Writers come in all shapes and sizes, work backgrounds, and educational experience. We may labor over advertisements, novels, heavy equipment manuals, blogs, magazine articles, or text for push notifications. Even when we work (mid-afternoon, pre-dawn, only when on deadline) or what we drink while working (coffee, Diet Coke, whiskey) varies widely.
Despite our differences, many skills brought to one writing area overlap with others. Even the soda sippers would agree with the coffee chuggers that clarity, good research, and a well-structured sentence are central to their work.
Two areas we spend a lot of time in at Livingston Communication Inc. are medical writing and writing content for marketing teams. Although finished medical or content writing pieces look very different, the ways we approach the work are strikingly similar. Intent, accessibility, and actionability strengthen both medical and content writing.
#1 Intent crucial for success
Medical writers often work on pieces with applications in the medical field—journal manuscripts containing results of clinical trials, educational materials for physicians, literature reviews for medical device development, and more. On the other hand, content writers work to convert leads and build brand loyalty with educational and persuasive pieces. Examples include blogs, web copy, white papers, social media posts, and podcasts.
In both content and medical writing, intent is crucial to creating a strong piece. Interesting and engaging pieces need purpose to succeed. For example, we recently worked on editing a journal manuscript with a strict word count. Every time we had to cut valuable information, we first asked whether it drove the central thesis of the piece. Keeping each interesting but irrelevant tidbit would weaken the manuscript’s message.
Intent is especially crucial in marketing content, where general pieces tend to flounder while pieces with messages directed at a specific audience attract leads. After reading strong content, readers should feel heard, informed, and empowered to move to the next steps or share the piece.
#2 Access & accessibility matter
Content writing must be seen to produce results. When millions of pieces are published every day, any effort toward making content discoverable and digestible will pay off in getting eyeballs on a page. Combining judicious search engine optimization (SEO) with readability and a channel distribution strategy will help draw the right readers to a good piece of content.
Internal medical writing projects or those not intended for publishing, like conference presentations, do not need SEO or a social media plan for discoverability. However, readers are more likely to continue to read and remember medical writing that prioritizes clarity over technical language.
Many life sciences companies are creating plain language summaries (PLS) to accompany traditional presentations of clinical research results. Writers gear PLS toward patients, caregivers, and others who do not have the medical terminology or scientific background of physicians so they can understand results.
#3 Compelling readers to act
A third tie-in between medical and content writing is actionability. Readers should know what to do once they finish reading a piece.
For content marketing, the call to action (CTA) directs readers toward the next steps, such as signing up for a demo, downloading a PDF full of tips, or clicking a related article to know more. The CTA helps move people who have shown interest further along the sales funnel and toward the decision to purchase a product or service.
Many medical writing pieces, such as manuscripts, have a less formal CTA: the resources section. This section shares two purposes: validating information and providing further reading for curious readers. Strong pieces of medical writing with a clear purpose can also incite the reader to act—whether through sharing the information with their network or putting what they learned into practice in their field.
Since content and medical writing share common elements, working on skills for one type of project often directly benefits the other. For example, time spent refining a blog will also benefit future work editing a journal article for publication. Similarly, reworking wording on education materials to resonate with patients preparing for brain surgery will help when wordsmithing a LinkedIn post, even for an entirely different audience.
Like peanut butter and jelly, medical and content writing are better together.
Livingston Communication Inc. supports clients with both medical and content writing needs. Our mission is to infuse persuasive writing with technical knowledge and technical projects with clear writing. Learn more here.
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