Three Free Web Tools that Bolster Your Message

You know Billy Mays, the manic guy with the beard and moustache who's always pitching something that will change your life? This blog post is releasing my inner Billy Mays. Only I'm not going to pitch you ShamWow! and everything I list here will be free. These are tools available to you to help you get your message out and put to work for your company or clients.

I'll revisit this topic periodically as I get familiar with new tools. But as the Virtual Group Leader (I knew I'd make it to management someday) for the Florida Writers Association, I'm dabbling with these tools. Eventually, I might make some money helping other people use them.

Tool #1. Blog Talk Radio.
Imagine having the ability to set up a radio talk show on the Internet for free, and allowing people to call in. Imagine being able to store that show for listeners to reference after. Imagine integrating that tool into your company's or client's support function. Imagine doing it for free.

BlogTalkRadio is an easy-to-use Internet radio station that allows you to have a guest and callers. It's free online talk radio. After you're through, the show stays resident so users can stream it. It's a wonderful way to reach out to specific users in a way that doesn't require them to actually read (see the blog title).

One warning, when you start your show, mute your computer, or you might hear yourself on delay.

Tool #2. Facebook.
Yes, Facebook isn't just for teenager girls lusting after Johnny Depp any more. In fact, businesses can set up a Facebook page to tout their wares and make product announcements. The neat thing with Facebook is how easily you can meld it with other venues. For instance, if you produce a video and put it on YouTube, you can add the YouTube video easily to your Facebook page or profile.

Facebook is also a good venue for individual businesspeople, like authors. I've started reading an author named Brian Freeman. Thanks to Facebook, I've had multiple miniature discussions with him. He doesn't know me from Adam, but it's great outreach and it makes me more likely to buy his next book and tell others how approachable he is.

Like Blogtalkradio, Facebook is free. It's also very easy to use.

Tool #3. Twitter
Twitter is microblogging, your chance to attract followers and talk with them in short, 140-character "tweets." You can embed URLs and direct your message to all your followers or to individual followers. It's a simple and powerful tool that can give clients or customers the feeling of individualized attention.

Among other companies, Jet Blue, Dell, Starbucks, H&R Block, and Kodak use Twitter to communicate with customers. Companies can monitor tweets directed to them and either respond directly with the sender, or direct them to more information, such as an FAQ.

Looking at a feed with a few hundred people posting can be intimidating, though, so if you use Twitter, you should investigate using a Twitter client, such as Tweetdeck.

A Word of Caution
When I started working in radio, I was told over and over that it's a personal medium. You should feel like the guy on the radio is talking to you. The same applies to these media. They're free and easy to use, but you can damage your reputation (or your client's) if you don't use them as relationship-building tools. Listen and respond. Do not broadcast. Their real value is in making clients or their customers feel personally engaged. Once that engagement occurs, it's easier to build an ongoing business relationship.

How technical writing can be marketing writing.

If you ask technical writers if they write marketing materials, they will often turn up their noses at your insult. And if you ask marketing writers if technical writing is marketing, they won't be much happier with your question.

And yet, when done correctly, technical writing may be some of the most subtle marketing writing that will help you keep the customers you have. Here's how you can do it:

1. Write to keep customers. I've written everything from end-user click-this-to-do-that manuals to complex programmers guides. In most cases, the documentation was well received and added to the word-of-mouth buzz among users, regardless of the complexity of the application. Writing a manual, it might seem, is easy. If you can't do that correctly, why should I expect you to program the application any better? Write it well, and users will notice, and tell people.
2. Be positive. When your customer uses the manual, you've already made the sale, so you don't need to market them, right? Wrong. Users talk to users and you want them to say good things. Highlight how your product's features are useful. Try to get in your users' heads and tell them specifically how to exploit your product to make their lives better or easier. If possible, provide samples. You want them to love your product, and you can help make that happen.
3. Write with an eye to future enhancements. If you know your product has functionality holes and the solutions are in the pipeline, tell your users. It builds trust because you're showing you understand their work. The issues better be relatively minor, though, and you'd better deliver on the promise.
4. Solicit feedback. Add an e-mail address and ask your users to pass along their feedback. When they respond, thank them for doing so and acknowledge what they said. You don't necessarily have to instantly solve every problem, but if you work with your support function to craft appropriate responses, your user community will respond.
5. Support can be a marketing tool, too. If your company has support functionality, include support contact info in your manuals and online help.

As the online world moves toward more interaction, these steps can add immeasurable value to your users. Marketing shows your users that they'll get return on the investment they make to use your product. Your writing, and the steps you take around it, should clearly demonstrate that value.

Following these steps will provide that demonstration, whether you write manuals or just get to deal with the users on a regular basis.