Marketing: Writing

Beyond the

Classroom ELVIA LOYA ENRIQUEZ

A further look into the significance of writing in the marketing field

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MARKETING: WRITING BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Chapter 1: A Literature Review 7

Chapter 2: Genre Theory 13

Chapter 3: An Interview 19

Chapter 4: Proposing Change 25

Conclusion 31

Works Cited 36

Creative Commons License

Marketing: Writing Beyond the

Classroom by Elvia Loya Enriquez is

licensed under a Creative Commons

Attribution 4.0 International License.

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3

Introduction

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s a child, the neighbors could spot me knocking on doors from their

windows, attempting to sell whatever item it was that I had managed to

craft with my small, clumsy hands. During the summer, I would spend

countless hours coming up with a new business ideas and then executing them as best I

could. It would start with a small craft that I could make on my own, even if I had yet to

learn how to do it. Once I knew I could make a product good enough to sell, I would

make business cards and advertise to the kids in the neighborhood to no end. Once all

the kids knew about my new business, I would knock on doors that seemed promising

and sold my goods. I made money this way; it was not much but it was more than

enough for an 8-year-old. My parents always encouraged me to continue on this path:

there was nothing I loved more than selling my products for x, y and z reasons. It was

truly fascinating to me to see what could move people to purchase something that they

definitely did not need at the moment.

As I grew up, I strayed away from marketing as a possible career, and instead

toyed with ideas like microbiology and international business instead, but I could not

stay away for long. My high school offered a business class in which I became very active

on a district and state level. Needless to say, I have returned to pursuing my actual

passion: marketing. People may hold very different perspectives on marketing; however,

it is without a doubt that everyone is impacted by marketing, regardless of their opinion.

Texts often explain “… marketing as an activity that is practised by all (through ‘mutually

satisfying exchange relationships’) even if many people may not recognize their activity

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as ‘marketing,’” (Hackely, 2003). Marketing is a field that includes actions to promote or

sell a good or service, and it is everywhere, from big advertisements to small details like

the size of a font. Although marketing intertwines with our daily lives both

conspicuously and inconspicuously, people often disregard that marketing is not limited

to any specific mean. Often, it seems that people place too much focus on the final

product of marketing, like complete television ads, and fail to realize that writing is a

mean of communication that serves as the foundation of marketing. The underlying

issue is that people should be educated about the importance and the type of writing that

happens in marketing prior to making a decision about choosing it as a field of study.

Many people start college blindly and a little confused, and while this is part of

the entire college experience, having a little guidance can never hurt, especially when it

comes to guidance on a major. This book is centered on the significance of writing

within the field of marketing to provide students that are (potentially) majoring in

marketing with additional insight. As nearly a second-year student in the Daniel’s College

of Business at the University of Denver, I chose to share with you some chapters that

bring to light the who, what, when, where, why and how of writing in marketing.

The first chapter is formatted as a literature review. It brings up information that

has been published by other authors to establish a foundation of current perspectives

about writing in the field of marketing. Chapter 2 gives examples of different writing

genres that students may encounter both in their college career as well as their

professional career. The third chapter consists of an interview with graduate student

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Keshsa Vassant, who is working toward her master’s degree in marketing. In this

chapter, Keshsa shares some of her experience as she has pursued marketing throughout

her college career. Chapter 4 brings forth some issues that I believe exist in the

marketing field in general, and then provides a rather feasible solution to the fixing

defective part of the system.

This book portrays the great passion that I have for the field and provides great

aid to students that are (potentially) majoring in marketing. It allows students to see the

greater picture about writing in the marketing field, and faculty of the university can

benefit from looking through this book to understand which areas may need

improvement in the field. Overall, this book answers many questions students may have

about majoring in marketing, all the while remaining a captivating piece through the

variety of approaches to the different aspects of writing within marketing.

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Chapter 1:

A Literature Review

In this chapter…

Learn about the

perspectives and

opinions already

published by other

authors surrounding

the writing that takes

place within

marketing.

In this chapter…

Learn about the

opinions and

perspectives of other

authors regarding the

writing that takes place

in the professional

career of marketing.

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arketing heavily intertwines with writing on a regular basis, although you

may not know it yet. This chapter is a literature review that will allow you

to see some of the ways that writing and marketing blend together. Writing

is crucial to marketing because it is a means of communication – the principal of

marketing. In this chapter, I will summarize some basic ideas that have already been

published by other authors regarding the importance of writing in the marketing field,

some of the features of good marketing writing, and the use of rhetoric to create

effective text.

In today’s world, employers find communication skills to be even more

important than quantitative skills (Bacon, Paul, Johnson & Conley, 2008), and it seems

that even after completing four years of college, there is not a big improvement in

students’ editing skills which constitute a good portion of writing skills (Bacon &

Anderson, 2004). A study performed in 1985 showed that professors found marketing

students to be “… inadequately prepared for marketing curricula, indicating deficiencies

in communication skills, both written and verbal, and quantitative skills,” and that to this

day that perception has not yet changed (Remington, Guidry, Budden & Tanner, 2000).

