Does marketing and technical writing mix

[David Fredericks <DavidF -at- APC -dot- NET>]

Some TWs, amazingly, see marketing and technical writing as water and
oil . . . activities that don't mix. But such thinking betrays a naive
and damaging level of thinking that explains why many technical
companies don't make it in the marketplace. Engineers and programmers
are more likely to perpetuate this myth than are writers and artists
(I was a field engineer for years). This is a residue from an ancient
era.  Any writer with a modicum of creativity (salesmanship) and
knowledge of how business works understands that the marketing
perspective is important to everybody, from the janitor to the
president. 
 
The truth of this should be obvious to all writers because marketing
is the sum total of activities that has to do with the transfer of
goods and services from the seller to the buyer. Nobody works if
companies don't do everything possible to market and nurture their
products and services to all users. Naturally, a company's written
communications, internal and external, is a big component in
marketing.
 
Unlike many technical writers, I have for 20-plus years straddled the
disciplines of technical writing and marketing/public relations/
advertising writing. Which has been wonderful. 
 
1) it prevents burnout.
2) it broadens your ability, writing, skill and knowledge.
3) it fattens your paycheck.
4) it gives you job security.
5) it adds tremendous value to your writing talent and service.
6) it add visibility to writing activity, thereby adding to the
respect of our profession.
 
And anybody who has ever worked with a technical writer who also
writes print ads, brochures, proposals, articles, direct mail, etc.,
knows the technical writing skills of these people is markedly
superior than that of those who cannot, especially those troglodytes
who are contemptuous of the people who can communicate on a human
level.