RE: Great piece on marketing collateral

[Mailing List <mlist -at- ca -dot- safenet-inc -dot- com>]

Mark Baker went on to say:
> More than this, how could technical writers, who presumably 
> know that they
> are supposed to be creating task-oriented documentation, and therefore
> focusing specifically on how the product enables the user's 
> tasks, possibly
> do their jobs at all without thoroughly understanding the 
> benefits of the
> product?

> Technical Communication is nothing more or less than 
> after-sales marketing
> literature whose sole commercial purpose is to ensure that 
> the customer
> realizes and enjoys the full benefit of the product they have 
> purchased so
> that they buy more in the future and tell their friends about it.

All very fine, but the sub-thread started when somebody 
mentioned stuff like "Increases your sales!" "Moves data 
three times faster!" (i'm paraphrasing, cuz I'm too lazy 
to go back for the originals).

The point that I'd like you to get is that "Increases sales" 
does NOT belong in a technical document, unless the product 
is a sales-generator machine, that when you press the button 
spits out sales.

The docs should also not make any relative claims unless 
those claims are specific and detailed, including details 
like: "Relative to what, exactly??"

Naturally, Sales and Marketing want to give the impression 
of "better, stronger, faster, nicer-smelling... compared 
to the competition".  But if you *don't* mention the 
competition by name, then the claims and adjectives are 
hollow bumpf that stands between the reader and the 
information for which s/he came. If you *do* mention the 
competition by name, you need independent figures on both 
your numbers and theirs. If the product is new -- the time 
when most techy docs get released -- the independent 
testing labs and industry-press reviewers have yet to 
receive your product for review.

Even words like "superior" or "excellent" are empty 
and silly unless quantified. If you quantify in a vacuum, 
that's just a table of performance figures, and has 
every right to be in a user doc or reference guide (in 
an appendix, in the back). But as soon as you trot out 
adjectives, the bread and butter of marcomm, you have 
to compare with something meaningful to the potential 
customer.  So don't use empty words. 

Even if your adjectives are correct and are backed up 
by real-world data, that only applies when they are 
published. But the reader sees those claims when he or 
she reads the document. The truth of your claims may 
have expired last year (when the competition unveiled 
their upgraded product, two months after you did), but 
those claims are still there in black'n'white in the 
manuals that you ship. Now the discerning customer 
wonders what else is incorrect in the document.

Tech docs are a part of the product. The best argument 
that any part of the product makes is that it works 
well. Techy docs work well when they are accurate, 
complete and accessible/usable enough that the user 
can get value out of the main product items, for which 
they've paid.

If those same docs can be waved at potential customers 
to *show* them how those docs will clearly and succinctly 
help them use the product, then they've fulfilled their 
marketing/sales function.

Everything that you put into a tech document that isn't 
helping me to get the best use out of your product is 
in my way, and I resent you for making me wade through it.

/kevin

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