users enjoy your site. It also suggests they’re having a good experience.
For example, poor content structure might be turning people away. Or your content might be too hard to read.
After spotting poor-performing pages, use the SEO Writing Assistant to grade your content and make improvements.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is the percentage of people who leave your site before viewing another page or completing a specified action. You can find this metric in your analytic software.
A high bounce rate— usually over 60% —could mean your content doesn’t meet your audiences’ expectations.
You might need more internal links (links pointing to other site pages) to encourage people to visit multiple pages.
Or you might need to better address your audience’s pain points within your content. This way, readers will know they’re in the right place. And they might not click the “back” button to find another resource.
Engagement on Social Media
But three metrics relevant to the copy you write may be reactions (such as likes), comments, and the click-through rate.
For example, if you asked people to click a link, you’ll want to review the click-through rate for that post. In this post from the Alien Road Instagram account, we asked people to click the link in our bio to watch a video:
On the other hand, if you asked people to leave a comment, you should review how many comments the post generated.
Tracking how people interact with your content on social media helps you pinpoint what your audience likes and dislikes. And what content to post more frequently.
Boost Your B2B Writing with Alien Road
With the right tools, you can become an effective B2B marketing writer. And get real results.
Content that engages and educates readers can lead to more social media followers, email subscribers, brand awareness, conversions, and revenue.
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