Selling and Explaining
Two
Complementary Parts of a Whole
By
Richard Garner
Contact Richard
We all know that, in order for people who buy technical products to be happy with their purchases, they need to be able to make them work. That is where most technical writers come in, with our instruction manuals, user guides, and online help systems.
In order for the product to get into the customer's hands in the first place, there is another whole field of activities engaged in by technical writers called "technical marketing communications." This field is the focus of a national and international special-interest group (SIG) of the STC called, appropriately enough, the "Marketing Communications (Marcom) SIG."
This is a large SIG with approximately 1,000 members. Many of the members hail from Canada or Europe. This includes SIG Manager Beth Agnew, who teaches technical communication at Seneca College in Toronto.
As someone trying to get into technical writing while I have been working my way through the Certificate Program in Technical Writing at SDSU, I have found membership in this SIG helpful as a kind of window onto the field of technical writing as a whole.
A broad range of topics has been discussed on the SIG's e-mail discussion list over the past couple of years since I joined. The topics have ranged from the types of jobs done by technical marcom workers, to strategies for corporate branding, to how to get testimonials from customers, to types of documents to be used as sales collateral to be accessed on the Web, to the relative merits of Quark versus InDesign versus PageMaker.
It should be useful for all of us to know how other companies are marketing their products and services. I highly recommend membership in this SIG. You can join when you renew your membership, or go to the STC Web site, and log in to the Member's Only section.
