Services & Portfolio
Press Releases
A successful press release tells a story that's timely, topical, and interesting. It should be concise & engaging and presented with all its key information on top with quotable details below. Examples: Mischief's Move to Grand Avenue, HTA Testimony, The Minnesota Toy Fair.
Op-Eds
Writing a successful opinion piece can make a big difference for your cause or business. In my experience, op-eds in support of issues with multiple stakeholders require a lot of behind the scenes coordinating and editing. If you're seeking to publish your opinion piece, it also helps to have contacts inside a newspaper's editorial department. Often, editors will ask for revisions, additions, or subtractions in order to meet their space requirements which will always require a quick turnaround. Examples:
Business Forum: When it comes to chemical policies, who speaks for business? Minneapolis StarTribune, March 20, 2015.
Biographies & Profiles
Your professional bio will be the first thing your prospective client will read about you. This may be a short paragraph on a company website or a longer "About Us" narrative that personalizes your businesses or organization. Your profile is not the place to bog the reader down with credentials & achievements, but rather to offer insight into who you & your team are as people. Examples: My own profile as a writer.
Social Media Consulting
Where should you invest your energy in the complex world of social media? A huge & rapidly changing marketing universe that didn't even exist a decade ago, social media requires a different approach for every type of business. I can help you choose whether to invest in Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, or Instagram and set up a customized profile for you. For our store, we've made heavy use of Facebook, but have also had success with Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. I've also helped Buy Local Twin Cities to establish themselves on Twitter and Facebook. See my blog for more social media insights.
Blogging
Maintaining a regular blog is one of the best ways to keep in touch with potential customers and boost search engine rankings. Blogs can be used for announcements, newsletters, opinion, humor, or offering free advice. Most web hosts now include fully-functional blog platforms which are are easy to implement. All you'll need is a writer. I've been blogging for our first store since 1998, for Mischief Toys since 2015, and have contributed heavily to the Handmade Toy Alliance blog.
Business Letters
A well-written business letter favorably presents you and your organization. Whether it's a marketing letter to prospective clients or an advocacy letter in support of proposed legislation, a well-written business letter clearly & succinctly requests action and provides justification. Well-written letters change minds and create results. Examples: MetroIBA Toxic Free Kids Act, Colossal Cafe, TPP Letter to Senator Klobuchar, and HTA Baby Sling Letter.
Newsletters
Regular communication with your donors or customers is important. While social media can fill this need pretty well, nothing is more compelling than a well-written print or email newsletter. Email newsletters are generally shorter but more frequent than print newsletters, but both require content that informs & entertains instead of just promoting & selling. Both forms should also include multiple calls to action and plenty of graphics. Examples: Mischief Toy Store's bi-weekly newsletters, Peapods Print Newsletter from May 2008, email newsletters from November 2014 and January 2015.
Web Content & SEO-Optimized Product Descriptions
Some of the worst writing on the internet is designed to serve the purposes of search engine optimization (SEO). Pages of spammy keyword-rich text that fails to inform human readers are a real turn off. There's no reason that keyword-rich product descriptions and web content can also be well-written and engaging. I've written copy for thousands of products, classes, and supplementary pages on peapods.com that score well on Google but are also informative and worthwhile. Some of the work is behind the scenes, too, including well-written title and meta description tags and well-place html header tags. A little CSS or HTML coding required? No problem.
Instruction & Training Manuals
Policy manuals, instruction manuals, FAQs, and training manuals should be both concise enough to be easily understood and thorough enough to answer as many questions as possible. Examples: Online Order Processing Manual, Washing Instructions.
A successful press release tells a story that's timely, topical, and interesting. It should be concise & engaging and presented with all its key information on top with quotable details below. Examples: Mischief's Move to Grand Avenue, HTA Testimony, The Minnesota Toy Fair.
Op-Eds
Writing a successful opinion piece can make a big difference for your cause or business. In my experience, op-eds in support of issues with multiple stakeholders require a lot of behind the scenes coordinating and editing. If you're seeking to publish your opinion piece, it also helps to have contacts inside a newspaper's editorial department. Often, editors will ask for revisions, additions, or subtractions in order to meet their space requirements which will always require a quick turnaround. Examples:
Business Forum: When it comes to chemical policies, who speaks for business? Minneapolis StarTribune, March 20, 2015.
Biographies & Profiles
Your professional bio will be the first thing your prospective client will read about you. This may be a short paragraph on a company website or a longer "About Us" narrative that personalizes your businesses or organization. Your profile is not the place to bog the reader down with credentials & achievements, but rather to offer insight into who you & your team are as people. Examples: My own profile as a writer.
Social Media Consulting
Where should you invest your energy in the complex world of social media? A huge & rapidly changing marketing universe that didn't even exist a decade ago, social media requires a different approach for every type of business. I can help you choose whether to invest in Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, or Instagram and set up a customized profile for you. For our store, we've made heavy use of Facebook, but have also had success with Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. I've also helped Buy Local Twin Cities to establish themselves on Twitter and Facebook. See my blog for more social media insights.
Blogging
Maintaining a regular blog is one of the best ways to keep in touch with potential customers and boost search engine rankings. Blogs can be used for announcements, newsletters, opinion, humor, or offering free advice. Most web hosts now include fully-functional blog platforms which are are easy to implement. All you'll need is a writer. I've been blogging for our first store since 1998, for Mischief Toys since 2015, and have contributed heavily to the Handmade Toy Alliance blog.
Business Letters
A well-written business letter favorably presents you and your organization. Whether it's a marketing letter to prospective clients or an advocacy letter in support of proposed legislation, a well-written business letter clearly & succinctly requests action and provides justification. Well-written letters change minds and create results. Examples: MetroIBA Toxic Free Kids Act, Colossal Cafe, TPP Letter to Senator Klobuchar, and HTA Baby Sling Letter.
Newsletters
Regular communication with your donors or customers is important. While social media can fill this need pretty well, nothing is more compelling than a well-written print or email newsletter. Email newsletters are generally shorter but more frequent than print newsletters, but both require content that informs & entertains instead of just promoting & selling. Both forms should also include multiple calls to action and plenty of graphics. Examples: Mischief Toy Store's bi-weekly newsletters, Peapods Print Newsletter from May 2008, email newsletters from November 2014 and January 2015.
Web Content & SEO-Optimized Product Descriptions
Some of the worst writing on the internet is designed to serve the purposes of search engine optimization (SEO). Pages of spammy keyword-rich text that fails to inform human readers are a real turn off. There's no reason that keyword-rich product descriptions and web content can also be well-written and engaging. I've written copy for thousands of products, classes, and supplementary pages on peapods.com that score well on Google but are also informative and worthwhile. Some of the work is behind the scenes, too, including well-written title and meta description tags and well-place html header tags. A little CSS or HTML coding required? No problem.
Instruction & Training Manuals
Policy manuals, instruction manuals, FAQs, and training manuals should be both concise enough to be easily understood and thorough enough to answer as many questions as possible. Examples: Online Order Processing Manual, Washing Instructions.