You might have heard the phrase ‘Content is King’ a million times. Ever wondered who said it? It was in 1996; Bill Gates wrote an essay titled “Content is King” and published it on the Microsoft website. In this essay, he predicted that content is where much of the ‘real money’ will be made on the internet.
It’s been more than 25 years now; content still remains the king. Today, businesses are thriving with digital marketing, and content creation is a key part of it. It is because, without it, there’s no way to connect with your customers.
Content can build a bridge that connects businesses with customers.
However, content creation isn’t easy. Most marketers and content creators wonder which is the best way to reach their target audience- creative or technical writing? When creating content, the conflict between technical and creative writing is always there because user engagement has always been a challenge. This article delves into the best writing style to reach your target audience and grow your sales.
Before that, let’s differentiate technical writing from creative writing.
Technical vs. Creative Writing
Differences between Creative and Technical Writing
A prototype is a sample of your product in theory form. It is the first crude design of your product development process. However, not every prototype ends as a final product. The advantage of prototypes is you can communicate your idea and design with the developers or designers easily. You can show them what exactly they need to build.
Prototypes can be as simple or as complex based on your requirements. They can be paper sketches or digital prototypes and vary in size, time, and effort based on your resources and needs.
Now that you’ve seen the differences between technical and creative writing. These differences should help you find who your target audience is. Now, let’s see the best style of writing: technical or creative?
Which Writing Style to Choose: Technical or Creative Writing? Or Both?
Technical writing keeps the direct target audience in mind and has a clear business purpose behind every word. But the catch here is, if your audience finds it boring and doesn’t read it, it’s a waste of time. Although creative writers have a target audience in mind, they have the freedom to break the rules and entertain and inspire readers.
Content has to be informative, structured, creative, engaging, and ultimately educating the readers about what it has to say. Suppose you have to write professional content as part of your sales campaign without boring the audience. In that case, you need to go the extra mile. Creativity in technical writing takes you the extra mile. So, our answer is creative technical writing. The combination of technical and creative writing is the best style of writing to reach your target audience.
Creative writing includes imagination and originality, humor and artisticness, making the content informative and engaging.
The creative approach in technical writing makes your words powerful and helps you meet your purpose straightaway. Moreover, it’s become vital to engage your audiences with your brand’s content. If you can engage and inspire them with your communication, they will likely love reading from you more. Hence, the chances of conversions also double fold.
Copywriting is the best example of this. Copywriting says what the business has to speak to the audience in a clear, concise, and creative manner. Combining creative writing with technical writing works the same way.
You can use the creative approach of technical writing in your email campaigns, web pages, pop-ups, advertisements, and wherever you think creativity doesn’t ruin the purpose.
Some businesses use the blend of both styles but fail. Why?
To make professional communication engaging, one needs to put creative and technical elements in the right balance at the right time.
Using the Right Strategy at the Right Time
Let’s start this with an example. Take a software manual; it is technical writing that must be precise, consistent in sentence structure, length, and choice of words. The main goal of a software manual is to educate users about features and how to use them; there is no room and need for creativity here. In contrast, when you run Google Ad campaigns, you should write compelling, witty headlines to attract and drive the target audience to your site. And you can’t use this strategy when writing user manuals. You should know what, where, and when you should choose the style. Again, don’t let the information get lost in the stream of creativity. If you feel the topic doesn’t need creative elements there, be rude, remove them.
Know the Rules. Play by Them or Break Them
Content creation is fun when you know where to follow, break and bend the rules. You can start writing clear and informative technical content and turn it into a story with creative writing and captivate your audience. A strong professional piece of content with creative elements in the right way reaches and influences the right people.