Writing in marketing is heavily criticized because it strays away from the artistic

perspective behind writing. Marketing uses writing as a mean to convey messages that

are straight forward and do not seem to stray away from the “bottom line,” meaning that

marketers do not value pleasure as they do business (Brown, 324). Marketing pushes to

move forward, rarely taking a look back to analyze past writing in the field. The “linear

rather than cyclical” structure of the field creates the illusion that marketing as a whole

neglects literature and many of its components which so many other scholars embrace

(Aherne 77).

The most important matter in marketing is conveying the desired message

clearly. This means writers in marketing should exercise brevity. Wordiness becomes an

obstacle due to the limited and highly competed window of time to capture consumers

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(Vass). The debate surrounding the quality of marketing writing latches on to this

concept tightly; many people misinterpret the need for brevity and clarity, thinking that

“… writing plain and simple is something that is plain and simple to do.” (Brown 337).

Theodore Levitt, a marketer in the 1960’s, embraced the idea that messages should be

brief; many of his works include bullet points that express the message concisely for the

hurried reader. Levitt also exploits thick, vivid adjectives and adverbs to reach his

audience, as well as metaphors and similes. Metaphors and similes are a tad more

developed than the average reader might expect, making the writing interesting at the

same time. These all greatly contribute to the clarity of the message. Using strong

descriptive words enhances the message conveyed in writing while also enticing the

audience to read further. This is different to the complex writing written by many

academics. His writing was greatly valued by readers who anxiously awaited his new

pieces, proving that writing in marketing does not have to be mediocre and unwelcome.

The next key component to writing in marketing is a given in writing: readers

must be able to trust the writer. The writer must have credibility, which is established in

several ways. The idea is simple enough, yet the execution can be somewhat tricky. The

most basic and one of the most important parts about writing in marketing is using

proper grammar and exercising correctness. The author takes a serious risk if this rule is

not followed because “Nothing loses a reader more quickly than misspelled words and

or incorrect subject/verb agreement,” (Vass 16). There appears to be a disconnect in this

particular area since in many colleges, mechanics are not pushed and business courses

often fail to place value on the proper use of them (Bacon & Anderson, 2004). Another

factor that contributes to good writing in marketing is reading continuously to help the

author gain greater knowledge as well as increase the fluidity and quality of their own

writing (Brown 330). Good marketing writing also often features “familiarity” for its

audience (Aherne, 80). This means that instead of keeping a generic name for a store in a

piece of paper, using the name of a popular store generates a sense of familiarity. An

example might include using the name “Wal-Mart” instead of “grocery store.” The

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author can also exercise this through small company names, but it is mostly ideal to

create a good mix of popular names, small names, and “long-forgotten favorites” such as

“American Wind Engines” (Aherne 80).

Writing in marketing must always revolve around the audience which the

marketer wishes to reach. Effective writing in marketing requires the appropriate

identification and accommodation of an audience. Despite the familiar nature of this

component, it is necessary to recall that this is the exact idea that makes marketing

techniques either successful or unsuccessful. In 1986, the University of Northern Iowa

implemented a new program dedicated to preparing its marketing majors for future

writing in their careers. The program forced students to take a class tailored specifically

for marketing, which assigned four different projects. Each project had its own set of

directions, but all of them had directions to “… state the intended audience and purpose

[of the paper], as well as the format” (Corbin & Glynn 48). The author must be aware of

its audience for several reasons, including but not limited to using appropriate jargon and

descriptions to effectively nab the reader. Not only does knowing and understanding the

audience help the marketer reach the audience, but also it helps the writer to write with

greater ease (Vass 16). Once the marketer has established the audience, the marketer

must ensure the use of the appropriate genre. The key here is that genres allow for the

most effective communication because they are essentially preset formats that help the

author to save time (Dirk). All writers should understand that different genres call for

different types of writing; imagine the methodology of an experiment in the format of

the ever-familiar text message. Clearly, writing in such a way would prove to be

ineffective and cause an issue. People are exposed to all sorts of marketing materials on a

daily basis, and marketers must compete with each other to steal away the attention of

the public. With so much competition, marketers only have a few seconds to make an

impression on their audience. By understanding the audience better, the writer can

actually compete in the exhausting world of advertising and sales.

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It is clear that marketing and writing have a strong affiliation, and it is not the

field that critics must blame for the poor quality of writing in marketing, but the

professionals that lack comprehension in regards to effective writing. Writing is an

important medium of communication; without it marketing would be lost. It is apparent

that good writing in marketing does not fall far from the tree of good writing in general.

