Writing

• Writing for the web

  Writing for the web requires a different style and formatting than writing for written content — not only are there factors like SEO to consider, but people tend to read faster and skim more. As a web-first writer, I can create content that’s easy for readers to consume and digest when reading on screens, while easily adapting to “print” formatting when necessary.

• Copywriting

  My first forays into freelance writing were focused on informational content, but I quickly picked up copywriting and have written copy ranging from sales pages for specific offers to product-focused site copy. When copywriting, my focus is on engaging the reader and being persuasive in pointing out the benefits of a specific product/service/etc., without being pushy.

• Distilling technical concepts, without jargon

  When I freelanced, one of my taglines was “making B2B less boring,” and I spent a lot of time working with engineering teams who struggled to succinctly communicate their ideas or products to others. As I transitioned into full-time employment, that’s continued to be a consistent theme through my work — I’m uninterested in jargon for the sake of it and want to create content that’s both engaging and useful.

• Editing

  I’ve done plenty of self-editing, but also worked closely with others — both freelancers I was managing and coworkers I was collaborating with — to provide constructive feedback and do both line edits and structural editing on their work. 

• Writing for different mediums

  In addition to my other writing experience, I’ve also written for audio and video, as well as collaborating with designers to turn written content into well-designed infographics, PDFs, etc.

Content marketing 

• B2B-focused

  12+ years of experience with B2B content marketing, as that’s been my primary focus from the beginning.

• SMB audiences

  The first audiences I wrote for were freelancers and small-to-midsize business owners, starting in 2012 for 12+ years of experience.

• Enterprise audiences

  ~10 years of experience in content marketing for enterprise audiences, starting with writing for Shopify Plus and expanding from there.

• SEO-informed

  SEO isn’t my primary focus when it comes to content, because creating high-quality content that informs users and keeps them engaged typically results in good SEO. In my experience, starting with a focus on SEO often results in lower-quality content that might get traffic, but isn’t as effective when it comes to capturing leads or building trust with an audience, which is why I focus on content first. That said, I’ve always made it a point to stay informed about current SEO best practices and always factor in SEO when working on a content marketing strategy.

• Multimedia

  Most people think solely of written content when they consider content marketing, but that’s a mistake, and not just because audio or video content can reach new audiences. It’s also easy to repurpose multimedia content into written content and vice versa, giving you more mileage (and more results) from content you’ve already created. I have ample experience creating audio and video content, as well as editing those formats, and have coordinated with designers on multiple projects for infographics, whitepapers, etc.

Digital marketing 

• Email marketing

  Written content & email-distributed content go hand-in-hand, and in many of my roles I’ve worked on email marketing alongside content marketing.

• CRO & A/B testing

  Focusing on analytics is important to me, so throughout my career I’ve incorporated A/B testing whenever possible to get the best results possible from my work. A lot of that testing has been in smaller measures (email subject lines, CTA button phrasing or color, etc.), but for a specific project highlight, check out the Rebilly case study.

• Marketing automation

  I’ve used marketing automation tools to capture leads, distribute content, and create customer/lead funnels with if/then formatting, ensuring that users are getting the content most relevant to their interests.

• Customer marketing

  As someone who spends a lot of time writing case studies and talking to existing customers, I’ve learned more about customer marketing over the years and have incorporated it into my work at both Zoho and ReadMe.

• PPC ads

  Ads haven’t been a primary focus throughout my career, but I’m familiar with most PPC ad marketplaces and with the industry best practices around retargeting, ad design, etc.

Leadership & project management

• Project management

  At the beginning of my career, I worked as a freelance project manager for small businesses (mostly in the consulting and design fields). Since then, I’ve managed multiple projects ranging from a few weeks in length to several months, coordinating conflicting timelines and deliverables, managing milestones, and communicating clearly with both internal and external stakeholders, to make sure that things get done right and on time.

• Leadership & management

  In my various roles, I’ve managed multiple freelancers at the same time, worked on projects with outside agencies and other outside stakeholders, spearheaded and managed initiatives with my teammates, and directly managed employees as part of my work as a content marketing manager.

• Process documentation

  While this hasn’t been a focus in any of my roles, it’s something that I do whenever I can, which helps with both leadership and project management. Having clear SOPs for common marketing processes has also been a lifesaver during launches or other time-crunched periods, when someone is unavailable but a task still needs to get done.

Miscellaneous

• Design

  While not a professional designer, I care quite a bit about good design and have spent enough time collaborating with designers that I know the basics of both theory and software.

• Technical skills

  I have basic-to-intermediate level knowledge of Python, CSS, PHP, and HTML and am familiar with using APIs and webhooks for integrations. I’m also always interested in learning more about these topics.

• UX

  User experience is one of my areas of interest and my knowledge of UX informs the way I approach content strategy and information architecture. I’m familiar with the best practices of UX design and user research and have worked closely with UX designers in the past.

• Public speaking

  In an extremely unusual twist for a writer, I actually enjoy public speaking most of the time, especially when presenting action-focused workshops (vs. “just” doing a talk). I’ve done a fair amount of public speaking both in person and from behind a computer screen on a webinar or other live classes.

Interests

• Operations & process management

  I’ve always approached my work with a systems mindset, and although operations/process management has never been in my official job title, I put a lot of thought into it anyways. In my experience, companies of all sizes — ranging from lean startups to large companies — often slack on having defined operations and processes when it comes to marketing. As a result, the marketing team(s) can wind up siloed from the rest of the company, which can foster resentment both on the marketing team(s) and on other teams. Having well-defined operations and processes doesn’t stifle creativity, but it does create more transparency and a higher likelihood of meeting project scope and deadlines.

• UX

  I’m intensely interested in the overlap of user experience design and marketing, and I think that most marketing teams could learn a lot from UX fundamentals and processes. I’d love to work closely with a UX team on creating product onboarding materials, brainstorming supporting content for product features, and crafting a user-focused marketing strategy.

• CRO & A/B testing

  This is something I’ve incorporated into my work wherever possible, but would love to do more of, as I’m a firm believer in using data to guide your marketing strategy.

• Data science & analytics

  Marketing teams have more data now than ever before (and that trend will likely continue), which brings the focus onto using that data. At the same time, just because the data looks a certain way at first glance doesn’t mean that the initial interpretation is correct. I’d like to learn more about interpreting and using data in my marketing efforts, which is why I’m learning more about data science, as well as learning Python (and planning on learning SQL after that). 

• Technical skills

  I’m currently learning Python, and planning on learning JavaScript and SQL after I have a solid foundation in Python.