Our audiences
General writing guidelines:
- Write at a grade five reading level — use the Hemingway app or Grammarly to check the reading level of your content
- Avoid a long word if a shorter one will do
- Omit a word when you can
- Use common language instead of complicated or niche phrases, scientific nomenclature, or jargon
- Avoid metaphors, similes, and other figures of speech when possible
- These can muddle the content’s meaning and complicate translations
- Use active voice
Health care professionals
- Boston Scientific is transparent about our products’ efficacy and adherence to industry standards
- When writing for health care professionals, promote the value of our products and treatments without hyperbolic language, boasting, or giving a feeling of trying to “sell” the user
- Health care professionals are sensitive to marketing content. Tell a straightforward story about how our devices and treatments help patients.
Patients
- Physicians treat patients; Boston Scientific does not — do not refer to patients in the possessive when speaking on behalf of the company
- People are not defined by disease and should not be described as such
Do write
- The patients Boston Scientific helps to serve
- Katheryn, who suffered from chronic leg pain, helped by a Boston Scientific stent
- The Vercise™ DBS System helps manage Kevin’s Parkinson’s disease symptoms
- Mike, whose heart is protected by the EMBLEM S-ICD
- Richard recovered from a heart attack following treatment with the Synergy stent
Don't write
- Our patients
- Boston Scientific’s patients
- A heart attack patient
- A Synergy patient
Caregivers
- Always keep the caregiver in mind when creating content for potential beneficiaries of our treatments
- Caregivers play an important role and should be included in Boston Scientific content
Do write
- Include content that will benefit a caregiver
Don't write
- Ignore the caregiver audience