What’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 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 more5 things you must know webinar, April 30
As you know, I’m big on Customer Experience and technical publications. I’m running a series of articles about the relationship, in hopes of educating everyone. Product instructions matter to our customers. As part of that education process, I’m doing a free webinar at the end of April 2014 for the Congility group. Congility is a great group that also hosts a conference in the London area, typically held in mid to late June. Last year, I was lucky enough to go and then spent 4 days in London to see the city. What an amazing...
read moreCustomer Experience: Product instructions are the forgotten piece
I gave a webinar about how product instruction are the forgotten piece of the Customer Experience. This well attended webinar was the first time I’d put my thoughts together about how important instructions are to the total customer experience. The feedback I’ve gotten says this talk resonated with people. That makes me happy. If you want to see the slides, click here to go to SlideShare. To see the video, you can go directly to my YouTube channel (sharonvburton), directly to the video at YouTube, or go here to the video on my...
read moreThe forgotten part of the customer experience
How good are your product instructions? How do you even know? Yet product instructions are the first point of contact with a product. Product instructions are central to the post-sales customer experience. Product instructions: the unexamined piece of the Customer Experience Free webinar Feb 4 at 1pm Eastern. What you will learn Attend this free webinar to learn more about: 95% of your customers are using the product instructions 71% of your customers think if the instructions are confusing or incomplete, the overall quality of the product...
read moreNeed some education? Update your skills?
Then I have a few things for you. Topic-based Authoring – virtual class July 18 to August 22, I’m teaching Topic-based Authoring through STC. Topic-based authoring is the best way to create and reuse content, regardless of the content. What does this class cover? Topic-based authoring is the next new thing in technical communication. It lets you create and reuse content, reduces project schedules, and improves your workflow. If you are looking to move to a structured writing environment such as DITA, it’s the first...
read moreGetting what you want webinar recording is ready!
In case you missed it, the webinar went super well and people really liked it. The recording is available here: http://youtu.be/ECnW4pYorTE The supporting files that were promised are available here. And finally, if you’d like the slides, go here. To see all the educational webinar recordings available, go here.
read moreClear Communication Webinar – Wow.
Man was that fun! We had about 600 people signed up and just over 300 attend live. This was by far the most popular webinar I’ve done yet. I had no idea. I want to thank DCL for hosting us and making it all work. They really saved my bacon all the way. If you want the slides, they are available on SlideShare here. The recording is available if you click here.
read moreAnd the survey says?
As you may know, I’m interested in the post-sale part of the sales cycle, the part where we support our users with clear and useful content to use our products. This post-sale content support enhances our brands by making products easier to use. Making products easier for our customers to use goes to the suitability of products in our customers minds. By improving the post-sales part of the customer experience, we help the customer want to purchase our products again. All of this increases sales and increases brand confidence. Over the...
read moreCooperation and trust: When success overwhelms you
Recently, I was the victim of success and having friends has made all the difference. Here’s what happened In early January 2013, I set up a webinar for 5 Feb 2013 about communication tricks that will make your message more powerful. I’ll cover about 10 things that can just make your communication clear and to make it pop, regardless of the communication method. I set up the email in my ConstantContact account and sent it out to my contacts. And I went about my day. Within 3 days, I had over 300 signups. With just over 3 weeks...
read more
Recent comments