This week I have the pleasure of producing an invitation email to send to some of the countries most powerful people. Chief execs, directors, heads of IT etc. This has to be, the toughest crowd to date.

Their time is precious, with many emails being viewed on their blackberry or iphone or simply by their secretary without getting any further.

The content needs to be direct and to the point as they can sense waffle and sales from a mile away.

A personal approach is ideal to get passed both the external and internal spam blocker. Although they know it is an automated send out, it’s nice to see that we tried to make it personal, that we made an effort. Copywriting has always had this difficult challenge, however targets of this calibre make a decision on even the smallest mistake.

So, focusing on title, content and call to action (CTA), I need to make sure the whole thing is compelling, informative and actionable.

Title
If you knew how to write the perfect subject line, you’d be the most successful writer in the world. Subject lines are often the first and largest hurdle to get over. You need a professional tone that is engaging and “clickable”, b2c tricks don’t work here, no “limited time only” or “save 25%” With b2b catchy titles just won’t do it, your message matters too, you just need them to read it.

Content   
Good content is paramount to a successful email strategy. High level communication has to be personal. CEOs and directors are people too, they are smart and can smell a sales pitch from a mile away. Being personal feels honest, a friendly approach, leaving jargon at the door to ensure you have their attention, not have them thinking a spam machine has been pumping out email after email.

A tidy CRM makes this job a lot easier, instead of “dear sir/madam” have “dear *first_name*”, sure they’ll know your CRM is getting used, but at least you tried to make your email personal, you’ll be surprised how far that goes.

Be honest. If you are inviting them to an event, be honest about the event, don’t lie about the panel or big up a speaker, directors and CEOs know each other, and often know each other well. The last thing you need is someone picking up on an extension of the truth.

Sent by
Let’s be honest, getting an email from a “sales officer” or “business development manager” or even “marketing manager” always has the sense that there is a hidden agenda (which there is). Try and get someone on a similar level to you targets to contact them, people respond well to equals and that is no different in the upper echelons of business. Send it from a director, a CEO or board member. Have a bit of guile.

Techy bits
- Have your email wired with analytics, find out bounce backs and click throughs to give you as much information to review your campaign.
- customise sent from addresses and names, don’t send it from salesgenerator@yourcompany.com or reply to sales@yourcompany.com. We have a natural spam filter and as soon as you see the word “sales” in an email that doesn’t appear to sell, you can kiss that contact goodbye.
- spelling punctuation and grammar! – I know this should be standard procedure but you’d be amazed how many emails manage to get sent out with spelling mistakes and wrong email addresses or phone numbers. Your email represents your business, if they think you can’t string a sentence together they are going to be brimming with confidence about your ability to deliver.     

People often ask the difference between writing for b2b and b2c. They share the same endgame and goal, but the style in which this is achieved is completely different. Great copywriting often appeals to one or the other, it isn’t until you analyse the content carefully that you realise who it is for, in brilliant copywriting, you can’t tell.

When writing for clients, the most important part is their client base, their customers and the people they are looking to convert. Depending on the type of customers they keep depends on your writing style and inevitably effects your copy.

Writing b2c. (Business to customer) is predominantly an easier readership, than b2b(business to business) simply because the people reading your content are often the decision makers, they’re often the people who want what you sell and have the money in their pocket to buy it.

From a copywriting perspective this makes life a little easier, identifying why they want your product, what appeals to them and how they feel when they have your product is pretty easy to write, basic market research and demographic analysis will give you what you need to know.

Another big benefit of b2c is the fact that there is one person reading your copy, the same person wanting your product and the same person holding the money, in b2b it’s quite different.

In b2b the content has to show them the benefits of picking you, for everyone that reads it, both secretary, manager, buyer and director all need to see the benefits of picking you, each person has different needs and will have different views of your product.

Allow me to explain…

The secretary – these are the people you should focus on predominantly, not only are they your first port of call in communicating with a potential client, but they also tend to read the most copy. How many directors ask their secretary or PA to look for a particular service. “Find a decent web agency, decorator, restaurant, training provider, etc. You can name anything and at some point, a secretary has made the first decision in picking you. A recruiter friend of mine called secretaries “the gatekeepers” and I couldn’t agree more, they are your first way in and often all you need.

Managers – in larger organisations managers will often be looking to acquire a particular product and service. In the dog eat dog world of middle management you need to look after number 1, so much so it carries into how they read your copy.
When choosing you they want to make themselves look brilliant, make themselves look like they’ve done the job, bought the best product or got the right service. Here they might not actually care about what YOU do, but how it will make THEM look.

Copywriters the world over accept that sometimes your readers don’t care what you sell!

Directors – The big fish are often the trickiest, as now your copy has to please 2 readers at the same time. A director has asked their secretary to find a product or service, you’ve managed to get on their list of 5, the list is then emailed or handed to the director(s) for them to make their decision, you copy needs to please them too!
You need to determine the balance between quality and price that exists in your marketplace, how much do your clients like good value compared to high quality, try and give them both. In an ideal world writing for a director is very similar to b2c again, you just need to add facts and figures to emphasize you USPs.

B2b content is often more difficult to write, but the rewards are always greater, business sales and contracts are often large and in turn people are willing to pay more if you can help them get a sale.

I’d love to know your thoughts on b2c vs b2b and how it affects your marketing strategies.