Expert
Checks technical meaning, evidence and limitations. Ask for correction of specific claims rather than an unrestricted rewrite.
B2B content marketing agency UK · a buyer’s guide · London
B2B content marketing agency what to buy, and what counts as an ad
Some of what a B2B content marketing agency publishes for you is legally an advertisement.
Some of it is outside the regulator's remit entirely.
The difference is not the format or the channel.
It is whether the piece is directly connected with selling what you sell.
GTM Quest writes the content that feeds pipeline: founder-led LinkedIn, account-based content and the copy behind outbound.
This page covers that, then the guide to buying any content programme in the UK, and who to call for the content we don't make.
Reviewed by Dan Keegan, GTM Quest · 28 September 2026 · 12 sources linked below
Your decisionExplore the working brief
Module 01 / 03
Question
Name the reader, their decision and the unresolved issue. Distinguish an introductory explanation from implementation or procurement detail.
Module 02 / 03
Evidence
Identify the subject-matter owner, source material and claim boundaries. Keep research and approvals in the production schedule.
Module 03 / 03
Use
Decide where the material will be discovered and how sales or delivery will use it. Offer an appropriate next step for the reader.
67%
of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free buying experience, so content does the selling
01/ our content work
The B2B content we write and what we don’t
We are a go-to-market agency, not a content studio.
Our content exists to move named accounts towards a conversation, so it is planned from sales conversations and measured on who engages.
01
Founder-led LinkedIn content
Posts, frameworks and short essays from the founder and senior team, drafted with them from real customer conversations.
The name the buyer will later see in an email.
02
Account-based content
Pieces written for a cluster of target accounts (a sector problem, a regulation, a benchmark), used in our ABM agency programmes and paid LinkedIn to the list.
03
Sales enablement
One-page answers to the objections your sales team hears most, comparison pages and case-study formats, with the evidence file behind every claim.
04
Outbound copy
First emails and LinkedIn messages that reference something the account cares about, not a template.
See B2B lead generation.
05
Research you can defend
Reports built from sources a reader can open (public data, registers, your own anonymised data), with the method published beside the findings.
not us
What we don't make
High-volume SEO blog production, video and podcast production, and press placement.
For those, see the content specialists further down.
02/ the category
One retainer, three different products what a content agency actually sells
"Content marketing" is sold as one service and delivered as at least three.
That is why two proposals at the same monthly fee can be for almost unrelated work.
Demand content
Pieces built to be found and to convert: comparison pages, product-adjacent guides, calculators, landing pages.
Tightly bound to the sale, and so almost always an advertisement in the regulator's sense.
Authority content
Original research, benchmark reports, opinion under a named author.
Its value is that it does not read as selling.
That is exactly why the recognition rules apply to it rather than exempt it.
Editorial and PR
Newsroom pieces, corporate reports, press material.
Outside the CAP Code's non-broadcast remit, until a paragraph is added that ties it to what you sell.
An agency that prices these three identically has not thought about them separately.
If your problem is paid distribution rather than the asset, that is a B2B advertising brief.
If it is what the company stands for before any of it is written, it is a B2B brand brief.
03/ the line
Is this piece an advertisement? the same article can be, or not
The CAP Code's scope has two lists: what is covered and what is not.
Clause I.h brings in marketing on your own website or other non-paid space you control that is "directly connected with the supply or transfer of goods, services, opportunities and gifts".
Clause II.q takes back out editorial content, news or PR material and corporate reports.
Pick a piece.
What are you about to publish?
In remit
Almost certainly a marketing communication
A page that exists to move a reader towards buying is directly connected with the supply of what you sell, so clause I.h brings it in.
Every objective claim needs evidence held before it goes live.
- ✓ Compare like with like (rule 3.33)
- ✓ Features must be material, relevant, verifiable and representative (rule 3.34)
- ✓ Evidence file before publishing (rule 3.7)
Depends
Depends on what it says, and how it looks
A founder's view on the industry is often not selling at all.
