Marketing Your Technical Communication Services Internally and Externally

Marketing Your Technical
Communication Services
Internally and Externally
Saul Carliner, PhD, CTDP
Professor
Concordia University
saulcarliner@hotmail.com
© Copyright. Saul Carliner. 1995-2019. All rights reserved.

Opening Activity
Internal Focus External Focus
You manage a technical communication team in a
medium-sized software development firm, and
are based in the Marketing Department.
Although your team has good relationships with
the rest of the organization, your team generally
does not get involved with new products until the
interface is firmly established. Interface designs
are handled by UX specialists. On the one hand,
most of these UX specialists have a “coding”
orientation and focus more on individual
interactions rather than the broader picture and
you feel your team can do better. On the other
hand, the UX specialists are embedded on teams
reporting to Research and Development.
Questions:
1. How might you emphasize the UX
capabilities of your team?
2. To whom do you do this?
3. What ‘potholes’ can you anticipate on this
effotrt?
You are president of a small, 8-person firm that
develops technical communication materials for
clients. Your group typically handles
development of online help and e-learning for
internal applications for large financial
servicesand insurance firms. You have a long-
term contract with the IT department of one of
the major employers in your metro area so this
work is secure. But when you have tried to
suggest to your clients that your team can
development other groups in the company, such
as their product development groups, the clients
have not pursued the idea.
Question: How might you expand your business
to other groups?

What you should learn
Contrast marketing with sales
Describe why internal and external groups need to
market their services
Identify at least 3 ideas to effectively use online and
offline means to make stakeholders aware of your
services
Explain why timing of messages to stakeholders
matters

About Marketing
Marketing: The activities of a company associated with buying and
selling a product or service. It includes advertising, selling and
delivering products to people. People who work in marketing
departments of companies try to get the attention of target audiences
by using slogans, packaging design, celebrity endorsements and
general media exposure. The four 'Ps' of marketing are product,
place, price and promotion.
Investopedia Commentary: Many people believe that marketing is
just about advertising or sales. However, marketing is everything a
company does to acquire customers and maintain a relationship with
them. Even the small tasks like writing thank-you letters, playing
golf with a prospective client, returning calls promptly and meeting
with a past client for coffee can be thought of as marketing. The
ultimate goal of marketing is to match a company's products and
services to the people who need and want them, thereby ensure
profitability
marketing. (n.d.). Investopedia.com. Retrieved April 26, 2009, from Dictionary.com website:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/marketing

Contrast with Sales
The commercial exchange with a customer, usually
resulting in money paid by the customer for the
service or product provided by the company.

External groups need to market their
services to generate the revenue they
need to survive as a business.

Consider this additional information
about external marketing.
20% 10-20% 20%
Approximate
percentage of
technical
communicators who
work externally:
 Contractors
 Sole proprietors
 Agencies that
provide services
Recommended
percentage of
budget that should
be spent on
marketing
General range of
profit margins in
this industry

Also 12 to 24
The typical number of months needed to move a
prospect to a client.

Internal groups need to market their

?

 To expand the scope of services they offer, especially whey
they compete with other groups in the organization
– Content strategy
– UX design
 Because internal stakeholders have a choice, too, of service
providers.
– In the 1980s and 1990s, they increasingly chose to outsource their
documentation because of:
– Uncompetitive costs
– Poor service
– Bad relations with the tech comm team

Consider this additional information
about internal marketing.
20% 10-20% >1%
Approximate
percentage of
technical
communicators who
work internally
Typical percentage
of a new product
project devoted to
training and
documentation
Extent of
investment in
marketing by
internal groups

Note that marketing is about building
relationships.

Note that marketing is about building
and institutionalizing relationships.

And regardless of your focus, start
your marketing effort by identifying
your goals for marketing.
Relationships you want to cultivate
Services you want to emphasize with these people
(and why these people are the right ones to target
for these services)
Targeted metrics you want to achieve in 6 to 24
months to track your progress.

Identify ways to effectively use online and
offline means to make stakeholders aware
of your services.
What’s your instinct for marketing? For both internal and external groups,
choose as many as five means of marketing that will be most effective.
Ex - ternal In – ternal
 Advertising
 Annual report
 Brochure
 Catalog
 Dog and pony show
 Email signature
 Fact sheets about your process
 Newsletter
 “Pepsi challenge”
 Press releases
 Promotional emails
 “Sale”
 Social media
 Website
 Advertising
 Annual report
 Brochure
 Catalog
 Email signature
 Newsletter
 Press releases
 “Sale”
 Social media
 Website

Something to consider about marketing
technical communication services
It’s not like selling chewing gum.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Promotional_Chiclets.JPG

Consider the nature of our services
businesses
Characteristics of our services
business (business-to-business)
Characteristics of consumer
products relationships (business-to-
consumer)
 Longer decision making process
 Larger number of stakeholders
 Lengthier relationship
 Smaller pool of prospects
 Shorter decision making
process, smaller number of
interested parties, shorter
relationship, larger variety in
audience
Eschita Grover, Designing Use Case Content for B2B, STC Summit, May 6, 2019.

