From technical writing to technical communication
The goal of technical communication is to turn prospects into satisfied customers. The technical writer gives the market the information it needs to choose, evaluate, and use a high-tech product. Inside the company, they sit at the interface between R&D and marketing; outside it, they open a dialogue between the company and its many audiences. The three levels of technical documentation offer a useful framework for understanding where a company’s documentation stands today.
Technical communication is often reduced to technical writing - the product documentation produced once a sale is made. But technical communication starts earlier, before the sale, and stays with the product across its entire life cycle. Where technical writing speaks to users, technical communication also speaks to the general public, to journalists, and to prospects.
Technical communication supports both marketing and technical writing.
Its aim is to show that a product fits its audience. To do that, it draws on a range of media, each tailored to the reader’s level of expertise and role - general public, journalists, prospects, customers. The technical writer adapts the message to each one, and whatever the medium - text, illustration, film, animation - a marketing dimension runs through all of it. To support sales, every piece of communication has to work as a marketing tool too.
But can the same person be both logical and creative? That duality is essential in musical composition, architecture, and software development - and it is just as essential for a technical writer. The work calls for:
- studying the fit between the audience’s needs and the company’s resources,
- strong creative and writing skills,
- rigorous project management,
- an industrial process for producing and promoting content.
This blog looks at concrete examples of technical communication media: their marketing value, their fit with the target audience, and how to get the most out of them. Getting the most out of content means:
- producing quality content aligned with your audience,
- preserving existing content across its versions,
- reusing and recycling what you already have.