Bio/Resume

Marketing Communications Experience

Sales copy: Direct mail, sales letters, online sales copy, landing pages.
Web site copy: Branding, corporate Web sites.
One-to-one communication: E-zines, newsletters, and blogging about security, automotive marketing, Web 2.0, entrepreneurial marketing and other topics.
Ghostwriting: Newsletters, non-fiction book (personal finance), and letters.
Other: Press releases, SEO (keyword-rich content).
Core competencies: Web 2.0, social media, Internet marketing, open-source software in business, bootstrapping.

Employment History

Tasks:

Maintained four blogs through research, writing, linking, comment moderation, and community-building.
Helped promote the business by writing Web site copy, press releases, marketing emails, and sales sheets.

Accomplishments:

Received coverage on Digg, TechMeme, and links from other blogs and sites.
Increased the blogs’ Google rankings, making them more attractive to advertisers.

Tasks:

Assisted clients in improving their corporate communications and branding through copywriting and consultation.
Promoted the business by launching the corporate blog (http://essentialmessage.typepad.com).

Accomplishments:

Developed Web site copy that tied together international branches of a global consulting firm.
Created an integrated direct mail, fax, and email campaign for a national seminar/training firm that tripled their earlier response rate (for the email component).
Worked as ghostwriter for a book on personal finance by an investment advisor, helping her to complete a years-long project.

Tasks:

Wrote service and follow-up letter templates for car dealerships and dealer groups.
Documented and created online help for the company’s new online CRM system.
Assisted in the overhaul of all of Marketrend’s print collateral.

Accomplishments:

Revised all copy for Marketrend’s new Web site (http://www.marketrend.com).
Researched and wrote seven fact sheets and two case studies, from design to printing.
Designed, wrote, and published Marketrend’s first electronic newsletter.

Tasks:

Worked as a ghostwriter for information marketers, writing regular email newsletters, direct sales letters (print and email), and creating e-books and online courses.
Wrote press releases and white papers for other clients which included a high-tech boutique consultancy (New York), and a vineyard (Vancouver).
Researched and interviewed business owners to write their business plans.

Accomplishments:

Wrote all the content for a search engine-optimized site on nutritional supplements.
Contributed articles to two non-profit agencies which appeared in print.
Developed three extensive business plans for a local venture capitalist.

Tasks:

Wrote, developed, and maintained user guides, online help, product tours, technical notes for Pivotal’s CRM applications.
Served as project lead for Pivotal’s leading CRM suite through one full product cycle.
Acted as liaison between the Documentation Department and the Internationalization/Localization Team (in Ireland).

Accomplishments:

Designed, documented, and oversaw the implementation of two new help systems for Pivotal’s online products.
Created a Documentation Help Tool that instructed users how to work through the 10+ installation manuals to easily install a custom Pivotal solution.

Tasks:

Accomplishments:

Wrote office automation macros that saved three weeks of work by the word processing pool every year.
Developed a new print publication that could be created with little effort and represented a new recurring source of revenue.
Designed, programmed, and produced the first annotated B.C. Civil Practice CD-ROM.
Designed and wrote Western Legal Publications' first Web site.

Education

1991-1994
University of British Columbia, Bachelhttp://web2.0television.com/blogor of Law (LL.B.)

1987-1991
University of Toronto, Bachelor of Commerce, specialist in Marketing (B.Comm.)

1987
Canadian Securities Institute, Canadian Securities Course (certificate)