Historically, writing about technology was considered a technical skill. Professionals who found themselves pigeonholed into tech industries took pride in mastering acronyms and textbook-style engineering language. They wrote for their own industry audiences, with as little hyperbolic language or creative license as possible — simply because it wasn’t acceptable. I should know; I was that person 20 years ago.
But just recently, my teenage daughter brought the reality of a dire situation that exists today to my attention. As part of a STEM program designed to attract a new generation of minds to the fields of technology and engineering innovation, she spent the year learning how to code, build prototypes of machines and learn the makeup of an atom. She came home one day and asked me to speak to the STEM group.
I was shocked at the request and wondered why my teenager wanted to be seen anywhere with me, let alone in her school. But when she told me why, I felt a tremendous sense of pride. She said: “Mom, all my teacher speaks about are careers in engineering. Can you come and discuss other jobs in technology? Can you tell him and my class that there are tech jobs in marketing, public relations and communications?” Then she went on to say that such a talk might be a welcome relief for her classmates.
As someone who’s spent over two decades in technology PR, I found that this question gets to the heart of what’s missing from many of today’s STEM education programs, as well as a lot of the career marketing for young liberal arts students and communications professionals. There seems to be a lack of awareness and understanding about creative careers in technology that are more suited for good writers, designers, PR professionals, etc.
I’ve noticed that while STEM industries face a lack of resources and talent to effectively communicate their achievements and sell their solutions, young communications professionals hurt from a serious lack of opportunities. The truth is that the media industry is hurting (paywall). My days of walking through the halls of a flashy magazine eager to smell the fresh print galleys feels like centuries away, and even worse, when I tell my children about those days, I sound like a dinosaur.
Many communications jobs are harder to come by today as social media becomes one of the dominant forms of media. No one could argue the revenue declines in print publishing. There are fewer print magazines to pitch as a PR person and fewer jobs for aspiring writers in pursuit of that glossy future.
My message to communications professionals is to open your mind to opportunities. If you like design and print, corporate marketing can be a very exciting job. Companies are always looking for creative writers, editors and professionals with a good eye and who know how to spin a story.
While the algorithms that make tech products do what they need to can be overwhelming and scary, no one is asking a corporate marketing executive at one of those companies to start doing math. Building products is a far cry from bringing them to market. I’d challenge any doubtful creative writer to find launching their product at the Consumer Electronics Show to be boring, or that it doesn’t require creativity.
While engineers and technology professionals are quick to use acronyms and technical language to explain what happens and what doesn’t, I’ve found that many of them often struggle with spinning complex jargon into easily comprehensible concepts. This is where writing about technology in plain but engaging language becomes an art.
Technology innovation stories have the potential to be exciting, but the key is understanding what you’re writing about. Taking the time to ask technology experts the right questions to ensure that you understand why they’ve done things as well as what they’re doing can make all the difference.
As a creative professional, you’re given some clay, and you must shape it into not only a sentence but also a multifaceted marketing campaign or a press release. It’s up to you to evaluate and pronounce the news and then articulate it to the world.
What many of the most successful tech startups have learned — and what I’ve learned through my own experience in tech PR — is that good technology is only as good as how it’s marketed. Who cares if you built the next big widget if no one has ever heard of it or the investor reading the pitch can’t get past the terrible product description?
I’ve spent the better part of my professional life helping tech companies gain funding, get acquired or go public. I’ve seen the smallest companies grow into billion-dollar market dominators and technologies that I once needed an industry dictionary to understand turn mainstream and go global.
Here’s my advice to any communications professional struggling to find their future in the technology world:
• Don’t be afraid to ask. Go ahead and ask the engineers and designers to explain the technology to you in the same way that they’d tell their family at dinner, in laypersons’ terms. I’ve found that many people would rather spend their time writing about or pitching the wrong thing than look like they don’t understand something. Don’t be afraid of asking the experts for help.
• Ask, ‘So what?’ Once you understand the product and have educated yourself on how it differs from its competitors, ask yourself: Why is this interesting?
• Know your audience. Make sure you’re pitching or writing something your readers or consumers care about. The most interesting thing is irrelevant if the audience doesn’t care.
As I told my daughter’s STEM group, and as I’d tell all engineering and communications professionals, there’s a need for those who can make technology that’s interesting sound interesting. Otherwise, this same technology, if left in the hands of the developers alone, may not reach its greatest potential.