B2B marketing is often underscored by the misguided idea that you are marketing to a business. Taken literally, of course, this is true. However, businesses are made of the people who work there. People with emotions, desires, opinions and dislikes. People are best reached using an approach that takes their humanity into account.
If we place humans at the centre of our model, it no longer makes sense to take an impersonal, transactional approach in B2B copywriting. To state the obvious, stand out writing shouldn’t use a business-like voice.
Thankfully, plenty of B2B marketers know this. It is clear taking a cold and corporate voice does not generate sales as well as a warm and engaging one. In response, most modern marketers have adapted to take a more conversational tone of voice, leaving behind the cold language of the past.
Nowadays, B2B marketing seems to realise that sounding ‘human’ is important.
On the writing front, relaxed and informal language is the norm. Puns and buzzwords are used without restraint and appearing ‘sleek, confident and approachable’ seems to be at the top of everyone’s agenda.
This is a step in the right direction…
However, much of this writing style tries to sound more human in a way that reproduces the uniformity of the standardised ‘business-like’ tone it attempts to avoid…
I am going to be frank. B2B copywriting often has an identikit tone of voice that drowns out any attempt to be different. ‘Impersonal conversational’ has - to some extent - become the dominant brand voice in B2B marketing, a voice that - more often than not - conceals the uniqueness of what you are trying to say.
Perhaps this is an overgeneralisation, but to say modern B2B copywriting is diverse would be overstretching the mark.
I see this failure to connect with readers as typified by uniform language and lacking in emotive qualities. Sure this ‘impersonal conversational’ writing style hooks the reader, but it rarely really does anything memorable. Although usually employed to engage with an audience in a more ‘human’ way, it frequently misses the target.
The drive to maintain an ‘impersonal conversational’ style often eclipses a unique tone of voice.
There is a difference between hooking and forging connection with your audience. A lot of contemporary copy focuses on the former and neglects the latter, meaning that what is said is likely to be quickly forgotten.
Good copywriting is about doing both - writing something that both sounds in-keeping with the times and also produces a memorable reaction in the reader.
It is often too focused on sounding slick and cool, and not enough on moving the reader. This is a sign that it is moving away from what marketing copy should be about - affecting your audience and creating a legacy for your brand.
This ‘impersonal-conversational’ voice is often far removed from how people actually engage with each other in real life. It is generally over reliant on buzzwords and glossy short sentences to keep the reader engaged. When overdone, it leaves little room for figurative expression.
Run-of-the-mill ‘trendy’ marketing copy is the new run-of-the-mill boring corporate.
Writers who employ an ‘impersonal conversational’ style are in danger of falling into the trap of writing as if they are addressing a uniform trendy exec, rather a real human who makes business decisions.
Unfortunately, (aside from the hipness) this can come across as a little empty. It risks losing what gives good writing such power - its ability to guide the reader on a journey.
When it is overly focused on trendiness, language begins to lose its meaning. Words become disconnected from what they actually mean if they are used purely to create an edgy facade. The emotional connection they could carry is forfeited in favour of using your language to seem “shiny” and up-to-date.
People are quick to see if your marketing language seems to be edgy for the sake of it. They may begin to suspect that you are using a fashionable writing style to substitute for a lack of your own tone of voice (or lack thereof).
Using ‘impersonal conversational’ language would be great if yours was the only copy to do this. However, at the moment, an emphasis on glossiness is almost universal in B2B copywriting.
This means that it is hard to distinguish yourself if your business employs a polished ‘impersonal conversational’ voice and does little else.
Ultimately, you should try to strike a balance. There is plenty about ‘impersonal conversational’ that can be used to cultivate a fantastic brand image. One thing is its chattiness. This provides your brand with the openness you need to appear as modern and competitive.
However, you do need to compromise… You need to ensure that your tone of voice does not just make your audience think that you are yet another firm that relies upon seeming trendy as a substitute for marketing yourself based on your unique characteristics. ‘Edgy’ language is never an effective replacement for communicating something memorable.
This is not about avoiding coming across as slick. Your writing should also try to do something more than just be trendy - it also needs to affect the reader.