The importance of writing in the marketing field, some of the features of good

marketing writing, and the use of rhetoric to create effective text are all important and

have been expressed by many professionals in the field. Writers in the field must make a

conscious effort to produce quality writing in marketing because it is the basis of the

exchange of ideas. Communication is the foundation of marketing. Recall that writing

should be clear and relatively brief, use strong descriptive words and utilize effective

similes and metaphors to most clearly express an idea. Writing in marketing must

embrace the reflection and reaction to the ideas of others, all the while giving credit to

those sources, all the while employing good grammar and general correctness. Lastly,

writing always has an audience and its attention is highly competed, and it’s crucial that

marketers remember this always. The effective use of rhetoric is highly valued in the

marketing field. Following the format of a genre helps to express thoughts and ideas

more clearly, and also cuts down on the time it takes to produce the writing. To

conclude, marketing and writing may be two different subjects, but the overlap is

inevitable; it is an inevitable intertwining of the arts and “science.” It is the obligation of

marketers today to employ these basics to produce qualitative writing.

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Chapter 2:

Genre Investigation

In this chapter…

Discover the meaning

of the word “genre”

and how its relevance

to marketing. This

section will give

examples of several

genres, including:

Email

Syllabus

Research

Marketing Plan

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he previous chapter discussed some of the key features of writing in marketing.

Now that we understand the role of writing in marketing and some of the

perspectives of other authors on the subject, it is time to investigate the

different genres used in the field. Genres are an essential aspect of successful writing in

marketing, as the writing style, content, format, objective and exigence change from

genre to genre. This chapter reviews genre theory and several important genres in

marketing from both the professional and college world including: the email, the

syllabus, the marketing research, and the marketing plan genres.

Genre Theory Genre describes a grouping of literature

with pieces that share similarities in

format and/or content. Genres are used

in the marketing world today because

they rely heavily on some of the same

concepts as rhetoric. This is not the

rhetoric used by evasive politicians, but

the rhetoric that revolves around the

idea that one must consider for whom

they are writing to get a point across.

Genres are essentially formats that have

been pre-established in order to reach

an audience efficiently and effectively.

They cut out a lot of the thinking

necessary on behalf of the author when

writing and yet convey information

perhaps even more effectively.

According to Kerry Dirk in her essay

“Navigating Genres,” genres stem from

social action, which is the interaction

between two parties through means of

communication (in this case the form of

communication is literature). Genres

begin to develop when someone is

driven to create a piece of writing in

response to an event. This becomes the

exigence which drives the objective

someone wishes to accomplish when

writing. When others later create similar

writing pieces, the previous writings are

considered antecedents. The idea behind

antecedents is that they generally begin

to follow a certain format, therefore

creating a standard. The format may

change from genre to genre depending

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on a variety of factors; however, each

genre generally has typified features,

meaning that they all share certain

features.

This is not to say that often times the

creators of artistic materials do not

make efforts to break away from and/or

exceed the expectations of the audience.

Genres in relation to the field of

marketing are constantly changing.

Marketing is a very “move forward”

field meaning that the fast past of the

business world forces it to neglect past

work. Within marketing, breaking away

from the typical format within a genre is

rather praised since marketers encourage

innovation and creativity.

Due to the fact that genres are used

often to facilitate writing, an audience

will usually adapt a set of expectations

for the piece based on its genre. The

expectations of a person that purchases

a newspaper might include that the

paper have a classifieds section as well

as a sports section. Because the audience

develops expectations, writers generally

make efforts to meet said expectations

in order to keep the audience happy.

The Promotional Email Email is a medium commonly used in

marketing, whether its destination be on

the screen of people in another office or

the screen of an online customer. While

the first is quite common, the second

may be more familiar. It is fair to

assume that the majority of people who

browse the Internet have most likely

signed up to receive promotional emails

or “newsletters” for at least a single site.

Next thing users know, they have an

inbox cluttered with all sorts of

promotional emails and receive

notifications for new emails several

times per hour. There is a love/hate

relationship with these emails: they

provide good deals from time to time

on items the user might like, but

become a nuisance when the consumer

is not looking to make any sort of

purchase. These emails, although each is

unique and changes dramatically (based

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on the company or group that created

it), share several key components.

The most obvious characteristic shared

by promotional emails is the promotion

itself. Promotions include deals, sales,

incentives, and much more, all meant to

target a specific audience. Some

promotional emails, such as newsletters

are not meant to sell a single product,

but lean more toward providing new

information about an organization in

order to keep the customers, clients,

members, etc. interested in the

organization.

Another of the components that

promotional emails share is attention-

grabbing subject lines. People are too

busy today to open and read each

advertisement sent to them. In fact,

many people may make the decision on

whether or not to open a promotional

email based on the subject and the

preview. For this exact reason,

something to expect from an email like

this is an interesting subject, numbers,

and capital letters. These are basic

tactics to more attention and hopefully

entice the email user to expose

themselves to the advertisement.

A key objective in marketing is to evoke

a response from the audience, whether

the response be a purchase, an increase

in brand recognition, an increase in

membership and so forth. This is

something that is strongly represented in

marketing emails. In order to evoke a

response, emails use different strategies.

