Resources

1. Do thorough research. Before writing, make sure you understand the product or service you're promoting, the problem it solves for your prospect, and your prospect's industry. By making this kind of effort and doing thorough research, you'll avoid copy that is oversimplified or superficial. As a result, you'll make a much stronger connection with your prospect and pave the way for establishing a lead or a getting a sale.

2. Tell your prospects what's in it for them. Your copy must nail down the key benefit for your prospect as quickly as possible. If this key benefit is unclear or not conveyed quickly enough, your mailing may very likely wind up in the circular file or sacrificed to the delete key. Eliminate all redundant or extraneous copy toward this objective.

3. Know what "keeps your prospects up at night." One of the best ways to strengthen the connection between your prospects and their interest in your product or service is to increase the empathy factor in your copy. If you can demonstrate that you understand their world and can do it by linking your product or service's benefits to their unique challenges or things they care about most, you'll succeed in capturing their attention much faster.

4. Be specific. Business prospects are busy people who have no time for generalities in copy. Back up all claims that you make—such as those promising lower costs, time savings or increased efficiency—as clearly and concretely as you can. Include any hard data you have, provided it's to the point, understandable at a glance, and directly supports your claim. When you back up your claims, you send a message to your prospects that you have credibility, which can go a long way toward generating a quality lead and ultimately a sale. Also, remember to keep your copy tight and lean, eliminating any redundant or extraneous words.

5. Help your readers to quickly grasp key points. When your prospects see your package or mailing for the first time, they'll typically spend no more than a few seconds looking at it. Some good ways to get them to spend more time is by using headlines, subheads, bullet points and bursts, as these devices allow your readers to quickly skim your letter to determine if they have any interest in your product or service. If you don't do this for your readers, you make it that much easier for them to either put aside your mailing, or worse, toss it altogether because they're having to work too hard to understand what it's about. 

6. Be careful about translating benefits at the expense of key features. Features and benefits can be different with business-to-business copy compared to business-to-consumer copy. In business-to-business marketing, each industry has its own language and jargon. Sometimes certain features or technical terms carry significant impact and resonate very powerfully with prospects. In these instances, it's often best to simply use these terms as is instead of trying to translate them into a benefit and thereby diluting their impact.

7. Always include a call to action. Be clear about what you want your prospects to do. If you want them to call for a free quote, say so clearly. If your copy is ambiguous or if it's difficult for prospects to figure out what it is they're supposed to do, these copy deficiencies can actually hurt response.

8. Don't be afraid to use long copy. Business prospects are always interested in information that helps them increase profits, control costs or do their jobs better. If they are truly interested in your product or service, they'll be willing to read a lot of copy. And these same buyers also respond well to offers that include free booklets, white papers or brochures—as these items offer additional information that can help them in their jobs.

Another advantage of long copy is that it's effective with products or services that involve long and complex sales cycles (often those with more than one contact or buyer). Generally speaking, the more costly the product or service—and especially a product or service that's costly and technical—the more information that is needed to help make the sale. When you use copy that's justifiably long and contains plenty of good, useful information, you can actually help your prospects because if they're interested in what you're selling you've given them more quality ammunition to use in justifying a purchase or in trying to convince their superiors to make a purchase.

9. Use a businesslike tone. Because purchasers of business products and services are very busy and have little time to look at marketing pieces, the best approach with copy is to use a straightforward tone that gets to the point and supports claims with facts. However, just because you use a straightforward tone doesn't mean you can't be creative or bold. You still need to get their attention. The trick is to be bold or compelling without "shouting", being off-color or otherwise going over the top.

10. Don't forget the prospect's personal motivational "hot buttons." Business buyers make purchases for reasons that involve their company—but also themselves. For example, buying your product or service may help your prospects advance their careers in addition to saving their companies time or money. By positioning your product or service as one that can also help prospects boost their careers, where applicable, you significantly increase your chances of converting your prospects into customers.