Copywriting

Toolboxes have hammers; media relations have press releases. They’re the most basic tool for organizations to get the word out. They’re free to submit, follow a standard structure, build relationships with media contacts, establish credibility, and are a cinch to write. Here’s one I wrote for my high school alma mater, an international school in Botswana on whose board I serve. Among other distinctions, the school is known for its marimba music prowess. The sizzling band tours the U.S. biannually to raise funds for orphan and vulnerable children scholarships. Because the music sets my feet afire, and because I believe in the cause, I volunteer to help promote concert events by notifying area media with press releases. Someone please alert me when standard press release formats begin to accommodate auto-playing music; I defy you to find anyone who can resist these rhythms!

I spend my days writing for clients, adopting another person’s voice and adhering to an organization’s brand messaging. Between deadlines, however, I write from my own voice, tilting my hand to show what’s important in my world. As an unabashed fan – and former intern – of The Carter Center, I was moved to reflect upon the lives of its shining-star founders, President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter.

Passing legislation is not for the faint of heart. To say it requires patience and humility is the understatement of the century. Some years ago, in my role as Executive Director of a Massachusetts-based nonprofit, I was tasked with drafting language to be included in the Commonwealth’s criminal code.

Over eight years, a colleague and I wrote and advocated for the bill among legislative sponsors, staffers, agencies, practitioners, victim advocates, caucus members, and criminal justice representatives. The Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 was an especially tricky time to be advocating for new ideas in the justice arena. Some language changed. Most of it stayed the same. Hundreds of coalition meetings, info sessions, and legislative breakfasts later — seriously, fist-name basis with statehouse security — the law passed in April 2018 (“An Act Relative to Criminal Justice Reform” §276B) 37-0 in the Senate and 148-5 in the House. Co-sponsor senators awarded me a “State Citation” for work on this legislation and restorative justice broadly. Knowing that everyone in the state affected by crime can access restorative justice? It makes all that “sausage making” 100% worth it.

I’m audience-obsessed. Before ever putting pen to paper — ahem, fingers to keyboard — I crush the research on who is reading and why. What do they care about? What are their challenges? What makes them light up? If I’m ghostwriting, I then learn about the messenger and how to craft an article in that voice. Here are two Op-Eds with different bylines in Accounting Today, read by 325,000 CFOs and other finance decision-makers. The first focuses on the allure of technology improving finance functions; the second explores a trend in late corporate tax filings. As a direct result of this work, top-tier publications, including Reuters (the world’s largest international multimedia news provider), CFO Brew, and CFO Dive, called the authors for follow-up interviews on this eye-catching content. The winners here? An even broader audience gains industry insight. And the authors attract a very bright spotlight for their hard-won expertise.

I often work with long-form text that takes considerable time to research, write, edit, and submit. So when the chance comes to fire off a quick round of headlines, sign me up. Here’s a fun play-on-words display headline I wrote for a “building”-themed trade show where my client had paired up with BlackLine, a cloud-based accounting software firm.

Case studies are one of the most important tools in marketing. Longer than an ad, and shorter than a white paper, they balance measurable metrics with human interest details and turn leads into customers. My chosen format makes use of three sections: challenge, approach, and impact. A long-standing work friend (who doubles as a stalwart client) is a national marketing director and asked me to write a series of case studies as part of a campaign to market her company’s work. This case study shares how an auto plant, bound for closure, saved $3 millon per year by keeping its hardworking people firmly at the wheel.