Why Collaboration Between Techdocs and Marketing is Paramount

In this TC Dojo...

Every day we work with SMEs. Our foothold is well established in the R&D/engineering door. But we also have a lot of information that can be useful for sales and marketing. Those groups deal directly with customers, know their pain points as users of our content, and often even do a bit of support.

If you wish to get a backend content strategy going, you know the value of content, but you don't have the same proximity with management that marketing has to get this ball rolling.

Marketing is the WHY, tech docs is the HOW. You need to establish contact:

• Tell them how Marketing and tech docs work together--explain that interplay of WHY with HOW.
• Offer and start providing useful feedback such as typos on the corporate website, outdated specs, first production of a product ready for pictures.
• Ask them for a corporate image and style guides

Once you've established this relationship, you invite your new friend to strategy discussions. You can make plans together, combining forces will help each of you make a stronger case to both bosses. And, once your plans are approved, you'll find that you have a new place open to your ideas and you'll understand why you might have been blocked in your past job.

About the Visiting Dojo Expert

Coming on 25 years in tech comm, Johanne Lavallée is a Senior Technical Writer at Nyx Hemera Technologies in Quebec City, Canada. She has spoken at Lavacon twice, STC Spectrum several times, and given a few webinars. Johanne was community leader within Rochester for 5 years, Spectrum conference chair in 2019, mostly remote, before the pandemic.

Watch the Video

Recorded: 14 February 2022

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You can download the slides [PDF]

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