Marketing the technical communication profession

I’ve been asked to join the ISTC’s Council and take on the responsibility for marketing the organisation. The ISTC is is the largest UK body representing information development professionals (it’s the UK version of the STC or tekom), and this is a volunteer, unpaid, part time, role.

Happily, I’m building upon the work carried out by Rachel Potts (who was the previous ISTC Marketing lead) and other ISTC volunteers.

Increasing the awareness of the technical communication profession

In addition to encouraging people to join the ISTC, it’s important to increase awareness in the wider world of the profession. If the ISTC can encourage companies to use technical communicators, it’s likely there will be more technical communications who could potentially join the ISTC. This should also benefit Cherryleaf and others who provide technical writing services.

Below are some initial ideas I’ve had for how the ISTC can increase the awareness of the profession.

A day in the life

The ISTC’s Communicator magazine journal has run a “day in the life of a technical communicator” column for many years. I’ve asked the editor, Katherine Judge, if she could send me some of these articles so we can upload them onto the ISTC’s website.

The “day in the life” theme can be extended into video, as well. I plan to ask ISTC members to create short (up to three minute) videos, explaining what they do as a technical communicator, what they like about the job, and why they are a member of the ISTC. They can share with everyone what’s it like to be a technical communicator at IBM UK, at Rolls Royce plc, at a tiny software company, and so on. The ISTC now has a YouTube account, so we have a suitable location for hosting any videos created by its members.

Twitter hashtags

There are other ways technical communicators can tell their story. I’ve initiated the Twitter hashtag #whytechcomm so technical communicators can explain and share what they love about their job. The intention is to take the best of these and use them on the ISTC web site. There are some nice descriptions already:

Techcomm is 90% troubleshooting and 10% writing. I get my kicks from shooting troubles before they trouble anyone else. #whytechcomm

— Antti (@antarctic74) September 22, 2014

I love seeing other people achieve something due to clear instructions. #whytechcomm — RoboColum(n) (@robocolumn) September 22, 2014

We could also use Twitter for ISTC members to explain why they are members (using the hashtag #istcmember), and again use some of those on the ISTC website.

Getting the technical communication community create the content

There are benefits from asking for content from ISTC members (and the wider technical communication community). As well as spreading the workload (remember, the ISTC is run by volunteers who are also holding down a day job), it also demonstrates the ISTC is about the people who make up its membership.

Ideas, suggestions?

If you have other ideas for promoting the ISTC or the wider profession, do let me know. If you’d like to contribute to the ISTC marketing activities, again, do contact me.