Obvious without Sounding Trite

I am working on a corporate sales presentation for a company in the broadband test and measurement market. I had an exchange of emails with one of their marketing people today regarding some language he wanted me to consider using. He included his suggestions in an email where, in general, he said he liked the draft copy I had written.

Making it simple, but not stupid, is usually best.

Obviously, this is a tricky situation, fraught with danger for the contract writer. On the one hand, the client says he likes what I wrote. At the same time, he offers some suggested language of his own. The temptation is to return the favor and compliment his writing, even if it's not that great. Here's my response:

"Glad you like it. This isn't easy.

"Your company has a very compelling and clear case. The challenge is to say it in a way that is obvious without sounding trite (and, as you suggested before, without turning people off). My hesitation with the language you sent is that it sounds too much like "buy us because we are very good at what we do." Everyone should be very good at what they do. That's a lowest common denominator. That's different than saying "there's a new standard for success in this industry, this is what it is, and you need suppliers who are up to that standard."

That's the test, isn't it? Make a point so crystal clear and concise that no further explanation is required (who has time?) yet doesn't insult the reader's intelligence. I also think the closer you are to a technology, the harder that is to do. Simple things are always the hardest to pull off, technically. And when you've done it, the natural tendency is to go out of your way to make the value proposition more complex than it has to be. Making it simple, but not stupid, is usually best.

Another Satisfied Customer

My most recent writing project for Enigma reflects very well the complete lifecycle of a successful client engagement.

"The output turned out to be a masterpiece which reflects the messages Enigma would like to convey."

Like most of my clients, Enigma responded to one of my postcard mailings. They already have a PR and marketing team in place and employed me to augment their writing capabilities, specifically with respect to white papers and solution briefs. The technology is complex -- integrated electronic documentation as applied to three key vertical markets: the military, vehicle OEMs, and service and repair organizations. They needed a writer to convey new and complex concepts in a compelling way that would resonate with the particular values of the respective target audiences. Engima obviously also wanted a writer whose own learning curve would not itself represent a bottleneck.

My recent Enigma white paper focuses on the vehicle dealer OEM. My content source was the Vice President of Technology Development. The paper required a single 45 minute interview and a 20 minute followup interview to go over the first draft. Paper length was about 11 pages or about 3500 words, with a diagram. I used a sidebar on page 1 as a preface to sell the paper to the reader without obstructing the reader's critical path to the key information. This preface, plus the title and the subtitle, answer the reader's question of "Why should I read this?"

So, you see, I am as proud of the engagement process and the overall presentation strategy, as I am of having simply written a technically competent paper. I like the way all the key elements played together, and I am really glad Enigma responded to my postcard. I think Engima is happy too. We've worked together for almost a year now and this is what my client emailed me last Friday:

Hi Randy,

I would like to thank you for very professional writing. The output turned out to be a masterpiece which reflects the messages Enigma would like to convey to automotive customers. Well done.

Where's the Content?

Content drives technology adoption. That's clear from the Apple iTune success story. And it's probably the lesson in high-tech TV as well. I don't know when the last time Apple had something on it's homepage besides an iPod commercial (watch, as soon as this post goes up, they'll probably announce another laptop). And according to today's BusinessWeek Online, a lot of IPTV investment is stalling out because the studios aren't forthcoming enough with product. When HBO faced the same barrier years ago, the article says, the cable network solved the problem by becoming its own content producer.

That might not be good for me because one of my clients is a major provider of IPTV technology.

People buy HBO for the Sopranos (and other content) just like they buy iPods for the music. I know in my own case, I haven't listened to this much music in years. Even if I never downloaded anything off iTunes, it's like my music collection suddenly became -- well, just a lot easier to listen to.

It's like that line from The Producers: "Everything is show business"

The thing is, every technology that ever took off, probably did because it suddenly made a lot of content people wanted really accessible: the web, ERP, Citrix software, RAID . . . whatever. They didn't have the chicken-and-egg problem of, say, 1950s TV where the reason people didn't buy more TVs was because there wasn't much to watch and the reason there wasn't much to watch was because there weren't many TVs. Good technology marketing finds content -- or makes it if it has to. Without the content, the product really doesn't exist. It's like that line from The Producers: "Everything is show business" -- even high tech.