A post that pushes your product while reading like independent opinion must make its commercial intent clear if the context does not (rule 2.3).
- ✓ Who typed it does not matter
- ✓ Whether a reader can tell it is marketing does
- ✓ Settle the byline policy first
Depends
In remit if it is used to sell
Research that stands on its own can be editorial.
The same report, gated behind a demo request and quoted in ads, is marketing.
And "authority" content that favours the publisher's product is where recognition problems start.
- ✓ Publish the method
- ✓ Don't omit the unflattering cut (rule 3.3)
- ✓ Say who paid for it
Out of remit
Named in the out-list
Press releases and other PR material not covered by part I are outside the Code (clause II.j), as is editorial content (II.k).
Add a paragraph pushing a product and the answer can change.
- ✓ Keep news as news
- ✓ Put product claims on product pages
- ✓ Hold evidence anyway
In remit
Covered, and PECR applies too
The Code covers advertisements in emails (clause I.a).
Unsolicited marketing emails must be obviously identifiable as marketing without being opened (rule 2.2).
- ✓ Clear subject line
- ✓ Opt-out in every message
- ✓ PECR rules on who you may email
In remit
Paid space is always covered
Online ads in paid-for space are in scope (clause I.d), whatever the format.
A paid "guide" is an advertisement, with every rule that implies.
- ✓ Label it clearly
- ✓ Evidence for every figure
- ✓ Write for a general audience
Quoted from the CAP Code's Scope of the Code and section 2.
The ASA rules on the piece in front of it, not on a category.
This is general information, not legal advice.
04/ the rules
Does the ASA regulate B2B content marketing? yes, for the parts that are marketing
B2B teams often assume the advertising rules are a consumer concern.
The CAP Code closes that door in its own definitions: a consumer is "anyone who is likely to see a given marketing communication, whether in the course of business or not".
The Code also reaches non-paid marketing on websites and social platforms where the marketer has a UK registered company address, or where the site uses a .uk domain.
For most UK B2B companies, their own site and social channels are in scope.
And there is a second route.
The Code's Appendix 1 says B2B marketing communications that breach it may be referred to Trading Standards under the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008.
05/ recognition
It has to be obvious what it is ghost-writing, advertorials and bylines
Section 2 of the CAP Code is short, and it is the section B2B content programmes break most often, usually without anyone deciding to.
Rule 2.1: marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such.
Rule 2.3 has the sharp second half: marketing communications must make clear their commercial intent, if that is not apparent from the context.
It also stops a marketer falsely presenting itself as a consumer.
Rule 2.4 requires advertorials to be labelled, for example "advertisement feature".
A ghost-written founder post, an unbadged "industry report" written by the vendor whose product it favours, a partner-authored review: in none of these does the context make the intent obvious.
Ghost-writing itself is ordinary and not a breach.
The question is how the piece is presented, not who typed it.
06/ substantiation
The evidence has to exist before the piece does rule 3.7, in sequence
Rule 3.7 is the operational one for a content agency, and the word that does the work is "before": marketers must hold documentary evidence before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication.
A claim is written
A writer drafts "cuts onboarding time in half" or "the UK's most-used platform for…".
Any claim a reader would take as objective, and that can be checked, needs proof.
- ✓ Mark every objective claim
- ✓ Note what would prove it
The evidence is filed
The study, dataset, customer record or public source goes into a shared evidence file that will outlive the writer and the contract, not a link in a draft document.
- ✓ One file per asset
- ✓ Owned by you, not the agency
Only then does it go out
The piece is distributed with the evidence already held.
This is the point at which rule 3.7 is either met or not.
- ✓ Sign-off checks the file
- ✓ Claims without evidence come out
If someone complains
The ASA may treat a claim as misleading without adequate substantiation.
Evidence assembled after a challenge did not satisfy the rule, however good it is.
- ✓ Answer from the file
- ✓ Fix the process, not just the piece
That turns "who holds the evidence for every claim in this asset, and where does it live when the writer has moved on?" into a contract question.
