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Personally, I didn't find that particular article any more poorly written than most of what comes across my desk in these days of scholastic desuetude.
As for the sentence fragments, to me it simply continues the trend started in advertising writing many decades ago along with all the jammed-together words we have all come to accept to the point that many people expect the *correct* form to be MicroSoft (which, of course, is wrong).
I did not read the article as suggesting that "...nobody reads marketing collateral" but the somewhat more subtle and more likely correct point that we must aim marketing collateral both at the audience in general and the occasion in particular. I have observed enough sales opportunities to concur that for most prospective customers, the sales presentation is not the time to hand over very long and detailed collateral pieces (unless requested)--and that, as a general rule, providing such lengthy bits to a customer who is not inquiring on his own about an item is likewise often counterproductive. In general, I believe that sales are made on emotion and justified with logic. Thus, preliminary sales collateral should focus on stimulating the interest, with the detailed treatment being used at the justification stage.
Therefore, I also agree with the writer that a good marketing communicator should carefully observe the sales process and create materials that are best focused on the way the sales cycle actually happens, and that will provide the best possible ammunition for the sales force involved.
The fact that *this* particular list might find such things amusing should surprise no one, given that only some percentage of us are also in the marketing communications business. For the rest, it might be instructive to remember that not everyone values the technical communicator, either. Just as we read countless articles in the trade journals crying that, like Rodney Dangerfield, "...we don't get no respect"--so too do the marketing communicators have to contend with the same sort of problem. However, I would have thought that if anyone might understand the problem it might have been the tech writers.
David
-----Original Message from Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>-----
Actually, I find this particular exchange more disturbing than
amusing. What's happened here is that a marketing person has
written an article for other marketing people that presents the
message that nobody reads marketing collateral so it doesn't
support a sales force and either shouldn't be written or should
be minimalized. ...
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