RE: Shazam! You're a marketing writer!

["Al Geist" <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>]

Having done both, I would say that with marketing writing, you focus on the
benefits and don't gob up the page with lists of features...and, just like
technical writing, know your audience.

"That's nice that it has a billion gigablitz thermofracting wine cooler, but
how is that going to help me run my business? How will it make life easier
for me?" (Me, of course, is the person approving the purchase of your wine
cooler.)

One company I worked for in the capacity of Technical/Marketing writer used
to pack their convention banners and magazine ads with a pretty picture and
lists of features; the same material that filled the features section of
their operating guides.

While their product did blow away the competition and their existing
customer base was techies, they were also trying to enter new markets and
the campaign wasn't working like it did with their old reliable customer
base. We changed the approach to highlight the top features, but in such a
manner that the viewer understood how those features benefited their
operation. We used the same approach to their web presence...kept the
features, but added use cases and testimonials. Sales increased dramatically
into new markets without loosing any of their existing customer base. In
fact, a number of old customers were amazed at the size of the company's
product line.

Al Geist
Technical Communicator, Help, Web Design, Video, Photography
Office/Msg: 802-872-9190
Cell: 802-578-3964
E-mail: al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com
Website: www.geistassociates.com
See Also:
Fine Art Photography
Website: www.geistarts.com
 
"...I walked to work, quit my job, and kept walking. Better to be a pilgrim
without a destination, I figured, than to cross the wrong threshold each
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