Become your customers’ brain trust.

What levers are we going to pull with content?

How are we going to pull those levels as hard as we can?

And what impact can we expect?

These questions fall under the domain of content strategy (another one of my skills). If you can’t answer them concretely, in detail, then you may have a fuzzy content strategy.

I’ve worked in B2B content strategy since 2015. I’ve learned what works—and plenty of things that don’t work. The more I understand your organization’s customers, your value props, and your positioning in the market, the more refined my content strategy becomes.

What content do you have today? Do we have every need of your audience covered—and if so, is every piece of content up to the job of building your expert reputation?

Chances are, you have lots of opportunities to improve or replace existing pieces. More than likely, you haven’t covered every need of your audience.

Both at the outset of a relationship, and on an ongoing basis, I analyze the content needs of your audience, prioritize pieces and projects, and work to uncover new opportunities.

It’s one thing to say, “Our company needs whitepapers.” Or blog posts. Or videos.

It’s another thing to chart out the concept for a particular piece of content. What is the purpose of the content in the funnel? What value will it offer the user regardless of whether they do business with you? If it’s for a technical audience, how much technical depth should we share without giving away the secret sauce? How are we going to package this incredible value so it attracts every possible user?

And within the content itself, what’s the appropriate CTA (call to action) to move the user farther down the funnel?

Content ideation is more than just generating topics and titles. That’s the easy part. Rather, content ideation requires a holistic view of the user and their journey—and what your company can offer. This is a huge part of what I bring to the table.

Words are the core of content marketing. Whether they’re written or spoken—whether coming from your brand, a customer, or a partner—they’re the only thing that persuades people to take action.

When we create a great message on an important topic, we want to reuse that investment in the relevant formats. Maybe we write The Ultimate Guide to your most important topic—and we produce an on-camera video with a senior SME who can talk through the nuances. The written guide and the video play off each other (not least because YouTube is a powerful search engine).

When it comes to repurposing, I handle the written component. If there is a video or graphic component, I can project-manage that initiative (ideally working with other contributors). Note that this requires the organization to invest in additional resources.

Whether it’s at work, or talking to my literary agent about my latest novel, I keep hearing that I’m a great writer. At this point, I figure it must be true.

That’s good news, because getting from a content idea to a usable piece is the hardest part.

All content creation requires hardcore writing chops. Videos need to be conceptualized, and most need a script. (That script had better be good, or users will bounce after a few seconds of boredom.) Let’s not forget about actual written content, which still offers the best value to your company in terms of production effort, audience engagement, and funnel movement.

Want to see a bit of my writing? Check out My Work. 

It’s not enough to write. What looked good yesterday may not hold up under the light of day.

When it comes to working with a team, every writer brings a different set of strengths and weaknesses to the table. It takes empathy, discernment, and careful prioritization to help a writer move forward without overwhelming them.

Whether it’s working with contributors or improving my own work, I’m a meticulous editor. In self-editing, I maintain a consistent voice while aiming for transparent prose that registers deeply in the reader’s mind.

In editing other writers, I can identify key areas of improvement from a short sample and devise a growth path that I’ll use as I continue to coach the writer. The goal here is to balance personal growth with business objectives.

Content project management

It’s one thing to say, “Let’s create this piece of content.” But what assets will go into that content? What technologies are required to support it? What images, graphics, or extra footage will make the content as valuable as it can be?

Depending on workload and priorities, I can execute any content project on my own, from start to finish. This includes not only written content, but WordPress web publishing, videos, graphics, and interactive content (as supported by your organization). I have a year of design school under my belt and a fair helping of video editing experience, and I’ve been working with WordPress since 2011. I’ve even worked with interactive content platforms like Navattic.

That said, most organizations will see more success by engaging technical experts for tasks like graphic design and video editing. This allows me to focus on what I do best—owning content strategy, developing concepts, and delivering the written component.

Whatever the mix of resources, I oversee a content project from start to finish—and I can pinch-hit at any point in the process to keep the project moving.

What content is actually generating value for your business? How can we optimize it further?

Regardless of the medium, I use content analytics to determine what’s working and what isn’t. Metrics like Google rankings, traffic, time on site, conversions, email opens, social interactions—the list goes on. The point is to define which metrics are relevant to a piece of content, then check them regularly.

It’s not enough to create a piece of content and put it in front of your audience (or serve it up to Google). User preferences are constantly shifting, and regular performance analysis will turn up strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It takes significant experience—not only to read the story woven into this data, but to decide how best to optimize content on a continual basis.