1. Is your product or service clear in the collateral? It's easy to assume that readers know what you're talking about; when unbeknownst to you they don't have a clue.

2. What are the features that will interest your audience the most? There is a huge dependence on "benefits" in marketing writing. This is a mostly a good thing, but in technical marketing collateral you have to get your features across too.

3. How are you different from your competitors? Unless you're doing a competitive positioning piece you might not mention your competitors by name, but you had better not be doing a second-hand echo of their positioning, especially if they're a lot better-heeled than you are. (Avis may have developed their tagline in response to Hertz, but that tagline has made them billions.)

4. What are your customer's pain points? Mentioning them is critical in a white paper, but even in other formats you should know why your audience is going to care about your offering in the first place.

5. Do you know who your prospects are? Small, medium or large enterprise; large mid-range; small mid-range; SOHO; data center managers; CIOs; etc. Know who you're trying to reach with what collateral.

6. Is your collateral easy on the eyes? IT staff and engineers want technical collateral, but that doesn't mean they'll wade through writing that is dull and dense. And executives won't stand for it. Design your collateral for logical and headache-free reading, and write using strong words, a clear structure, and an active voice.

7. Involve your sales team. You just know they're going to change things around anyway.

The Christine Taylor Company
P.O. Box 3499
Wrightwood, CA 92397
760-249-6071 (phone) 760-249-9988 (fax)
christine@ctaylor-co.com

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