One strategy is to focus on the tone of

the email. Marketing emails vary in tone

based on the exigence, but the general

tone of these emails portrays

excitement. Marketing emails are meant

to push a consumer for a response,

which is often done through

enthusiasm. Marketers might use

positive terms such as “for you only,”

“deal,” “great,” “best,” and more in

hopes that the email lead to a sale, for

example. Marketers also embrace and

push to increase visual appeal. The

purpose behind good visual appeal is to

keep the consumer’s attention until the

message is completely expressed.

According to a study by MDG

Advertising, there is a 94% total increase

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in the amount of views on a website that

has more interesting images versus

pages that lack pictures.

Another component that they all have in

common is the use of hyperlinks.

Hyperlinks help the customer get to the

exact part of the promotion that they

see in their email without a hassle. A

simple click, and the consumer is ready

to browse inventory. These links are

used so often, that it might even seem

to be a hassle when a promotional email

lacks a designated link for each part of

the problem.

If an email lacks a hyperlink to the page

that it is promoting, it could be an

instance of a negative break from the

genre. The hyperlink is used often for

convenience, which often leads

consumers to feel disappointed due to

their expectations from antecedent

emails. However, the email genre can be

changed in a positive way for a positive

break from the genre. A marketer might

choose to make an email interactive

versus strictly use images to maintain

the audience’s attention.

The Syllabus The next genre is the typical class

syllabus. Syllabi are produced by

professors to fully prepare students for

the course by laying out the

expectations, schedule, and rules of the

course. Syllabi are produced

surrounding the course information so

that professors can address typical

questions and concerns all at once

instead of dedicating time to each

student at the rise of each general

question. To effectively reach their

audience, professors generally include

many of the same components in their

syllabi.

Syllabi often follow an outline type

format because it is a great way to

express information clearly, concisely,

and in an organized manner. The first

bit of information that is always on a

syllabus is the name of the course; its

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description, time and location; and the

professor, his/her contact information

and office. Course materials is a

common component on a syllabus as

well. Because this information is first in

the typical syllabus, students can gather

the most basic information quickly.

Following this information usually

comes assignments and grading. These

help to clarify any doubts surrounding

how students will be graded per

assignment. These sections are written

out in full paragraphs. Instead, this

information is regularly expressed

through bullet points. This is an

example of how professors consider the

audience, or students, when producing

the document. Generally, students seek

information quickly, often avoiding

reading lengthy paragraphs to get basic

information. The last bit of information

that is regularly included on a syllabus is

the class schedule. The class schedule

takes all sorts of shapes. Outlines,

calendars, and tables are commonly used

to lay out the class schedule; however,

they all generally focus on simplicity and

conciseness to express the information

most effectively.

Professors often break away from the

typical syllabus by making changes in

the way that the syllabus is presented. A

typical syllabus might be typed and

printed on white paper, but professors

can challenge the usual format by

handwriting and copying the syllabus

instead. There are many opportunities to

make a positive break from the genre

without straying too far and still

effectively reaching the audience.

Marketing Research Marketing research is constitutes a large

part of the field, and of course, is also a

genre in itself. The objective of this

particular type of writing is to collect

data from the market that will help

towards the development of new ideas

and also understanding the market’s

current perspectives on ideas. There are

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many objectives in marketing research,

two of which might be gathering

customer feedback on purchased/used

products or services to reflect on the

good or service, and gathering

demographics of an audience to better

understand and target them.

Both customer feedback and collection

of demographics are often in the form

of a survey. Surveys in marketing are

usually objective; therefore, they are

relatively brief, straight-forward, and

concise. Despite the seemingly light

style of surveys, they are constructed

with great care so that each question

contributes to answering or shedding

light on the matter at hand. Additionally,

surveys are written in relatively formal

tones, although this does not mean that

the survey questions are complex.

Marketers push to make questions that

can help to gain great insight without

being offensive or too invasive. Another

characteristic often seen in marketing

research surveys is the option to remain

anonymous. In fact, anonymity often

results in more sincere responses, due to

“preference falsification,” which is when

people share their preferences, they

express ideas that they do not

necessarily believe (Cass).

Customer feedback follows the general

structure of the survey, but makes

changes to best suit its subject and

audience. Customer feedback is usually

post-sale, meaning that the company

asks a series of questions about a

product or service proceeding the

transaction in order to interpret the

success of said product or service. The

questions in these surveys are generally

straight-forward, and there are not too

many of them so that consumers will be

more willing to spend time on the

surveys. Many times surveys include

open-ended questions so that the

consumer can freely express his or her

thoughts. In this way, marketers can

look more in-depth into the reasons for

certain consumer responses.

The other research method mentioned

previously, gathering demographics, is

data that is collected pre-sale. It is

information that is used prior to

releasing a product or the advertisement

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because it is a tool in targeting the

audience most effectively. Marketers

always consider their target market and

do the best to exceed their expectations

so that their product or service can

succeed. Demographics is data that

relates to certain groups within a

population such as the sex, heritage, age,

and so on. Since there are drastic

differences between the preferences of

teenagers and senior citizens, this data is

crucial to the success of a product or

service. These surveys are more often

based solely on multiple choice. In this

scenario, marketers seek factual data

that can easily be separated into groups,

not lengthy, complex opinions.

