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Where I work (a small software company), the technical writers do not
write marketing materials. We (there are only two of us, although a third
writer starts on Oct 1) report to the VP of development, and the manuals
and help systems are our first priority.
However, it is company policy that anything that is going out to more
than one person *must* be reviewed by one of us first. Why? We are the
only trained writers in the company, and we have the best eye for
grammatical and stylistic errors. We also know the product, and have on
more than one occasion spotted technical errors caused by marketing or
sales people writing a piece based only on what the programmers told
them, not on their own experience with the product. Sometimes the
programmer jargon gets translated incorrectly.
I like doing whatever I can to promote the company's professional image
through clear, accurate writing. Of course, the manuals and helps come
first, but since we only edit the marketing materials, we can usually fit
them in without jeopardizing the user documentation.
