Awesome!

This post contains eight actionable tips, tricks, and strategies you can use to create human-to-human blogs people love.

Let’s get started. 

1. You’re not writing for readers’ innate humanity. 

Like everything in life, there are two sides to B2B writing.

There’s the shiny, fancy exterior. And there’s the intimate appeal.

You can spend all day talking about your product’s world-class differentiators. The extensive features that blow the competition out of the water. Your brand’s cringe-worthy self-importance. It’s unmatched wall of accolades. 

Examples: 

• We hire the best of the best,
• We’ve won 48 industry awards, 
• We’ve over 45,000 subscribers, and so on. 

AND, if after a while, you realize that the shiny, fancy exterior is what it is… an attractive underside that can’t move the needle past a few lukewarm clients;

You can take a pause. Then a deep breath. Then pay attention to the stuff that matters.

Alright. 

Stop trying to woo everyone with all your cringe-worthy achievements. 

Instead, talk about the struggles the people behind the wheel rarely admit. Those subtle fears stemming from the banal reality of ‘not being enough.’ The humanity within. 

Examples:

• Optimize your blogs with certainty, not assumption.
• Turn cryptic drop-offs into website conversion. 
• Figure out how people behave on your page and make your website better every single day.

When you write for your readers’ innate humanity, you make them the story’s hero. They feel known, welcomed, and appreciated. Then, like every human would, they reciprocate in kind.

2. You love the sound of jargon. 

If you’ve read my previous blogs, you’ll know I love discussing bias and truism, so here’s one for the road. And this time, it’s about the curse of knowledge. 

Here goes: 

The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that causes people to fail to properly understand the perspective of those who do not have as much information as them.

In other words, when you learn something new, it’s hard (near impossible) to remember what life was like when you didn’t know about this new knowledge.

That’s why most industry experts struggle to explain things to non-experts. 

And that’s why jargon like ‘innovative, cutting-edge, groundbreaking process,’ etc., parade everyday B2B blog. 

Thankfully, there’s a way around jargon. 

Nope! You can’t eradicate jargon from B2B writing; it’s necessary. But you can scrutinize your words so the most jargony-jargon gives way. 

• Start by focusing on the unadorned facts. 

If, like me, you easily fall in love with every thoughtless leadership mumbo jumbo that sounds like the next big thing, learn to let go.

• Lighten up your grammar usage.

You might be pulled back by imperative-sounding jargon. Everyday words that read and sound all-familiar, yet, they’re not regular’s. Some SaaS examples: ToFu, FOMO, CRM, integration, etc., don’t allow them to do you dirty. 

• Ruthlessly edit. 

Jargon is often a product of deep knowledge and intimacy in a particular industry; however, it does a poor job of communicating important messages in clear and precise terms. Either cut the flotsam or drown. 

3. You’re telling and not showing. Or vice versa.  

I know “show, don’t tell” is an age-old cliche. You’ve probably heard it a thousand times. But it’s wrong. “Show and tell” is the real deal. 

I didn’t intend to include this point in this piece. Not until I came across a couple of unedited AI B2B blogs parading as conversion-worthy content. 

Now, ‘showing’ doesn’t mean you have to include narratives like ‘she said. He paused. They talked,’ etc. Those are for fiction writers—at least for now.

In B2B writing, ‘show and tell’ implies using relatable examples to make the abstract more concrete. 

For example, when writing a comparative blog, instead of flashing price lists around, act as a friendly, human guide; 

1. Point readers in the right direction (show them the available tools)
2. Do a little bit of hand-holding (highlight and bold the differences)
3. Then walk with them. (with concrete examples, tell which audience would benefit most from each software)

Here are a few tips to help you show and tell:

• Simplify statistics till they sound human. Instead of ‘80,000 people,’ be ulster-specific; try ‘Old Trafford filled to the brim.’ 
• Use metaphors to illustrate. 
• Include relatable stories about everyday experiences—might be your’s (the writer’s) or the experiences of consumers. 
• Sprinkle insightful summaries in key areas. 
• Allow humor to do its thing. 