Although the survey is a genre that

generally does not break away from the

typified features, some researchers are

experimenting with the genre in order to

gain better results. One way that they

are breaking away from the genre is by

making the surveys fun to take. “Fun”

usually includes more interactive

methods to take the survey or more

image based. A negative way to break

away from the genre would be to make

questions more lengthy and complex

because the marketer is ignoring that

consumers are unlikely to happy to take

a dense survey.

The Marketing Plan Another very common genre in the marketing

world is the marketing plan. Documents

formatted as marketing plans are usually a

final product of lengthy research, which

require a great deal of work. The goal of this

genre is to lay out all aspects of the business

on paper prior to taking action to impact the

business’ current marketing structure.

Marketing plans compile information on

factors that impact a business, helping the

reader to understand the current market

situation for the business as well as outline

future marketing efforts.

Because marketing plans are meant to

be clear and direct, it is atypical for there

to be marketing plans that break away

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from the genre. Every marketing plan

should include the information that is

essential to the business and its

marketing. With that being said, most

marketing plans contain the following

features:

Executive Summary – this portion of the marketing plan is meant to establish the basic ideas and information behind the business. In any case that the reader is unable to go through the entire marketing plan, the executive summary should provide enough information about the content of the plan that the reader can still understand both the business and the aspects that impact it.

Situational Analysis – this incorporates both an internal and external analysis of the business. It looks at where the business stands in the real world as well as the circumstances that are restricted to the company.

SWOT Analysis – this section covers the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the business. It looks at each section individually and outlines the key information for the reader. It is similar to the situational analysis; however, this section looks at very specific details, while the situational analysis provides broader information.

Objectives – the reader can expect this section to cover the firm’s main goal through the new marketing strategy. It might be aimed toward finances, customer satisfaction, brand awareness and more.

Marketing Strategy – this is the foundation of the action program section of a marketing plan. The marketing strategy describes how the firm plans to meet their goal with general ideas, such as incentives, public relations, promotions, and so on.

Action Program – this is the portion of the marketing plan that thoroughly explains the plan of action to be implemented. This strategy is meant to serve as the mean to meet the firm’s objective. This section should always be very detailed and specific, since it serves as the instructions for the business on how to meet its goals.

Financial Forecast – this section covers the estimated costs of pursuing the plan of action that is laid out in the action program section of the market plan. It should also covers the expectations the firm should have in regards to its income based on the proposed action plan. Usually this section will include a break-even analysis, a likely future monthly income statement, and more.

Generally, marketing plans tend to be

very lengthy documents due to the fact

that the sections of the genre require a

great deal of detail. Despite their length,

however, it is not uncommon for the

author(s) of the plan to include lists to

provide necessary information quickly.

Marketers also make an effort to

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consider their audience when producing

the marketing plan, and attempt to make

the writing as clear and as simple as

possible.

The purpose of genres is to save time by considering the audience and how to express

information in the best possible way for that audience. Genres embrace rhetoric and are

impacted greatly by several factors such as the exigence. In marketing, audiences change

dramatically from the classroom to the individual groups of a population. The genres in

marketing are tailored to each audience in such a way that they can be the most efficient

and help to enhance the developments in the field. In this chapter, it was clear that the

email, syllabus, marketing research and the marketing plan genres all differed greatly.

Genres are a necessary part of writing in any career, but especially marketing, which

requires a broad spectrum of formats. It is important to remember that genres are

constantly changing, especially in marketing, because they surround recurring events and

shape the appropriate way to respond to it

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Chapter 3:

An Interview

In this chapter… A grad student briefly

shares some of her

experience as a

marketing major.

While outlining school

and professional

differences, Keshsa

Vassant also gives

advice to students

going into marketing.

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ollege is not real life and although most students recognize this fact, few truly

have an understanding of the extent to which college and the real world differ.

College serves as an excellent transition between living at home and entering

the real world as a self-sufficient adult, but it is an entity of its own with very specific

components. These components do not always nicely transition into the real world as

students might wish; however, it is without a doubt that college prepares students to

complete the work required by their field. However, it is often difficult to immediately

see how writing is incorporated into the real world, especially in a major like marketing.

The previous chapter described a variety of different genres that may be used in

marketing. Naturally, one may wonder whether these are the types of writing that college

prepares marketing students to do. To satisfy this curiosity, it was necessary to do some

research. Instead of choosing to do secondary research by reviewing other sources, it

seemed far more appropriate to seek out the personal experience and passion of a

graduate student that has already begun to transition further into the real world. I met

with a student pursuing a career in marketing in order to answer many of the questions

students might have about writing in the marketing world.