Advertising
Image advertising
Sales promotion
advertising Costs
Promotes a brand
name rather than a
specific offer, so
brand is top-of-
mind when the
need for a purchase
arises.
Supports a short-
term effort to
generate sales.
 Pay per views.
 In print and
television, per
1000 subscribers
(mil)
 For online
advertising: by
the click

Annual report
Tells stakeholders and potential stakeholders what
you did this year
Emphasizes how you want the organization to be
viewed
Include:
–Letter from manager
–Gee whiz statistics
–Business results (success metrics) of your work
–Services offered
–How your organization supports the company
–Staff and organizational “wows”

Brochure
A leave-behind
Content:
–Services offered
–How you serve clients
–Benefits of using your organization
–Contact information

Catalog
Provide a full listing of products and services offered
Content:
–General organizational information
–Products for sale
–Instructions on how to order

Dog and pony show
Impress clients by:
–Promoting the breadth of your services
–Highlighting your effectiveness
–Providing gee-whiz statistics
Content:
–Event
–Plan a high fun factor
–Schedule an open house or display
–Provide samples that show well and provide success
metrics
–Food

Email signature
Subtle and explicit promotional messages in your
email signature
Mary Jones, CPTC
Lead Technical Communicator
ABC Corporation
We design comfortable user experiences in addition to providing outstanding
documentation.

Fact sheets about your process
Provide after-sale support
Manage client expectations about what you do—and
what you expect of them
(After all, technical communication is a collaborative
effort)
Content:
– At the least:
• Fact sheets about each service you provide and each phase of the
process stating what you do and what you expect
• Documentation of the project: (design plans, usability test results,
status reports)
– Fact sheets for each phase

Sample
Facts about the First Draft
Purpose: The first complete draft of the content, such as a topic or user guide.
Who’s involved? What do they do? When?
Technical communicator Write a complete draft By the deadline specified in the project plan
Subject Matter Experts Make sure that the draft is By the deadline specified in the project plan
accurate and reflects the (usually 2 days for each 100 pages)
current version of the product

Develop clear agreements with clients and
use the fact sheets to remind stakeholders
Project charters:
–Purpose of project
–Business benefit of the project
–Scope of work
–Schedules
–Budgets
–Plans for ensuring quality
–Technology to be used
–Who’s involved
–Ongoing communication
Project communications

Newsletter or blog
Reports ongoing news about your organization
Provides insights into particular aspects of your work
that might interest your clients
Reports on the impact of particular ongoing projects
on their clients

“Pepsi challenge”
Benchmark yourself
Staff size
Production
Cost of work
Rates
Work quality

Press releases
Announcements about:
Accomplishments
Milestones (anniversaries, promotions)
New services and products

Promotional emails
Like advertisements, but sent by email.

“Sale”
Discount services for a period of time to promote sales.
For example:
If you book an editing job of at least 100 pages by the
end of the month, you will receive 10% off of your
service.
If you sign a contract a return engagement within 30
days of our completing the last one, receive current
year rates.

Sales calls
Purposes:
–“Sell” projects
–Conduct orientation for new “clients”
–Arrange client satisfaction calls
–Conduct post-mortems
–Inform clients of metrics to evaluate your group
Content: Depends on purpose of the call but always
have a stated purpose

Social media
Provide ongoing reminder that you exist
Content:
–Profile
–News about your organization
–Educational material

Website
First point of contact for current and prospective
clients
Market your services (use another part of the site
after the sale for “customer support”)
Content:
–About
–Services offered
–Samples (portfolio)
–Value-added articles (yours or links to others, also called a
blog)
–Contact information

Identify ways to effectively use online and
offline means to make stakeholders aware
of your services.
What’s your instinct for marketing? For both internal and external groups,
choose as many as five means of marketing that will be most effective.
Ex - ternal In – ternal
 Advertising
 Annual report
 Brochure
 Catalog
 Email signature
 Newsletter
 Press releases
 “Sale”
 “Sales calls
 Social media
 Advertising
 Annual report
 Brochure
 Catalog
 Email signature
 Newsletter
 Press releases
 “Sale”
 Sales calls
 Social media

Why does the timing of messages
matters?
For ex – ternal groups For in – ternal groups
 To ensure a continuous flow
of revenue:
 Always in quiet search
mode for opportunity
 Become more active as
project hits midway point
or 3 months, whichever
happens first
For budget, need to manage
the budget process
(Consider the annual report)

Take Aways
Share at least 1 new thing you’re going to do to
market your services when you get back to the
office.

Marketing Your Technical Communication Services Internally and Externally

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Marketing Your Technical Communication Services Internally and Externally