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Subject:RE: Defeating the evil that is Marketing <g> From:"Giordano, Connie" <connie -dot- giordano -at- twcable -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 11 Nov 2004 09:21:12 -0500
Hence the need for "technical publications" departments to get out of
their little tiny ivory towers. Everything I do is marketed to someone,
the person who cuts the P.O., the person who installs the system, the
person who uses it and calls the tech support desk, the tech support
desk people, the journalists who write about it....
Analyze the market, determine the audiences' needs, define a product to
meet them, build a product, test a product, ship a product, support a
product....it's all got communications components, and for many of us,
getting involved at all stages is part of the fun. I know lots of
engineers and programmers who understand usability and quality, and even
a few finance folks. Part of a good marketer's job is to understand and
communicate to ALL of the stakeholders, and as previously noted, in the
real world, that means striking a balance between cost, quality,
timeliness and usability (among other things). The good ones know that
the ones who have to use a product every day often have influence over
those that make the purchase decision.
A high quality product with great documentation is useless if nobody
knows about it.
User advocacy is not hallowed ground where only technical writers may
tread. And as important as usability is, it has to share the top spot in
the list in product development priorities.
Connie P. Giordano
Contract Technical Writer
Time Warner Cable
(704) 731-3755 (office)
(704) 957-8450 (cell)
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." -Walt Disney
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-175203 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-175203 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Sarah
Stegall
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2004 12:28 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Defeating the evil that is Marketing <g>
Actually, what a "user" is to Marketing is not necessarily what a
"user" is to Engineering or Technical Publications. For a marketing
person, a user is the guy who okays the purchase and/or signs the
check. That person may or may not be the end user. For engineers and
tech writers, the user is the end user, the person actually using the
product as opposed to merely paying for it. I think that accounts for
the wide gap between the two cultures.
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