The idea is to paint a picture that sticks: heart-warming personal stories, funny examples, and simple illustrations. Stuff readers don’t have to scratch their heads to recall. 

Like the age-old myth demystified “show and tell.”

4. You’ve equated professionalism to mean a limited slice of language.

“B2B writing is boring.” 

That’s one phrase regular doom-scrollers of the weary corners of LinkedIn come across daily.

Come to think of it. How come? 

Why would anyone equate ‘writing with boring?’ Worst off, write-ups from an e-commerce market with a projected value of over $20 trillion (10,000 times Elon Musk’s net worth). 

Something isn’t right!

I did a little test-the-waters research, and here’s what I found. 

If you’ve ever read tales of the Victorian era when a bare female ankle was able to spark a scandal? Or are familiar with the fact that, not too long ago, women were valued as wives, not as individuals? Well, that’s more like what this is.

There are lots of social mores around B2B writing.

Many content managers, CEOs, SEOs, and marketing VPs want to sound professional, like experts.

They detest sentences starting with ‘And, But, Alright,’ etc., and don’t appreciate half-baked yet witty sentences Grammerly highlights as fragments. 

In fact, 60% of B2B brands don’t want anything to do with the dope, vibrant Tic-Tok-like prose millennials and Gen Z desperately crave. 

They prefer old-fashioned, lawyer-like, stuffy, narrow-minded copies with robotic voices and stilted, repetitive languages…

—probably the reason AI tools, which from their name, state that their knowledge is artificial and doesn’t hold much water, feels like a go-to writing pal for these professionals. 

Hey! If you want to increase conversion, you must drop the professionalism charade.

This is not a call for inconsiderate or obscene language. Nope!

Simply speak to your readers in a tone they understand, regardless of how it might read to your fifth-grade English teacher. They are not the audience. 

B2B or not, writing done with a thorough understanding of its readers is good writing; it can never be boring. 

5. Your CTA’s lack personality 

A blog is not a direct sales copy. It doesn’t influence sales like ads. 

So if you’ve been using call-to-actions like “Buy now. Get in touch. Book a meeting” or any other generic Copywriting 101 CTA, stop it!

It’s time to inject personality into your CTAs. 

For this, I believe Dan Nelkan’s ‘List + Twist’ technique will do the trick.

The idea is to create a list (with at least three items) where the last item on the list is unexpected. 

For example, 

• To wrap it up, the 4 nice-to-have software for one-click content distribution include Add This, Click to Tweet, HotSpot, and a good night’s rest.
• For more info, book a Google Meet with Brain (our SEO expert), John (our sales VP), or, if that’s too much, simply drop a love emoji on Captain’s (our brand’s whelp) latest Insta update. 
• Finally, I can’t think of anything worse than publishing this post and finding out that you didn’t sign up for my newsletter, didn’t find my ideas interesting, or hate that I’m bald. 

Or you can also adopt The Smile 🙂 technique. Get your straighter business message out front, then add a smile. Or vice versa.

Example, 

• Follow me on Twitter.🙂 Stop following me in person.🙃
• Connect on LinkedIn.🙂 We don’t need to be friends.🙃
• Share this post on Facebook.🙂 It’s international share-a-post day.🙃
• Need a break from the crypto bros?🙃 Let’s hang out on Google. 🙂

CTA’s injected with personality put a smile on your readers’ faces. Even if they don’t click through instantly, you can rest assured your brand will be top-of-mind when push comes to shove. 

So just in case you need sales-optimized B2B blogs, SaaS comparative articles, or would like to unsubscribe to my imaginary newsletter, my DM is slippery, slide in. 

6. Your blog’s page is not optimized for conversion. 

I don’t know if you’ve experienced this, but I’ve realized that how nicely a meal is served often influences its taste.

A poorly cooked beef served by a well-mannered waiter in a five-star restaurant might not taste so bad when dished in a set of gorgeous, Irish-thin ceramic plates.

In fact, on some occasions, you might even interpret the hardness of the meat to be what’s in style.

Then imagine the same waiter in the same restaurant serving you a five-star delicacy prepared with your taste bud in mind… That’ll hit differently! 

