“There’s an industry analyst who knows our company and competitors very well,” said the marketing manager. “He’s pretty accessible, and he has the reputation for calling b.s. whenever we put it in front of him. Shall we show him the white paper you’re writing?”

Uhh…maybe not so much.

Early on, I wasn’t in favor of that. “We’re not writing the paper for analysts,” I countered. “We’re writing it for prospects. It might be valuable to brief him on the paper and make sure we’re not leaving anything out, but it wouldn’t be like testing the paper on an ideal reader.”

Then we went through two months of edits, rewrites, reviews, put-this-in, take-that-out, back, forth and sideways. The marketing manager brought up the topic of the analyst again. I had begun to come around.

The analyst’s perspective

Why show your white paper to an analyst? After all, they’re known for writing, but they’re not know for writing very interesting stuff.

Don’t expect an analyst to say, “You need better transitions from this section to the next one,” or “I think you need a catchier introduction.” Those things are important to ensure you engage your readers and leave them wanting more, but analysts aren’t looking at it that way.

In the short run, you want the analyst to say, “Mommy bloggers are increasing in clout, and you should broaden this first section to include them,” or “Don’t put the words ‘cloud computing‘ in the title. It’s worn out.”

In the long run, you want the analyst to tell her other clients about you. “Why are you doing this in software?” you want her to say. “Tchotchke Technologies wrote a paper on how they do it in hardware that’s ten times faster. You could triple your sales.” Or, “Take a look at Tchotchke. They’ve just put out a paper on what they’re doing, but they’re not in Europe yet. I think you could find ways to complement each other.”

Don’t show your white paper to analysts because of how they write. Show it to them because of the people they talk to.

Does it affect your content?

Should your marketing communications writer create the paper any differently, knowing that you’re going to show it to an analyst?

Yes.

He should write it better.

The analyst becomes the ideal reader. The message has to be crisp, well delivered and memorable. You were going to have your writer do that anyway, but now that you can describe your ideal reader and the conversation you want her to have, you can double-down on clarity and message.

And whatever you do, don’t give an analyst a brochure disguised as a white paper. It wastes your time and annoys the analyst.

John White of venTAJA Marketing is a marketing communications writer for technology companies. He posts about technology writing from the perspective of the marketing manager. It’s dirty work, but somebody has to do it. Download his eBook, “10 Questions to Ask When Hiring Your Marketing Communications Writer.”

photo credit: San Jose Library

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Have you worked out your company’s messaging yet? How many different messages do you have? Have you shared them with your marketing communication writers? Better get on it.

I was at lunch with three execs of a prospective client the other day. They want me to help them tell their story with new content, so we spent the first part of the hour talking about white papers, Web content, case studies, brochures, blog posts and Facebook.

“Hold on,” I interrupted. “That’s all about format. We need to talk about messaging first. What is it that you want to say to people? How are you going to demonstrate to them what makes you unique?”

I need to understand how their company is different from the competition, and messaging is a big part of that. Otherwise, we’ll end up with a lot of me-too content.

This company operates in what is commonly thought of as a commodity industry: the average customer buys on price and (if the company is lucky) grows to discover and value unique differentiators. So the goal of the marketing content is to describe those differentiators from the start so that the initial sale is not strictly about price.

Here’s what they said, and how it struck me:

• The business development manager said, “That’s easy. We’re quite simply the best at what we do.” Well, that’s pretty heartfelt, and it may even be true, but it makes for pretty lousy copy. I can’t go anywhere with it .
• The CEO said, “We’re small and we’re private, and we plan to stay that way. Some of our competitors are focused too much on being acquired, so they take their eye off the ball and quality suffers. We don’t have that problem.” That’s worth being proud of, and it may even add up to a message, but most customers don’t care who owns your stock; they care about their problems, and a vendor’s ownership structure rarely matters to resolving those problems.
• The director of sales says, “We’re able to help our customers align our services with their business objectives.” It sounds pretty dull and hollow when you put it like that, but it’s better than the other two. It’s the kind of thing a customer might say after a few years of working with the company. We might be able to take it somewhere as a theme.

The Point: This company is in need of content, but they have yet to decide on a message. There’s no harm in using each of these disparate ideas as talking points, but:

1. they need to add up to something;
2. they need to add up to something that customers care about; and
3. they need to make sense to me so that I can use them.