As a freshman, Keshsa Vassant had little idea, just as many freshmen, how

writing would be used in her field of study. Now that she has nearly achieved her

master’s degree in marketing, Keshsa has a far greater amount of insight about the

requirements of the field. In regards to the types of writing that are most often used in

marketing, Keshsa confirms one of the biggest doubts that students have in class: the

skills taught in the classroom are both necessary and highly applicable to real life. Keshsa

shares plenty of good information for younger students like myself. She discusses some

of the writing that she has been required to do in marketing and how the current

curriculum has helped to develop the current writing in marketing. Throughout the

interview, she places great emphasis on the importance of reaching the audience, and she

explains some of the challenges and changes in the style of writing in the marketing

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world. Lastly, Keshsa expresses some words of wisdom for current marketing students

so that we may be successful in our college and professional career.

Now that she has nearly achieved her master’s in marketing, Keshsa has been

exposed to all sorts of ideas and genres that exist within writing in marketing. She has

had to create research-based writing and marketing plans; and perform situation analysis

while considering consumer trends and clear expression of ideas. Keshsa further explains

that the typical marketing course briefly covers the different genres utilized in the

classroom; however, core writing classes are key to making writing in the field of

marketing successful since they are the foundation of students’ writing skills. Many of

the skills that are pushed by college writing professors, such as providing strong

supporting evidence (whether it be in an info graphic, chart, table, etc. or with other

factual evidence), using examples to clarify and engage the reader, and being direct and

thorough, are key to writing in marketing. Conciseness is especially important, as we

have seen in other chapters, since “… not many people have the time to read a lot of

facts so try to get to the point without much fluff,” Keshsa emphasizes.

These basic writing skills that are taught in normal writing classes also blend with

the most effective ways to reach the audience in writing, whether they be board

members of different organizations, (potential) clients, members of other organizations,

co-workers, inquirers, and more. “Reaching the audience” is something that professors

attempt to drill into the brains of all students; after all, what good is writing that means

nothing to the reader? Imagine hearing an advertisement about dentures right now.

Because people our age generally do not need dentures, the advertisement is irrelevant; it

did not “reach” you as an audience. Keshsa describes the importance of considering the

audience when writing in marketing, emphasizing that “… every reader has a different

expectation and expects to gain something out of whatever it is that you put in front of

them.” This statement puts the importance of understanding the audience into

perspective. Writers in marketing and in any other field should always consider what it is

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that the reader can learn or take away from dedicating time to reading a piece of writing.

This often serves as a challenge to writers, but writing in this way can dramatically

change the impact of your paper. Keshsa also explains that “Considering your audience

might make the difference between landing a contract with a company or not, or selling

a product or not.” With this being said, considering the audience suddenly becomes one

of the most important ideas behind marketing writing.

Although writing with the audience in mind can be quite the challenge, Keshsa

claims that the most challenging part of writing in marketing is the timeliness of the

writing due to the constantly evolving and shifting market. Fortunately, the Internet and

technology have helped to reduce some of the challenges presented by the constricted

time factor she says. Writing in marketing has branched out from the traditional formats

to include a format similar to that of blogs because the “… message is sent faster: in

span of seconds, rather than wait[ing] to publish [a] paper which would take months,”

Keshsa says. This, again, ties into making marketing writing thorough and direct: blogs

tend to be relatively short and direct to keep people interested. “People do not have the

time to even read two – three pages of writing and thus blogs has become more casual

writing and a way of conveying the message,” she continues to explain why blogs have

become ideal. This is not to say that formal papers and journals are no longer published,

but blog-style writing has become a sort of mainstream reference for marketers.

Lastly, Keshsa encourages marketing students to embrace numbers, exercise

creativity, and push precision so that we can be successful in both our college and

professional careers. She believes that these three things are key to the success of a

marketer. “Marketing is not just about awareness and communications but it is about the

money,” she explains. Students should be aware of the numbers that surround finances,

statistics, raw data and more. They are unavoidable, so students should be prepared to

work with numbers. Keshsa believes that creativity is a key part to being a writer in itself,

but it is especially necessary to exercise creativity to attract and maintain the attention of

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the audience. Precision helps to convey messages more effectively, especially in “… use

of the right terms. Usually all marketers know what each term means but it would be

easy if the author explained what they meant when they used the term.” Being precise

helps the reader know how knowledgeable you are in the subject, expresses ideas more

easily to your reader, and also helps to maintain your credibility as a professional.

As Keshsa Vassant grew as a writer throughout her college career, her passion

for marketing grew simultaneously. Keshsa’s insight goes to show that the transition

called college actually does prepare students to enter the adult world as strong members

in in the work force through typical writing courses. Keshsa’s college experience has

given her greatly prepared her in regards to the marketing field. “Writing is everywhere,

and no matter what, you have to know how to do it,” she concludes. Knowing how to

write includes being able to reach the audience as well as adapting to the changes and

challenges that writing may present. Despite the major, students should embrace their

writing courses, since many of these skills will aid in future writing.

