B2B Writing Institute

Learn how to write B2B content

How to Research and Outline Writing for Freelance Marketing or B2B Writing Work — The Basics

How to Research and Outline Writing for Freelance Marketing or B2B Writing Work — The Basics

TODAY’S TOPIC IS… RESEARCH AND OUTLINE

Which comes first, the outline chicken or the research egg?

It changes by project. For SME-led projects, I prefer to interview the SME before doing any research or writing an outline. For marketing/brand-led projects, I prefer to outline before doing research and interviews. It’s a matter of, are we finding a story or telling a story? It’s completely up to your and your client which one you prefer. 

⚠️This is an important nuance because it separates us from journalists. 

Journalists are not told what story to tell — that would practically be an insult. But as content writers… we’re telling clients we’re willing to tell their stories! That’s what can make us so valuable, as we can lend our storytelling abilities to people who do not have those abilities. I’ve gotten direct feedback from clients that my ability to tell a specific story about the brand or product and support it with facts was a huge relief.  

In the seminar, we are finding a story (because we don’t have a client to tell us what the story is). That requires us to do a lot of reading and collect those pieces of information in an outline. 

Evernote, Notion, OneNote, Google Docs system, etc.

  • My tech stack:
    • One Tab – on Mozilla, Safari.
    • FireShot – Grab screenshots 
    • Genei.io – Paid research tool
    • Waldo.fyi – Free AI supported search engine

Writing an outline. The outline allows you to decide the hierarchy and depth of your ideas.

For example: 

  • Superficial Top 10 list + Lots of ideas
  • Few in-depth ideas + Lower number of ideas

Here’s a basic outline I use for every project I begin as a thought leadership article: 

Basic outline

  1. Introduction
    1. Why does this matter now, or why is this happening now?
    2. What statistics or data supports this? (Why is this worth talking about?)
    3. How is this different from what was going on before? 
    4. Thesis: What is “the answer” to the problem at hand?
  2. Point 1
    1. One paragraph explaining the problem or providing evidence of the problem.
    2. One paragraph explaining the answer to the problem or providing SME quotes supporting the answer.
  3. Point 2
    1. One paragraph explaining the problem or providing evidence of the problem.
    2. One paragraph explaining the answer to the problem or providing SME quotes supporting the answer.
  4. Point 3
    1. One paragraph explaining the problem or providing evidence of the problem.
    2. One paragraph explaining the answer to the problem or providing SME quotes supporting the answer.
  5. Conclusion (Thinking or acting about the future)
    1. What can the reader do now that they know this information?
    2. What happens to businesses that don’t act on this?
    3. What positive things might come if the reader does apply this information?

Tweak for a white paper: 

  • Add formatting and callout quotes throughout, citing SME in put or data
  • Identify opportunities to visually present the data (facts, figures, charts, bullet points)
  • Add more points to go more superficial (stretch the topic out more)
  • Add more paragraphs per point to go more in depth

Tweak for a case study:

  • Organize around a business story of problem-solution
  • Each point represents some facet of the solution that can be explored in depth (Problem-Solution-Result)
  • Identify opportunities to visually present the data (facts, figures, charts, bullet points)

TEMPLATES:

Thought Leadership Template (Google Doc)White Paper Template (Google Doc)Webinar Template (Google Doc)

Finding good research

Fortunately, the internet is designed to help you find information about what you want to know. The quality of your sources is more important than ever — just because it’s published somewhere, does not mean it’s acceptable to link to (or even true). Current means within the past 2 years, largely post-pandemic research (After 2021). 

For B2B, stick to reputable companies like the following (though there are dozens more):

Resource

And aim to cull your sources down to the most important or the best (no link roundups or stat dumps) — choose 1-2 important links per paragraph or concept. Hyperlink the figures (“37% of HR managers think they need manager training”). Take an idea and try to think in degrees — how would I support this concept in a new or creative way? What would show evidence of this?

When you pull quotes, your goal is not to tell the story with other people’s words, as you do in journalism. Your goal is to use other people’s words to support what you’re saying. Max 10-20% of your article can be quotes. Quotes should be 2-3 sentences (no less, no more). Sometimes there are exceptions for excerpts.

Quotes in action: 

✅ “I love to see new brands getting into creative automation,” said Adele Lee, Vice President of Innovation at Warner Music Company. “We’ve found that technology to be very valuable in our marketing funnel, and we couldn’t have achieved our record business year without it.”

❌ Many companies like to see creative automation in their businesses. “I love to see new brands getting into creative automation,” said Adele Lee. She uses it for her company’s marketing. “We’ve found that technology to be very valuable in our marketing funnel.”

Citing your sources

You’ll always ask your client what their brand guidelines say about citing sources (APA, MLA, etc.) Some clients prefer a simple in-text URL for the draft, and they’ll pull it into footnotes or endnotes for the final version (Deloitte). The key is to always cite your sources so you have more than enough to back up what you’re saying — then you can edit it down.

