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Tech writing vs. marketing writing, was: Re: Having a killer resume
Subject:Tech writing vs. marketing writing, was: Re: Having a killer resume From:David Neeley <dbneeley -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 2 Oct 2002 10:54:10 -0700 (PDT)
Bruce,
Finally, something you have said that I disagree with,
in part at least.
Obviously, there is a great difference between
technical documentation writing and marketing writing.
It is still true, though, that the majority of writing
in both disciplines is pedestrian at best.
Still, you hold the view that writing "...especially
in high-tech, where many customers want the technical
details" should avoid "sales pizazz."
I submit that anyone who writes such obvious "sales
pizazz" is likely not an effective marketing
communicator. However, the bulk of people looking to
buy or use a technical product are only secondarily
looking for technical details.
First, they are wanting to discover what *benefits*
the product will give *them.*
In technical writing, this may be analogous to the
introductory part of an individual "chunk" in an
information-mapped section. In that part, rarely more
than a paragraph or so, the user can quickly find out
*why* to use this particular procedure.
In this manner, good technical writing has distinct
parallels to good marketing writing. For maximum
voluntary compliance, the reader simply needs
motivation from understanding the "why" issues as well
as the "how" ones.
David
----------------original (snipped!)--------------
I mentioned this in another post this morning, but I
think the point worth repeating for emphasis: "sales
pizazz" is the mark of an amateur marketer...
In this milieu, effective marketing is a matter of
emphasizing the truth without every over-promising, or
scaring readers off with buzz words that make you
sound like just another con artist.
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