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We’re drowning in B2B technology content. Every which way you turn, there’s a Web3 webinar, 5G infographic, or cloud computing white paper, all directed at the B2B buyer. Yet 75% or more of this content is fairly useless, either not fully comprehending the tech at the level appropriate for the audience, misunderstanding what that audience wants, or failing to go beyond explaining specific technologies to show their real-world impact.
How can you avoid putting out dry, overly technical content that probably doesn’t even get the underlying technology right? Figuring it out is crucial since, increasingly, every company is a tech company these days.
Here are three qualities you should cultivate in your B2B tech content:
1. Fluency
We like to pretend that every content creator is interchangeable; that if someone excels at one kind of content, they’ll excel at tech, too. And it’s not just B2C writers who fall into this trap— people often assume that if you can write about finance or insurance or even a single form of technology, you can cover any technology. This is false.
Fluency is required. What does that mean in practice? That not only can you go into an SME meeting prepared with good, detailed questions based on whatever materials you’ve been given beforehand, but that you understand the basics of their answers—and know the right follow-up questions to ask if something is unclear. If you’re writing about blockchain, don’t launch an interview by asking what it is.
2. Empathy
Surprised that tech and empathy go together? Here’s what I mean by empathy: We often assume that because a specific B2B tech audience is deeply grounded in a subject, we don’t have to make a special effort to speak to them personally. Also false!
Seemingly “boring” topics don’t have to be written about in dry, unreadable, and inaccessible ways. Appeal to the reader’s emotional response to storytelling just as you would for any other audience. Credit their humanity. In AI, there’s a saying that “garbage in equals garbage out,” meaning that something like machine learning is only as good as the lessons it’s taught. Similarly, if you make your tech content dry, dense, and overly technical (even for a very technical audience), you’ll lose them. Content creators who are fluent in tech may have a particularly hard time translating that knowledge into digestible and engaging content.
3. Pragmatism
Translation is the keyword here. Successful tech content creators don’t just explain how technology works, which is something their audience probably knows better than they do. Instead, they use the tech details as a launchpad for discussing the real-world impact of technology. What does technology A, B, or C mean for your company, your customers, your markets? What will the tools you’re describing help readers (and buyers) do? Whether it’s a case study with compelling stats or a “before and after” feature that brings the benefits of the technology to life, make them see the value for themselves.
Though tech B2B content is everywhere, applying these qualities—along with creative executions—will ensure yours stands out.