John White of venTAJA Marketing is a marketing communications writer for technology companies. He posts about technology writing from the perspective of the marketing manager. It’s dirty work, but somebody has to do it. He also publishes a newsletter with more tips on working with your writers.

photo credit: Wilfrid CC3.0

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“Marketing communications” and “I promise” don’t always fit in the same thought, but they should. Once you make the commitment to your customers, your marketing communications writer can convey it.

There’s nothing more discouraging than a broken promise, and nothing more encouraging than an honored one.

Which one do you want to make to your followers, prospects and customers?

Figure Out Your Promise

Sonia Simone of Copyblogger renown writes about promises in the context of sales copy in part 6 of her series, “Internet Marketing for Smart People”:

In a more content-driven sales system, you don’t use a single letter like this one to deliver your entire sales message.

Instead, you figure out the most important promises you’re making, and you create content that addresses each one.

…

The first thing you need to think about is what kind of “big promise” you can make to your audience.

I’ve mentioned that the lot of the marketing manager is to start conversations, but what if you spent some time figuring out what your organization’s promise is? What are you in business to promise people, and deliver on?

Sonia again:

What pressing problem do you solve?
What pain do you remove?
What value do you add?
What pleasure do you create?
What freedom do you permit?
What connection do you allow?

Do you think of your company that way? Isn’t that what marketing managers should do?

Build Content around Your Promise

Once you’ve figured out the promise you can reliably deliver on (without going out of business), you need to baptize your writer in it. It’s as important as your message, maybe more so.

She then needs to wrap your content around the promise, with sentences as forthright and determined as the promise itself:

• “Readers of this white paper will find three solid reasons and the data behind them to build their own business case for mobile content personalization technology.”
• “Don’t see your industry, use case or price range among our case studies? Call us, and if we don’t have what you’re looking for, we’ll tell you so right away.”
• “If you’re tired of never being able to find anything on your company’s portal, click here for a demo of our search technology. Within 60 seconds, you’ll know whether it’s right for you or not.”
• “I believe the time to act on teens’ behalf is now. Sooner or later the teen or teens you care about are going to be facing the issues this product addresses, so you can make an investment now, or attempt damage control later. I don’t know why you’d choose the latter.” (from Josh Shipp)

Do you know what your company’s promise is? If so, can you get your writer to convey it? If not, can you get the ball rolling and find out what it is?

John White of venTAJA Marketing posts about technology writing from the perspective of the marketing manager. It’s dirty work, but somebody has to do it.

photo credit: kayladavis

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Lead, and your writers will follow.

Most of your followers in social media are external, but don’t forget to build a following among your writers as well.

As a marketing manager, your social media efforts are mostly outward-facing: start conversations with prospects, curry favor with journalists, keep existing customers engaged and inform investors.

Have you tried using social media for internal followers? How about your marketing communications writers? Even if they’re freelancers – even if they’re not your writers – you can build a base of followers among them.

Today, I saw a post in Yammer – a kind of internal Twitter – from a marketing manager in another division:

I’m building a mail list and a Yammer group of writers. If you’re involved in writing PR, marcom or technical materials, and would be interested in info-exchange with others on the front line, please reply with your contact info.

I liked the post (by clicking “Like”), and I like the idea as a way of building an internal following among technology marketing writers. What can this manager do with this following?

1. He can grow it into a forum in which marketing communications writers bounce ideas and questions off of one another.
2. He can put it in his pocket and call it a successful proof of concept for internal social media.
3. He can mine it for writing talent when he needs some.
4. He can lead it, to make sure that its members know corporate messaging and direction.

If you could get your writers to follow you – instead of just taking instructions from you and delivering copy – where would you lead them?

John White of venTAJA Marketing posts about technology writing from the perspective of the marketing manager. It’s dirty work, but somebody has to do it.

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Writer on the wrong path?

White papers – or any long pieces – need structure, and you need to agree on the structure before you write the paper. Be sure your writer includes these elements in an outline.

How often do you get started down a path in your work, only to realize you have to backtrack and go down a different path? Is there anything more frustrating than discarding work you’ve already done and restarting it?

