Let’s face it, marketing has we have known it will soon be a forgotten art. Within the next five years, we will see the transition of advertising taken from text on a page to scripts on the TV to viral efforts destined to bring customers to your Web site and create brand recognition. It’s a proven fact commercials on NBC, who are celebrating NBC Green Week this week, and other networks are allotted times to get up off the couch and accomplish something time in most homes. You know, pee breaks!
To win business these days, you have to have a powerful social media presence. If you really want to win business, you need something that goes viral. The Great Office War is a perfect example of a video that has gone viral. Unfortunately, it wasn’t my idea, which is sad because there are Nerf guns all over the office I work in. It’s nothing to come under attack by a foam bullet at our office, so it would have been a perfect video to go viral to get our company noticed.
Last Christmas, Office Max was the winner in the Christmas viral marketing campaign with ElfYourself. Their Web site went crazy after they give it the ability to place your face on an elf and make it dance around. It’s really the simple ideas that are the best, but coming up with those simple ideas seems hard these days in a post-modern sort of way. Dancing computer images were nothing new—remember the creepy dancing baby?
So the challenge was given to my team today to come up with the next big viral marketing campaign. No pressure there! Where do you even begin? Plus Christmas is just over five weeks away. Talk about limited production time!
This is one of the joys of being a technical writer. You always get other stuff thrown at you—stuff you didn’t prepare for in school and must learn on the job. It does keep things interesting.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Technical Sales Forces Could Benefit from a Technical Writer
Sales teams across the nation face challenges dealing with selling advanced technology. Many times sales reps are placed into technology sales without a proper understanding of the technology they sell. They are trained to solve pains, not necessarily trained to explain advanced technical concepts.
Sales teams could benefit with a technical writer on staff. Many times during the sales process, customers need documentation. Obviously sales proposals and hardware and software requirements are a given. They often fail to reinforce the solution to the client’s pain.
Sales reps can give generic information in the form of brochures or CD ROMs with basic video presentations, but they fall short of addressing the pains and explaining the details of the intricate solution. A technical writer can bridge the gap between technology sales rep and technology consumer.
Sales reps are paid to close deals. They need to be on the phone finding leads, finding needs, developing opportunities, and closing deals. If they spend time developing customized technical documentation for the potential client, they are losing time developing new business.
A technical writer provides a sense of consultation to the deal. Technical writers can develop materials that will reinforce how the pain will removed for the client by explaining in writing with images why the specifics of how the product will work in a client’s business. Think of it as a personalized addition to the sales reps presentation.
It’s a simple process really. A technical sales rep gets past the demo stage and writes up the proposal. As the proposal is written, they provide basic details of the sales scenario to the tech writer. The technical writing then creates a custom report that’s personalized featuring the technical solution an layman’s terms. The entire solution is explained by solving the pain in the report while describing the implementation processes so they are at ease with the decision to complete the deal.
A technical writer can be a valuable tool for any sales force.
Sales teams could benefit with a technical writer on staff. Many times during the sales process, customers need documentation. Obviously sales proposals and hardware and software requirements are a given. They often fail to reinforce the solution to the client’s pain.
Sales reps can give generic information in the form of brochures or CD ROMs with basic video presentations, but they fall short of addressing the pains and explaining the details of the intricate solution. A technical writer can bridge the gap between technology sales rep and technology consumer.
Sales reps are paid to close deals. They need to be on the phone finding leads, finding needs, developing opportunities, and closing deals. If they spend time developing customized technical documentation for the potential client, they are losing time developing new business.
A technical writer provides a sense of consultation to the deal. Technical writers can develop materials that will reinforce how the pain will removed for the client by explaining in writing with images why the specifics of how the product will work in a client’s business. Think of it as a personalized addition to the sales reps presentation.
It’s a simple process really. A technical sales rep gets past the demo stage and writes up the proposal. As the proposal is written, they provide basic details of the sales scenario to the tech writer. The technical writing then creates a custom report that’s personalized featuring the technical solution an layman’s terms. The entire solution is explained by solving the pain in the report while describing the implementation processes so they are at ease with the decision to complete the deal.
A technical writer can be a valuable tool for any sales force.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Bad Typing Habits: Two Errors for Every 300 Keystrokes
As a writer, especially a technical writer, I am aware about my bad typing habits. I am not a bad typist, the problem is I am a fast typist who thinks ahead of what I am typing. When I edit my material, I often find I leave out words, which confuses the meaning of what I type. I know I it’s a problem that many writers face when they type out their work.
Obviously, there is no cure for the bad habits with the exception of slowing down. Slow down your typing, and slow down thinking ahead of yourself. That’s hard to do, especially when you have an amazing thought that you want to express in your writing. The fear of losing the thought for accuracy scares most writers, especially those who are perfectionist with their thoughts.
