I like to think of myself as something of a writer. I majored in Journalism. One of my minors was English (emphasis on writing). I do some freelance stuff for a magazine. I write here. I write for the comic strip I'm developing. I like to write and I actually get some opportunities to do it.
One of the most frequent opportunities to write is at work, which makes sense, since I am in charge of marketing and communications and it was that opportunity that really first attracted me to this job. I knew corporate writing was completely different then any other writing I had ever done, I knew that from college. However it is completely ridiculous here. I'm just told, sometimes almost word for word, what to write by people who either A. Have no idea how to construct logical ideas into an assembling of paragraphs or B. Want to sound as important or "business minded" as possible, usually leading to more corporate jargon and business slang then I can handle.
It usually leads to passage like the one I'm going to share. I had the extreme misfortune of having to "write" this. I tried rewording it, I tried completely rehashing it to no avail. This is what it has to look like, according to the people who matter:
"Our clients appreciate the benefits our services bring. [company name] continually invests in the development of our talent, technology partnerships, software solutions and our community. We are customer focused and we develop strategic client relationships. Our clients understand that our IT services and solutions are in line with their business goals."
This is straight out of the brochure I just "wrote". Just about everything in that passage goes against both my Journalistic and my English instincts. First of all, NOTHING backs any of this up. We basically 'made' up that we think our clients 'appreciate our benefits'. What are those 'benefits'? I have no idea. Neither will you...since we never tell you. How are we customer focused? What does 'develop strategic client relationships' even mean? Since when are we developing anything? When is the last time we actually 'invested in the community'? Don't even get me started on the last sentence. Look at all the jargon... "partnerships","in line", "solutions", "focused", "development" are all fine words usually, but here they are muddled, confusing and usually have no actual meaning.
Where is the clarity in this? How is this acceptable, or worst, looked favorably upon? If I was looking at companies to partner with, I would do so on there Marketing and Communications materials, because that is what the majority of the public sees about your company. Why would you strive to confuse? It seems like we are hiding what we really do or trying to hard to elaborate on what we really do. It ends up looking like a 9th grader with no grasp on English who found a pocket thesaurus.
It just irks me that I am forced to write things like this. It really stems to my boss, who also happens to the be the owner. He controls everything and micromanages stuff like this to no end. I can occasionally get around it, or try and convince him of my way, but it rarely works.
It would help if other people expressed discontent about this with me. I don't want to feel alone on this.
Please do not let Corporate America eat my soul with a side or jargon.
={+}=
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I think you need to reevaluate your core competencies and be proactive by initiating a end-goal driven program reinforced by marketable strategies while maintaining a delicate light upon commodifiable tactics.
Brett - It seems that we have similar jobs. I COMPLETELY understand. I work in corporate communications. We make stuff up. Last week, an event was cancelled, but to make the promoter look better, we had to say it was "postponed."
What can you do - I feel your pain.
Post a Comment