---
title: "Why would you want a technical communicator on your staff?"
url: https://campbell-online.com/blog/2006/02/06/why-would-you-want-a-technical-communicator-on-your-staff/
description: "Not too long ago, a senior manager asked me to write a short page of talking points explaining why it was a good idea to have professional communicators–in this case."
published: 2006-02-06
updated: 2006-02-06
---

# Why would you want a technical communicator on your staff?

Published 2006-02-06

February 6, 2006 · [Technical communications](https://campbell-online.com/blog/category/technical-communications/) · [Instructional design](https://campbell-online.com/blog/category/instructional-design/) · [Knowledge work](https://campbell-online.com/blog/category/knowledge-work/)

Not too long ago, a senior manager asked me to write a short page of talking points explaining why it was a good idea to have professional communicators–in this case, technical communicators–on staff. Here’s what I came up with. Maybe you can use it too (or refine it–comments are welcome!)

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What do technical communicators do?

- Research, write, edit and refine technical and marketing documentation, either as lead authors or as team participants.
- Research and recommend best practices for communications.
- Set and propagate documentation standards and style guidelines.
- Manage your documentation library and collaboration tools.

- Policy and procedure manuals
- Proposals and RFPs
- Training materials
- Web pages
- Product manuals and online help
- White papers
- Reports and presentations
- Project documentation

**Why should you care?**

An experienced technical communicator can help you save money, make money, establish and maintain a competitive advantage, and comply with legal and regulatory requirements.

*Save money*

- Reduce support and overhead costs by delivering improved training material and reference documents.
- Increase buy-in from colleagues and clients by delivering persuasive and easy-to-understand policy and procedure documentation.
- Help your staff “do it right the first time” by providing clear directions, reducing the necessity for costly rework and revision due to ambiguity and misunderstanding.
- Bring new employees and client staff up to speed quickly by providing clear documentation and training material; they will become more productive, faster.

*Make money*

- Win new business by crafting more compelling proposals and RFPs.
- Add considerable value to the services that you deliver and the processes and tools that you support by being able to offer high-quality training and documentation and turning it into a selling point.

*Establish and maintain a competitive advantage*

- Clear communication helps you align business and IT goals and practices to improve your organization’s effectiveness.

*Comply with legal and regulatory requirements*

- Stay out of the liability zone by clearly documenting your policies and procedures and communicating them to clients and staff.
- Comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, and related global and industry-specific statutory requirements.

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