The only solution is good editing. If you are like me, you are constantly writing during the day. When you add the additional blogging activities to your day, where does one find time to edit? I know my blogs often suffer from my lack of time and desire to get the information on the net so it can be read. I guess many of us compromise on some work and pay attention to the more important jobs all so we can fit everything in and meet deadlines. It’s really an unacceptable compromise.
I was reading a report at work that we are using for a new product. It claims that for every 300 keystrokes the average typist makes, there are two errors made. When you are typing a 1500 word article, that could easily mean there are 25 errors in the work. Ouch!
I don’t have to tell you, for many of us with English degrees on the wall, that’s just not acceptable; although, it’s really not a direct reflection on how well you use the English language. Typing is hard. It’s hard because we acquire bad habits. I have been typing now for 23 years. Imagine how hard that can be to fix after being conditioning those habits for years. Therefore, technical writers need to enforce their editing skills. You must find time to edit. If you don’t, you will embarrass yourself.
I recommend electronic editing through a software program called StyleWriter. It runs a quick pass through of your document and asks you to look at problem areas. Then print out your documents, get a pencil out, and manually edit your document. My editing instructor from college would be proud of me for making this suggestion. You will be surprised what you find. Remember that’s two errors for every 300 keystrokes.
Obviously, there is no cure for the bad habits with the exception of slowing down. Slow down your typing, and slow down thinking ahead of yourself. That’s hard to do, especially when you have an amazing thought that you want to express in your writing. The fear of losing the thought for accuracy scares most writers, especially those who are perfectionist with their thoughts.
The only solution is good editing. If you are like me, you are constantly writing during the day. When you add the additional blogging activities to your day, where does one find time to edit? I know my blogs often suffer from my lack of time and desire to get the information on the net so it can be read. I guess many of us compromise on some work and pay attention to the more important jobs all so we can fit everything in and meet deadlines. It’s really an unacceptable compromise.
I was reading a report at work that we are using for a new product. It claims that for every 300 keystrokes the average typist makes, there are two errors made. When you are typing a 1500 word article, that could easily mean there are 25 errors in the work. Ouch!
I don’t have to tell you, for many of us with English degrees on the wall, that’s just not acceptable; although, it’s really not a direct reflection on how well you use the English language. Typing is hard. It’s hard because we acquire bad habits. I have been typing now for 23 years. Imagine how hard that can be to fix after being conditioning those habits for years. Therefore, technical writers need to enforce their editing skills. You must find time to edit. If you don’t, you will embarrass yourself.
I recommend electronic editing through a software program called StyleWriter. It runs a quick pass through of your document and asks you to look at problem areas. Then print out your documents, get a pencil out, and manually edit your document. My editing instructor from college would be proud of me for making this suggestion. You will be surprised what you find. Remember that’s two errors for every 300 keystrokes.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Beware the Cubicle Idiot
As a fresh writer coming into a new job, you have to be aware of the ego trap. Ego trap you ask? The ego trap is the most annoying employee in the company that thinks they are the company. Without them the company would fall apart. It is important to figure out who this person is in case the day comes they ever ask you what you think of their writing.
In my first job after graduating from college with my technical writing degree, that first ego was named Dan. I started the job in the cold days of a Chicago January. The earth has been frozen for a number of months when you live that far north, and there’s little to talk about, especially if the Bears miss the playoffs.
Dan sat in the cubicle next to mine. Nearly every minute of every day of every workday, I had to listen to Dan greet potential clients. When they asked him how he was doing, I had to hear the same one-liners about Chicago’s frozen tundra. I would have hung up had I been on the other line.
One morning between frozen tundra phone calls, his beady eyes popped over my cubicle like a scene out of the office. He spoke.
“I just wrote this marketing letter to my doctors for the latest software special. I was wondering if you would take a look at it and make sure it’s okay.”
I just took the bait to enter the ego trap.
He handed me three pages of a sales letter. I sat in my cubicle listening to the frozen tundra bit reading his long-winded, large worded letter. I shook my head knowing this was going to hit the trashcan.
I asked him to send me the Word document version. I ran it through Style Writer. Style Writer gave it one of the lowest scores I have seen to date. Geez!
For the next hour, I sat editing the letter. It shrunk from three pages to just less than a total page. I sent it back to Dan proud of my work.
Within minutes, his beady eyes popped over the cubicle wall. “What’s wrong? You didn’t like my letter?”
I explained to him that I transferred it from passive voice to active voice while trying to fit it on one page. He began to explain that his wife worked in marketing and his letter was text book. I left it at well, throw out my changes.
