Bernard Aschwanden discusses how marketing and technical communication content are converging. Both aim to provide information to customers as they research products, make purchase decisions, and use products after purchasing. While marketing content focuses more on pre-sale information and technical communication focuses more on post-sale guidance, the lines are blurring as customers now expect to be able to access information at all stages. Integrating marketing and technical communication content using standards like DITA can provide a seamless customer experience, with the right content delivered through the most appropriate channels at each stage of the customer journey.

1. Get To Know Each Other
Bernard Aschwanden
www.publishingsmarter.com
Content is Content:
Marcomm IS Techcomm
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@aschwanden4stc @AdobeTCS

2. Before We Begin
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@AdobeTCS

3. Who The Heck Am I?
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 Bernard Aschwanden
 A past President of
www.stc.org and founder of
Publishing Smarter
 Help teams make the case
that content is the key
business asset with a focus
on how content makes or
breaks a relationship

4. Content is Content
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5. Tech Content MUST BE Part of Your Marketing
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6. The Informed Consumer
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Post-Purchase Evaluation
Purchase Decision
Evaluation and Selection of Alternatives
Information search
Problem recognition

7. Where Tech Comm Comes In
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Post-Purchase Evaluation
Purchase Decision
Evaluation and Selection of Alternatives
Information search
Problem recognition

8. Pre-sale (Marketing) Post-sale (Tech comm)
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Content Convergence
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9. Convergence Summary
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Marketing Technical
End users Identify end users early, target content for their needs. Provide an
always-on dialogue aligned with end users.
Multi-channel publishing Provide content in appropriate formats, including HTML, PDF, and
applications.
Level of technical detail Always high-level, now
increasingly technical.
Always technical, now
increasingly focussed on higher
level, including users’ business
goals.
Type of content Articles, blogs, tweets, case
studies, whitepapers,
advertising, promotions, etc.
Integrated marketing
communications helps
customers understand what
the product does and decide if
the product solves their
problem.
Books, guides, and topics,
where the aim is to provide a
library of content to help users
understand and use the
product.

10. Post-sales:
Tech comm
Differences Do Exist, But It’s ONE Customer
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Pre-sales:
Marketing
End Users/
Customers/
Potentials

11. Seamless Consistent Experience
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12. Integration matters
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13. DITA for Different Readers
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14. Let’s Make It Friendly
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15. Publish DITA with Content Filters
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16. Build Your Own Based on DITA
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17. Go Further
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18. One User. One Set of Content.
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19. Output Could Apply To All
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20. Filtered for the Base
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21. Filtered for the Luxe
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22. Implementation
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23. Expanding on the Experience
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24. The Right Content, The Right Place, The Right Time
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Page Header Content
Body Content
Marketing
Body content pulled from
marcom. Conceptual or
informative, and related to page
specific messaging.
Tech Comm
Body content pulled from tech
comm. Task, concept, or
reference, and related to page
specific messaging.

25. Mix. Match. Repeat.
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26. Conclusion
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27. Final words
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28. www.publishingsmarter.com
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