Re: Tech writing to Marcom: Help

[Bill -dot- Sullivan -at- psd -dot- invensys -dot- com]

One of my very first jobs in life was as a junior copywriter in a very
large advertising agency where I wrote ads and collateral materials
(marcom) aimed at the grocery trade. Our client was a very large food
company. One of the things our client was praised for was the job it did in
maintaining a good relationship with the grocers of the world. When you
start writing your marcom materials, it might be a good idea to think not
only about your end user but at the entire chain of individuals in between,
the people involved in the buying and selling of your product. Try to
figure out who they are and what they want, and promise to give it to them.

A valuable lesson I learned from that experience was to consider the simple
things that people want that I could offer them. In the grocery trade, it
was simply profit. I kept telling them we had the means to greater profits.
Later, when I did subscription promotion work for a string of business
journals, I focused on ideas that would save time and money for your
company. I suppose there was a subtext in there that if you had good ideas
you likely would get a promotion or a raise. I think it is always good to
try to figure out the fundamental basic things your readers (or users) want
or need or should have. (There are differences).

That's a simple iteration of philosophy, a two-semester course in two
paragraphs. The people in marcom who visit my cubicle usually borrow my
copy of Janice King's good book and also Ogilvy on Advertising which may be
in your local library if you can't buy a copy. On page 118, there is a
wonderful ad that I clipped and pinned to my office wall many many years
ago, and some of our marcom writers have it copied and pinned it up today.
It's a trade ad for McGraw-Hill Magazines and it's got a photo of an
executive-type male in gray suit, white shirt, and bow tie. He is sitting
in a swivel chair and glaring at the camera. The text is: "I don't know who
you are. I don't know your company. I don't know your company's product. I
don't know what your company stands for. I don't know your company's
customers. I don't know your company's record. I don't know your company's
reputation. Now--what was it was you wanted to sell me?"

Have fun in marcom!

Bill Sullivan
San Diego, CA


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