A painter’s personal tragedy inspired a transformational technology…

…and can help you understand the mind of your technical audience.

Before he changed the world, Samuel Morse was a painter in Connecticut.

In 1825, he was hired to paint a portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette, a hero of both the American and French revolutions.

(And you may have seen him more recently in Hamilton, played by Daveed Diggs)

So, the painter sets off for Washington D.C. to immortalize Lafayette.

As he worked on the portrait, a rider delivered a letter from home: “Your dear wife is convalescent.”

News traveled slowly in the 1800s—and transporting people was even slower.

It took so long to learn his wife was sick that, even rushing back to Connecticut, Morse was much too late.

His wife had tragically passed away at age 25. When Morse returned home, she was already buried.

In his grief, he lamented how long it took to relay messages.

If only there was a way to do it instantly…

After many years and collaboration with fellow inventors, Samuel Morse helped originate the telegraph. Morse code, named after him, was used in the United States from 1844 to 1999.

You can still find the system of dots and dashes amongst children’s walkie-talkie toys and enthusiasts who want to keep the technology alive.

Morse’s desire to solve his own problem—the slow relay of messages—drove his invention.

Your technical audience has a similar desire to build solutions. Like Samuel Morse, they’re inspired by the way things should be.

​Technical Content Strategy Decoded is about how you tap into this natural tendency within your audience.

When you stop pushing marketing copy and focus instead on engagement, you’ll attract more of the right audience, and ultimately see more success.

P.S. If you wish there was a tap-tap-tap pattern like Morse Code for reaching a technical audience… be sure to check out my latest post, based on the system I teach in the new book.