Video: https://youtu.be/AXPG_d-XiZk
We’ve come to think of it like this: content is content. Marketing and technical communications are generated for the same end users at different points in the product adoption life-cycle. The distinction between marketing communications and technical communications is far less pronounced than it once was. Managers sometimes see little difference in skill-sets and often put content creators together in one role or department – and maybe they’re right. During our careers we’re often dealing with a lot of technical content but also creating marketing communications; we’re in a good position to see how very little difference there might be between them. They’re both an always-on dialogue with the user, just at different points in the product adoption life-cycle. We’ll explore the audiences who consume content, ideas related to a seamless content experience, how both training and support factor into this, and talk about implementation ideas.
3. Who The Heck Am I?
12:32@aschwanden4stc @AdobeTCS
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Bernard Aschwanden
A past President of
www.stc.org and founder
of Publishing Smarter
Helps teams make the
case that content is the
key business asset with a
focus on how content
makes or breaks a
relationship
5. Tech Content MUST BE Part of Your Marketing
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6. The Informed Consumer
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Post-Purchase Evaluation
Purchase Decision
Evaluation and Selection of Alternatives
Information search
Problem recognition
7. Where Tech Comm Comes In
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Post-Purchase Evaluation
Purchase Decision
Evaluation and Selection of Alternatives
Information search
Problem recognition
9. Convergence Summary
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Marketing Technical
End users Identify end users early, target content for their needs. Provide an
always-on dialogue aligned with end users.
Multi-channel publishing Provide content in appropriate formats, including HTML, PDF, and
applications.
Level of technical detail Always high-level, now
increasingly technical.
Always technical, now
increasingly focussed on higher
level, including users’ business
goals.
Type of content Articles, blogs, tweets, case
studies, whitepapers,
advertising, promotions, etc.
Integrated marketing
communications helps
customers understand what
the product does and decide if
the product solves their
problem.
Books, guides, and topics,
where the aim is to provide a
library of content to help users
understand and use the
product.
24. The Right Content, The Right Place, The Right
Time
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Page Header Content
Body Content
Marketing
Body content pulled from
marcom. Conceptual or
informative, and related to
page specific messaging.
Tech Comm
Body content pulled from
tech comm. Task, concept, or
reference, and related to
page specific messaging.
This discussion explores a whitepaper we wrote for Adobe
Topics range, and questions are encouraged
Also, like many before us, a quick thanks
To Adobe for sponsoring this annual event
To you for participating and making it a massive success
We all generate content for the same audiences
The audience is always looking for something more
The distinction between marketing and tech comm is less pronounced than it has been
Managers hire people with similar skill sets to create either type of content
Both are an always-on discussion with users
We come in at different points of the product adoption lifecycle
This standard process involves(2, 3, and 5 use content, ideally COMPANY content)
Problem Recognition
Information Search
Evaluation and Selection of Alternatives
Purchase Decision
Post-Purchase Evaluation
This standard process involves(2, 3, and 5 use content, ideally COMPANY content)
Problem Recognition
Information Search
Evaluation and Selection of Alternatives
Purchase Decision
Post-Purchase Evaluation
Pre-sales: Marketing
Provide enough info to inform the consumers
Content is often public
Feedback and opinion of existing customers exist
You SHOULD know what you do well, and where to improve (techcomm)
Post-sales: Tech Comm
Info to help buyers to use product w/ full potential
Meet business goals in a usable and helpful way
Content here becomes part of the pre-sales msg
You SHOULD know what works or not, then fix it
Same core delivery channels but…
Marketing publishes content not used directly by the users
Point-of-sale
Advertising
Brochures
Tech comm publishes to formats not used directly by sales
Online help
Error messages
Code and API guides
Technical specs
End users don’t think of it as “pre-” or “post-” sales, they think of the experience
It’s content. They use it. It should work.
Seamless and consistent means it should work the same
All the time
Same search, filters, feedback, sharing, etc
Gather metrics and learn from it
Use what you learn to ID when/where people use content
ID when they cross silos
Improve and refine your content
Pre-sales readers get a deeper dive into tech comm
NOVICE: No real experience in the products/services
Newer users may need videos, clear and simple examples, overview of new features
BEGINNER: Know the basics of what we do/offer
COMPETENT: They are informed with enough detail to make a valid decision
Integration of content provides all content, to all users
Let the user decide what matters based on skill and needs
Marketing and tech comm are two sides of the same communications coin!
Why stop at marketing and tech comm?
Support and Training are also content!
Support the entire user experience from pre-sales to learning, to long-term use.
End users don’t distinguish content by “type” or by “department”
You shouldn’t either
Deliver a seamless, coherent experience
Consider tools that leverage the enterprise
Publishing with FrameMaker
DITA publishing is often discussed with a “you need the toolkit” or “you need custom code” discussion but with FrameMaker publishing can be integrated and hidden
Allows PDF, HTML5, and a lot of other outputs
Adobe Experience Manager
Leverages DITA behind the scenes
It’s both a marketing CMS and a DITA-ready CCMS
Share/reuse
Oh, BTW, yes, you can share the content easily. Drag/drop and DITA can be added to ANY content
Sharing content is invaluable as assets created by one team should be reused where applicable
Don’t write it twice
When anyone updates content, everyone should benefit
Edit, review, approve, and translate your content. Once. Then share.
You need to manage content as a business asset and show good information governance
Build a robust content strategy to take that into account
A consistent user experience of content, no matter where the end user is in the product adoption lifecycle, just makes sense
Let customers flow seamlessly from one type of content to another, both carefully aligned with the business cases and goals of the consumer
We do stuff, and we think it’s fun
Content strategy
Content analysis
Content cleanup
Content migration (to FrameMaker, or to DITA, or both!)
Training, templates, support, development, etc
Basically, we help companies publish better, faster, and smarter
We want people to do less of the “boring” work, and more of the interesting and thoughtful work
Reach out to us: DITAworld@publishingsmarter.com