RE: Tech Pubs vs MarCom

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

quills -at- airmail -dot- net wrote:
 
> As my wife made the transition from pure tech writing to MarCom, I can
> speak from her experience, and I get to listen in to her phone
> conference / converstations (we share a home office). I agree that
good
> marketing writing is demanding. However, there are a lot of dumb or
> simply clueless people in MarCom who are passing "creativity" off as
> good marketing. And yes, bad marketing does pass, and does get
perpetuated.

True, of course. Just as there are people in TechPubs who are passing
off unreadable 700-page user manuals as good technical writing. Much the
same is true of all fields of endeavor. 

One way of expressing this truth is Sturgeon's Law, which states (in the
clean version, and with tongue in cheek) that "90% of everything is
crud."

Another way to look at it is that we don't live in Lake Woebegon and
thus can't all be above average. :-)

That said, Brad is exactly right. Tech writers who treat MarCom (or any
other part of the organization) as an adversary or enemy are harming
themselves, their dept., and their company. 

IMHO, of course. 


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------






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