Newsletter of the East Bay Chapter of STC
May/June 2004

Marketing Your Non-Writing Skills

by Dara Golden
DMV Contributing Editor

Dara Golden is the former Interim Editor of Connection, the Silicon Valley Chapter’s newsletter.

In this job environment, it's important for others to know that you do more than "just write." It will increase your exposure within the company, and may also help someone else out. The more you are known and contribute within the company, the more it benefits your career. This article provides tips for increasing your exposure at individual, group, and management levels.

Individual Suggestions

Promote your non-writing talents.

• Work with other departments.
  This implies more than going to the developers when you need something. Interact with co-workers not only when you need help, but also when they do.
• Learn and network at in-house meetings.
  Meetings are a time for determining what everyone does and how they affect company projects. If you don't know what someone does, network with them later.
• Take your job seriously.
  Be professional when discussing your department or job at all times. One software company's writing group referred to themselves as "Club Docs" and wondered why no one in the company took them seriously.
• Continue your education.
  Keep your skills up to date. Brushing up on the basics, such as editing and grammar, never hurts.
• Be technically proactive.
  Be aware of current and future trends, such as programming, XML, or Photoshop tricks. Attend STC meetings to both learn trends and meet people who are applying them in their work.

Group Suggestions

Work together to improve your group image in the company.

• Enter an STC contest.
  Ask for permission to enter a document in a competition, such as Touchstone.
• Write an article for an STC newsletter.
  Often technical articles arise from the workplace. If you solved a problem, it may be of interest to other writers.
• Hold training seminars.
  Seminars may be in-house, such as presenting style guidelines to other departments, or external, such as presenting at an STC event. If you have a style guide and need feedback from other departments, hold a brown-bag lunch meeting to solicit feedback.

Management Suggestions

Promote your group as more than "just writers."

• Make the group more visible.
  A former publications manager once commented, "We need to break the ivory tower." She attended meetings and was proactive in getting the word out that "We don't just write. Work with us and we can help you." By the end of the year, groups approached her when new projects were starting to ensure documentation needs were met.
• Help other departments, as time provides.
  Does Marketing need assistance with their literature? Is there a new company web site that needs visual and factual help? As time allows, offer to help the groups responsible improve their work. One writing group edited drafts of a paper and received a "thank you" at the end of the published paper.
• Cut costs.
  If writing a script makes the FrameMaker to HTML conversion smoother and quicker, solicit help to cut costs. In the long run, it benefits everyone, including your writers (who spend less time hand-fixing HTML), Marketing (shorter documentation turnaround time), and upper management (more time to do something else).

When a manager increased her group's exposure, the CEO contacted her and said, "I have never seen that group so active before. I used to meet them in the hall and I didn't have anything to connect them to. Now I see them in meetings, busy and active, and it makes me aware that they are productive." So, be proactive—it may not guarantee your job, but it will ensure that people know who you are.

Thanks to Mark Roulo and Becky Rude for their help with this article.

DMV Home | EBSTC | STC | Contact Us

Marketing Your Non-Writing Skills | An Outreach Theme with Five Variations
STC Transformation Project | Member Spotlight | Quick and Dirty Copyediting