Integration.

Integrated. Technical. Communication.

More exciting than you think. Unless you are already a technical writer, and in that case you were already excited by the idea. Integrated Technical Writing is what folks who decided to call themselves “Content Strategists” have been yearning for all these years.

Yes, I’ve been known to lament that pretty much anyone can slap that label on and prance about calling themselves a content strategist, and it’s true. But if you can find a company whose position is fair and realistic, then integrating content and communication really is that strategy. And it’s fantastic.

I am with a company now, writing proposals for contracts with the government, local, state, and federal, and we GET IT. We totally get it.

I have embraced technical, marketing, and promotional collateral in such a way that I legitimately just put a woman in a sweet yoga pose on the front page of a proposal for the Department of Information Technology for the state where I work. Yes, indeedy. And the tag line is: “She’s flexible, but our standards aren’t.” It’s amazing. And we are going to win a $30 million contract as a result.

We are going to win it because our technical expertise is incredible, yes, but also because we wrote a top-notch proposal that sings marketing through and through.

Integrated Technical Communications has the key language built in:

It integrates the technical componentry with the Communication that needs to be done to sell. And selling is everything. If you cannot learn to operate the machine, the machine is useless.

The US Department of Labor Statistics will tell you how valuable technical writers are. Now go show the labor pool how valuable your creativity is in doing it.

Sharpen your pencil. Your black or yellow or blue or green pencil. Your integrated pencil. Learn the 5 Ws of online help. Learn the tools of the trade and some design principles. But importantly, learn how they all fit together and have fun blending and blending.

Integration is not just for populations and it isn’t a battle, that’s for sure.

It’s logical and it works, and NOW you can be a content strategist.