Why Is Writing About Tech so Difficult and What Can You do About It?
Tech Hard
Writing about tech is difficult because you need to make sure your readers understand the problem that your tech solves.
This is always true about any copywriting - we need to be confident that our readers know they have a problem, they know what that problem is, and they are open to having that problem solved.
Tech presents a fun challenge here because oftentimes the problem our readers have is weird or complicated or very specific and there is a decent chance that plenty of readers might not know they have it.
Then you try and explain your solution and that is often a bit weird, or complicated, or very specific.
No wonder writing about tech is hard.
Quick Cheat
Targeting Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) readers is the first way to make your own life easier but it's also kind of a cheat.
BOFU readers are primed to buy a thing, a solve, a service.
They know exactly what is making them go "Dear God Whyyyyyy" and are actively looking for a solution. You can write for these good folks by doing proper key word search terms and other fun investigations into high intent phrases and stuff like that.
For example, someone who is searching "Alternative asset platform sustainable" is much more ready to put their money to work somewhere today than the person who is searching "Why invest alts".
You get me.
Less cheat more help
Let's say you are an alternative asset fintech (which a lot of my clients are) and a super cool thing about you is that you use distributed ledger technology on blockchain to massively speed up and authenticate transactions and cut overhead costs which means you can lower your fees to the client etc etc.
To explain why this is a good thing for the reader, we might want to explain what distributed ledgers are and why and how blockchain confers unique benefits to them and to their money.
Corporate-ese
Image we explain it to the good reader like this:
Leveraging the transformative capabilities of distributed ledger technology (DLT), an alternative asset fintech possesses distinct competitive advantages over legacy investment institutions:
Operational Efficiency: By harnessing the inherent speed and real-time processing potential of blockchain systems, our pioneering fintech can expedite transactional throughput, resulting in a more streamlined and responsive asset management experience for stakeholders.
Unprecedented Transparency and Asset Authenticity: DLT ensures a tamper-proof, transparent digital record of each asset's provenance. This immutable traceability fosters trust, mitigates the risk of asset duplication, and underscores the authenticity of investments, safeguarding the integrity of the portfolio.
Honestly I can't continue because it hurts my heart too much, but I still see copy like this on really well respected and huge investment firms webpages and emails. Whyyyyyy.
Why
I think the why is because whoever is writing that is afraid of sounding silly. In an effort to avoid feeling silly, they try to sound smart by using horrible corporate-ese language.
Could you feel your soul leaving your body by the time you got to "expedite transactional throughput"?
Our collective desperation to avoid feeling silly is a lovely and binding human experience. I have much empathy and patience for the people who write copy like that. Feeling silly is mortifying, we can all agree.
A better way
Here is a different way to explain why our fictional fintech might be a good choice for the reader.
I will take this example to the other extreme, and this isn't a way that you would want to actually write for your audience but it is a whole lot more readable and, I argue, a better place to start off.
Imagine you have two toy stores.
One store is the traditional, old-school toy store that many people have visited for years (this is like the traditional investment firm). The other store is a brand-new, fancy toy store with lots of modern toys and cool features (this is like the alternative asset fintech using blockchain).
Here are three reasons why the new, modern toy store might be more popular:
Faster Checkout Line: In the old toy store, you have to wait in a long line, and sometimes they take a while to check if a toy is in stock. But in the modern toy store, there's a super-fast system that instantly tells you if a toy is available and lets you check out quickly. This is because the modern toy store uses a special system (blockchain) that can keep track of all toys instantly and accurately.
Special Stickers for Toys: Every toy in the new store comes with a special sticker that proves it's original and authentic. So, you know you're not getting a fake or duplicate toy. This is because the store has a magic book (distributed ledger) that everyone can see, and it shows the history of every toy.
Less Expensive Toys: The old store has a lot of staff, big buildings, and many other costs. That makes some of their toys more expensive. But the modern toy store doesn't need as many workers or big buildings because they use advanced systems and computers. So, they can sell toys at better prices!
Something less bad than both of these examples
What we actually want to aim for is something tonally in between these two examples, but a lot closer to the latter than we might care to admit.
I want my readers to feel smart and helped and, if possible, a little bit entertained.
This is pretty much how I like people to feel when we hang out in real life, and corporate activity is just a load of people doing stuff together.
We make our writing worse when we overcomplicate, when we centre ourselves and how un-silly we are desperate to feel, rather than centring what is most useful and clear for our lovely reader.
More simple. More. More than that.
Take the above heading as your starting place. Read it again and again.
Go forth and write simply!