A week later I bought my first new PT Cruiser. I did my best to arrive after Dan so I didn’t have to park next to his rusted out, multi-colored Dodge Neon that was a collection of junk yard parts on what used to be a purple car. One day I arrived before Dan as I sat talking to my girlfriend on the phone.
Dan pulled the Dodge Neon as close to my new car as possible. He flung his door open. It hit my car violently shaking it. He looked for my attention, and when my eyes met his, he flung his cigarette into the black snow.
Over the next few weeks, I began to discover more nicks and scratches on my car. Deep down inside I knew. I began parking my car behind a parallel building down the street and began walking to work.
Even that wasn’t enough to stop Dan. I always took my lunch later in the day. I hated where I worked, and a combination of things kept making it worse—including the boss’s Chinese girlfriend began working and we had an instant language barrier and a difference of opinion on design. My designs that once impressed quickly fell on their face when she came along. Officially, she wasn’t his girlfriend, but I saw them walking in the park holding hands the same day I met his wife. Since time always passed faster before I took lunch, I always put it off.
One morning, I was running late, so I parked in the parking lot. As I left to grab lunch, I noticed Dan was in the parking lot watching me leave. I thought little of it. I pulled into Wendy’s a few blocks away and went inside to have lunch for 30 fast minutes.
As I stood in line, the site of a purple junk Dodge Neon doing a u-turn caught the corner of my eye. I watched Dan drive into the Wendy’s parking lot the wrong way, and he was steering his junk car towards the bumper of my new PT Cruiser. He was looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching him. My eyes met his, and he steered out and away from my car. I finally went to my manager and reported him.
From that moment on, Dan stopped messing with my car to my knowledge. Of course, I put in my two-weeks’ notice at this time, and the owner had asked me to stay on and work from home. I agreed to knowing it would be easier to look for a new job. I started working from home in April.
A few weeks later, a corporate e-mail was sent letting employees Dan would no longer be working there. It turns out he went into the owners office and presented him with a list of OSHA regulations he felt the company violated. He told the owner he would return to work once they fixed the infractions.
I learned a valuable lesson about the ego trap. Sometimes it’s better to tell someone their writing is simply amazing knowing they will fail rather than try to help out. I was in sales for over ten years by the way, so what I gave him was good advice. He didn’t want good advice. He wanted to be told he was the best employee in the history of best employees.
In my first job after graduating from college with my technical writing degree, that first ego was named Dan. I started the job in the cold days of a Chicago January. The earth has been frozen for a number of months when you live that far north, and there’s little to talk about, especially if the Bears miss the playoffs.
Dan sat in the cubicle next to mine. Nearly every minute of every day of every workday, I had to listen to Dan greet potential clients. When they asked him how he was doing, I had to hear the same one-liners about Chicago’s frozen tundra. I would have hung up had I been on the other line.
One morning between frozen tundra phone calls, his beady eyes popped over my cubicle like a scene out of the office. He spoke.
“I just wrote this marketing letter to my doctors for the latest software special. I was wondering if you would take a look at it and make sure it’s okay.”
I just took the bait to enter the ego trap.
He handed me three pages of a sales letter. I sat in my cubicle listening to the frozen tundra bit reading his long-winded, large worded letter. I shook my head knowing this was going to hit the trashcan.
I asked him to send me the Word document version. I ran it through Style Writer. Style Writer gave it one of the lowest scores I have seen to date. Geez!
For the next hour, I sat editing the letter. It shrunk from three pages to just less than a total page. I sent it back to Dan proud of my work.
Within minutes, his beady eyes popped over the cubicle wall. “What’s wrong? You didn’t like my letter?”
I explained to him that I transferred it from passive voice to active voice while trying to fit it on one page. He began to explain that his wife worked in marketing and his letter was text book. I left it at well, throw out my changes.
A week later I bought my first new PT Cruiser. I did my best to arrive after Dan so I didn’t have to park next to his rusted out, multi-colored Dodge Neon that was a collection of junk yard parts on what used to be a purple car. One day I arrived before Dan as I sat talking to my girlfriend on the phone.
Dan pulled the Dodge Neon as close to my new car as possible. He flung his door open. It hit my car violently shaking it. He looked for my attention, and when my eyes met his, he flung his cigarette into the black snow.
Over the next few weeks, I began to discover more nicks and scratches on my car. Deep down inside I knew. I began parking my car behind a parallel building down the street and began walking to work.
