On the Idea of “Product Evangelist” in Technical Communications

product evangelist
I love product evangelists for two good reasons:

(1) I love software products. I have no idea how we lived back in the 60s and 70s without any software doing all these wonderful things on our desktops, laptops, and mobile devices.

(2) I like and admire the product evangelists that I’ve met both in person and over the Internet. They are serious professionals with admirable track records. Product evangelists are courteous, enthusiastic, and always ready for help. They are probably one of the best things going for their respective companies.

For me, as an enthusiastic user and “fan” of their products, they are an important part of the overall “brand experience.”

I’m glad they are there. The idea is a solid one.

The Title of “Evangelist”

However, I’m just wondering if these companies should perhaps reconsider the title of “evangelist” itself in this day and age of globalization.

When I check Google Definitions (type “define:evangelist” into Google’s search box and hit Return) for “evangelist” here are the top definitions I get:

  • a preacher of the Christian gospel
  • (when capitalized) any of the spiritual leaders who are assumed to be authors of the Gospels in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
    wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
  • In the Latter Day Saint movement, an evangelist is an ordained office of the ministry. In some denominations of the movement, an evangelist is referred to as a patriarch (see Patriarch (Latter Day Saints)). …
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelist_(Latter_Day_Saints)
  • In The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite), the Quorum of Seventy Evangelists is a leadership body of the church. The prescribed duty of the evangelists is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, language, and people.
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelist_(The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ)
  • An itinerant or special preacher, especially a revivalist; A preacher of the gospel; A writer of a gospel, especially the four New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), usually Evangelist; A person who first brought the gospel to a city or region; A patriarch; A person marked by …
    en.wiktionary.org/wiki/evangelist

You can also check Google Images for the term “Evangelist”…

Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not for or against anybody’s religion and — let me stress this crucial point — I do respect all religions including Christianity.

“Product Evangelist” in a Global Market

My whole point is one of COMMUNICATION, which is the core mission of this blog — when companies invest millions of dollars to develop these wonderful products and then try to sell them  across the world to consumer groups with so many different national, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, wouldn’t it make more sense to select a title for this important position that does not bring to mind one specific religion? Doesn’t that make sense from a plain marketing point of view?

Perhaps I’m making too much of a minor point against “product evangelist.” I’m not sure. But then that’s who I am. I think about words and phrases all day long. I always wonder the kind of difference the symbols we use make in our communication. That attitude is ingrained in me by long years of training and professional practice.

So I hope this public meditation on product evangelist will be received in the same spirit of good-will and free inquiry that it is intended.

What are your thoughts about this topic? Do you believe it is an issue or might become an issue for a corporation that likes to expand globally? I’d love to have your thoughts on this.

3 Comments

  1. Janet Swisher on February 3, 2011 at 8:03 pm

    I work closely with my company’s technical evangelists. They reach out to developers with presentations and demos, while I reach them with documentation. One of my coworkers even wrote an e-book on Developer Evangelism. But, being a non-religious person, I do find it ironic that I have anything to do with something called “evangelism”. It may one of those terms that people from historically-Christian cultures think has been secularized, but to people from other cultures, it has not (compare to “crusade”).
    Guy Kawasaki is generally credited with introducing the title “evangelist” into the high tech industry, while at Apple. But even before that, techies were getting into “religious wars” over their operating systems and text editors. So, if anything, the term is a reflection, not a cause, of the passion that such topics can evoke.
    Still, I agree that the core of such a role is communication. My company is looking to hire another “evangelist”, and a tweet that I saw about the job opening said that we are looking for a “technical communicator”. Most people who call themselves “technical communicators” would not fit this particular job description, which is for a person with a highly technical background who communicates well and builds relationships with people in the target community, not someone who writes documentation.
    So my question is, what’s a better term for this role?



    • admin on February 3, 2011 at 10:51 pm

      Janet and Michael, thank you both for your responses. I agree that an “evangelist” needs to be a lot more than just a technical communicator. “Brand ambassador” is a great alternative indeed except it does not roll easily off the tongue. Let me free-associate here with your permission…
      How about “brand fan”? But here of course the real subject is the “product” and not the brand. So how about “product champion”? “Product fan”? Nope. It reminds me of a cooling fan… “Product advocate”? “Product master”? “Marketing Engineer”? We have sale engineers; so can we also have marketing engineers? How about a new hybrid like “Trainchamp”? (Trainer+Champion) “Enthusiator”? (Someone who generates enthusiasm.) Does it sound like William Shatner’s “Negotiator” in a Priceline commercial ? 🙂 I’ll be thinking about this in the days ahead.
      Perhaps “brand ambassador” is still the best alternative.



  2. Michael O'Neill on February 3, 2011 at 8:15 pm

    What about Brand Ambassador or Product Ambassador? Ambassador has it’s etymological roots from Celtic amb(i)actos “a messenger, servant.” (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ambassador). Seems like a much better fit. Of course exchanging religious for political language might not be ideal… ;P
    -Michael