What is technical communication
adapting the technical writer’s message
Technical writing, a step in technical communication
Technical communication is often reduced to technical writing. Technical writing is intended to provide product documentation, and comes after the sales phase.
Technical communication occurs before the sale and accompanies the product throughout its use. It is aimed at the general public, journalists, prospects and customers, and goes beyond that to include technical writing, which is aimed more specifically at users.
The technical communication proper
The aim of technical communication is to show the adequacy of a product to the needs of its target. To do this, it uses different media, which are more or less adapted to the level of expertise of its audience and to its degree of belonging to the company (general public, journalists, prospects, customers…). The technical writer must therefore tailor his message to each audience. By using all the resources of communication (writing, illustrations, films, animations…), they constantly take into account the marketing dimension. To increase sales, each communication medium must be a marketing tool.
Logic and creativity
It’s undeniable, these two aspects of the same coin are found in music composition, architecture and computer development. This is also the case for a technical writer.
It necessitates:
- a focus on matching the needs of the audience to the resources of the company
- a good creative and writing ability
- a rigorous project management
- an industrial process for producing and leveraging content
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Note site presents some examples of technical communication supports, their marketing interest, their adequacy to the public and the modalities of their valorization.
Valuing content is essentially:
- producing quality content tailored to its target
- conserving all existing content, in its various versions
- reuse or recycle existing content
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Objective: customer satisfaction
The goal of technical communication is to move potential customers toward satisfied customers. The technical writer provides the industry with the information they need to select, evaluate, and use a state-of-the-art solution.
At the heart of the company, the technical writer is the link between the R&D and marketing departments. Outside the latter, he/she creates a dialogue with his/her various audiences.