Here are my answers to some common interview questions. Get to know me before you reach out!
I’m an award-winning technical and commercial writer with 10+ years' experience delivering outstanding content, social media management, and brand management. My clients know me for my exceptional research skills, rigorous editing, and my ability to turn complex issues into engaging, audience-targeted content.
My ideal work culture/environment blends collaboration with a smart, creative team with time I can spend in deep thought and creation. To me, remote teams are the best of both worlds. I can collaborate with my talented, enthusiastic colleagues and also spend time in deep focus to produce my best work.
A few months ago, a client asked me for a statistics-heavy piece on industrial accident rates. I usually budget about five to seven hours for similar pieces, but with this one, the research was so interesting I was well into my tenth hour before I realized how much time had passed. It paid off, though. I met the client’s deadline, and they were thrilled with the depth and comprehensiveness of the article. Within a week, that article also landed in the top three Google search results for “industrial accident statistics” in the client’s geographical region.
I absolutely love the challenge of getting to know a client: their brand, their voice, their customers, their needs – and then collaborating with other smart, passionate professionals to bring the client’s brand communications to life. Brandout Social offers the opportunity to do that, and that’s what excites about about working with you.
A few years ago, a client asked me to do a deep-dive research project on why corporate “bias training,” as it was being presented at the time, was consistently failing to produce changes in employees’ behavior. People would attend these sessions, express understanding of the topic, and then continue exhibiting unconscious bias in their daily decision making. The client wasn’t sure the research even existed to discuss this point intelligently. I ended up getting lost in piles of research and finding the answer in education work on social-emotional learning. It was a connection no one in the HR training industry had made at the time. It helped my client rise to prominence as a thought leader, and it was fulfilling for me as well.
My top strength in marketing is my ability to identify “next big things” before they become the next big thing. I was an early adopter of every social media platform from MySpace to Snapchat. I’ve predicted several trends in software as a service before they happened, which allowed me to put my clients on the cutting edge of tech conversations. I’m also excellent at research, at synthesizing information, and at turning in copy that needs little or no editing.
My top weakness is my tendency to get too excited about research deep dives. I’m good at losing myself in what I’m reading. This usually pays off for my clients in better-quality content and better Google rankings, but it is something I have to account for when I plan my work.
Both my strengths and my weaknesses stem from a passionate, ongoing desire to learn as much as I can and expand my skill set. I can make connections others miss because I'm constantly learning new things - but I can also go down a "rabbit hole" if I'm not careful! Over time, I've learned to balance my passion for learning with the need to communicate with others, stay on schedule, and get things done.
Right now, there’s a noticeable early trend away from the big social media sites and away from reliance on Google. These companies are still very much in the forefront and will continue to be, but five years from now, we social media marketers and content writers will also need to account for smaller, decentralized, independent platforms like the fediverse and microblogs. I expect to be thinking a lot more about those smaller, more diverse audiences in five years than we are today.
Dedicated with a healthy dose of adventure. I love finding the newer, stronger, or more effective angle for anything I’m working on. In an industry that moves as quickly as online marketing, this work ethic has proven valuable more than once. I'm also a loyal colleague who will do anything for my co-workers, especially if it results in our collective success.
My absolute minimum standard is clean, consistent, accurate copy turned in before deadline. If that’s all I do in a day, I consider that baseline. Where I stand out from a lot of other copywriters is in my ability to combine technical knowledge with audience perspective. I don’t just write copy. I write for people.
I have a lot to be proud of in my professional career. I have a byline in The Atlantic, among other places. I’ve founded or co-founded three businesess that are still running today – the oldest is 16 years old. But I think my greatest accomplishment is the list of colleagues whom I can also call friends. Building those connections is very important to me.
To me, success is continuously reaching your goals. I can measure it by seeing if I'm accomplishing my goals within my set time frame. For instance, earlier this year a family member asked me to make some improvements to the Web site for their artist store. To achieve their vision, I had to learn Javascript, which was a new skill for me. Within a month, I’d developed the skills to build the basic functionality they wanted. The new tools have been available for about six weeks now and have already increased conversions by 12 percent. It’s rewarding to see the results of my hard work.
Questions? Email me - let's talk!