Industrial Copywriting Do’s & Don’ts (from someone who’s read the good, the bad, and the painfully boring)

I know the golden rule of copywriting is to make you, the reader, the hero, but I’m going to break that rule and take a second to talk about me. (Stick with me because 1 – I promise there’s a method to my madness, and 2 – all the best copywriting breaks rules strategically, right?) 

I’ve spent the past five years leading the content department at one of the largest industrial marketing agencies in North America. My team of copywriters produces hundreds of content pieces for industrial clients each quarter, many of which need approval from yours truly. Plus, it’s my job to ensure that our copy is on par with what other industrial businesses are producing, which, of course, means more reading for me. 

With all that, I’d be willing to bet that few people out there have read as much industrial copy as I have. 

The thing about industrial copy, and all copy really, is that a shockingly large percentage of it isn’t read by its intended audience. 

Now, that’s a pretty harsh reality for those of us who dedicate our lives to writing copy, isn’t it? What’s the point of all this keyboard tapping if nobody’s reading it?

Here’s the thing: There’s copy that’s embarrassingly bad and obliterates brand credibility. But honestly, most industrial copy isn’t that. 

There are always lots of cooks in the kitchen there to ensure that nothing preposterous slips through the cracks. 

Most industrial copy is just eye-glazingly meaningless, generic, and unimpactful. People skim it for a few seconds (if you’re lucky) to see if they should care, and then more often than not, they move on with their lives completely uninfluenced by the work you’ve poured hours of your time into writing. 

So when I say that I read more industrial copy than most anybody, I mean I’m one of the few people in this world forced to read industrial copy end-to-end, including every little word in between. 

It’s my job to read industrial copy. I have to. But industrial decision-makers and influencers don’t. 

And they won’t.

Unless you do it right. 

That’s the purpose of this article. I’m going to teach you all the lessons I’ve learned from reading hundreds of thousands of pages of industrial copy—the good, bad, and ugly. 

Let’s get into it. 

Industrial Copywriting Do’s 

1. Be Sooooo Specific 

If you asked my team of copywriters about my biggest industrial copywriting pet peeve, they would all sing in unison, “lack of specificity.” 

Phrases like “industry leading”, “cutting edge”, and “high quality” make my skin crawl so much that I banned my team from using them and made a whole video about it. Take a listen below. 

I hate these words because they’re used as filler when copywriters don’t really understand what makes a solution or product special. They can’t articulate what makes your company great, so instead, they just use the copywriting cliché of calling your business “industry-leading.” 

Genericisms like these are particularly damaging in industrial markets because they suggest surface-level understanding. When technical buyers read “cutting-edge technology” without any explanation of what makes it cutting-edge, they assume you’re a marketing-heavy company that doesn’t grasp the technical realities of their applications.

Industrial buyers live in a world of specifications, tolerances, and measurable outcomes. They need concrete details to build internal business cases and justify purchasing decisions to their committees. Generic benefits don’t give them the ammunition they need to sell your solution internally.

Replace broad claims with specific, measurable outcomes. 

Instead of “reduces maintenance costs,” specify “reduces maintenance intervals from 30 days to 90 days, cutting annual maintenance costs by 60% based on customer data from similar applications.” 

Instead of “improves productivity,” write “increases throughput by 15% while reducing energy consumption by 8% compared to incumbent solutions.”

Your specificity should extend beyond performance metrics to include operational details that matter in industrial environments. Mention exact temperature ranges, pressure ratings, material certifications, and compliance standards.

Industrial buyers can see right through marketing-heavy websites written by writers who obviously don’t understand industrial realities.

2. Make Your Content as Skimmable as Possible

There’s nothing guaranteed to make readers run for the hills quite like a big chunk of dense text. 

Industrial stakeholders don’t have time to wade through dense paragraphs hunting for relevant information. They’re evaluating multiple vendors while managing day-to-day operations, putting out fires, and dealing with their own internal meetings and deadlines.

Your content needs to accommodate scanning behavior. 

Use descriptive subheadings that clearly indicate what information follows. Break up long paragraphs into shorter, digestible chunks. Implement bullet points for lists of features, specifications, or benefits that stakeholders need to compare across vendors.

3. Talk to Technical Experts and Sales

Industrial copywriting credibility depends on input from people who actually understand the products and the customers who buy them.

Technical experts provide the depth that demonstrates genuine expertise, while sales teams reveal the real-world concerns and objections that influence buying decisions.

Talk to your engineers and product managers to understand the capabilities, limitations, and applications that marketing teams often miss. They know which features truly differentiate your solutions and which ones are just table stakes. They can also explain complex concepts in ways that resonate with technical buyers while avoiding the oversimplification that damages credibility.

Then, talk to your sales team to learn which objections come up repeatedly, which competitors you lose to and why, and what information prospects need to move forward in their buying process. They understand the language customers actually use when describing their problems and priorities, which is key to ensuring that your copy is compelling. 

A good process involves regular collaboration. Schedule ongoing sessions where technical experts review copy for accuracy and completeness while sales teams provide feedback on message resonance and competitive positioning. 

This ongoing input will keep your messaging sharp and market-relevant.

4. Get 1000% Clarity on Who You’re Speaking to

Industrial buying committees are complex beasts, and each stakeholder brings different priorities to the table.

The maintenance manager cares about reliability and ease of service. The engineer wants technical specifications and compatibility data. The purchasing agent needs cost justification and vendor stability. 

Your copy must address these varying concerns without becoming a scattered mess.

