Customer Reviews

Copywriting That Sells High Tech

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've reviewed a few books in the "how to write..." genre, so Janice King offered me an opportunity to look at her book. I accepted because -- unbeknownst to Janice, I suspect -- my essay on "Care & Feeding of the Press" has quietly become a top resource for press relations professionals, which is one of the audiences for this book.

There's 12 chapters here, each of which covers a different facet of marcom. The first four chapters describe project planning, from defining the audience to the writing process (which covers both working with web designers and setting the proper tone for the marketing material). Five more chapters cover process: document elements, content types, text techniques, legal and ethical issues, and international concerns. The last section gives particular attention to specific types of marcom: sales materials, alliance (partner) materials, and press materials.

Although I've written a bit of marcom materials myself (such as technical white papers), my interest was focused on the last section since, as a computer industry journalist for more than 15 years, I have seen more press materials than one can imagine.

The best and worst I can say about Copywriting That Sells High Tech is that it reads like a college textbook. The information you need is all here, well organized and accessible. But it's a data dump -- not a mentor who shares experiences as well as information.

The information she imparts is accurate. Dull, maybe -- I felt as though I'd better be taking notes for the final exam -- but accurate. For example, she lists the types of press articles that a marcom professional might be called upon to produce, such as case studies, research findings, and technology primers, and describes the elements, requirements and expectations for each. If you didn't know any of this (and I can assure you that plenty of so-called PR professionals do not), you'll have a ready made checklist for your PR kit.

However, there's no sparkle in any of it; you don't have the least sense that a treasured friend is confiding her vast experience in this subject. But maybe you don't need that. (I like sparkle, personality, a voice.)

If you're new to marcom, or you're trying to figure out if this (lucrative) sort of writing is right for you, this is an excellent book to help you get started. It may also be useful (though less so) for a businessperson who suddenly has these duties plopped on her desk. You won't learn to write an effective press release (or to write an effective anything, really) from this text, but you'll be able to check off the elements that are expected by the target audience.

Copywriting That Sells High Tech is more "what" than it is "how." There are other references for the "how to write effectively" tasks, though; turn to this book for the broad picture.

This book is ideal for the marketing communications writer working for a technology company. In it you will find more than 300 pages of valuable content when writing for the Web or crafting written words for any type of marketing materials. The book is loaded with tips on how to craft compelling content.

I've been writing business-to-business, industrial, and high-tech marcom materials for over a quarter of a century, and I wish I had this book when I started. It's comprehensive and filled with great tips on how to write more compelling, engaging promotions for technical products.

The book is extremely elementary and a lot of the content is pertinent to copy writing in general. I had expected more detail on how to make high tech content simple and engaging, which is the main premise of the title of the book. However this is only explored in a superficial manner in the book. In my opinion, buy the book only is you have less than a year or two of experience in the field. For more more experienced marketing practitioners, it would be a waste of money buying the book.

Copywriting That Sells High Tech by award winning copywriter Janice King is the comprehensive reference to effectively writing a marketable and compelling piece of public relations material for high-tech products and services. Introducing the reader to literally hundreds of ideas and tactics used to create the most desirable product descriptions possible, Copywriting That Sells High Tech explores an innovative and productive approach to copywriting. Copywriting That Sells High Tech is very strongly recommended to all aspiring copywriters and marketing specialists for its scrutiny of such an otherwise sparsely covered topic.

I purchased this book as a textbook for a marketing communications class. The class as a whole had a few negative comments, including that the text was difficult to follow. I had no trouble following it, but King does try to cover too much material in one book. Buy this book for an overview of copywriting and read first the chapters that pertain to your particular project (something King suggests herself). Move on to other books for a more in-depth view.

Copywriting that Sells High Tech is one of the most complete books on creating promotional copy for the high tech industry available on the market. It covers everything including the marketing cycle, planning process, and writing methods. It should be considered the de-facto textbook for those who create marketing copy for high tech and B2B products.

The author, Janice King, writes in a friendly, informative style and tackles not only what to write, but adds things to consider such as legal and ethical situations and addressing a global, multicultural market. I highly recommend this to all product marketers, whether you are a freelance writer, agency writer, or are in corporate marketing.

Writing copy for high-tech companies is totally different than other types of copywriting. In light of that fact, this book targets an audience that needs just this type of information.

I like the way Janice explains what a "callout" is, for example. While most experienced copywriters know what it is, a novice would not. And some copywriters who don't write high-tech, might not as well.

As one reviewer says, the author does cover a lot of material. But for someone just getting into high-tech copywriting, this is almost necessary. A second book that goes into detail on a few topics is called for as a follow-up read.

I recommend this book to anyone just getting into high-tech copywriting or someone who has done a little in the area but needs more information.

I bought the book in the hope of getting more ideas for writing brochures and website content for our SME analytical instrument business. The book turned out to consist of a lot of check-list commonplaces, it contains very little information I hadn't already thought of myself.