FAQs
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
It's important to stay on top of things -- especially with the emerging technologies that have turned old-school pr and advertising on end. I'm part of several professional organizations and have the chance to hear about new ideas, what colleagues are doing, and best practices. Ten years ago, no one knew what a blog was. Now it's absolutely essential for most on-line sites. So I keep reading, researching, and stashing away details that I think will positively impact my work.
- How did you get started doing this type of work?
I fell into this line of work! I thought I wanted to be a bioengineer and go to med school. And while I did well in my coursework, I realized (after nudging by a professor or two) that I had talent in the area of writing and communicating -- and it came easily. I switched majors to psych and took lots of writing classes, thinking I'd do technical writing. After an internship for an aerospace firm, I realized I wanted a broader approach and ended up at USC for communications management which was a springboard to instructional design, organizational behavior, etc. Each of those involved a lot of writing. So when I went solo I knew that at least initially that would make sense as my focus.
- What types of customers have you worked with?
Typically a client needs a really sharp press release to announce a new or enhanced product or service. I've seen releases generate such a spike in sales that product has actually run out. It's all about grabbing the reader's attention and keeping it. I'm also getting more requests for web content. I love it when I'm involved at the first stage, but more often, client realize after attempting to write their own content that they could use a little help. And I'm happy to give it. And I do a lot of emarketing, in the form of articles, letters, mini-ads.