James Laurain

James Tech Copywriting

Freelance Technical Marketing for some of the best brands in tech.

Freelance Technical Marketer

Aampe

Building the first truly AI-driven approach to CRM Marketing Automation, allowing apps to create personalized, omni-channel customer experiences proven to increase customer engagement and retention.

Head of Growth

Propel, Inc

Growth Advisor

Thought Bakery

Helping some of the biggest brands in B2B pull fresh business from the oven with damn delicious copy and content! 🧁

Content Strategy

Avnet

Wielding the awesome power of over 2,500 engineers, best-in-class design houses, a decade of personal experience and the resources of a near $20B company like Thor's mighty hammer.

Let's build something!

**Achieved rank in the top 50 account managers in the company for 3 quarters running.**

Account Manager (Non-Traditional)

AMA Southwest Michigan

Helping connect fellow Marketers to brilliant ideas from the best thought leaders in the industry - which ultimately saves our customers from having to suffer though the horrible marketing they've almost come to expect. 😐

Director, Membership

YETi CGI

We need to stop making things that suck.

YETi CGI is a team of misfits with a strong background in Game Theory and creating Ambient User Experiences. With extensive cross-industry experience, they focus on and dream up amazing user experiences and then bring them to life – with an incredible, diverse team of experts who can make large amounts of complexity seem completely transparent. 

I get to help YETi talent scout for new technologies, architect hardware platforms, and find places where they can add huge amounts of value…but mostly I learn from the wisdom of each unbelievably talented member of the group.

Field Engineer

Bear VAI Technology

Built great relationships, gained invaluable experience, won multiple awards, and had, what I consider to be, great successes - not by pushing products - but by doing what I love - connecting with people, connecting people to technology, sharing cross-industry best practices and innovations, and pushing technology forward for the sake of mankind.

Field Sales Engineer

Stryker

Working with world-class suppliers (domestic and international) to ensure world class designs and products. 

Strategic Sourcing: Evaluating suppliers and supply chains to ensure the best match and most efficient choice for the production of components, assemblies, and finished products.

Supplier Assessment/Development: Understanding strengths and weaknesses of suppliers and supply chains to ensure proper supplier positioning, selection, and utilization, and spearheading development activities to equip suppliers with the knowledge of industry best practices (pertaining to validation, calibration, safety testing, etc.) needed to improve their processes.

Liaised between Stryker and suppliers for R&D Projects, translating designs, feedback, and requirements to suppliers and facilitating discussions around supplier-proposed Design for Manufacturability, cost reduction, and quality improvements.

Staff Advanced Sourcing Engineer

Ensuring Compliance of Medical Devices under the design control of Stryker Instruments to the applicable, industry-recognized safety standards.

Created a simple excel macro which took several input parameters and, from them, manipulated the related six tables in the IEC 60601-1 Standard to output the correct creepage and clearance values. 

I posted this "tool" on LinkedIn, and, since then, I've been asked for copies by dozens of engineers in several countries (including members of the safety agencies themselves).

Sr. Product Safety/Certifications Engineer

Working closely with Product Design Teams by relating standards to products and creating inventive solutions to ensure end-product compliance to the relevant Medical Industry Standards.

Acting as a liaison between Stryker and CSA, IEC, UL, TUV and other certification bodies to ensure proper application of standards, and, ultimately, end-product safety.

Product Safety/Certifications Engineer

Managing a floor of 60+ assemblers by maintaining and improving fixtures, processes, designs and work instructions with a focus on line balance, process efficiency, and end-product quality. Overseeing and evaluating rework processes from a risk perspective. Supporting the unit through 2 FDA audits.

Electrical/Manufacturing Engineer

Haden

Gallivanting across the countryside from automotive plant to automotive plant in an all-to-stylish hard hat that made even the strongest safety officers quiver in fear.

Technical Service Engineer - Co-op

💬 Learn your users through the messages you send | Featured in Forbes, TechCrunch

Looking for a way to tell your kids how beautiful they are on the inside? 👨‍👨‍👧‍👦

I was, so I wrote a book about it. 😅 

Get your copy here!!! 👇

🦎 MabelTheChameleon.com! 🦎 

---

My dad always told me that the key to success was to surround myself with brilliant people...and I think he was on to something. 😅

All in all, I've had an amazing career filled with incredible opportunities that I never would have even dreamed of or imagined, and it all stemmed from following this simple principle. 

I've done everything from medical device engineering, to growing my B2B Tech copywriting business from $0 to 6-figures in less than a year, to leading the growth engine for an up-and-coming SaaS startup fighting against the status quo of crappy push notifications. 🤺

...and who knows what's around the next turn.


👉 Please connect with me if you'd like to share with me on this journey!


