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Subject:Marketing Hype From:CHUCK PETCH <PETCH -at- GVG47 -dot- GVG -dot- TEK -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 18 Jan 1994 08:52:24 -0700
Within reasonable limits, marketing "hype" has at least two purposes in a user
manual: (1) the document can be given to prospective customers to help sell
them on the product, and (2) immediately after a sale customers want to be
reassured that they have made a good purchase; a bit of marketing may
help them reach that level of comfort.
Of course, if the marketing stuff is done with a too heavy hand, it may just
turn the reader off. So a good writer strives for balance, right? If the ratio
of information to hype seems too low to one of the writers, perhaps it *IS* too
low (In my experience, it's good to trust your instinct about things like
this), but that doesn't mean the marketing should be deleted altogether. I
would pare away *some* of the hype and see if that helps.
Chuck Petch
Technical Editor
Grass Valley Group
petch -at- gvg47 -dot- gvg -dot- tek -dot- com
