What do we measure in Tech Comm? (part 2)
In a previous article, I talked about some typical things we measure in Tech Comm and technical writing. I suggested that the traditional KPIs were often stupid. And some interesting suggestions came out of that in the comments. In this article, I’m going to start talking about tech comm in the business context and why that matters. Let’s start with Marketing and Sales. What does Marketing care about? I’m the first to admit I used to call the people over in marketing “weenies”. I was wrong. I didn’t...
read moreContent strategy – Complete or Done?
When I was 18 years old, I realized I didn’t know much. I also knew this was the nature of being 18 but I still felt I should fix it – I should know more. I was a US Army wife, living in Naples, Italy and for reasons I don’t remember, we had an encyclopedia set. I decided to read the encyclopedia, starting at A and reading to Z. I felt this was a reasonable solution to not knowing. It was, in a way, a content strategy. Complete information? My reasoning was something along the lines of “I don’t know anything....
read moreWrapping up your content strategy
Here in inland So Cal, it’s a cold and pretty year thus far in 2015. Here’s hoping your content strategy heats up this year! The 5 top content development articles last year 2014 was the year when everyone discovered the importance of effective content strategy and content management. Pre- and post-sales content is starting to get the attention it needs to improve the customer experience overall. I thought I’d share the top 5 articles I wrote from last year. Your content or your product will never be Jimmy Buffett. Read...
read moreAre you helping your customer segments?
Customer segments are the definable differentiations in your customers. For example, your customers over or under XX number of dollars in size, or the number of Spanish speaking customers or really any other way your customer base can divide out. Why is customer segmentation important? Customer segmentation is getting more important to businesses as big data becomes more available. It allows us to better understand who our customers are, what they are doing, and what we can do to help them stay engaged with us. Engaged customers are worth...
read moreWhat’s clear communication and how do you get it?
We all know that content is King, or Queen, depending on your point of view. But regardless, content that communicates a message that resonates with the audience is critical, pre- and post-sales. All content is not created equal, though. Content that powerfully gets the message across in a way that makes sense to the receiver is the best content of all. This content is typically clearly communicated. Clear communication doesn’t happen by accident. And it’s too important to hope and wish it happens. Clear communication webinar...
read more5 ways your product instructions suck (and why this is a bad user experience)
No one likes to think that the product instructions they worked hard to create and spent a lot of money on aren’t top notch. But the truth is, there’s a lot of bad product instructions out there. And it’s negatively impacting the user experience. How do you know if your product instructions are bad? In no order of importance: 5 ways your product instructions suck Future tense with lots of conditionals. Why this sucks: Future tense adds uncertainty to when things happen. Customers need to feel things will happen in a timely...
read moreWhat’s the right tool for content development?
What’s the right tool for content development? Tell me! This is a question I’m seeing a lot on the various lists lately. And, at best, it’s a naive question. Right on the edge of a dumb question I know we’re supposed to all agree there’s no such thing as a dumb question but this may be a dumb question. The person who is asking it: Supposes there is only one answer (if there were, we’d all be using the same tools) Isn’t interested in doing any analysis of their current content Doesn’t understand...
read moreThe most important trait of a technical writer
I have read a few discussions on LinkedIn lately about what core skills a technical writer needs. The answers have ranged all over, from high technical skills to proper grammar and spelling. I have one word for you: Curiosity. That’s it. That’s the difference. Why? I can teach someone to write. I can give them the Good Writing Guidelines, I can set up a structure that they need to follow to create topics. I can teach the basics of any tool we choose. I can teach them about audience and what the audience needs and how that impacts...
read moreAre you communicating to your audience? Or with them?
I was browsing several vendor websites over the weekend and wound up laughing at the content marketing strategy, which, in this case, was not good. As I was reading one vendor’s site, it occurred to me the reading level was very high. I copied the content into Word and ran the Reading Level scan. I was not at all surprised to find the Flesch score was 8 and the Flesch-Kincaid was 18. (I didn’t have the SMOG on, but I bet that was really high, too.) Scores aren’t everything but they’re a lot So what do those scores...
read moreCustomer Experience and Product Instructions (part 7)
In previous articles, I covered some business/customer experience basics, such as customer experience and customer churn, and the value of customers and the pyramid of customer experience. I looked at the Customer Experience pyramid and the Content pyramid, the cost of customer support centers as they impact the Customer Experience, and the expense of product returns, and customer touchpoints and how they impact the Customer Experience. In this article, I’m covering Customer Journey maps and how they impact product instructions....
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