Interests:
👶 Kids/Family
🪕 Banjo
🍞 Sourdough bread baking
🧔 Dad jokes
🤷‍♂️ Random Facts

Conversational Tech Copywriter

You're probably really proud of your tech - No one knows it better than you do.

...which is exactly why you shouldn't be writing your own copy.


Wait...What?!?


Yep. That's right.


See, when you're 'too close' to your tech, you start to develop your own language and assumptions.

Worse yet, you start to get blind to what your customers do and don't know.

It's not unique to you, it's just really hard to read the label of the jar you're in.


As an Engineer with an unhealthy obsession with consumer psychology, I can come alongside your technical team and help translate your features and differentiators into relevant and relatable messaging that speaks to your customers where they are.

Interested? Drop me a DM. 

Benjamin Watkins

Watkins Agency

Watkins Agency is a positioning and messaging consultancy for B2B healthcare brands.

We've worked with Tomorrow Health, Focus Solutions, Sycle, Validic, Laguna, SingleComm, Penelope, Anya Health, Ayin Health, SmartCue, DexCare, and Parallel.

Founder of Watkins Agency

This Is Copy

This Is Copy is a resource to help copywriters and marketers in healthcare.

From workshops to content, we show founders, copywriters, and marketers how to speed up sales cycles, reframe sales emails, and create persuasive messaging.

Founder of This Is Copy

La Vie Ben Rose

Every week, I share copywriting examples and columns in B2B healthcare and SaaS.

I share email and landing page messaging techniques. I also look at data-driven strategies that help brands capture the voice of the customer to improve conversions and shorten sales cycles.

I've had the privilege of working with brands like BristleHealth, Tomorrow Health, Telemedicx, Sycle, Penelope Retirement, EverTransit, Anya Health, Laguna Health, Lucinetic, SingleComm, Parallel Learning, SmartCue, and more.

Founder

I teach creators, brands, copywriters, and marketers all about copywriting, writing, and creativity through cohorts, workshops, and courses.

I also like to write about what I'm learning until my brain needs more coffee.

Writer

California State University, Monterey Bay

Guest speaker at CSU Monterey. I help students and entrepreneurs with copywriting, marketing, and communications strategy.

Guest Speaker

RXMG

As Content Coordinator, I am responsible for writing and developing high-quality copy (clear, concise, and grammatically correct) for digital marketing campaigns and internal sites across all verticals; monitor effectiveness of marketing campaigns and align content creation with audience engagement trends; to coordinate between internal departments/teams and external advertisers and affiliates to ensure all content requirements are being met and relaying performance and; to develop and maintain systems and processes for managing copy and measuring performance. 

Other responsibilities include understanding the different language styles that appeal to various audiences/industries; being highly creative and curious about client's products, services, and industries; editing copy for message clarity, flow, consistency, grammar, brand voice, and tone; the ability to work autonomously on content assignments, often with tight deadlines and; regularly communicate with internal and external parties and maintain a high level of relationship management and confidentiality.

Email Coordinator and Lead Copywriter

NORCAL Ambulance

BLS emergency medical technician for hospitals and skilled nursing facilities.

Emergency Medical Technician

Ripon Unified School District

8th grade self-contained class. Teacher of History, Science, English, and Math.

Teacher

Copywriter for health & SaaS companies. B2B landing pages, emails, and social ads for fast-growing health tech and SaaS companies. Dad of five adventurous kids (send coffee)

Watkins Agency is a consulting firm that helps B2B healthcare & tech companies with positioning and messaging.

We get your customers to say, "This is a no-brainer," so they buy faster and understand everything you do.

And we do that by clarifying your positioning, sharpening your messaging, and writing compelling, voice of customer snazzy copy.

Loved by Tomorrow Health, Bristle Health, Focus Health, Sycle, Validic, and DexCare.

We've also:

→  I've helped SmartCue rank no. 1 on ProductHunt
→  I've worked with Bristle Health to align positioning and messaging
→  Helped Tomorrow Health get clear on positioning and messaging to elevate their sales deck
→ Developed Sycle's messaging around lifecycle emails

"Ben is a fantastic copywriter. He understood our business and what we were looking for. He delivered copywriting that gave Opsera a voice that stood out to customers. Ben is a copywriter I highly recommend if you want results."

- Susmitha Vakkalanka, VP of Marketing of Opsera 

"Ben is awesome, folks! Not only did he turn around awesome copy but he went out of his way to help us get things right before launch! Hire Ben! 💯"

- Robin Singhvi, Founder of SmartCue

ThisIsCopy is a collection of the best copywriting and marketing examples on the internet.

www.ThisIsCopy.com

People sometimes ask me, "Ben, how do you find time to write with 5 kids at home?"

I actually have a simple strategy for that.