Almost no content scope of work answers it.
Ours does: the evidence file is yours.
07/ what you leave out
Misleading by omission is still misleading rules 3.1, 3.3 and the review rules
Rule 3.1: marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
Rule 3.3 is the one people are surprised by: they must not omit material information, including by presenting it in a way that is unclear, untimely or unlikely to be seen.
A benchmark report that publishes only the flattering cut of its own data has not said anything false.
That is precisely what rule 3.3 describes.
Case studies, testimonials and reviews
Case studies and review badges are content too.
The Code now bans fake consumer reviews (rule 3.44), requires incentivised reviews to be made clear (rule 3.45), and forbids publishing reviews in a misleading way, for example by removing negative ones or giving positive ones more prominence (rule 3.46).
Rule 3.47 requires you to hold evidence that a testimonial is genuine and contact details for whoever gave it.
Rule 3.50: no testimonial without permission.
08/ search
SEO content marketing written for people, found by search
An SEO content marketing agency writes to be found.
Google's guidance is plain about what its systems reward: helpful, reliable information created to benefit people, not content made to manipulate rankings.
Its self-assessment questions are a good brief for any agency.
Does the content provide original information, research or analysis?
Does it add value beyond rewriting other sources?
Is it written or reviewed by someone who knows the topic?
Is it mass-produced or outsourced to many creators?
We write fewer, better pieces, each tied to a buyer problem and a named source.
If you need hundreds of articles a year, a specialist SEO content agency will be better placed.
Ask it the same questions.
Content for AI search
Buyers now research with AI assistants as well as search engines.
Gartner found 45% of B2B buyers used AI during a recent purchase.
Clear, sourced, well-structured pages are what these tools can quote.
They are the same qualities Google's guidance asks for.
09/ who does what
Content agency, advertising agency or PR agency? three different briefs
Content agencyAdvertising agency
DeliverableThe asset and the programme that keeps producing itPaid distribution and the creative that carries it
Measured onEngagement from target accounts, pipeline influencedReach, frequency, cost per result
Budget lineFees for writing and editingFees plus media spend
Brief whenThere is nothing worth distributingNobody sees the work you have
→ The two overlap and often share a budget. We write the content and run paid LinkedIn to the account list; see the advertising guide.
Content agencyPR agency
Where it appearsYour channels: site, LinkedIn, emailOther people's: press, analysts, podcasts
CAP CodeOften in remit (clause I.h)PR material mostly outside it (clause II.j)
ControlFull control of the messageEarned, so the journalist decides
Brief whenYou need a steady voiceYou need third-party credibility
→ Earned coverage makes owned content more credible. The PR-led agencies in the specialists list do this well.
AgencyIn-house writer
SpeedThe first post on day oneMonths to hire and ramp
KnowledgeRange across marketsDepth in your product, compounding
Evidence fileMust be contracted forStays in the building
Best whenYou are proving the themesThe themes are proven and volume matters
→ Many teams start with an agency to find the themes that work, then hire a writer to carry them.
10/ buying
How to buy B2B content marketing in the UK five questions to ask
01
Label each deliverable
Ask, for every item in the scope, whether the agency treats it as a marketing communication under the CAP Code and why.
You are not asking for legal advice; you are testing whether anyone has thought about it.
02
Ask where the evidence lives
A shared evidence file that outlives the writer, or a link in a draft that rots the month the contract ends?
Ask to see the file for a piece they have already published.
03
Settle the byline policy
Who is named as author, who wrote it, and how commercial intent is made clear.
Decide before the first draft, not after the first complaint.
04
Ask what they measure
Engagement from target accounts, replies, meetings and pipeline influenced, or page views?
The answer tells you which of the three products they are really selling.
05
Ask who writes
Names, experience in your sector and how many clients each writer carries.
Good B2B content needs someone who understands the product well enough to argue about it.
