Project Archives

Multi-Channel Campaigns

When it comes to multi-channel marketing, there’s really not a better channel for someone to discover your brand than through a publication or channel they trust.

For the language services industry, the trusted publications are Multilingual magazine and Slator, with the former acting as the editorial hub for the industry, and the latter as the intelligence hub. If you want a language service company to find you seemingly organically (which is true at Boostlingo), then these are the media groups you need to work with.

Popping up all over the place for a specific persona (seemingly organically)

For Slator as a brand, LinkedIn is a huge hub for their readers. If you think of brands doing intelligence gathering and market research, they’ll be a more sophisticated team definitely on the platform.

So, we worked with their team to do a few different types of placements: Slatorpod, their YouTube show, press releases on their website and LinkedIn page, and by using their studies to create our advertising.

The ad we created from Slator data ran on LinkedIn to our prospect audience as well as to anyone who fit parameters and liked Slator’s page. We saw some great movement from the combination of channels.

Multilingual has a focus on stories vs data, so we did a campaign built around one of our client’s with an amazing background. Barbier International is building indigenous employment through interpreting in Guatemala, so we did a LinkedIn Live, pitched and placed the story in Multilingual, and ran advertisements along side that content when it debuted in their print magazine with a global distribution of 70,000 readers.

We included a trunkated link to a dedicated landing page where users could download a case study that demonstrated high value to LSCs specifically.

Additionally we ran a LinkedIn ad with this same case study targeting fans of Multilingual to increase multi-channel touches.

We saw a 36% increase in this type of prospect in 2022 — largely thanks to campaigns like these.

Print Magazine Design

Quench, the TRWA Trade Magazine

The latest trade magazine issue edited and designed by me.

When you inherit a trade magazine, the learning curve is steep. There’s industry lingo to learn, articles to be fact-checked and edited (which takes twice as long while you’re catching up on the facts), and on top of it all — there’s a magazine to be redesigned.

Some basics I decided to stick with on Quench were keeping basically the same structure to the magazine and instead focusing on updating fonts, images and layout. We have an older audience, so font sizes have to stay pretty big and readable. Graphics have to make sense in the context of the story — and as the sole designer on the project, they have to be mostly pre-made and available for commercial use. At TRWA we use Freepik as our service for graphics and images. I would definitely suggest it to other magazine editors.

I wrote the copy for, as well as designed the two page spread above. You’ll notice that the black box graphics here are National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-made. Their images are free to use and they want them to be circulated far and wide. I decided to stick with their prebuilt graphic blocks to get across some great information. I’d already written all the copy on the rest of the page, so finding some relevant, high quality copy in those graphics was another bonus. The free-form of the hurricane (which I downloaded from Freepik, then colorized in Photoshop), helps to make this page visually interesting as well as topical. What could’ve been a boring listical comes alive with color and depth.

The work I’m most proud of in these issues are simple pages like our President’s Message and the Letter from the TRWA Executive Director. These are included in every issue, and don’t lend themselves to any sort of graphics or visually interesting look. I decided to make the spreads typography driven and have a splash of our water influence. The main audience for our trade magazine are our rural water and wastewater members and they read Quench cover to cover. Making these recurring spreads into something I love visually was an important baseline for me.

Another important aspect of designing Quench came in elevating the way we frame our technical articles. These are written by a rotating list of instructors and Financial, Managerial and Tehnical experts in the rural water industry. Previously, the content didn’t have a polished look and included pictures of the instructors at the top of the article. There was really no visual indicator of what the article was about. I realized this specific industry content is maybe the most valuable for our members, and could be information they’re not getting anywhere else (once I did enough research to understand it all). As an avid reader of magazines like Wired and Popular Mechanics, I decided to use those design influences on our technical works to reflect their subject matter.

Another modernization I added to our trade magazine was infographics. This demographic chart is accurate to the ten thousandth of an inch.