It's called, "Hiding"

I hide in the garage. I hide in the bathroom. I hide behind doors. I hide behind curtains. I hide on the roof.

I didn't even realize how many hiding spots were in my house until I worked from home. And there are a lot.

It even sparks spontaneous conversations when I hop on zoom calls with prospects and clients.

"Where are you working, Ben?"

"Oh this? It's just the top of the roof."

And that folks, is the secret to working from home.

Positioning & Messaging for B2B Healthcare SaaS. Deeply researched positioning insights (while I make more coffee)

Waiting for LinkedIn to send out this notification:

"Since OpenAI is down, you may see LinkedIn posts riddled with spelling errors, fewer hyphens, and that seem like an actual human wrote them (I know, a bit bonkers).

Do not be afraid, the robots will eventually return."

Positioning & Messaging for B2B healthcare & SaaS. Deeply researched positioning insights (while I make more coffee)

If you're ever stuck in your copywriting process, just ask these questions

1: Who's the enemy of what I'm trying to say
2: What's the conflict
3: What's the ultimate truth I'm trying to get at

Things are more interesting when you're finding the conflict in things. 

And it makes it more interesting to read.

One of the coolest and most underrated LinkedIn features that LinkedIn doesn't even tell you about is the ability to see someone's post from 3 weeks ago.

It's like forcing someone to time travel back through LinkedIn time regardless if you want to or not.

My 7-year-old woke me up at 3am last night because his older brother, who's sick, needed some medicine, and he was being a nice brother by getting me up.

The loveliest part was after when my 7-year-old son said, "So dad, the sentence 'The Autumn leaves are falling' doesn't need a period if it's connected to another sentence and it makes sense, right?"

It was 3am.

"Yep. That sounds right. Goodnight."

If you have 3am grammar questions. Please let me know.

Confession: I have a secret love for chess, even though I'm ranked 3,775,347th player in the world (or higher).

I honestly love chess because it's just a fun game to play.

Don't care about rankings. Don't care about being the best one day. And (try) not take it personal when I make a careless mistake.

Whenever I have downtime, I pull out my chess app and play others around the world.

I've played for years and I still love it. 

I also like solving these super hard puzzles. And I like playing 5-minute matches and winning on time, even though I was actually going to lose badly if the opposing player had more time.

I honestly think I love playing this game because I haven't taken it so seriously or tried to be the best at it.

Life is often so much fun without making everything a goal. You enjoy life for what it is, not for something you can turn it into.

Off to play chess and make more coffee.

By the way, can you solve this chess puzzle?

"We're always competing against these exact competitors."

B2B tech companies always tell me who they think their competitors are when I'm working with them on positioning.

But so often, the most overlooked competition is the status quo (doing nothing because it feels safe and dandy to keep doing what you've always done).

Buyers fear change. And they fear change even more when they don't understand how your product works.

Two ways to overcome the status quo are to:

1. Make sure buyers recognize the need for change 
2. Make sure buyers recognize the urgency for change 

You overcome these by (as April Dunford says) building a case for change.

You show the cost of doing nothing. 

But first, you have to understand where the customer is coming from.

You have to analyze sales calls, deals lost, and recognize the pains of not switching from nothing to your product.

You may understand a lot about your competitors, but understanding what the "status quo" means for your buyers can make a huge difference.

Your positioning needs to live outside your deck. 

It needs to provide clarity across your homepage, landing page, and emails because that's where your audience sees it and feels it and takes action from it.

Your positioning only comes to life if it shows across your messaging.

Is positioning in B2B healthcare actually harder?

In some instances, yes, because you're often dealing with more risk, more decision makers, and you're always challenging the status quo.

So you're creating alighment across teams in a sales deck and across your emails and landing pages.

The challenge is two fold:

First, you have to first get super clear on your positioning.

1. Map out the reason why customers choose you
2. Know your differentiated value
3. What jobs to be done are you solving
4. What are the unique (provable) attributes you are winning in the market
5. Identify your champion who care the most about your specific value 

Then you have to get your positioning something to stand on with your messaging.

1. You've built a clear differentiated story
2. You've mapped out attributes your customers care most about
3. You've clearly identified your champion that you can call out in your messaging
4. You know what problem you're solving (and the use case you can say in your messaging)
5. Choose the category that reiterates the voice of the customer and what they believe

In B2B healthcare, the solutions have to be more obvious because there are more decision makers and they need 

Whenever I work with healthcare teams, we go through this process and we uncover these central questions:

1: Who are we the best for?
2. Why would they switch?

Of course, there are a lot of reasons you want to find out around these. But the point is to find multilple directions.

P.S. Here's a before/after that shows what happens when you know who you're best for and why they'd switch

I don't usually give a shoutout to startups, but gotta hand it to Maggi Heneghan and Sumly.

