This is written for those who really want to know just WHO I am: my career history and more about me as a person. You might prefer to check out my LinkedIn profile, or cut right to the chase and learn about my work.
I’m not your typical marketer, and I haven’t taken the typical marketer path. For the first 13 years of my career, I worked in publishing and as a writing teacher. Along the way, I picked up an MFA in creative writing and experimented with some web projects. (I’m not a designer or a developer, but I’ve been managing my own basic websites since 2003.) I not only honed my craft as a writer, but also helped a variety of people – high school students, writers visiting the US on fellowship from everywhere from the Netherlands to Myanmar, education professors, and many others – develop the expression of their ideas.
In 2012, I began to shift to online marketing. I became certified in Google AdWords and started working for a small SEO and web development agency, managing their clients’ content marketing and online advertising. Normally these are two distinct areas of marketing, but I’ve found this dual skill set helps me view a website’s needs holistically: I think about not just what’s on the page, but how people get there and the larger context. My experience also means that I’m more comfortable measuring the impact of a piece of writing with data than your typical writer, and with employing a testing process to continually discover how we might improve.
To date, I’ve mainly been working with start-ups, marketing and development agencies, and similar companies with a strong affinity for technical marketing, growth hacking, and philosophies like lean and agile. However, I’m discovering that the kinds of organizations that get me most excited are those that have a mission beyond the financial bottom line: coaches, consultants, solopreneurs, and small businesses with lots of heart, social responsibility, and imagination. I enjoy helping these kinds of companies learn how to adapt the best ideas and tools of the start-up world to their own culture and values.
Think of me as the person who will go to that buzz-filled marketing conference for you and extract what’s really useful from the hype. Yes, I sit through some pretty painful and jargon-filled presentations so you don’t have to.
Beyond work, I’m slowly but steadily learning Spanish, and I recharge by reading, working on personal writing projects, art journaling, hiking, or getting out on the water. I’m a lifelong resident of the Jersey Shore, though I’m enthusiastic about long-term travel and taking advantage of the location independence my work gives me (I can tell you where to find good wifi in Antigua, Guatemala and Mexico City). Proud member of a very special coworking space called IndyHall. Oh, and favorite writers? H.D., William Carlos Williams, Federico Garcia Lorca, Jorge Luis Borges, and Barbara Guest.
I’m curious to learn about your vision and the new ideas you’re bringing into the world, so please don’t hesitate to say hello to meg@smartwordmarketing.com.