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TechComm 2020: Get Ready to be Part of the Content Era

Tom Aldous, Acrolinxhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/tmaldous

http://twitter.com/@tmaldoushttp://tmaldous.com

Great Job Jack!

About Predictions

We Were Promised This

We Finally Got This

They Predicted This

We Finally Got This

They Predicted This

We Finally Got This

Now It’s My Turn, But First

We’re Drowning in Content

Every Sixty Seconds

140 blog posts

600 new YouTube

videos

570 new websites

168,000,000 emails

98,000 tweets

But for Marketers, It’s Not Enough

in 2013

“Creating & distributing great content – findable, relevant, valuable, engaging – to attract and acquire a target audience in order to drive profitable customer interactions.”

“Content Marketing” Definition

And They’re Succeeding

since 2013

This won’t end well…

“Crap. The Content Marketing Deluge.” by Velocity Partners

Why Has Content Become so Important?

Relationships Now Built on Content

B2B buyers complete from two-thirds to 90% of their buying decision before they engage with the vendor.

– Forrester Research

Until then, buyers rely only on content to influence what they think of you.

Technical Content Matters

For almost 89 percent of buyers, high-quality technical content is either important (33 percent) or very important (56 percent) to their initial purchase decision.

– IBM SurveyYour technical content influences buyers even before they

become customers.

Technical Content Directly Drives Revenue

Documentation “is actually feeding top-of-the-funnel activity… Some companies are reporting that documentation is bringing in over 50 percent of their qualified leads.”

– “The Evolution of User Manuals,” ForbesYour technical content may even matter more than promotional

content.

We’ve Entered the “Content Era”

Technical Content Drives Customer Satisfaction Too

According to a survey, 72 percent of respondents indicated that they would rather find help on their own, without calling a help line.

– Forrester Research

Technical content matters more than ever to satisfy our DIY customers.

Are Customers Satisfied? Nope.

Only 1 percent of consumers feel that their expectations for a good customer experience are always met.

– Harris Interactive Survey

What do Customers do about it?

89 percent of consumers began doing business with a competitor following a poor customer experience.

– Harris Interactive Survey

Your Time Has Come!

Technical Information at Point of Sale

“How documentation will save the world of CXM” by Digital Clarity Group

Social Engagement

“Professional writers now have tools to collaborate with their audience easily…

“… we are witnesses to the age of information shifting to the age of interaction…”

Titles are Changing

Content Designer

Content Developer

Information Experience Designer

?

Why? Because Responsibilities are Changing:

At EMC, technical writers create blogs & white papers to promote their technical content

At Microsoft, technical writers develop videos & infographics

At Juniper Networks, technical documentation has merged with marketing to become the company’s “content engine”

Lines between TechComm & Marketing are blurring – even disappearing.

Marketers Need Your Expertise

They need what you can do for content:

Intelligent

Multichannel

Dynamic

It’s time to build alliances with Marketing.

Position Yourself to Your Executives

Speak to Executives in Their Terms, Not Yours

You should offer:

Better customer experience Better customer support

Greater customer satisfaction

Geographical expansion Accelerating time-to-market Lower exposure to liability Lower costs/higher

productivity

You can back it up with:

More consistent touchpoints Improved findability &

comprehension Higher content quality: more

understandable & consistent Lower translation costs Faster editing & translation Greater content accuracy Less work for SMEs, editors,

reviewers & translators

Cutting Costs is Not Enough

Almost every internal request for investment promises to cut costs.

More important is your proposal’s contribution to your company’s high-level goals.

Deliver Relevant MetricsDriven by Facts, Interviews & Surveys

Not this:

How many words we write How many pages we

publish How many rewrites we

endure How many releases we

support How much more work

we’re doing than before

This:

Customer satisfaction Customer surveys Customer engagement (e.g.,

page views, time on site) Comparisons to industry

benchmarks How we could serve

company’s goals even better

My Prediction

The Content Era is finally arriving Your ability to communicate clearly, objectively, and

appropriately for your audience is more important than ever

What we do is going to be most valuable to Marketers Get ready to ask for that big raise

Thank you!tom.aldous@acrolinx.com