The Power of Creativity in Technical Writing

Who said technical writing has to be boring?

Not any more. In a world increasingly driven by AI-powered writing, it is more essential than ever before to make user guides and software documentations fun, interesting and attention-grabbing. Technical writing need not be just instructional or training material - it can come to life if you know the right hacks. 

Think about it this way: your website content and your blogs give answers to a problem that people are coming to you for. They are your biggest branding opportunity. 

First, What Is Technical Writing?

Technical writing includes the following types of documents:

• Step-by-step walkthroughs
• Knowledge base
• Product feature documentation
• Operating instructions
• Troubleshooting documentation
• Marketing documentation
• Internal development documentation
• Procedure documentation
• Material safety and datasheets
• Patent and associated legal applications

The purpose of technical writing is to explain to readers how to use a device or a product, what they should do if they face some issues, and so on. 

Let’s Take the Example of Stripe

Stripe is a great example of what smart technical writing can achieve. In their website’s Blog section, they focus the narrative not so much on the product but on how their customers can benefit from it. Their Product Resources section works like a knowledge resource for all things payments and they have a separate section on Climate, whereby Stripe’s customers can help remove carbon as they grow their business. All of this thought leadership content gives Stripe an edge over its competitors. 

So, how can you turn your online documentation into an innovative marketing tool? 

1. Find your Why

Why does the product exist? What change is it bringing to the world? Figuring out the why is more important than the how, as Steve Jobs mentioned aeons ago. If your product has a compelling ‘why’, the rest of the documentation becomes easy. 

2. Offer a Unified Customer Experience

It is very important to address the whole customer journey - that is, develop a unified customer experience strategy through your writing. Companies need to have consistent content for every touchpoint with the customer, from the time the users are prospects to the time those users become customers and beyond.

When users are exploring a company, they may listen to a webinar, watch an overview video, explore a demo site, read a blog article, download a white paper, and so on.

After they buy the product, they may interact with other types of content: a Getting Started tutorial, a support article, emails from support agents helping customers, interactive show-me videos, and more.

The content should look and feel similar, with the same messaging, terms, tone, and style. Since the customer interacts with the company as if it’s a unified group, the content should therefore be unified.

3. Branding Opportunity through Content Marketing

Content marketing doesn’t include content whose agenda is to get you to buy a product. Content marketing consists of helpful information and stories that address problems users are having. The content doesn’t necessarily talk about the company’s products at all.

In other words, instead of directly pitching your products, you build up an audience first by publishing insightful, valuable content that builds a trusting relationship with your audience.

A lot of businesses neglect the branding opportunity their technical documentation holds. As a technical writer, you have the insight to provide substantial, information-rich content that will build relationships with technical audiences.

4. Visual Components

Your user guides and help authoring tools are the perfect vehicle to integrate the visual components of your brand. So, make sure to include your logo in your software documentation and create them in a style that fits your brand’s personality. 

When looking at websites, brochures, or flyers, readers tend to skim through these documents quickly, so using visual elements as anchors help. 

5. Building Trust

Imagine that you plan to buy a new smartphone. What’s the first thing you do? Obviously, you look for specifications to decide whether a certain model will fit your needs and budget. If you can’t find the information you need, you are most likely going to look for another model.

Consumers like to make informed decisions and they rarely buy something, especially gadgets or software, without looking for online help first. Technical writing helps them acquire the details they need and feel more at ease about their decision.

You can also offer a trial guide where people can get a better sense of the product. These are all small steps towards building a trusting relationship with your potential customers.

6. Creating a Community

Your audience doesn’t exist in a vacuum. In fact, you may have noticed that if a user guide is helpful and relevant, readers don’t engage just with the content alone. They also interact with each other through the comment section.

You can try enabling the comment section for your website and try to encourage user engagement. There may be instances when some user wants extra information regarding a subject, so make it easy for them to do so directly on the page. It’s a good way to get a sense of how people feel about the company and what it’s offering.

7. Storytelling

Every great product pivots on a brilliant story. 

If you are a technical writer in 2023, now, more than ever before, you need to be able to craft a compelling story to hook your readers. How do you do that? By setting the context, adding humour and personalisation, and showing how it is relevant for the future. 

Verdict: Can Technical Writing Be Creative?

Certainly yes. You need some smart thinking to turn technical writing into a creative tool.