Alright. Let’s dive into the meat of this optimization sandwich.

On your journey to getting people to love your B2B blogs and click your CTA, you’ll encounter many ups and downs. 

Readers will frown at some of your ideas. And a few high-value blogs will tank. But in all, the key to success is always showing up prepared. 

A thousand good reads wouldn’t move enough needles if your blog’s page is not optimized for conversion. 

Here’re some on-page optimization tips for the road: 

• Lead with proof, 
• increase the font size, 
• include social share buttons, 
• make your content easy to skim, 
• include expert ideas, 
• use an array of media formats,
• include an author bio, etc. 

Additional read: 9 Elements of Highly Converting Blogs

7. You’re adopting a foul approach to E-E-A-T.

In a content world rampaged by half-baked AI blogs, readers want to know why your words matter. You often find them asking questions like: 

• Who wrote the blog?
• Why does this person’s words matter?
• What experience does this person have?
• What’s different about their tone, style, approach, or point of view?
• How long have they been in business, and what’s their track record?

And on and on and on.

E-E-A-T (Experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) is a key optimization criterion in Google’s Quality Rater Guideline. 

E-E-A-T is not a direct ranking factor. It doesn’t work like keywords. However, Google loves to serve results with strong E-E-A-T behind them.

But hey! To increase your site’s E-E-A-T, don’t make the mistake of adopting the same lets-beat-the-algorithm mindset that led to keyword stuffing.

Foul strategies along this line: 

• Blab about how long you’ve been in the industry in every blog. 
• Make a few bold claims in your author bio. 
• Tout customer reviews. 

This might work, but not for long. 

Readers are observant. Sooner or later, they would see your strategy for what it is: bullshit.

Instead of approaching E-E-A-T with a fast-lane mentality, work with the understanding that each alphabet represents a guideline real people use to evaluate the quality of search results. It’s a long-term game. 

E – Experience shows readers that what you’re talking about is a been-there, done-that affair for you. Tell true stories.

E- Expertise tells people you have the knowledge and qualifications to speak and be listened to. Show your achievements. 

A – Authoritativeness highlights your thought leadership credibility. How often have your outside-the-box ideas and opinions played out fine? 

T – Trustworthiness implies that you’ve got the proper backing; a secure website, credible backlinks, expert quotes, and real testimonials to show you’re real. 

The best strategy to gain strong E-E-A-T is by creating intellectual property (IP) content your audience can relate to.

In summary, strong E-E-A-T is a product of well-researched, insightful blogs written by real people with a genuine passion for the work they do. 

8. Your distribution strategy is behind the times.

Not too long along, SEO was the bread and butter of content distribution. Optimize your blogs for specific keywords, and clients will come knocking.

To an arguable extent, not anymore.

SEO has its perks and can still lead to conversion. But it’s not—probably never was—a foolproof strategy. 

So if the goal is a tried and trusted distribution strategy that wouldn’t leave you lurking behind the times; 

• Build a community, or (and) 
• nurture a genuine email list.

You see, powering an active community where thought leaders and consumers gather to share ideas automatically makes your brand a trusted voice. 

Your words will always hold water. Readers will actively seek your blogs.

The same goes for nurturing an email list. 

String a couple of insightful yet evergreen blogs together and ask people that want access to input emails. Ideal readers will wholeheartedly sign up. 

You can also try paid social media ads. Not a fool-proof strategy, but it’s, most times, well worth the effort. Listicles and advertorials work well here. 

Also, remember to build hype around your B2B blogs as you write. Recording and sharing the creative process on socials is a win in and of itself. 

How to Win with B2B Blogs 

There’s no silver-bullet strategy to winning with B2B blogs. Different audiences have different needs. 

Your best bet at success is to learn about your ideal readers—their wins and losses; likes and dislikes; hopes and fears—before framing a style, tone, or voice for your brand. 

Anyways, here’s a subtly spiced-up tip from Neil Gaiman to get your creative juice flowing;

“Go and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your (brand) being here. Make. Good. Blogs.”