May 22, 1997

OK, tell me what you've got

Bill Schweber, Technical Editor

Tell your audience not only what you have, but also why you have it and why it just might matter to them.

Simple Simon met a pieman, Going to the fair;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman, Let me taste your wares.

The "wares" offered circa 1764, when this Mother Goose nursery rhyme was put into a popular schoolbook, were a lot more clear-cut in purpose and intent than many of today's wares. The pieman's wares were simple and straightforward; the smell and taste of the pies flaunted their obvious benefits. Today, we have many more de-scriptors of wares--hardware, software, shovelware, middleware, bloatware, and the well-known vaporware--and a lot more confusion. What mental image should we get when we see a brochure that touts a company as "a leading provider of wireless-connectivity-technology solutions"?

You're undoubtedly inundated with advertisements, promotions, and messages about technical products and services, just as we editors are. You probably generate, or help develop, a few of these messages yourself as part of the product design and release cycle. But do the targets of your messages actually know what you're saying? Are you making clear to anyone the purpose of what you offer? You may be unconsciously assuming that your audience has a clear sense of what you're talking about, because you and your fellow project-team members do. But those individuals outside your close circle may not understand; they haven't been living with the project the way you have and may have only a vague notion of what you mean or why your message matters to them.

It's not just a matter of technical clichés, either. Sometimes you have to be clear about what the purpose or benefit of the feature is. Sure, we all know that smaller, faster, and cheaper is generally what people want, but is there a specific performance threshold you've crossed that makes a difference to your audience? If there is, then say so.

For example, one of the virtues of upstart VHS video recorders vs the existing Beta units in the VCR-format battle was that VHS could record 2 hours on one tape, in contrast to the 1-hour limit for Beta units. The result was that most movies would fit onto one VHS tape. This feature was a tangible benefit that marketers of VHS systems could exploit. This argument is much clearer than simply saying that the device has increased recording time.

If you describe your product so that only insiders like you can fathom their purpose, you're not doing any good for the results of your hard work. Although you have been working on that project for a year, not everyone is intimately familiar with what you've got or why it's needed. Tell your audience not only what you have, but also why you have it and why it just might matter to them. By doing so, you'll help yourself and your product.

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