A business to business (B2B) writer creates articles, emails, and white papers for companies that sell to other companies, such as IBM. Whereas business to consumer (B2C) writers are those who write for companies that sell to individuals, such as Macy’s. Or, who write for individuals via newspapers, magazines, or publishing houses. A B2B writer’s job is the more complex of the two and while not necessarily better, often highly compensated.
If we had to pick one phrase to separate the two, it’s that B2B writers tend to be systems thinkers. Consumer writers might get by on wit alone but in B2B, that’s just one piece. You have to be a quick study of how businesses operate and make money because you’re writing for buying groups in a work capacity. If you’re to persuade that group, you must understand the complex ways in which those individuals make decisions.
That often means writing one article that’ll have to appeal to three or perhaps even seven individuals. A company’s chief financial officer may not want to spend money, whereas her head of marketing does. You, a B2B writer, will have to create the guide that explains to both of them why they should talk—and why your automation app is good for both.
You might be direct about it—say by writing an an article strictly on the merits of your automation app—or indirect, a process generally known as content marketing where you interview experts, cite studies, and form a compelling argument for why executives ought to be automating more things.
Meet a few B2B writers skilled in this work.
You also might say that B2B copywriters rely on logic much more than their consumer counterparts, who focus more on emotion and identity. Take, for example, a consumer looking to purchase a cashmere sweater. She’s thinking about how it affects her personally. Does it fit? is it affordable? Will her friends agree it’s nice?
She can, with the right words, be compelled to buy on impulse.
A sweater ad from Nadaam. Warm and fuzzy.
In contrast, a B2B writer writing about servers must convince a chief technology officer that what they’re selling is sound, and that sale might take a year. They must convince said officer why investing in new solid state drives is rational. That their servers in particular are technologically advanced, consummately engineered, destined to last, and inexpensive to maintain.
This needn’t take more words, but it must be exact, credible, and founded in reason.
The homepage of Seagate, a storage device manufacturer. Far fewer fuzzies.
Where things get really interesting though is if you can master B2B writing to such a degree that you can weave in consumer-like writing—to inject a sense of ease and play. To persuade with emotion and identity. To explain to that chief technology officer that the servers are fine, but a much better prize is that they’ll join an elite cadre of technologists smart enough to purchase servers like those, and get to meet those peers at your summit.
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People call business to business sales a “considered purchase” because they involve lots of people who take their time. A common example is an enterprise software subscription that costs $60,000. The marketing team wants to purchase it, but they’ll need approval from the sales team, IT team, finance team, and compliance team. For expedience, they form a committee. Those seven people then spend nine months going through rounds of meetings with various vendors to draw up a shortlist and decide.
Throughout that cycle, they’ll read a lot, and ask a lot of questions. It’s a B2B writer’s job to help craft those briefs, decks, scripts, and proposals.
That’s in great contrast to consumer sales where purchases can be quick. They aren’t always, of course, and the lines can blur. A B2B sale can look like a consumer one, as when a project manager purchases the software Notion for $8 per month on a credit card. And a consumer sale can look like a B2B one, as when a luxury car dealership courts a high net worth family for years, sending gifts and offering test rides. But the distinctions exist because on the whole, they are useful.
B2B is considered, lengthy, and primarily rational. B2C is unplanned, quick, and primarily emotional.
Whereas business to business writers
Business to consumer writers
Primarily persuade with logic
Underuse (or misuse) storytelling
Address long sales cycles (months or years)
Address large buying groups
Must explain complex products simply
Are concerned with audience demographics, firmographics, technographics, intent data
Primarily persuade with emotion
Rely heavily on storytelling
Address short sales cycles (days or weeks)
Address small buying groups (individuals)
Must explain simple products brilliantly
Are concerned with audience demographics, psychographics
B2B writers can often teach consumer writers a process for guiding people to buy over a very long time. They tend to excel at thinking in systems, for one must stay organized over a yearslong sales cycle. They can teach consumer writers to think in terms of a marketing funnels and content marketing.
