Re: Repost of marketing question.

Subject: Re: Repost of marketing question.
From: Bill -dot- Sullivan -at- psd -dot- invensys -dot- com
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 10:48:04 -0700


I would hate to see this discussion get into a them (marcom) and us
(technical communication) thing. I suspect that many a technical writer
could learn a lot from studying the work and work philosophy of good
writers of advertising and direct marketing. (Try Ogilvy on Advertising,
for example.) Good ad writers sense (or have research on) what their
readers want or need, and they know how to get to the point in a hurry.
Direct marketers enjoy the luxury of being able to trace sales to copy.
They know what works. My apologies to the anal-retentive, but the end
justifies the means.

I am not sure I know what rules you are talking about. Both marcom and TC
can be said to be about getting information to people quickly and simply.
That's rule enough for me. In TC it's usually information to help people do
a job in some way. In marcom, it's information to influence a sale,
generally with the focus on features and benefits. In advertising and
marketing, you have to learn to write so you hit the benefits ("surfing at
light speed") while being unsubtle about telling them what you want them to
do (subscribe to ACME). It's not as easy as it sounds. I compare it to good
technical writing that is oriented toward tasks and goals.

So if I was to edit this ad, I might quietly punctuate the genitive in the
first sentence, and I know I would consider rewriting to get to the benefit
quicker and with a little more of what I choose to call romance.
Conservative thinker that I am, I would probably be strongly tempted to
delete the phrase "get on with life."

In my years in advertising and direct marketing, I observed that people who
have never written advertising for a living always seem to think they know
more than the people who have successfully worked at it. I used to be one
of these people myself. The truth (overlooked) is that often what appeals
to people who might buy your product isn't very pretty, and it doesn't have
to be. Sometimes the choice is to either sell product or have copy that
doesn't raise the blood pressure of people who think they know better.

Actually, the more I look at the ad the better I like it -- the premise if
not the execution. It's about speed, or saving time, or not getting irate
because your computer loads too slow. The writer pushes good buttons with
two months free, free installation, free equipment, and a money-back
guarantee. This is not the kind of stuff that lends itself to poetry or
other forms of beauty. We aren't selling Rolls-Royces here. I would say
that you should take it easy on marcom, unless you become aware that sales
are in a decline.

Bill Sullivan


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