A B2B copywriting agency sells the words that carry a complex, considered, multi stakeholder purchase: the website that has to survive a procurement review, the case study a champion forwards internally, the whitepaper that gets a meeting, the email sequence that keeps a six month cycle warm. It is one of the few marketing purchases where the deliverable is inspectable before you buy, because writing is public. That makes vetting easier than it is in most categories and makes the common mistakes avoidable. This page covers what such an agency actually does, how the pricing works, what the labour market says about the cost floor, and how to judge the output against the standard Google publishes for content that earns visibility.
What the work covers, and what it is not
B2B copywriting divides into three jobs that firms often bundle and buyers often conflate. Conversion copy is the website, landing pages, product pages and sales collateral, where the reader is already interested and the writing has to remove friction and objection. Demand content is the articles, guides and research pieces that earn attention before a buyer is in market, where the reader owes you nothing and the writing has to be genuinely useful to survive. Sales enablement is the case studies, one pagers, proposal language and email sequences that a sales team uses in the room. Each needs a different interview process, a different subject matter access level and a different measure of success. A proposal that quotes a monthly word count without saying which of the three it is producing has not been scoped; it has been priced.
How B2B copywriting is priced
Three models dominate. Per project pricing suits defined deliverables such as a website rewrite or a research report, and it is the easiest to compare across candidates. Retainers suit ongoing programmes and are usually expressed as a number of pieces or a number of hours per month; the hours version is more honest because it exposes how much interviewing and revision is included. Day rates suit embedded work and short sprints. The labour market sets the floor underneath all three. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports median pay for writers and authors of $72,270 a year, or $34.75 an hour, in 2024, across 135,400 jobs, with employment projected to grow 4% from 2024 to 2034. An agency rate has to carry that salary plus research time, editing, project management, overhead and margin, which is why per word offers far below that arithmetic are usually buying volume from somewhere else. Ask what is included: how many interviews, how many revision rounds, who edits, and whether subject matter expert access is assumed.
Judging quality against a published standard
Google's content guidance is the most useful shared yardstick available, because it is public and neither you nor the agency wrote it. It asks whether content provides original information, reporting, research or analysis; whether it offers a substantial, complete or comprehensive description of the topic; whether it provides insightful analysis or interesting information beyond the obvious; and whether it merely copies or rewrites other sources without substantial additional value. It frames the assessment around who created the content, how it was created and why, and calls the why question perhaps the most important one, with content that primarily serves people rather than search rankings as the standard. It asks that authorship be self evident to visitors through bylines and background information, and that substantial use of automation, including AI generation, be disclosed along with the methodology and reasoning. Run a candidate's published samples against that list. Most fail at insightful analysis beyond the obvious, and that failure is visible in a single read.
The volume trap
The cheapest way to hit a content quota is to produce many pages that add nothing, and it is now the fastest way to lose the visibility the quota was supposed to buy. Google's spam policies name scaled content abuse, defined as many pages generated for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings, and state that this includes using AI tools to create numerous low value pages or scraping content with minimal original additions. Violating sites may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all. Google's content guidance separately flags warning signs that apply squarely to cheap B2B content programmes: content primarily made to attract visits from search engines, extensive automation to produce content on many topics, writing on trending topics without genuine expertise, and leaving readers needing to search again to get better information. If a proposal leads with pieces per month rather than with what each piece will say that nobody else has said, you are being sold volume.
A practical vetting sequence
Read three published pieces the agency claims, not three samples it sends. Ask who wrote each one and whether that writer will be on your account, because the gap between an agency's best writer and its average writer is the largest variable in the purchase. Ask for the interview process: whose time will it need from your side, how many hours, and what happens when a subject matter expert is unavailable. Ask how a piece gets edited and by whom. Commission one paid pilot piece on a real topic before signing a retainer, and judge it on whether it says something your competitors' content does not. Finally, agree what happens to the work if the engagement ends, including source files, research notes and any interviews recorded with your customers.
Questions people ask about b2b copywriting agency
What does a B2B copywriting agency charge?
Per project, per retainer or per day, depending on the work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports median pay for writers and authors of $72,270 a year, or $34.75 an hour, in 2024; an agency rate must carry that plus research, editing, management and margin.
Is per word pricing a good idea for B2B content?
Rarely. It rewards length rather than usefulness, and it hides the parts that make B2B writing work: interviews, research and revision. Price by deliverable or by hours, and ask explicitly how many interviews and revision rounds are included.
How do I judge whether the writing is any good?
Use Google's published questions: does it offer original information, reporting, research or analysis, a comprehensive description of the topic, and insight beyond the obvious, or does it rewrite sources without adding substantial value. Most candidate samples fail the third test.
Should a B2B copywriting agency use AI?
Tools are not the issue; undisclosed low value volume is. Google asks that substantial automation, including AI generation, be disclosed along with how and why it was used, and its spam policies name scaled content abuse where many pages are generated mainly to manipulate rankings.
How many pieces a month should we commission?
Fewer than most proposals suggest. One genuinely researched piece that says something new usually outperforms four summaries of what is already published, and it is the pattern Google's content guidance describes when it asks for insight beyond the obvious.