The Best Technology is Proprietary

You want the “Oh, so that’s how they did it!” reaction without giving away the store.

One of the problems in writing promotional copy for technology buyers is that the best technology is proprietary -- in other words, how it works is a secret. But most technology buyers aren’t satisfied by marketing claims alone. They want to know the secret in the secret sauce.

The answer is often one of strategy versus tactics. Maybe you can’t publish an actual algorithm, for example, that creates a competitive advantage. But you may be able to discuss the strategy -- the key insight -- behind the algorithm. Strategy is also more interesting for the reader, usually, than the nitty-gritty details. You want the “Oh, so that’s how they did it!” reaction without giving away the store.

Take this white paper I just wrote about a client’s cesium atomic clock. The clock is extremely accurate -- and, unlike brand X, doesn’t take a long time to settle on an accurate time measurement. The strategy: to complement the high accuracy / low stability of GPS with the less accurate, but much more highly stable cesium oscillator. The key is the marriage of these two approaches, not the particular implementation.

Try this on a proprietary system you want to market to a technology buyer. Abstract the overriding logic from the underlying implementation. Chances are you’ll write a more interesting white paper (or article, or brochure, or whatever). You may even find a platform on which to sustain a marketing campaign.

Writing about Security

"I have had great experiences with your professional writing skills."

-- Director of Marketing, Basis Technology

One of the benefits of writing for multiple clients is the opportunity to cover a topic from many angles -- to come prepared with a more complete perspective when approaching the next project.


Consider my most recent project in the security space. It is one of several white papers and brochures I have written for Basis Technology. Among other roles, Basis provides linguistics-based solutions to agencies and large commercial enterprises. Some of those solutions resolve ambiguities in how people write names in foreign scripts, like Arabic. My work with Monotype Imaging -- one of the world's premier suppliers of computer typography -- also benefits Basis.

So too does my other writing in security -- in areas like cryptographic key management, digital forensics and vulnerability assessment. Although the documents are different, the readers share many of the same technologies, perceptions and priorities.

It is always interesting to see how different clients complement each other -- and how their strategic content gets produced faster and with greater clarity as a result.

Selling Sprint’s Convergence Story

“Randy … your copy makes everything else fall into place.”

--Sprint CNS strategic communications manager

Abstractions are some of the hardest things to sell to a business audience. They’re not tangible benefits — as is, for example, saving time, money or lives. They’re also hard to get your hands around -- compared to, say, a computer that fits inside an inner-office envelope.

But isn’t that what “real” high-tech marketing is all about, especially at a strategic level? After all, a technology strategy is an abstraction, one that helps define a customer’s competitive advantage through its association with you.

Case in point: Sprint’s Converged Network Solutions. This is Sprint’s fastest growing business unit, with a 250% CAGR. It builds and manages mobility solutions that integrate cellular, Wi-Fi, paging, wireless telemetry, and public safety spectrum requirements with voice and data services integration across fixed and mobile platforms. The new CNS website is here.

How Sprint sells convergence on this site is itself a study in convergence -- of modern marketing communications methods -- specifically, Flash animation, narration, and text. To get the attention of senior decision makers, and also to position itself as a cutting edge player, Sprint built a “virtual city tour.” The city shows how convergence works in real applications customers can see. As the project’s copywriter, my job was to “stage” the narrative so its cadence and logic enabled exactly this type of presentation.

By the way, if you’d like the contact info for the designers or have other questions about this project, please drop me a line (there’s a form on my homepage).