December General Meeting Recap: Is Marcom for You?

by Marisa Latin, Quill Contributor

If you envision your audience asking 'what's in it for me,' then you're definitely a marketing communications (marcom) writer, as you'll see in this meeting recap.

In a presentation and panel discussion titled Technical Writing vs. Marketing Writing, Christy Simard, from The PEER Group, compared technical communication and marketing communication. She also provided detailed 'survival' tips regarding the team (who and what to identify and why), the message (what to research, outline, and get approved), the writing (the living process), and the reviews (what to expect and how to handle it). Above all, put your ego aside and consider all feedback.

Christy then joined our other talented guests, Richard Evers, currently at RIM, and Elaine Ruddock, from Campana, for a great panel discussion. Questions were directed by our Program Manager, Peter Szabo, and the audience.

The following table presents the highlights from this meeting, with the commonalities between the two sectors underlined.

Comparison	Techcom	Marcom
Purpose of Content	help people complete a task or understand a system convey product features	persuade people to action convey product benefits (what's in it for me that's more different than anyone else)
Subject	technical	technical
Audience	existing customer	potential customer
Goals	clear, correct, concise writing	engaging, convincing, compelling writing (you want them to have questions)
Content	facts	needs, emotions, what matters
Focus	details, structure, flow	speed, creativity, emotion
Timing	more hours per assignment (longer docs) fewer hours per page (eg. 4 hours for a complex help topic)	fewer hours per assignment (shorter docs) many more hours per page (takes longer to write one thing) (eg. 40 hours for a datasheet page)
Deadlines	longer based on engineering activities change less often may include multiple assignments	shorter based on 'compelling events' like trade shows, telephone campaigns change more often may include multiple assignments
Doc Type	user guides online help integrated assistance quick start cards reference manuals specifications presentations tutorials demonstrations text (sentences, paragraphs, lists, etc.) illustrations and diagrams charts and graphs tables and matrices definitions multi-media	press releases product blurbs data sheets success stories white papers proposals quotations artwork presentations tutorials demonstrations text (sentences, paragraphs, lists, etc.) illustrations & diagrams charts & graphs tables & matrices definitions multi-media *marketing materials are public domain that you can put into your portfolio
Production Requirements	don't need high quality (make your own print masters, etc.)	higher-quality production (full color printing, more artwork, pre-press setup)
Contacts	engineers trainers support staff	engineers trainers support staff designers photographers printers ad agencies marketing coordinators sales reps execs in sales and marketing
Work Style	established priorities predictable assignments covering the details knowing it's either right or wrong	changing priorities shifting schedules looking higher than the details more subjective feedback
Reviews	mostly SMEs (subject matter experts), and not many of them mostly critique technical content	more people review the doc heavy critiques (technical, words, etc.)
SME	developers (who work beyond the level you need to write at, forcing you to figure out the missing pieces of information and flesh out cryptic notes)	sales staff who know the audience people in your field (the marketing writer becomes the SME for marketing)

Why should you try marcom? It's fun, if you like to be creative and work on many different things. It will help you develop new skills and enhance your job security and career options. It will help you become a better technical writer as you develop the habit of asking what's in it for your audience.

How can you break in to marcom? Locate new resources. Find a mentor. Get some training. Practice.

What about the money? When you transfer to marcom, you'll probably start in a more junior position, so, depending on where you are now, the salary may be a bit lower to start. But your salary can jump higher, faster. Then again, marketing writers were the first to be laid off during economic downturns, so keep your other skills polished. (By the way, did you know that marcom projects are quoted at a fixed price, whereas techcom projects are priced per page?)

About Marisa Latin

Marisa has been a technical writer for over ten years and is currently at Inscriber. She lives with her lively family and long list of pets. In her spare time, you can find her seeking nature's wonders and capturing 'life' on camera.

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