Re: Job Market: More Openings for Marcom than Tech-Writing?

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

"Giordano, Connie" wrote:

> Would that it were so!

It could just be random chance or a local anomaly, then.

Or maybe companies will pay for a quick Marcom fix faster than they will for
some tech-writing - if only because the execs have a better idea of what it's
about?

> However, I am seeing a trend towards incorporating both in a single
> communications position-which makes me a bit of trend setter, since I've
> spent about the same amount of time in each niche.  Wow, who'duv thunk it?

Scary thought, isn't it? Don't worry - if you're like me, the times in which
you'll be a trend-setter shouldn't last long :-)

But I suspect that this trend makes sense for any company concerned with
cost-cutting. At smaller companies, there isn't really a need for full-time
marketing writers, or media and investor relations managers, so all the writing
can be lumped together without much more than a slight increase in the writer's
blood pressure.

> Those that are considering a move, the methodologies are more similar than
> might first appear, however, the mindset tends to be VERY different.  You
> must know your product, and your audiences, and craft the messages
> accordingly.  However, to be really successful in marcom, you need to be
> more mercenary than is generally true in tech com.

The switch is probably easier if you tend to see similarities rather than
differences (that is, to see all writing as variations on the same basic task),
and to approach a new type of writing as simply a switch of genres (that is, as
a set of conventions to learn).

Even so, the switch takes some practice. I just finished working with a client
who insisted on writing his own ad copy, which contained some of the typical
beginner mistakes, such as a general hard sell approach and using adjectives to
tell readers what to think instead of leading them to the thoughts. Very painful
to watch - especially since his hard sell was aimed at advertising
professionals, probably the audience on the planet least likely to accept a hard
sell. Still, it had its morbid fascination, just as watching a car crash does
when you can't do anything about it.

--
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7177

"Work and work, you won't get cold
Sleep in  your boots. don't get old
Stand on your own feet, ready or not
It's friendly fire...but you still get shot."
-OysterBand, "On the Edge



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