Beyond being super kind, helpful, and knowing everything about taxes (the season I hate most), they have an app that's insanely good for solopreneurs like myself.

Been using their app for all things business and it's been amazing (no affiliation or anything). Better than QB. Better than anything I've tried.

They keep doing awesome work. And everyone should try them (if you're a solopreneur that is).

I’m convinced that nothing beats North Carolina in November

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Superlatives don't belong in your copy.

Across all of the landing pages and emails I've written, I've learned that it really creates three kinds of problems:

1. It's not voice of customer
2. If a customer said something of the sorts, it's usually taken out of context
3. Superlatives are a shortcut to writing lazy copy because you want your product to sound amazing

A simple fix is to replace all of your superlatives with specifics.

You can actually work backwards like this.

1. Give your headline a superlative
2. Ask your product, sales, and marketing team why they think it's the greatest
3. Compare it with why customers say the product is so good or what it helps them achieve

You have to systematically break down why your product is so great.

Because hype does not equal persuasion.

In my experience, there's always a disconnect between telling someone how great your product is vs. showing them

Your team wants to hype up the product. Your team wants to impress by throwing in superlatives (and it actually causes skepticism)

Your product doesn't sell more on the hype you give it.

Your product will sell more based on the hype your customers give it.

B2B healthcare emails are still wildly underused (and undervalued).

Most B2B emails in general are webinars, updates, or "see you at the next conference" emails.

There's a real lack of emails that drive storytelling, take readers from unaware to problem aware, segment, or even highlight a real and relevant problem.

A core positioning narrative fixes a lot of this (if you can take it from your deck to your emails).

That means your nurture emails know how to frame a problem. Your outbound emails have a strong POV. Your product emails read like real value differentiators. 

Sure, you can still write emails without the perfect pitch deck or even without a pitch deck at all. 

But everything falls into place when you have a strong narrative to guide the copy across your emails for your marketing and sales teams.

Your emails aren't a checkbox on your calendar.

They should feel like they are actually checking off your core ICP's "we need that" checkbox.

Here’s a pattern I see in nearly every B2B company:

You ask customers what they love. And they tell you.

You find it insightful. It’s emotional gold.

Then someone says,

“Yeah, but that’s not really our core narrative.” Translation: The story doesn’t match the one we already told ourselves.

This is the down low: If the story in your deck and the story in your customer's heads don’t align, you’re not leading the market. 

Great positioning starts with observation, not invention.

You’re not creating the story out of thin air. You’re clarifying the one that’s already working in the market.

You're listening so deeply that your next headline feels like something they said first.

That’s when positioning stops feeling like marketing.

Here's a super tactical, strategic, and mind-blowing way to improve your B2B positioning and copywriting in 2026.

- Hire Ben Watkins
- Hire Ben Watkins
- Hire Ben Watkins

My hobbies for December. 

Also my hobbies from January through November.

Why do so many B2B landing page hero sections fall short?

Because there's no clear differentiation (and a lack of empathy).

When your positioning story is told through the lens of your segment and how you're different, the messaging falls into place.

Then you tighten that messaging by getting more specific and pulling in empathy.

Landing page hero sections should get the reader to stop because they realize it's for them and what you can do for them.

How are you dialing in your B2B emails?

Positioning gives you the roadmap. But there's always a challenge of getting that story onto your emails.

I created a mapping checklist for email. And it also involved asking the right questions:

- What copy formula aligns with the buyers' awareness?
- Where can I find the voice of the customer?
- Why won't prospects take action?
- How can I reframe stories to shift perspectives?
- What's the next "yes" I'm selling?
- What's generic that I can cut from the messaging?
- What's the cost of inaction?
- What's the enemy of my messaging?
- Is this message worth forwarding to someone I know?
- What would be the most highlighted sentence in this message?

These are questions I'm constantly asking as I write B2B emails (to bring that positioning to life).

Why is it so hard to show the value of your features?

Because we always stop at benefits (feels safer without getting overly promisy and maybe risky).

In B2B healthcare and life sciences, you need to continue to map it to a goal the customer is trying to achieve (h/t to April Dunford for this inspiration).

To get value clarity, you have to keep asking, "so what, so what, so what, so what" to drive home that specific question. 

But don't just arrive at a general vague business value that isn't attached to anyone or any scenario.

Your features to value mapping becomes more powerful when you can:

1. Attach it to a use case
2. Know the value clarity for who benefits the most
3. Know who loses the most with the consequences of not taking action

Getting more into the weeds with this stuff in the next few weeks.

taplio

The Battle

James Laurain

Benjamin Watkins

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The Battle

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Benjamin Watkins's LinkedIn Performance

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