3 reasons you need to copy edit your B2B content
Your audience is constantly bombarded with content in their email inboxes, social media feeds and elsewhere, so the stakes are high to catch their attention. While writing errors may drive your readers away, careful attention to detail will help you be heard over the din of other B2B companies.
Every word of your content should get your organization closer to achieving its goals. Copy edit to tell your story in a way that is both crystal clear and compels your prospects to support your business. In this article, we’ll walk through how copy editing can:
protect your credibility
catch your audience’s attention
help you drive sales
Why it’s crucial to copy edit your content
1. Protect your B2B brand’s credibility
There or their? Typos, grammatical errors and poor use of language detract from your company’s message and can even tarnish your reputation. Build trust by proving to your audience you can deliver the basics of good B2B content with impeccably clean writing.
Sloppy spelling and grammar drives 85% of users to leave a landing page before clicking anything else on your website. They will also spend 8% less time on your page, which signals to search engines that your page is untrustworthy. Copy edit to ensure visitors have confidence in the information you provide and see you as a competent resource, not just another average Joe on the internet.
You should also copy edit to avoid stereotypes and bias in your content. While it may be unintended, we often overlook our own bias in our writing. Watch out for gendered wording, and metaphors or sayings that may not resonate in different parts of the world.
2. Catch your target buyer’s eye
Your audience needs to be able to find you before they can buy from you! Search engines place emphasis on quality when ranking pages, so if your post is full of typos, site crawlers won’t be able to understand your content (and neither will your customers). If you want to stand out among your competition, you must copy edit for an engaging voice, clarity, proper sentence structure and length.
Take your writing above and beyond by drawing your audience in with a lead that leaves them eager to read the next sentence. Compose a message that shifts the perspective of the reader by offering them an unexpected approach that still resonates. Get your point across without the use of jargon and hyperbole so you don’t lose your prospects mid-way down the page. These steps will help you earn your market’s attention.
3. Turn your B2B leads into customers
How well you convey technical information or explain complex concepts will help your audience get to know your brand and the value you have to offer. A confused lead won’t continue to read your content, so you need to copy edit with scrutiny. Ask yourself: Who cares? What’s in it for my potential customer? Read your content from their perspective and seize your opportunity to communicate with impact.
Just as a director wouldn’t release raw footage as a film, you shouldn’t publish the first copy of your writing. Copy edit for clarity and quality. Start by gaging the persuasiveness of your headline, introduction, body text and call to action. Would you be compelled to take the next step with this offer? Challenge yourself to cut 5% of the word count to maintain a direct message. Think short and sweet, instead of the director’s cut.
Save time with copy editing services
Two sets of eyes are always better than one when it comes to catching errors or improving the wording and flow of language. Working with an external partner or getting someone else on your team to proofread and copy edit your writing before it’s published is a smart move.
At Scribe National, we’re happy to be your second set of eyes for voice, tone, flow, format, style, grammar and spelling. Attention to detail in writing is a significant gap in the marketing industry today. We’ll help you stand out by getting it right, and take copy editing off your plate. Get in touch with us to discuss our copy editing services.
