Ever tried to get an engineer to explain a company\u2019s newest product or solution to a lay audience?<\/p>\n
It can be frustrating. A lot of technical people have difficulty stepping back and speaking clearly outside their universe \u2013 whether it is the latest gadget for in-flight connectivity or software for supply chain logistics. But, as high-tech communicators, we serve as a bridge between the no-man\u2019s land of nanotech speak, and the company\u2019s mainstream audience of business decision makers, investors and non-technical staff.<\/p>\n
How do you pull the necessary detail from a technical source and still get the big picture across? Geek speak is confusing to both casual online perusers and the more targeted business readers.<\/p>\n
Here are six tips for minimizing techno-speak in news releases, marketing materials and website copy — mastered in 17 years crafting copy in the high-tech world:<\/p>\n
1. Get more than one viewpoint. Ideally, sit down with both the technology and marketing sources so you can ask questions a different way and get varying perspectives.
\n2. Always bring it back to the customer \u2013 what customer problem does our technology, service or product solve? Tell a story.
\n3. Bring in the competition – ask what differentiates our breakthrough, product, solution or service from what is already out there. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you learn.
\n4. Resist using in-house techno-speak — especially acronyms that are only known to IEEE members. Your job is to grab readers with a simple, succinct description that they can understand without scratching their head. Ask your expert (and yourself): \u201cIs there a simpler way to say this?\u201d
\n5. Use numbers and other comparison language — for example, when talking about the speed or throughput of a data product,instead of stating the megabits per second, try a reference that your readers will understand: “DSL-like speeds two times faster than the current product.”
\n6. Seek third-party credibility \u2013 can you get a customer or an industry expert to comment on the solution? Including their perspective can carry a lot more weight than relying just on company sources.<\/p>\n
A final thought — if you face a stumbling block as you de-jargon and simplify the message, seek inspiration and advice from other wordsmiths. Visit the Visual Thesarus, a handy resource that provides word associations in a cool visual format that encourages out-of-box thinking:
\nhttp:\/\/www.visualthesaurus.com\/. The blog commentary on the site alone is worth a look, including a guest Writers Talk About Writing column. Check out a post on Nov. 5 called “Microspeaking” by Mike Pope, a technical editor at Microsoft, who discusses some of the quirky jargon that has emerged at the software behemoth: http:\/\/www.visualthesaurus.com\/cm\/wc\/2058\/.<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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