In most pieces, you’ll choose 1-2 sources for the intro, then 1-2 per section throughout the piece. White papers might have a bit more, case studies a bit less.

Too many sources can make something look less mature and juvenile, as if you couldn’t decide which source truly supports your point the best. Every source you add, think critically about whether it’s the best one to include — you’ll train your judgment about that over time.

WALK THROUGH EXAMPLE #1:

Client brief: 

Amongst marketing automation technology a clear winner (relative to versatility) has emerged: the dynamic creative. Dynamic creative wins in myriad directions, with the three primary advantages being demonstrating brand consistency (making it easy to deliver large amounts of social media content), reduced costs (when compared to manual creation of creative), and maximizing creative talent (especially important in a competitive marketplace). This piece is a must read for savvy brand marketers (and startups) looking to keep pace with this ever-growing consumer trend.

Notes: 

  • This piece is a must read for savvy brand marketers (and startups) looking to keep pace with this ever-growing consumer trend.

Note

  • Make this a  must read for savvy brand marketers (and startups) looking to keep pace with this ever-growing consumer trend.

Outline:

  1. Introduction
    1. Marketers need automation because X is happening. 
      1. Support with statistics
    2. Marketing automation technology is important because it allows for more versatility. 
      1. Share an example. 
    3. Dynamic creative is great for three reasons: 
  2. Reason #1: Demonstrating brand consistency 
    1. Brands need consistency because of X. 
    2. Dynamic creative delivers  by making it easy to deliver large amounts of social media content), 
    3. SME Quote or research quote
  1. Reason #2: reduced costs
    1. Reduced costs are more necessary than ever because of the economy and X and X. 
    2. SME quote about how they reduce costs with dynamic creative. 
    3. Reason #3: maximizing creative talent 
      1. (especially important in a competitive marketplace). 
  2. Reason #3: maximizing creative talent  
    1. Talent is more important now because of the great resignation, eocnimic disruption, 
    2. Dynamic creative solves this bc now you need fewer people. 
  3. Conclusion (Thinking or acting about the future)
    1. Businesses that dont find a way to 1, 2, 3 will find that they cannot get outcome 4, 5, 6. 
      1. The best way to get 1, 2, 3, is to embrace marketing automation technology. With it, you cna x, y. zz/ 

WALK THROUGH EXAMPLE #2: 

  • Applying the outline format
  • Innovation in supply chain for CPG brands
  • “State of supply chain for cpg”
  • “Innovation for cpg” 
  • “Ingredients innovation for cpg”
  1. Introduction
    1. CPG brands are trying to innovate on ingredients lists because of supply chain issues.
      1. Supply chain issues are X more common this year. There have X outages. 
    2. When they run into supply chain issues they change ingredients, but they have to be creative about it. 
      1. Examples are egg replacement, fluor replacement, sustainable ingredient replace,ments. 
    3. Here are 3 ways CPG brands can innovate to avoid supply chain issues: 
  2. Point 1: swap out for less drought susceptible ingredients
    1. One paragraph explaining the problem or providing evidence of the problem.
    2. One paragraph explaining the answer to the problem or providing SME quotes supporting the answer.
  3. Point 2: find a backup source – redundant source
    1. One paragraph explaining the problem or providing evidence of the problem.
    2. “Quote”
    3. https://www.lifescienceleader.com/doc/for-outsourcing-make-sure-your-risk-management-is-redundant-0001 
    4. One paragraph explaining the answer to the problem or providing SME quotes supporting the answer.
  4. TBD #3: Pending SME interview
    1. One paragraph explaining the problem or providing evidence of the problem.
    2. One paragraph explaining the answer to the problem or providing SME quotes supporting the answer.
  5. Conclusion (Thinking or acting about the future)
    1. What can the reader do now that they know this information?
    2. What happens to businesses that don’t act on this?
    3. What positive things might come if the reader does apply this information?

HELPFUL DOCUMENT AND BROWSER SHORTCUTS

  • Ctrl+ C, Ctrl + V = Copy and paste 
  • Ctrl+ K = Insert url
  • Command + Enter = New Page
  • Ctrl + Z = Undo
  • Shift + 8 + space = New list
  • Ctrl + W = Close tab
  • Ctrl + Q = Close whole browser

RESEARCH TIME:

  • Timer and Brain.FM for 15-20 minutes
  • Head to your personal Google doc and start to shape your outline. 
  • Noodle on the format, niche, topic, and angle you chose and Google related topics (Hint: Searching “State of the industry report + [Niche or Topic]” is a great place to start, “+ frustrations” “+ “challenges”
  • Read and scan articles, save links, quotes, and statistics you find along the way
    • Things to consider:
      • Organize your research into a table, pulling out notes like note cards
  • Organize your research into Trello, putting different quotes on different boards.
  • I like to use different colored text within the same document to keep things organized.
  • Use Command + Enter to create space in your document for easy scrolling.