Technical Writing as a Career

Technical Writing can be a great choice for anyone who has passion for writing and has interest to learn and communicate information of the technical world—General Science, Engineering, Information Technology, Bio-medical industry, Aviation, Pharma & Drug Discovery and others into a structured format for the intended audience.

Technical Writers role existed almost in every product industry where they needed to communicate the product information to its internal stakeholders and customers as well. Everywhere either and an engineer, a product specialist, or a documentation specialist took-up this role.

The fact remains unimportant to many of the organization’s biggies that high quality documentation can make a big impact on customer satisfaction. It increases usage, gives more successful implementations, and creates better references and happier customers, which then drive more sales. It is an image-uplifting act which most of the organizations fail to realize. Good documentation can sell even product. You can have competitive advantage over your competitors of having high quality documentation.

Today, the ratio for developers and technical writers are somewhere 20 or 30:1. This is for the obvious reason if the bosses are technical person, they value that art more than anything. That also reflects the poor image one organization has toward its documentation. Organizational chart does not show a progressive look to the technical writers. Many organizations have typically failed to sustain because of the dearth of enough documented archival knowledge, which helps most of the new employees to understand the background of the product.

Although technical writer’s whole job is about communication, they are sometimes the last to hear about future development plans or last-minute changes to a release. Truth is, Tech writers are good advocates for the user, always thinking about the user's point of view and they can make valuable addition in the development of the product.

Technical writers do tend to be arguing for clarity and logic in everything from error messages to how features are implemented. But that's hard to do when you never talk to any customers. Even the customer’s feedbacks are shelved with customer support department, leaving technical writers imaginative on their own.

Technical writing is no black magic and if many feel, anyone can become, they are wrong. English is no short cut, which can be learnt in a year or two like Java or C++. This field is in nascent stage and growing horizontally in sheer numbers. Today, technical writers are joining the band wagon, but it is not too far that these writers would be evaluating and weighing their career goal in terms of their achievement on vertical ladder. Future will hold the platform where technical writers will make it big or break.

White Papers—the Solution Prescription

Often white papers are considered the most effective and standard tool of marketing for most of the technology companies. Since their offerings are new and complex, the technology and solution surrounding them needs to be presented in a way that the business audience could understand as part of their business problem solving and help them take a decision.  More so, a company also write and publishes white papers to—gather leads for the sales force, educate potential customers, media, salesforce or channel partners, influence a selection committee, redefine a market space, build credibility or mindshare, and keep up with competitors.

More so, white paper readers remain in search of potential information that can help them understand an issue, solve a problem, or decide. This often involves learning about the technology, solutions, a case study or features and benefits of a product or service they may consider buying. A survey of IT managers by Forbes.com and Bitpipe (now TechTarget) showed that 76 percent of them read white papers to stay on top of new trends, 69 percent to get information about products and vendors, 50 percent to compare products, 42 percent to help justify buying decisions, and 33 percent to develop a shortlist of qualified vendors.

Eventually, a client also is unlikely to commit to an expensive and complicated product or project until they first have all the facts. They'll probably hold meetings with other people in their organization to assess about the offering. Therefore, the more compelling information they have at their fingertips about your company and what it offers, the better the chances of you closing the sale.

In a nutshell it is a report, which addresses a problem and then presents a solution. White papers were first published by the British government in the early 20th century. They explained government proposals for new policies and legislation and are still used for that purpose to this day.

However, since the early 1990s, they have become a tool for business—to—business (B2B) marketing. They are heavily used by IT companies as their products tend to be expensive and complicated. But, increasingly, management consultancies, engineering firms, banks, lawyers and others selling to businesses are using them as well. This is not surprising. White papers are ideal for explaining everything from new manufacturing processes through to the impact of new government rules on business.

What little data there is on the use of white papers seems to suggest they are being increasingly adopted by businesses to support marketing.

Some 61% of businesses involved in B2B marketing already use white papers, according to the US-based Content Marketing Institute. Marketing Sherpa, another US institute, reckons white papers are probably the most important tool for those marketing to businesses.

White papers tend to be long documents packed with useful arguments and data. They're usually written by experienced in-house or freelance copywriters. But to resonate with their intended audience they must be written objectively and present genuine solutions to real problems.

Sometimes, a common mistake is to pepper these documents with sales hype. This is not the place to do that. It undermines the credibility and value of your arguments. To write a good white paper—identify a key problem faced by your customers and explain how it can impact them such as lost market share, cost increases or reputational damage. Describe other approaches and solutions to this problem that have been used and point out their limitations. Now present your solution and address how it has helped other companies and why it works. Describe in detail, preferably with numbers, demonstrating the scale of improvements. Then round-up with a conclusion. Wherever possible, back your arguments using research and statistics from respected third parties such as government agencies and trade associations. This builds credibility.

A truly good white paper is educational and even groundbreaking. It should have your prospects nodding in agreement as they read it. They should come away better informed and believing that you clearly know their problem and understand how to fix it.

A well-produced white paper also places you as the go-to-expert in your field. That not only helps justify buying from you, but possibly paying a premium, as your company's expertise makes you a safer bet to do business with.

If you happen to be writing a white paper, these points can help you build your strategy to achieve the real intent of its publication.