As you’ve probably learned in courses, presentations, or articles on the subject of writing, action verbs jazz up your articles, blogs, and other materials.
Here is an example…
Before: “Thanks to their new technology, Plastic Co.’s productivity is up, while worker complaints are down.”
Now what if we included a couple of action verbs?
After: “Thanks to their new technology, Plastic Co.’s productivity has skyrocketed, while worker complaints have virtually evaporated.”
Action verbs turn what could be boring, dry copy into engaging, high-energy copy that pulls your reader through to the end.
As a B2B writer, especially if you’re just starting out, trying to find the right verbs in the midst of the technical language might seem rather daunting.
In fact, like I experience occasionally, you might sit at your desk at home for as long as a half an hour struggling to find the best words.
To provide you with some ideas to improve the impact of your copy, I compiled a list of 50 power verbs from my observations while reading B2B copy.
The Benefits of Carefully Choosing Your Verbs
Once again, you hear how important it is to use action instead of passive verbs. How might this benefit your career? Consider these five advantages:
1. Action verbs make your writing more interesting.
You especially want to polish your B2B articles in this way because of the technical language that often characterizes such materials. Action verbs energize your copy and make the B2B solution sound more powerful and effective.
It sounds better to say, “The new technology empowered the employees to perform their tasks much more efficiently,” than to express that in this way: “Thanks to the new technology, the employees are encouraged to be more productive.”
“A sentence, Matthew’s teacher back in Virginia had tried to drum into his thick Kinsey head, could live without a subject, but it could not live without a verb.”
— Edward P. Jones; author of The Known World
2. Use of action verbs increases your enjoyment of writing.
At least for me, enhancing my writing in this way helps me love this task even more. I find it worth the extra time to think through what verbs I’ll use, and once again, that especially holds true for B2B projects.
As you expand your creativity coming up with more ideas and ways of communicating a concept, not only do you enjoy the task more, but you also exercise muscles “building strength” as a writer. As a result, the process gets easier.
On knowing which verbs need replacing:
“Your first hint is your own discomfort with a sentence. Odds are it features a snooze-inducing verb.”
— Jerry Jenkins; author of over 200 books with sales of more than 73 million copies
3. Use of action verbs in B2B writing will help B2B customers more clearly tell their story.
Actually, you could replace the word ‘tell’ with ‘show.’ Since action verbs paint a picture in the reader’s mind, clients can see more clearly how their products have improved the customer’s (company’s) experience.
Readers from other companies would see the technology at work improving customer service, for example. They would experience in their mind’s eye the centralized communication system described. Showing instead of telling keeps your B2B copy active and engaging.
“The verbs you choose make a lot of difference to meaning. If you want to make your meaning clear, make your verbs clear.”
- Alan Sharpe; Sales Enablement Copywriter and Coach, author of Use Strong Verbs in Your Business Writing
4. Use of action verbs increases your professionalism and enhances your reputation as a writer.
People may not tell you that exactly, but crafting your resume and cover letter in that way, for example, could lead to numerous opportunities. Writing in this way sends the message to potential clients that you don’t just string together a bunch of words.
Professional writing takes a certain amount of thought, skill, and strategy. When working on B2B articles or other writing projects, the way you communicate a B2B customer story including what verbs you include will determine whether you are a go-to person for such articles, even if you’ve gained little experience.
“The verbs allow you to come in under the radar, below people’s defenses.”
- Chuck Palahniuk; author, American freelance journalist and novelist
5. Action verbs expand your creativity and help you improve your creative writing skills.
You might think, “I wish I could write more freely — you know… without thinking.” Giving yourself extra time to think expands your creativity. Think of it as an investment of your time. When no ideas come to you, and the options are limited in terms of what to write, look at it as an opportunity to let more creative juices flow. When you deal with writer’s block, once again, see it as a step to further creativity and productivity.
Consider this quote:
“Strong verbs create action, save words, and reveal the players.”
- Roy Peter Clark, Vice President and Senior Scholar, The Poynter Institute
B2B Power Verbs
I compiled a list of what I call power verbs from my Swipe File studies. The following information gives you an idea of some of the verbs you can include when writing B2B case studies, for example:
- Enable
- Deliver
- Power
- Succeed
- Accelerate
- Transform
- Simplify
- Push
- Deploy
- Present
- Reduce
- Employ
- Operate
- Consolidate
- Spur
- Identify
- Plan
- Prepare
- Advance
- Integrate
- Launch
- Eradicate
- Boost
- Equip
- Release
- Construct
- Restore
- Rebuild
- Gain
- Reinforce
- Run (reports, etc.)
- Create
- Motivate
- Energize
- Review
- Improve
- Cut
- Slash (costs)
- Aim
- Roll out
- Optimize
- Deepen
- Engage
- Personalize
- Drive
- Distribute
- Unify
- Revamp
- Refresh
- Load
Some tips on improving verb usage as a B2B copywriter include studying Swipe Files of B2B content. Make note of the verbs writers include.
Secondly, I find it helpful to survey the verbs in a thesaurus, especially B2B terms. I use Word Hippo all the time.
Also, you might look at vocabulary-related resources to give you ideas on what verbs to use.
Finally, researching the industry allows you to get to know the language better, thus strengthening your B2B verb usage.
Power up your vocabulary, engage your readers, and you’ll drive bigger results for yourself and your clients… 🙂
