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Really, tech writers and editors often wind up in Marketing just by the roll of the organizational dice. It's no big deal, as long as the check clears.
> From: Brad Whittington <brad -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com>
> Subject: Tech Pubs vs MarCom
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 11:46 AM
> I've also been amused, and sometimes
> annoyed, by the occasional email
> perpetuating what seems to be a knee-jerk animus toward
> marketing.
>
> In 2000 I got a job in marketing for a telecom test
> company. In 2006 I
> transitioned to freelance technical writing. I have
> contracts with
> various clients to produce documentation and marcom
> material. In a
> typical week I will write online help, outline a white
> paper, attend
> several product development status conference calls, edit a
> brochure,
> attend a conference call to establish the audience and
> corporate
> message for a solicited magazine article, etc.
>
> In my experience, producing marketing material requires
> much more
> mental effort, creativity and energy than producing
> documentation. I
> can write documentaion for hours at a stretch with no
> problem. A pot
> of coffee and some good background music and I can go for
> 10 or 12
> hours. But producing a 400-word press release is amazingly
> draining
> work. One hour of that and forget the coffee. I'm in need
> of a break
> with a martini.
>
> It may be that all this says is that my natural abilities
> tend toward
> documentation, but regardless, marketing is not a pastime
> for the
> braindead. It doesn't foster or reward nonsense any more
> than tech
> pubs or engineering or customer service or accounting or
> any other
> part of the organization.
>
> Marketing requires a range of experience, knowledge and
> skill that is
> neither intuitive nor simple. It's not an "anyone can do
> it" exercise.
> And in current economic conditions, the value of a good
> marketing team
> cannot be overstated.
>
> I don't see the value in creating or perpetuating
> adversarial
> attitudes between any groups, regardless of which
> department I'm in.
> Can't we all just get along? (heh, heh)
>
> --
> Brad Whittington
> BradWhittington.com
> 512-674-5751
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers
> developing Table of
> Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as
> Doc-To-Help
> 2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
>http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
>
> Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for
> individual
> authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface.
> Write
> once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and
> version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
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Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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