Before you can write anything, you need to shape what you want to say. That’s where messaging comes in.

I love messaging. It’s where you dig into the behind-the-scenes DNA of your brand and surface the tiny, bite-sized bits you’ll use in your positioning, strategy, and communications efforts. Getting your messaging right is important—it resonates with your audience and sticks with them long after they’ve experienced it. It’s a lot of fun, hard work.

I’ve developed messaging for Fortune 500, international, and small business clients, and have just enough experience to be dangerous in all kinds of industries. Some of my messaging highlights include:

• Simplifying the physics behind cell phone towers to C-level telecom executives.
• Enticing millennials to put down video games and give golf a chance.
• Showing treasury organizations how to get more yield from a dizzying array of options.
• Learning why you should always, ALWAYS, repair a leaky faucet at home.

Every messaging project is unique, but each one involves a lot of listening, brainstorming, revising, and refining. And while a lot of writing takes place here, messaging is more about setting the voice, tone, and quality of your content. Messaging informs the words and imagery you’ll use in any project. It will also help determine the content strategies you’ll use to bring your content to life.

Are you creating a new company, or rebranding an existing one? Redoing your site? Hosting a sales kickoff or training event in the not-too-distant future? You’re a candidate for messaging, and I can work with you on your project. Here are some ways we can work together:

• Audience and persona development – Who do you want to talk to?
• Brand positioning statements – What do you want your audience to know about you?
• Product launches – How will sales position your products to buyers?
• Sales training and enablement projects  – Let’s close that deal!
• Individuals – I can help you with your resume or personal branding statements.

I flex my writing muscles on B2B and B2C projects for large and small businesses.

Writing’s where I got my start, and it’s at the heart of everything I do. Writing defines and clarifies what you want to say, educates and entertains, adds sparkle to messaging, grabs attention, and so much more. The writing I’ve done has evolved from print > digital > mobile, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next.

Nothing beats the delicious, thrilly, feeling I get once I’ve helped a client dig deep and find the words that fit their project. I help my clients:

• Tell stories
• Translate the complex into the simple
• Solve problems
• Show users how to take action on a site or app
• Close business

My love of writing runs deep. I majored in Italian literature in college, and I’ve spent my career challenging acronyms, jargon, and buzzwords as needed. I’m not afraid to end a sentence with a preposition, have a really hard time splitting infinitives, and am a huge Oxford Comma advocate.

The projects I work on sit at the intersection of technology and design. I love working with cross-functional teams to bring concepts to life through the web and other channels. I can also “go deep” with subject matter experts and distill abstract and technical concepts into conversational English anyone can understand.

Would you rather do anything else than have to write something? Not me. (Well, sometimes me.) Did a project appear out of the blue and you need a writer, fast? If so I can write:

• Articles and web content
• Interactive/UX content
• Marketing and sales campaigns
• Presentations and sales tools
• Blog posts and other social content
• Just about anything else. Contact me to learn more.

Pssst…You may notice I don’t use the term “copywriting” here. Why? Because I’ve never liked it or any of its derivatives. They all have a dismissive, second-class citizen air about them: “Oh, we just need a copywriter to write some copy.” I don’t understand why that is because anyone, myself included, who’s had their “copy” endlessly reviewed or ripped apart knows that writing copy—and getting it right—is incredibly important.

Content strategy brings messaging and writing to life. It also got me to learn to love spreadsheets. That’s how powerful content strategy is.

Still not sure what it’s all about? In their book Content Strategy for the Web, Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach define it perfectly: “Content Strategy guides your plans for the creation, delivery, and governance of content.” Content strategy informs the editorial direction, UX/technical implementation, and backend workflow of any project.

Content strategy brings order to chaos and puts me in touch with my inner librarian. I love it. I view every project through a content strategy lens because it lets me take a deep dive into a project to see what content is there, what’s needed, and where that content can go. Here’s an overview of the work I do when a content strategy job comes knocking (this list is by no means complete):

Content assessment
At the beginning of every project I take a look at what you have, and what you need. This usually happens in a project’s discovery timeframe, and here’s what usually takes place:

• Content Audit
• Competitive and gap analysis
• Bonus: If any site analytics or data exist, this is a great place to see what stories they tell.

Content planning and delivery
This chunk of work gives your content structure and substance. It’s a little more technical, and it’s where I collaborate most with the project team. This work includes:

• Taxonomies and metadata
• Content mapping and documentation
• Requirements gathering
• Workflows and usability

Editorial standards and content governance
Here’s where the fun is! This is where you optimize and support content throughout its lifecycle. Who’s going to own, write, publish, and maintain your content? With content strategy as your guide, you’ll create:

• Site governance and content lifecycle management strategies
• Editorial guidelines and standards
• Style guides and copy decks
• Editorial calendar
• A whole lot more

Does all this feel a little scary and complex? It is. But the work is fantastic and rewarding, and worth any investment you can make. Are you launching a new or rebranded site, or have a migration coming up? Sounds like you need some content strategy. Let’s talk.