Start by mapping your actual buying groups. Interview your sales team about who shows up to meetings and what questions each role typically asks. Look at your CRM data to see which job titles are involved in deals that close versus those that stall.

Once you understand your stakeholders, structure your content with clear pathways for each role.

Let’s consider how a valve manufacturer might approach this. 

They might create separate content tracks with:

• Technical specifications for engineers
• Maintenance schedules for plant managers
• Lifecycle cost analyses for procurement.

This approach ensures that each stakeholder gets the credibility signals they need to move forward.

Industrial Copywriting Don’ts 

Okay, enough about the dos. Let’s get into the juicy part: the things you should absolutely not do, or your copywriting efforts will be a waste of time and resources (because nobody will take the time to read what you say). 

1. Don’t Bury the Lede

Industrial buyers are busy people solving urgent problems. They need to quickly understand what you do, who you serve, and how you can help them. Burying your value proposition behind company history, mission statements, or general industry observations wastes their time and tests their patience.

Lead with the most important information: what problems you solve and for whom. Front-load your core value proposition and key differentiators. 

Your headline and opening paragraphs should immediately communicate your specific value. 

This applies throughout your content structure. In product descriptions, lead with key capabilities and applications before diving into technical specifications. In case studies, start with the problem and solution overview before detailing implementation steps. Always prioritize the information that helps stakeholders quickly assess relevance and value.

Here’s an example of two hero sections for a filtration systems company. Which one do you think their audience would care about more? 

One makes the value and relevance immediately clear. The other frontloads the page with meaningless fluff. 

2. Don’t Over-explain / Dumb it Down

Industrial buyers are often technical professionals who understand complex systems and processes. Oversimplifying concepts or over-explaining basic industry knowledge insults their intelligence and suggests you don’t understand your audience’s sophistication level.

This tends to happen when the copywriter doesn’t fully understand what they’re writing about. They incorrectly assume that if a concept was hard for them to understand, their audience also needs handholding to understand. 

But these stakeholders deal with technical specifications, complex integrations, and detailed analyses daily. They expect and appreciate content that respects their expertise while providing the depth they need for thorough evaluation. Dumbing down technical concepts or avoiding industry terminology makes you sound like an outsider trying to fake your way into their world.

Use appropriate technical language and assume familiarity with industry basics. 

However, avoid unnecessary complexity for its own sake. The goal is clarity and precision, not showing off technical vocabulary.

3. Don’t Be Boring

Technical accuracy doesn’t require sacrificing personality or engagement. Industrial buyers are still human beings who respond to compelling storytelling, relatable challenges, and authentic voice.

The misconception that B2B industrial content must be dry and corporate is costing companies opportunities to connect with their audiences.

Your competitors are already boring. They’re using the same tired language, the same generic stock photos, and the same lifeless product descriptions.

This creates a massive opportunity for companies willing to inject personality and energy into their technical content without compromising professionalism.

Tell vivid stories about actual problems you’ve solved and use analogies and comparisons that resonate with industrial audiences.

Here’s an example:

A conveyor manufacturer might describe their modular design as “industrial Lego blocks that snap together in infinite configurations” rather than just listing “modular components with standardized interfaces.” The analogy immediately communicates flexibility and ease of use while maintaining technical credibility.

Strong industrial copy has a distinct voice that reflects company culture and values. Whether that’s no-nonsense problem-solving, innovative engineering, or relentless quality focus, your personality should come through in your content. This differentiation becomes especially valuable when technical specifications are similar across competitors.

PS: Want to learn more about the creativity crisis in B2B marketing? I made a video all about it. You can watch it below. 

4. Don’t Write for Everyone

Attempting to appeal to all possible audiences dilutes your message and fails to resonate with any of them. Industrial markets reward specificity and expertise, not broad appeal. When you try to speak to everyone, you end up speaking to no one effectively.

Different industrial segments have distinct needs, challenges, and evaluation criteria. 

Food processing plants care about FDA compliance and washdown capabilities. Chemical plants prioritize corrosion resistance and explosion-proof ratings. Automotive manufacturers focus on precision and cycle times. 

Generic messaging that tries to cover all bases fails to demonstrate the specialized knowledge that builds confidence in any specific vertical.

Target your messaging to specific industries, applications, or use cases where you have genuine expertise and proven results. This allows you to use industry-specific language, reference relevant regulations, and demonstrate understanding of sector-specific challenges that generic competitors can’t match.

Focused messaging also helps with search optimization and lead qualification. 

The Industrial Copy That Actually Gets Read and Makes an Impact 

Procurement managers, plant engineers, and operations directors are drowning in generic vendor messaging. They’re evaluating multiple suppliers while managing their actual jobs, dealing with equipment failures, and sitting through endless internal meetings. 

When they land on your website, you have maybe 30 seconds to prove you’re worth their time.

When you know your stakeholders, speak specifically about measurable outcomes, structure content for scanning, demonstrate technical credibility, and inject personality into your messaging, you’re doing something most of your competitors simply aren’t.

That’s your competitive advantage right there. Not some revolutionary marketing strategy, but simply creating copy that busy industrial decision-makers will actually read, share with their teams, and use to build internal business cases.

The question isn’t whether these principles work. I’ve seen them work across hundreds of industrial companies. The question is whether you’ll implement them.

Your industrial buyers are waiting for someone to finally speak their language. Make sure it’s you.
Want my team of industrial copywriters to handle all of this for you? Request a proposal today.