Why do most professionals read trade publications? Is it a) for pleasure, b) to keep tabs on the competition c) to learn something new?

Last month I was working on a bylined article for a trade publication when the
client said to me, "Let's have some fun with this. Just because it's technical doesn't mean it has to be boring." It was both thrilling and rare to hear such a request. As a writer primarily of B2B trade articles, I
often find myself nudging clients to aim for style AND substance in their writing. Certainly our overarching goal is to showcase the subject matter expertise of the client and offer value to our
audience, but intelligent writing doesn't have to come at the expense of creativity. In my experience, many professionals writing for trade publications worry that creativity will undermine their "subject matter expert" status. Of course, one would not want to be silly, trite or inappropriate with one's writing, but a spoonful of sugar really does make the medicine go down.

This particular client and I worked together on an interesting theme for the article -- an analogy that carried the reader through the story, providing both color and clarity. The end result was an informative piece packed with best practices but that didn't read like a textbook case study or a jargon-filled advertorial.

Upon submitting the article, I learned that the magazine editor was equally thrilled to receive something that was not dry and boring. This should be the golden rule of writing: Write unto others as you would have written unto you.

- Erica Stephens