Even that wasn’t enough to stop Dan. I always took my lunch later in the day. I hated where I worked, and a combination of things kept making it worse—including the boss’s Chinese girlfriend began working and we had an instant language barrier and a difference of opinion on design. My designs that once impressed quickly fell on their face when she came along. Officially, she wasn’t his girlfriend, but I saw them walking in the park holding hands the same day I met his wife. Since time always passed faster before I took lunch, I always put it off.
One morning, I was running late, so I parked in the parking lot. As I left to grab lunch, I noticed Dan was in the parking lot watching me leave. I thought little of it. I pulled into Wendy’s a few blocks away and went inside to have lunch for 30 fast minutes.
As I stood in line, the site of a purple junk Dodge Neon doing a u-turn caught the corner of my eye. I watched Dan drive into the Wendy’s parking lot the wrong way, and he was steering his junk car towards the bumper of my new PT Cruiser. He was looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was watching him. My eyes met his, and he steered out and away from my car. I finally went to my manager and reported him.
From that moment on, Dan stopped messing with my car to my knowledge. Of course, I put in my two-weeks’ notice at this time, and the owner had asked me to stay on and work from home. I agreed to knowing it would be easier to look for a new job. I started working from home in April.
A few weeks later, a corporate e-mail was sent letting employees Dan would no longer be working there. It turns out he went into the owners office and presented him with a list of OSHA regulations he felt the company violated. He told the owner he would return to work once they fixed the infractions.
I learned a valuable lesson about the ego trap. Sometimes it’s better to tell someone their writing is simply amazing knowing they will fail rather than try to help out. I was in sales for over ten years by the way, so what I gave him was good advice. He didn’t want good advice. He wanted to be told he was the best employee in the history of best employees.
Is this a Joke?: Tehcnical Writing Getting Very Technical
I found this blog entry on the Internet a few months ago. I hope it's a joke, because this person shouldn't be considered a technical writer otherwise. (Click on image to enlarge if you can't read it from this page.)
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Using Copy Fill in Microsoft Word to Create Random Text
As a designer, I often create the layout before writing the text. At one time, I just typed random letters while hitting the space bar every so often to fill an area with text. This is a waste of time.
Microsoft Word has a convenient feature to create random text call ‘copy fill.’ Copy fill allows you to generate text so you can see what your page layout looks like with text.
To generate copy fill:
1. Open up Microsoft Word
2. Type the following code in the new Word document: =rand(x,x)
Simply cut or copy the copy fill and paste it into your layout.
Microsoft Word has a convenient feature to create random text call ‘copy fill.’ Copy fill allows you to generate text so you can see what your page layout looks like with text.
To generate copy fill:
1. Open up Microsoft Word
2. Type the following code in the new Word document: =rand(x,x)
a. Substitute the first x with the number of paragraphs you want to generate3. Hit Enter
b. Substitute the second x with the number sentences you want in each paragraph
Simply cut or copy the copy fill and paste it into your layout.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Frustrated By RoboHelp's Lack of Modernization and Compatibility
I am a frustrated technical writer. I have been given a huge assignment to develop documentation for another company that we are working with. I am creating the documentation in RoboHelp. For all practical purposes, I use RoboHelp for electronic help guide documentation. Our client wants it printed out.
RoboHelp has an option to print documentation through Microsoft Word, but it's not compatible with the latest version of Word -- you know the Word with the strange ribbon you either really love or really hate? So now I am in a jam unless I come up with a Microsoft Word 2003 version, which is compatible with my version of RoboHelp.
I love Adobe products, but I feel their acquisition of RoboHelp has hurt the product.The only thing they have done that makes any sense with the product is bundle it in a package called the Technical Communications Suite. I think I am going to start looking for and learning another help authoring tool. I find that to be a shame because a company like Adobe has the resources to take a good product and make it great.They have not done that with RoboHelp.
I know it's not the sexiest product on the market -- after all, a software's help guide usually goes ignored. Many of us still have to spend hours behind a monitor using it, so it would be nice to see some modernization occur with RoboHelp and increased compatibility.
RoboHelp has an option to print documentation through Microsoft Word, but it's not compatible with the latest version of Word -- you know the Word with the strange ribbon you either really love or really hate? So now I am in a jam unless I come up with a Microsoft Word 2003 version, which is compatible with my version of RoboHelp.
I love Adobe products, but I feel their acquisition of RoboHelp has hurt the product.The only thing they have done that makes any sense with the product is bundle it in a package called the Technical Communications Suite. I think I am going to start looking for and learning another help authoring tool. I find that to be a shame because a company like Adobe has the resources to take a good product and make it great.They have not done that with RoboHelp.
I know it's not the sexiest product on the market -- after all, a software's help guide usually goes ignored. Many of us still have to spend hours behind a monitor using it, so it would be nice to see some modernization occur with RoboHelp and increased compatibility.
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