Marketing vs. Technical Writing - Vive la Différence

During my 15 years working as an in-house marketing writer at four leading Israel-based technology companies, one of my pet peeves was being mistakenly referred to (despite my persistent corrections) as the “technical writer.” Don't get me wrong - I have the utmost respect for technical writers, who perform a very difficult and often thankless task (Confession #1: I started my professional writing career in the early 1990s as a technical writer at Amdocs).

The fact that most technical and marketing writers (aka marcom writer, copywriter) in Israel are immigrants from English-speaking countries and speak Hebrew with a funny accent makes it easy to group us together. However, what really bothered me all those years about being pigeonholed by the techies as a "tech writer" (even though the guy who wrote the user manuals sat right down the hall) was the underlying lack of knowledge as to the fundamental differences between technical writing and marketing writing. (Confession #2: I had the good fortune of working for companies with Marketing VPs that fully appreciated the distinction and need for both).

So let's straighten this out once and for all. Two key distinguishing factors between the disciplines of technical writing and marketing writing are their deliverables and the audience for which these deliverables are produced. Not surprisingly, technical writers produce technical documentation. This includes, but is not limited to, user manuals, maintenance and installation guides, API guides, release notes, technical training materials, and the like. The range of technical documentation varies depending on each company's product offering and organizational requirements. What is common to all of these materials is that they are provided to customers together with the actual product. In other words, they are part of the post-sale deliverables (together with training, support and the like).

Marketing, in general, and marketing writing, in particular, is a pre-sales activity. The materials created by the marketing writer include web content, white papers, brochures, case studies, ads, multimedia presentations and more. These deliverables serve as sales tools for use by the sales force in the field. In my view, an in-house marketing writer should always try to view the sales team as the "client," while the deliverables are the client’s ammunition on the battlefield. As part of the pre-sales process, the ultimate objective of a white paper or brochure (not to mention an advertisement) is to raise market awareness concerning a business need, generate interest in the company's solution and drive prospects to contact sales.

Marketing writing and technical writing are two separate disciplines, each requiring a specific set of skills, tools and knowledge. While the deliverables of each are usually cooked in the same language, the flavor is totally different. (Last aside: Reminds me of the allusion to the Americans and British as "two peoples separated by a common language").

So the next time you run into that English speaker in the company kitchen, show her that you understand the difference.