As a magazine nerd, getting to design an entire 32-page publication was one of my favorite projects in my career. Trade magazines have a reputation for being a decade or so behind the most popular publications, but as the art director I decided the conventions of trade design don’t have to dictate what I want my content to look like. My focus in this issue was readability, standardization of text and a TRWA “look,” and a focus on really great content that our readers would love. We’ve received a ton of great feedback in return.

Want to see a sample of Quench in person? I’ll mail it to you for free. Request a copy through the contact page on this site.

Editorial Content

Blurbs might not be glamorous, but they’re an essential part of a company’s content.

We’ve all read the events calendar section, or the fun page, or a quick spread on hurricane awareness. These pages don’t have bylines, are usually graphic-driven and are beloved by return readers and customers. They’re essential to filling out a content plan and making yourself a thought leader in an area. I’ve had experience writing for editorial spreads online in blog form and for online publications and also for print spreads.

The editorial page above was adapted from existing lists by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Association, FEMA and other antional organizations devoted to hurricane awareness. I read enough of these lists to get the common themes, and pulled out the specific bullet points I felt would be relevant to our audience. When it comes to editorial content, most projects aren’t about reinventing the wheel. The spreads involve aggregating data with a good design sensibility. The combination of visuals and relevancy should make them pages that no reader or viewer wants to skip over.

When it comes to something like an events calendar, you want to make yourself keyword central. Austin events, events in Austin, Art Sales in Austin and Formula One Austin are all examples of phrases that should be peppered throughout your copy if you’re trying to be a reliable source for calendar information in the area. Crafting pages like the one above for print has traditionally been about making these events sound exciting and worth paying for.

In the online world, you’re primarily trying to grab traffic that’s already interested in the topic. It’s a different audience. But the skillset is similar: choose your words carefully, there’s only so much room in a blurb so word choice is crucial.

The same goes for sponsored content online or in your print publication. Making sure the reader doesn’t know they’re being sold to keeps them interested in the content. The information should be relevant to the audience (ie. a local, MSG-free restaurant is a perfect fit for Austin Fit Magazine), and the story should be well-written. Making sponsored content doesn’t have to be a morally dubious endeavor as long as you’re pushing a brand that aligns with your company’s values and is in general offering a service or good you believe in.

A huge driver of website traffic and brand interest are “Best Of” contests. Austin Fit Magazine does a reader-centric contest every year where local businesses compete for their category. Writing up a small blurb for every winner is a huge project, but increases the value ad for the companies participating by adding information for potential customers. I did all of the editorial content for the 10 page spread above as a freelance assignment for AFM. Getting to know each of the winners enough to write two sentences was a huge undertaking, but the effort to do so gives the entire competition more legitimacy.

Direct Mail and Print Collateral

Yes, direct mail campaigns are still a thing

As someone who rarely receives anything in the mail but spam, getting used to the idea of mail as something our customers wanted was tough for me. But in the rural water industry there are still many who want the tactile sensation of a brochure in their hands. Designing for print collateral has been interesting because it allows for more exposition than a quick banner ad, but also brings the challenge of filling that print with relevant information.

The big packet you see in the feature photo is a brochure mailed out to member systems to get them registered for the TRWA Fall Management Conference. Many TRWA members choose to register by mailing out this form and sending it back to us (I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true). Also included in the brochure is a full agenda for our different conferences so that members can see if it will be worth the investment for them to come.

Aside from brochures, there are times when flyers are the right choice. For example, the flyer above went out in a welcome pack we gave to booth holders at one of our big conferences this year. We needed to book some more advertisers for 2021, and we knew where they’d be. In addition to converting the graphic to an eBlast we sent out to all of our associate members, those in person had a chance to scan this code and get signed up. We did end up getting some magazine ads booked with first-time advertisers.

A big push for the Texas Rural Water Foundation this year has been the creation of the Veteran Career Center, a service free for veterans to apply for jobs in the rural water industry. I created this graphic to include in welcome packets at conferences. It’s simple, offers all of the basics and will get people familiar with the program. The VCC is something TRWA is going to be pushing over and over again, so the tactile sensation of a flyer was important to me to get people to a baseline that encourages them to sign up after they’ve been exposed a few times. Another great feature of this graphic is that it’s dimensions are super adaptable for half page ads in TRWA magazines.