For example, your marketing communications writer interviews three subject matter experts for a white paper you’ve commissioned, then writes up the interviews and sends you a draft. You read it. You scream.

“No!!!” you holler. “This isn’t where I want this to go. We have to tear this down and start over.”

White paper draft gone astray

Here’s what can go wrong on a long piece when the writer just dives in and goes straight to the draft:

• Off-topic – “This isn’t what I wanted you to write about,” you complain. “I don’t want the paper to describe the history of the industry. I want it to describe our technology.”
• Off-fact – Does the draft cover the facts I want in it? Think Thomas More in Utopia: “Include nothing false, omit nothing true.”
• Off-message – The white paper supports an organization’s goal and message – thought leadership, lead generation, sales support – and each paragraph needs to move the reader in that direction. If I’m trying to build trust over time, don’t give me content that bellows “Buy Now!”

You need to see structure before you see the draft. A good writer will take care of that for you by first providing an outline.

White paper outline

Look for these four elements in the outline of a marketing or technical white paper:

1. Summary – Sometimes airily called “Executive Summary” – hey, we’re all executives now, so let’s get over this – this will tell readers what they’re going to get out of the paper, and in a draft it tells you what the writer understands about the subject. Frankly, most people would argue that draft-stage is too early for a summary, but it shows you which path your marketing communications writer intends to take the reader. If you don’t like it, this is a good time to let her know.
2. Main messages – Three (count ‘em) bullets in a box either just before or just after the Summary. Bullet 1 states the problem and why it costs customers time and money; bullet 2 mentions the inflection point, or why things are ripe for change; and bullet 3 vaguely describes the new solution and how it will help customers save time and money. The writer must get these right, and you must agree with them.
3. Bullets for the rest – A reasonably well thought-out series of bullets that build the argument yet give readers the impression that they’re drawing their own conclusions from facts you’re presenting. Be sure they include nothing false and omit nothing true.
4. For More Information (How to Follow Us) – Homework for you. The writer isn’t responsible for what you want readers to do once they’ve finished the paper; that’s your job. By including this in the outline, the writer is giving you time to talk to Customer Service or your sales team or your Web team and put the plumbing in place for readers who want to take the next step.

Isn’t this the kind of structure you want when you’re spending big money on a project like this? What do you put in place to keep your writer from going too far down the wrong path?

John White of venTAJA Marketing posts about technology writing from the perspective of the marketing manager. It’s dirty work, but somebody has to do it.

photocredit: pfly

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Put out great content

Half the art to getting found on the Web involves putting out great content. Your marketing communications writer needs to know this and produce accordingly.

A post at Problogger this week extols the virtues of linking to other content on the Web:  Linking reinforces the relationships – both human and digital – that make the Web go round. A quote at the end of the post from Google’s Matt Cutts:

I would recommend the first-order things to pay attention to are making great content that will attract links in the first place…

Your writer needs to know that her job is not merely to generate copy to keep up with everybody else. Her job is to create valuable content that will attract eyeballs and prospects and links (“oh, my!”).

Here are three things that will help her succeed in that:

1. Your keyword basket. If you’ve done the research and know the keywords you’re chasing, use them liberally. After you’ve enhanced your Web pages with them, have your marketing communications writer use them in press releases, white papers, case studies, blog posts and industry articles.
2. Your messaging. “Great content” is the right message in front of the right reader, eliciting the right response. If your messaging emphasizes how safe your products are, you don’t want your writer wasting words on how economical they are; that’s off-message. As a marketing manager, you should know your messaging and be able to articulate it to outside writers.
3. Your competitors’ copy. While your competitors zig, you should zag. Whatever they’re doing in their copy, you should be doing something else. A good writer can use competing copy like a bumper on a billiard table to bounce your content into a different direction and help you position yourself differently.

Once you have the great content, you can take it to the Web and social media teams and have them hang it in all the right places.

photo credit: WolfgangRieger

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Our new writer hasn’t.

Actually, that’s a good thing.

Funny how several of us are quick to reject the writer’s tainted perspective on our products and specialties just because ‘taint ours.

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Let’s assume that you’ve hired the writer, or that he has hired you. What next?

