One of our local employers was on the front page of the Monadnock Ledger last week regarding a $400,000 settlement with OSHA for worker safety violations. Ouch! They not only have to pay the fines, but they also must take corrective actions & improve the safety of their workplaces for all of their employees. They have agreed to get a full time safety &...
Five Steps to Clear Technical Writing
Submitted by TWP on Thu 12/16/10 5:45 pm
If you're a company in the manufacturing, software, medical or other technical industry, you'll want to take these five steps to ensure that your marketing message and product information is clear to your customers:
- Write like you talk. When you explain a technical problem face to face, you don't cram 4 and 5 syllable words into your sentences. There aren't any one-syllable equivalents for fractionator or regulatory compliance or extrusion. But for the surrounding words, the nontechnical content, use everyday language. Here's a quote from an actual chemical industry brochure: "The multiplicity of chemical elements in nature has given rise to an absolutely inexhaustible wealth of forms, phenomena and possibilities." No one talks like that. Why write like that?
- Educate your customers. Yes, they all have Ph.D.'s in nuclear physics. Your product or service is still new to them. You are the expert. You have an obligation to define terms, spell out acronyms and take your customers step by step through your information. Never assume they know what you are talking about.
- Get rid of the adjectives and adverbs. Every product in the world is "expertly designed" and incorporates "state-of-the-art technology" and is "manufactured to the highest standards." I dare you to find a single company that advertises their poor design and low standards. Make your product or service stand out by describing how you achieve expert design and detailing the standards you meet.
- Be specific. You have more than "years of experience"--you have 3 years or 40 years. You have more than "satisfied customers"--you have customers in the aerospace, medical device and construction industries. Moreover, those customers have provided you with testimonials and approved the use of their names in your marketing materials.
- Consider photographs, tables and drawings. Sometimes words get in the way.
With those five steps, you'll be able to deliver the most complex technical information with clarity, accuracy and zest.