An agency that says the Code only applies to consumer advertising has misread it.
The non-broadcast Code covers business-to-business marketing too.
11/ what it costs
What B2B content marketing costs there is no rate card, so build your own
We could not trace a UK B2B content rate card, day rate or cost-per-article benchmark to anyone other than a company selling content.
So here is a method, and the prices we could trace.
SourceWhat it gives youLink
Contracts FinderPublished UK public-sector contract awards, including content, copywriting and campaign work, with values and scopes. Free to search.Contracts Finder
Find a TenderHigher-value public contract notices and awards, with values and suppliers.Find a Tender
Agency pricing pagesA few UK B2B agencies publish prices that include content. Gripped, for example, starts from £7,500 a month for one or two channels such as content.Gripped pricing
GTM QuestContent inside a wider go-to-market engagement, scoped and quoted in writing after the discovery call.Not applicable
Pull half a dozen public awards with a scope close to yours and you have a range built from primary sources.
We won't print a cost-per-article or "content costs less than paid search" figure: every one we could trace came from a vendor survey with no method behind it.
12/ location
Content marketing agency in London or anywhere in the UK
We are based in London and write for B2B teams across the UK and Europe.
For content, location matters even less than for other marketing: what matters is whether the writer understands your buyer and your product.
Ask for writing samples in your sector, and ask who wrote them.
A content marketing agency in London will cost more than one elsewhere; it will not necessarily write better.
13/ specialists
Content specialists worth knowing for the content we don’t make
UK B2B agencies that list content, PR or media relations as core services on their own sites, checked on 28 September 2026.
Not a ranking; nobody paid to appear.
AgencyWhat they do, by their own siteSite
NapierIntegrated B2B technology PR and marketing, with specialist teams for content, media and analyst relations, paid media and design.napierb2b.com
The Think TankB2B marketing and PR, founded in 1993: strategic thinking, creative, PR and digital.thinktank.org.uk
Lesniak SwannB2B marketing for complex and technical sectors, including content from short-form video to technical white papers, and PR.lesniakswann.com
For the full list of UK B2B agencies we point people to, see the B2B marketing agency UK guide.
GTM Quest editorial guide · Updated 10 October 2026
Commission B2B content that answers buying questions and preserves subject-matter accuracy.
Practical guide · 01
Brief the buying question before the format
A content agency brief should explain what the reader needs to understand or decide. Start with real sales questions, buyer interviews and support concerns. Choose the format after defining the evidence and level of detail, rather than asking for a fixed number of posts without a purpose.
- 1
Question
Name the reader, their decision and the unresolved issue. Distinguish an introductory explanation from implementation or procurement detail.
- 2
Evidence
Identify the subject-matter owner, source material and claim boundaries. Keep research and approvals in the production schedule.
- 3
Use
Decide where the material will be discovered and how sales or delivery will use it. Offer an appropriate next step for the reader.
Practical guide · 02
Agree a review process that protects accuracy
A technically accurate draft can still be difficult to read. Separate factual approval from editorial improvement and give each a named owner. Avoid stripping useful limitations from a claim merely to make a headline more emphatic.
Your decision
Editor
Improves structure, examples and clarity while preserving meaning. Keep the reader’s decision visible throughout the piece.
Commercial
Confirms the offer, next action and sales usefulness. Keep promotional claims within the approved evidence.
Practical guide · 03
Worked example: turn a recurring objection into a useful guide
Fictional example: prospects repeatedly ask how a product will fit their existing systems. The agency creates an integration guide with dependencies and trade-offs, rather than another generic benefits article.
- Stage 101
Collect
Review actual questions and implementation notes with sales and engineering. Choose the cases that recur in the target segment. - Stage 202
Explain
Show the process, prerequisites and alternatives in accessible language. Make unsupported configurations and assumptions clear. - Stage 303
Maintain
Assign a source owner and review when product behaviour changes. Connect the guide to relevant product and procurement pages.
