Writing tips Archives - Stacey Meadwell

Quick B2B content tip: Write for your target audience

*Two of the many gingerbread creations at The Gingerbread City* *exhibition*

My first quick content tip for 2026 is a reminder: Write for your target audience.

A trip to the Gingerbread City exhibition over Christmas was an example of missing an opportunity by not tailoring the copy for the people who would potentially be reading it.

Gingerbread City is an annual event held by the Museum of Architecture. Architects and engineers are invited to build models out of gingerbread, biscuits and sweets that reflect a particular theme.

This year the theme was play and each model was accompanied by a description and the name of the architect/engineer who created it.

Copy not written with the audience in mind

But in reading a few of the descriptions, it was clear that they weren’t really written for the people visiting the exhibition.

The space was packed with families (500 people were expected the day I went), and yet the language, tone and content of the copy appeared to be aimed at other architects.

The result? Few people were paying attention to the descriptions.

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Content marketing, Writing tips

3 common B2B content mistakes to avoid

B2B content marketing is a learning curve and there maybe things you are doing that damage your content’s reach and engagement without realising it.

Here are 3 mistakes to avoid with your B2B content.

1. Not making B2B content about the audience

The hard truth is that people don’t have time for all the content out there, including yours.

They are discerning about where they choose to invest their time (just as you are). This means your content has to work hard to make the time investment worthwhile: What’s in it for them?

Making a B2B audience care about your content means it needs to be helpful, interesting (to them), relevant, relatable…entertaining even.

There is always a place for news and business updates, but shoe-horning in referencing to the business and services at every opportunity is salesy and won’t serve.

The same goes for content that always starts from the perspective of the business, regardless of the topic.

Smart content marketing starts from the audience’s perspective, delivering something relevant and worthwhile.

It focuses on what the audience wants to know, not what the business wants to tell them.

Smart and effective content is clever with its messaging; it builds a positive reputation and respect.

Being known for being helpful, interesting, relatable and knowledgeable is more powerful than being a business that is just self-promoting or selling.

This leads neatly onto:

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Content marketing, General, Writing tips

Better B2B content: lessons from a comedian

I’m a firm believer in looking outside my industry for B2B content inspiration, ideas and lessons.

An interview with comedian James Acaster proved unexpectedly valuable in how to create better B2B content.

It was The Comedians Comedian podcast, which is funny but also quite a geeky unpicking of comedians’ careers and processes.

So here are four B2B content-related takeaways from the interview to help improve what you write:

🤣 Earlier in his career, James Acaster was a support act, and he explained how he learned different things from the contrasting styles of each comedian he worked with.

B2B content lesson: Learn from different writers and different types of content. Comedians, for example, can teach you a lot about pace and storytelling structure.

🤪 James Acaster has learned (the hard way) that adapting his material to the audience is important.

What material will go down well with a room full of stag and hen parties is different from what will go down well with a room full of comedy connoisseurs.

B2B content lesson: Understand who you are creating the content for and adapt your approach.

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Writing tips

B2B content writing that stops the scroll: The art of the unexpected

Back when I was a B2B property journalist, I started a bog-standard, state-of-the-market feature by drawing comparisons with famous pieces of art.

I wrote that if the market were a painting, it would be less like Monet’s Water Lilies and more like Dali’s The Putrefied Donkey.

Writing something unexpected can be a good way of grabbing attention. Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

The point was to grab attention with my opening line by throwing in something unexpected yet illustrative of the point I wanted to make.

I chose words and created an image that readers flicking through the magazine wouldn’t usually read.

Whether you are writing an article or a LinkedIn post, if you are following the usual tropes with all your content, you risk being lost in the crowd.

It’s not necessarily about saying something different to everyone else; you can have a similar idea just present it in a different way.

Getting creative

I could have said the property market was challenging or leasing conditions were difficult. But that’s what everyone else would say, so I got creative.

And I returned to the art theme running, concluding how the market might be a different painting in 6 months.

Let’s look at it another way. Which quote would make you want to read the piece more:

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Copy not written with the audience in mind

1. Not making B2B content about the audience

1. My original opening line

2. Less direct/conversational

Getting creative