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25

Chapter 4: A Proposal for Change

In this chapter…

Learn about ways to

make changes to the

current curriculum to

better prepare

marketing students at

the University of

Denver and who

might be impacted by

this change.

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hroughout these last chapters, it has become clear that writing in the field of

marketing has several components that are required to help make the writing

itself successful. Keeping the writing direct and concise is a recurring theme-

this however, has proven to be one of the greatest issues in marketing writing. The actual

problem lies in the lack of understanding of what it means to keep writing “sweet and

simple”. The idea behind this form of writing is to make necessary information

immediately available, avoiding fluff, all the while keeping the audience in mind. This

style may sound simple, but has resulted in a plethora of poorly written works, due to the

fact that many marketers have the misconception that direct writing strays away from

quality. Marketers often fail to see a difference between quality and quantity, leading

them to sacrifice quantity as well as quality. In response this shortfall in the marketing

field, I suggest a reform at the basic level in the marketing curriculum, to allow the

inclusion of writing classes that are specifically tailored to marketing students. Of

course, a reformation like this has to start with fundamentals at a basic level, so I

propose that the students at the University of Denver petition the school administration

to consider this modification to the current curriculum. Naturally, there are many things

to consider prior to moving forward with such an idea. These topics to consider include

the details of the reform itself, the stakeholders or the people who will be impacted by

the change, opposing views, and the effects that the reform will have on the field.

To clearly understand how people may be impacted by the change, it must first

be clear which components constitute the suggested reform. The reform herein suggests

generating new university classes that train marketing students to produce pieces of work

that are suitable for the marketing field. Most writing classes currently offered require

lengthy pieces and push students to be excessively thorough; however, the new writing

classes for marketing majors will engage students to express themselves as clearly and

concisely as possible to allow them to get a head start at real world communication in the

marketing realm. These classes would be in addition to the typically required writing

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27

courses as to avoid impeding any writing ability that might be discovered through typical

writing courses.

Due to the forward direction in the business world, people want the information

that they need as quickly and easily as possible. As a student however, it is important that

you do not to lose sight of the fact that you must capture and maintain the attention of

said potential readers, whomever it may be for that particular piece. Therefore, classes

for marketing majors will push students to find that fine line and master such abilities.

Recall that the business world is very fast paced currently, and few people have the time

or would like to take the time to sift through several pages of convoluted paragraphs.

The University of Denver should be making an effort to stand alone in the field as one

of the few, if any, of institutions that allow this kind of course in their regular

curriculum.

This reform in the curriculum would be a dramatic change because it has a great

impact on many groups of people. These groups of people include those within the

business community; students (who will eventually become marketers); the university

administration, its respective marketing department and professors; and many other

communities. All of these groups have ties to marketing and can gain from such a

change. People in the business community are considered to be stakeholders because this

is where marketers make a difference in the business world. If a change in the curriculum

has an impact on the ability for marketers to communicate more efficiently, it will have

an impact on the business world as a whole since marketers could be considered the first

line of business. The school administration, the marketing department, professors, and

students are all impacted if this change is implemented. The administration is looking at

changes in budget and possibly staff, which also makes a difference to the current

professors at the university. As students, we are stakeholders as well, because we are the

ones who are most directly experiencing such changes; after all, the basic purpose of a

university is to produce the next generation of thinkers.

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Creating new classes without a doubt is a tremendous undertaking for the

University of Denver. Nevertheless, the benefits of embracing this change supersede the

doubts that the reform might initially summon. Many people may argue that all quality

writing should generally be complex and detailed, which makes an endeavor to create a

class that is focused on the opposite seem moot. However, quality writing is not based

on length; instead, the factors that contribute to quality are the ideas, individual voice,

word choice, organization, conventions and grammar, and fluidity (Peha). It is important

that people value quality over quantity so that this new program can effectively fulfill its

intended purpose. Another argument that might come forward is that clearly expressing

yourself with minimal text is not actually a challenge. However, the restrictions on length

may make it difficult to express complex ideas with enough depth to create a clear

understanding between the author and the audience. This is something that undoubtedly

needs to be taught. Additionally, skeptics may argue that the class is not worth the

investment, but since marketing impacts anyone that is exposed to something like an

advertisement, it is best that marketers are trained at the root of their career to be

successful, simply for the pleasure and appropriate responses of the public. There are too

many people that are impacted by the marketers in the business world for this problem

to continue unattended.

As detailed in this argument, many people are clearly impacted by such a

curriculum reform; it is this writer’s opinion that creating a new class to train marketing

students to produce effective writing in their field is the most reasonable solution to

diminish the vast amounts of poor quality writing produced by many marketers. This

new class can help to educate marketers when they are still in the stage of learning about

their profession. It has been seen time and time again that it is most efficient to teach

something from a blank slate rather than attempting to break old habits learned from a

flawed system. Habits are hard to break simply because our brains have a tendency to

make things “automatic” (Goudreau). It is also a more financially feasible change

because marketers, are already required to attend college and pay tuition to cover writing

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29

classes that do not effectively teach marketing writing. If these individuals do not take

such a course at the university level, they might later be forced to invest even more

money on an alternative, such as taking a course after college so that they might acquire

such necessary skills. Instead of placing students into typical “cookie-cutter” writing

courses that do not focus specifically on integrated marketing skills, the administration

should make it so that students can take writing classes tailored to marketing students

during the college career.

