So Who Are Today’s Content Professionals?

Start by changing the title: not only today's content professional, but future content professionals. Because change comes so quickly.

Three important stakeholders for content professionals: Business, Peers, and End Users.

Business stakeholders demand more efficiency. Budgets are declining and workload is increasing.  There are more languages to translate to, more devices to develop for.

So we have to ask: How do we produce our content and what content really matters? For the first, the answer is structured authoring, and for the second, the answer is prioritizing content.

The adoption of structured authoring is increasing. Data indicates growth at about 30 percent per year for the past four years. 40 percent of organizations now are either using structured authoring or planning to go that way.

The myth is that only large companies use structured authoring, but that's not true. The percentage of large, medium, and small companies is about the same across the board.

Many of the reasons that organizations are adopting structured authoring have to do with efficiency.

But there is a skill gap. How many technical communication professionals have the skills to do structured authoring.  Some research shows that only 10-15%, at least on resumes, of technical writers have the knowledge and skills, which include, XML, SGML, and DITA.

Businesses are demanding to know the value of content. Documentation teams are considered cost centers. Technical content is seen as necessary, but the value is questioned.

There is an opportunity here. Content marketing is the creating of content for prospective buyers. Interest here has exploded in recent years. Traditional sales channels are becoming less effective. Marketers are looking for new ways to engage customers and are using tools such as white papers to do so. Can technical content do the same? Can it be used for content marketing?

It can add value at many stages of a purchase product. For example, during evaluation, the quality of the technical documentation can make or break a sale, by influencing the overall experience.

Companies are starting to think about technical content differently. But 90% of users don't even touch the product before buying it.

Why aren't more companies using technical content for marketing content? It's the company mindset.

Collaboration is very important, but are we using the right tools to do so? Are the tools and techniques we use effective as the number of people we collaborate with grows?

Most important stakeholder is end users. What they are really asking for is that content should be accessible from anywhere.

On average, we spend 4.4 hours of our leisure time per day in front of a screen, and 36% of that time is with a smartphone. So how do you make content mobile-friendly? Responsive design.

Only about 14% of websites use responsive design.