I’m just going to put this out there, I see a lot of people looking for a copywriter/content marketer/word wizard to boost/start/lead their content marketing endeavors. I think a lot of applications get lost in the shuffle, so, based on a cover letter I wrote (and helpfully edited with an AI) here is why you, yes you, need me as the person leading your content (and/or podcasting) efforts.
You need a writer. A senior writer. And not just any writer. You need me.
I don’t just write; I craft experiences. I take complex ideas and make them engaging, memorable, and, yes, fun. Think of me as the content whisperer, turning “blah” into “brilliant” and “meh” into “must-share.” My superpower? Making any topic understandable and engaging. Have something really techie that needs to reach a decidedly non-techie audience (or decision maker)? Let me at it. There probably isn’t a topic I haven’t written about or audience I’ve written for.
Pain relief for the most common content headache—thought leadership posts
Let’s face it, creating content when you need to rely on subject matter experts for help is a royal pain. It’s even worse when you need to have the content ghostwritten for them for thought leadership posts. I feel your pain. I’ve felt your pain. I was dealing with this very issue not long ago. I had tried all the usual things. Brainstorm post ideas with people. Write outlines so they could just flesh it out in their own words. Nothing got the ball rolling. It would take months of follow ups, meetings, emails, and cajoling to get something I could start editing. Which then triggered the whole “approvals process” nightmare adding more delays to the process. I’ve lost count of the number of time-sensitive posts—like a post connected to a recent event—that went into the virtual waste bin because it took too long to get the post done.
We needed to do some interviews with speakers for an upcoming conference. Interviews that could be turned into blog posts. So I thought, well, if we’re going to interview someone, we should record it. If we’re recording it, we can get a transcript (hello AI transcription). And if we have a transcript, we have the start of a blog post.
And it hit me. I had the solution to my expert post problem. Why not just interview people like it was a podcast and use that for a blog post? I developed a streamlined process for creating ghostwritten content that reduced the time commitment for subject matter experts to a few meetings and accelerated content production from months to a single week. It was a simple process.
- Meet and talk about what the post should be about (less than an hour).
- Write questions to get everything I needed to write about the topic intelligently.
- Send the questions over for a quick review and read.
- Schedule a time to record the interview (30-45 minutes).
- Write the post as the expert using their own words, tone, and style from the interview.
- Send the draft over for review.
- Done.
And, if the interview turned out to be interesting, create a faux podcast episode as a companion to the post. Simple, fast, efficient, and respectful of people’s time—these generally being extremely busy people.
Great podcasts need great stories
What happens when you have great interviews for a podcast, but no one finishes listening to the episodes? There’s an interesting story in there somewhere, so how do you bring it out? Well, that was just it, you switch the focus from the interview to the story that’s being told. You move the focus from the people in the interview to the story in the interview. Following this model, I increased listen-through rates for the Transit Unplugged podcast from less than 60% to over 70% in one year. I’m not going to say it was easy, but I can say we had some of our most-listened to episodes that year.
Leveraging AI is essential for content development
I’m also a tech geek at heart. Generative AI today makes me think it’s 1997 all over again—full of potential and ripe for innovation. I’ve been playing around with AI for the past couple years. I’ve used it to cut 30% off the time I needed to edit podcast episodes. I’ve used it to take a first stab at show notes. I’ve used it to brainstorm. I’ve even used it to do vibe programming to run multivariate statistical analyses on podcast listener data.
I see AI as a tool. A powerful tool we don’t fully understand yet, but a tool nonetheless. I don’t shy away from AI. I continually see what else I can do with. Can I have it edit and XML file for me to import content into a website? Yes! Can I have it create slides for a career day presentation that I can build on? Yep.
What I offer you is a unique blend of creativity, strategic thinking, and proven results. I’m concise and impactful, ensuring every word counts. I’m humorous and engaging, knowing that a little fun goes a long way in capturing attention. I’m insightful and actionable, providing valuable expertise that drives tangible outcomes. And yes, I’m geeky, innovative, always looking for the next big thing.
Interested? Here’s my resume and you can also find me on LinkedIn.