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes on your content
Tell us who you sell to and what you publish today. We come back with the three themes we would write first. Or, if you need volume SEO, video or PR, we tell you which kind of specialist to brief.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We look at your content, LinkedIn and sales calls
- 03A written next step after the call
- 04Content inside a wider GTM engagement, or on its own
Pick a day that suits · live availability
14/ questions
B2B content marketing FAQ
What UK B2B teams ask before they buy content, and what the advertising rules say about it.
Usually three things under one retainer: demand content built to be found and convert, authority content such as research and named-author opinion, and editorial or PR material.
Which you are buying decides how the work is staffed, measured and regulated.
An agency that plans, writes and distributes content (articles, reports, posts, emails and video) to attract and persuade buyers.
In B2B, the good ones plan content from sales conversations and measure it against target accounts, not page views.
Yes, for content that feeds pipeline: founder-led LinkedIn, account-based content, sales enablement and outbound copy.
We don't do high-volume SEO blog production, video or PR placement.
See the content we write.
Yes, for the parts that are marketing communications.
The CAP Code defines a consumer as "anyone who is likely to see a given marketing communication, whether in the course of business or not", and clause I.h covers marketing on your own site that is directly connected with selling.
It depends on the post.
A comparison page that moves readers towards buying is in remit under clause I.h; company news is in the out-list under clause II.q.
Moving a paragraph can change the answer.
Try the piece picker.
Ghost-writing is not a breach.
Rule 2.3 requires marketing to make its commercial intent clear if the context does not, and rule 2.1 requires it to be obviously identifiable.
The question is whether a reader can tell what it is, not who typed it.
Documentary evidence for any claim a reader would take as objective, held before the piece is distributed (rule 3.7).
Evidence gathered after a challenge does not satisfy the rule.
Yes.
Rule 3.3 prohibits omitting material information.
A report that publishes only the flattering cut of its data has omitted information a reader needs.
Yes, with care.
The Code bans fake reviews, requires incentivised reviews to be made clear, and forbids hiding negative ones (rules 3.44 to 3.46).
You must hold evidence a testimonial is genuine (rule 3.47) and have permission (rule 3.50).
No independent rate card exists.
Build a range from published public-sector awards on Contracts Finder and Find a Tender, and from agencies that publish prices.
We scope and quote after a call.
See what it costs.
Google's guidance asks whether content is original, adds value beyond other sources, is written by someone who knows the topic and is made for people rather than rankings (Google Search Central).
A content agency's deliverable is the asset and the programme that keeps producing it; an advertising agency's is paid distribution and the creative that carries it.
See who does what.
A go-to-market agency is a third option, planning content alongside outreach and the CRM.
Content for software companies selling to businesses: comparison pages, product-led guides, founder posts and use-case pieces that support trials and demos.
Every comparison claim needs evidence held first (rules 3.7 and 3.33 to 3.34).
Book 15 minutes · London · UK and Europe
Bring your last ten sales calls. We’ll show you the content hiding in them.
A 15-minute call, a written next step, and content that feeds pipeline, sourced properly and aimed at the accounts you want.
16/ sources
Every source on this page
Each figure links to its source. Original source checks: 28 September 2026. The practical guide was updated on 10 October 2026.
- CAP Code: Section 2, Recognition of marketing communicationsasa.org.uk
- CAP Code: Section 3, Misleading advertisingasa.org.uk
- Gartner, 67% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free experience (March 2026)gartner.com
- CAP Code: Scope of the Codeasa.org.uk
- CAP Code: Appendix 1, the DMCCA and the BPRsasa.org.uk
- Google Search Central, Creating helpful, reliable, people-first contentdevelopers.google.com
- Contracts Finder (GOV.UK)contractsfinder.service.gov.uk
- Find a Tender (GOV.UK)find-tender.service.gov.uk
- Gripped, Pricinggripped.io
- Napiernapierb2b.com
- The Think Tankthinktank.org.uk
- Lesniak Swannlesniakswann.com