Target Reader

The first thing we need to discuss with the writer is your target reader: Whose attention do you want to get, and what floats that person’s boat? Some knives with which to cut this include:

• Point in the sales cycle – Do you want material for early in the cycle, when you’re acquainting the prospect with your product, or later, when it’s time to open the hood and describe what’s inside?
• Sophistication – Some prospects don’t need or want much information before they buy, but it might take you a dozen of those easy sales to make up one hard but enduringly lucrative. You can’t use the same piece on both audiences.
• Messaging – Is your internal message fully baked yet? I’ve seen marketing teams walk away from a willing and able writer because the thought-leadership paper they wanted required a solid, unambiguous message and a soul-search upon which they had not yet embarked. The writer’s line of questions, while tactfully posed, made everybody realize the company still had too much homework to do on its intended market.

Once you’ve worked out the target reader, you can decide which materials – white paper, case study, Web content, technical article, blog – are the best fit.

Unique Value Proposition

Next, you need to describe your service or product in terms that will make it appear unique to that target reader. It needn’t be unique in the entire universe, but it will need to make you stand out from your competitors in the eyes of target readers, given their level of knowledge about your industry.

So, if you’re selling language translation services, don’t waste time and money writing something indistinguishable from what your competitors write. If you’ve armed the writer with enough information about you, she’ll write a document that could only be true about you.

Tell a Story About Solving the Customer’s Problem

Finally, here’s Big Surprise #1 for the 21st century:

Nobody cares about you, your company or your products. People care about whether you can solve their problem.

Big Surprise #2 is:

People love a good story.

Can your writer marry these two and tell a story about how you can solve the reader’s problem?

Now that’s writing.

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I spend a lot of time reminding – “pestering” is a less compassionate way of putting it – reviewers to turn copy around, because writers need time to incorporate changes, and some reviewers forget that until the eleventh hour, then expect final copy in no time flat.

An “E” occurred to me as the best shape in which to describe this; hence, the figure.

The lower you are in the organization – say, a marketing coordinator or below – the longer it takes you to run a review loop and return the draft to the writer. This is because you’re not empowered to make decisions about such things and need to route them around the organization among those who are so empowered.

Paradoxically, the higher you are in the organization – say, a vice president or above – the longer it takes you ALSO to run a review loop and return the draft to the writer. This is because you are very busy putting out fires and your time is precious.

If you’re in the middle of the organization, however, you can run a pretty short review loop and keep the project moving. You understand the project, you know whether the draft meets the organization’s goals, and you’re already responsible for outward-facing content.

It goes deeper. In the middle of the organization, you probably view the writer as a peer, rather than as a superior or a subordinate. It’s easier for you to sympathize with a good writer’s objective – to do a good job in the shortest time possible – and easier for you to want the writer to succeed.

Do you see this “E” as you route drafts through your organization? How do you deal with it?

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Oh. Yeah. Let’s work on that, shall we?

Charles Kettering, inventor of the electric car-starter, founder of Delco and head of GM’s research labs until 1947, made this observation in a Depression-era speech to a group of advertising executives. Later in the speech he said, “Research is simply to find out what you are going to do when you can’t keep on doing what you are doing now.”*

Consider the following:

• Is it easier to buy a typewriter or a personal computer nowadays?
• Someday there will be no more oil. Anywhere.
• How do you feel about automakers needing a bailout?

Elsewhere in your building, product managers and engineers are sweating over what kind of products your company is going to build when it can no longer make money with the ones you’ve been selling up to now. The sand is shifting, so don’t wait to be surprised.

• Figure out how to be a fly on the wall. I worked for a software company that had done data compression for 10 years. It chose to reinvent itself by acquiring a remote control software company. The employees who figured out about remote control soonest were the ones kept on.
• Think about how you and your team are going to have to market differently – trade shows, publications, where/how you advertise. The company will probably exasperate you with its tergiversation, but don’t sit idle while the execs make up their mind – stick with them and keep coming up with new ideas.
• Make sure your writers are up to it. What good is the best buggy-whip marketing writer going to do you when the horse is no longer the dominant means of transportation? Can they write Web content, or can they only think in terms of column-inches and 20th-century attention spans?

You need to be ready to do the marketing when the company comes up with products that people want to buy again.

(Thanks to John Katsaros’ Infrastructure 2.1 Newsletter for the idea this week.)

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