Whether or not the quality of writing in marketing is a big concern in our world,

it is without a doubt these skills have a great impact on all sorts of communities across

the world. Today, writing in marketing faces the challenges of restricted length and short

attention spans, although ideas may be far more complex than just one page, billboard,

or commercial. Writing “short and sweet” is a challenge that marketers face, which leads

to a grand amount of poor quality pieces in the field.

The plain solution is to teach this style in writing classes that are specifically

tailored to the needs of marketing majors at the University of Denver. This new program

would be ideal for teaching marketers proficiency in writing in the field early on and

during our college career, as to avoid additional costs and also the need to break old

habits. It is time that marketers and other majors alike join together to petition the

University of Denver to make this change. The reach of this issue is too large to go

unnoticed. Do your part as a marketing student and join the cause. More information

regarding student petitions can be found at http://www.law.du.edu/forms/petitions/

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31

Conclusion

In this chapter… Put together main

ideas brought forward

throughout this book.

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veryone knows that nothing is perfect, and despite of the passion that I have

for marketing as a field of study and as a profession since a young age, I

cannot negate that the current curriculum may have some defects. In this

book, many different ideas have been brought forth. As you recall, Chapter 1 is a

literature review that is meant to establish a foundation of background knowledge about

the current situation surrounding writing in marketing. Chapter 2 describes some of the

genres that exist within the field, while Chapter 3 consists of relaying information from a

marketing graduate student, Keshsa Vassant. Lastly, Chapter 4 is meant to suggest a

solution to the minor holes in the marketing curriculum at the University of Denver.

While these are a lot of topics, there remain multiple concepts that overlap

throughout that help to create a tie that unites the individual chapters. One of the ideas

that consistently appears in this book is the idea that concise writing is key. Another of

the ideas that seems to overlap often is that writing is the foundation of marketing

because it can be a final product on its own as well as serve as a tool to develop another

product. The third important idea expressed in several chapters of this book is that many

people are impacted by the marketing curriculum in universities; the impact is not limited

to members of the university’s community.

All of the chapters emphasize that writing must be concise. Chapter 1, being a

literature review, is the first to bring forth the idea that writing must be “sweet and

simple.” In this chapter, multiple authors make this point in their writing, despite the

genre of their writing. Immediately following this chapter, Chapter 2 introduces some of

the different genres that appear in the field. We see that conciseness can be effective in

both emails (regardless of the recipients) and also in syllabi. Keshsa Vassant describes

how blog-style writing has become ideal in our ever-changing world due to its short and

direct style in the chapter that follows. Lastly, Chapter 4 touches on this by identifying

the problem in the curriculum: many people misunderstand the need for short writing,

downgrading the quality of writing overall.

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33

We easily see the repetition of the importance of writing in all of the chapters.

Chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4 all emphasize the importance of writing, but each in their own

way. Chapter 1 touches on how the most effective writing in marketing is generally

executed, while Chapter 2 hones in on specific types of writing that are important to

marketing as a field. In Chapter 3, Keshsa lightly expresses how professional writing is

far different from that which is required by the University, but crucial nonetheless.

Chapter 4 discusses the importance of writing in marketing and how the curriculum at

the University needs to change in order to best suit the type of writing that is done in the

field. This chapter presents writing as a main concern in the curriculum, so much so that

changes should be made to the current curriculum; the current curriculum simply does

not satisfy the writing standards held by the professional marketing world.

The last recurring theme throughout this book is that there are many more

people than (potential) marketers and members of university communities are impacted

by the writing that takes place within marketing. Chapter 1 introduces this idea when

revealing the extent to which writing in marketing reaches out to different audiences. In

Chapter 1, I presented a variety of sources that revealed the power of writing to be far

more expansive than we perceive since so many people are exposed to marketing on a

regular basis.

Like I said before, nothing is perfect. Despite my bias, this book is not the

exception. Regardless, I am hoping that as a reader there were several things that you can

take away from this lengthy piece. The first is that although the style of writing that is

necessary in one field may drastically differ from that which is required by another field,

writing is important no matter which you choose. This book is not meant to be a

complete informational document to update students on what to expect throughout their

entire college and professional career; however, it should serve as a basic foundation to

aid students in understanding their work as (potential) marketing majors. It also allows

students to look further ahead into the field and decide whether some of the concepts

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presented, as well as the writing styles, truly suit them. Marketing remains my passion

today just as it was 11 years ago. Although it may not be for everyone, you now have a

relatively clear idea about the significance of writing in marketing, as well as a vague idea

of what the major holds in store for its students.

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35

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