Besides marketing materials, the practical needs of a conference-heavy schedule mean print design projects. As a communications specialist, even temporary collateral needs to look polished and say positive things about the company. So, maybe it’s just a ticket to a fish fry, but I’m gonna make it look adorable.

Copy Editing

What does it mean to be a good editor?

As someone who has worked with a wide range of writers, my focus is always on readability and getting the right story across. Sometimes that means doing the extra research to fact check dense numbers that communicate a story. Sometimes that means re-writing a chunk to translate from insider speak to outsider-friendly copy. Sometimes that means just sitting back and letting a writer do the majority of the leg work.

From fitness gurus communicating their interests to novices, to water operators getting thirty + years of experience into an article, as an editor I’m looking for the heart of the matter so I can get that heart onto the page.

I had an unbelievable amount of FOMO doing the transcription, then editing for this article written by Melanie Moore for Austin Fit Magazine, where I was an intern and a contributor. Willie is a genuine guy, passionate about food and about feeding Austinites.

Click here to download the full article.Download
Download another sample of my editing work for Austin Fit Magazine, here.Download

While it can be really tough job, one of my favorite types of editing work is technical in focus. I like to help a bottle of genius open up, and my curiosity makes me a great sounding board for explaining new concepts. For Texas Rural Water Association, this technical editing is a main part of getting magazines out the door. Our members are operators and general managers with deep knowledge of the rural water industry, the articles they read have to be written by people who really know what they’re talking about.

Click here to download this article and another example of my technical editing at TRWA.Download

Video Production

Invalid Productions x Glitter and Lazers for American Eagle

What we did

I’m so excited to share this ad I created with Anna of Glitter and Lazers for American Eagle’s Extended Sizes in denim. When Anna reached out to me and explained the concept, I was immediately excited to create content for a national brand I wore back in the day. I was especially happy to partner with Anna to promote their effort to normalize the shopping experience for all body types in American Eagle stores.

Anna contracted Invalid Productions to handle videography, editing and location booking for the shoot. Anna is a major influencer and creator on Instagram and YouTube, and especially on TikTok. We came into the process as part of her effort to create higher quality content for bigger brands without adding too much to her own plate.

The shoot itself involved five hours at Caster Studios getting the footage, drinking hot cocoa and helping our girls (who were not professional models) feel comfortable on set. The studio in Dripping Springs had a great cyc stage for dancing and helping on-camera talent feel like they are a part of something glamorous. The girls involved spent at least a full hour of the day dancing; I obviously danced with them off camera. Anna had great interview questions for the girls on jean shopping, how they felt in the denim they were wearing and their views on American Eagle.

Unexpected Surprises

As were sitting and commiserating about the terrible experience that is jean shopping, Anna happened to ask me what size I wear (16 short is my plus size), and pulled out a pair of jeans for me to try on. They fit, and were actually more comfortable than the jeans I’d arrived at the shoot in so I kept them on. We decided to include that in the video because of the light, playful tone we were trying to strike in this ad for American Eagle.

I made a little appearance on camera in my jeans, but you’ll also spot one of my favorite pieces of clothing: my graphic Love is Love t-shirt from Limbo in Austin. I love Edson and Anne, the married couple co-owners of both Limbo and Triple Z Threadz, so having them as part of my cameo was a really cool addition to the day.

Takeaways

Anna as the Glitters and Lazers brand communicates a clear message: plus size women are allowed to feel beautiful in their bodies and should buy from brands who encourage them to do so. Her partnership with American Eagle and this video are definitely reflections of that value and appeal to her existing audience. This is just one example of the way an influencer or a brand can create fun, engaging content that tells the audience more about themselves and introduces a product to buy.

Are you sharing the right story for your brand? Would more consumers/potential viewers be interested if you were sharing better stories like this one? It’s too easy and too affordable for your company to be missing out on creating quality content. Contact me if you’re interesting in teaming up on a project together.