In turn, consumer writers can teach business writers to appeal to readers’ emotions. Business writers have a habit of becoming “captured” by the products they sell, and can get to thinking their technology is interesting because they understand it—and forget that buyers are people. They fall into using jargon, buzzwords, and cliché. A consumer writer can help a business writer untangle all that, and appeal to people’s identities to convince them to convert.
No matter the vertical, B2B writers are still just writing for an audience of people. This idea has prompted a wave of pundits to advocate replacing the B2B-B2C paradigm with B2H, or business to human. (Because, acronyms.) But the B2H philosophy is of limited utility and is most useful simply as a reminder to B2B writers that they have a lot to learn from their B2C counterparts.
There’s no question B2B writers are more successful at earning attention when they mimic consumer outlets by telling stories about people, which B2B companies often forget to do. But most B2B prospects will still face technical hurdles unlike anything consumers run into. They must, for example, seek approval from a boss, and if their case is only based on their own personal interest (“this’ll make me look good”) they’re unlikely to win budget. B2B writing is different because those writers have to understand the mechanics of how those purchases are actually made—both emotional and logical. The B2B-B2C paradigm is useful because it accounts for that difference.
For a look into that world, take a look at the tool Help A B2B Writer. Take a look at the technical nature of the requests, and you can start to work back to the sorts of challenges B2B writers face.
B2B freelance writing is when writers work on contract for B2B brands. In the vast majority of cases, they work remotely. The marketing team will share a content brief and the writer will handle the research, writing, and often, editing. Freelance relationships afford businesses more flexibility and freelancers the opportunity to manage, learn from, and grow with multiple clients.
B2B freelance writers often have clearly-defined B2B writing niches and run in small social circles. B2B marketing software experts, for instance, are unlikely to hop into writing about healthcare. And writers who have carved out a niche as “the” video technology writer are unlikely to shift into an area where they’re less experienced. This makes for a tight-knit, collegial environment where B2B freelancers cooperate with freelance writing peers to pass along work.
Common B2B writing niches:
Healthcare
Finance
Technology
Manufacturing
Transportation
Banking
Energy
Law
Common B2B writer specialties:
B2B technical writer
B2B copywriter
Content marketing writer
Social media writer
If you’re hiring a B2B writer, your best option is to seek referrals through your network. Domain expertise is essential to writing believably about B2B topics, and it’s difficult to find someone who’s both an excellent writer and knowledgeable about the industry. If you do find one, never let them go.
If your options are limited and you can’t have both experience and writing skill, select for writing skill over industry expertise. You can teach someone how software works, but teaching them to produce clear copy is much trickier. It could take a lifetime.
Good ways to find B2B copywriters:
Ask for referrals
Post on job boards
Read industry blogs and look for freelance contributors
Find a niche agency or content studio
Get good at writing yourself, so you can recognize good work
Bad ways to find B2B copywriters:
Content mills (Scripted, Skyword, ClearVoice)
General freelancing platforms (UpWork, Fiverr, Freelancer)
Be careful outsourcing your writing needs to an agency. The bigger the agency, the more likely they are to think all writing is interchangeable and to farm your work out to non-writers. It’s not uncommon for agencies to ask their website designers to also generate the website’s copy. If you must use an agency, find one that’s small and considers writing its specialty, like Fenwick.
Avoid content mills at all cost. These are services like Scripted, Skyword, and ClearVoice, which value speed and volume over quality and clarity. They’re essentially performing writing arbitrage: They charge high rates to cover the cost of the business and shop out tasks at below-living wage levels to inexperienced freelancers.
Also avoid generalist freelancing platforms such as UpWork. It’s simply not where good B2B writers look for work. Because of their niche, the best B2B writers already know who their ideal clients are and unlikely to waste their time on these platforms.
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