You and your marketing team are churning out proposals like you’re The New York Times on deadline.
There’s barely time to proofread cover letters, never mind wordsmithing to make your case studies or website sizzle.
You need a writer ready to jump in with zero handholding. A quick-starter with marketing savvy to help you stand out in this supersaturated industry.
My experience leading marketing for four different firms means you save time. No need to explain the industry, its quirky processes, or how selling professional services is worlds away from selling a product.
Are you relying on yesterday’s marketing to land today’s business?
As your business changes, how you market your business needs to change too.
Without strategic updates, you can lose out on business opportunities without even realizing it. If your messaging doesn’t talk directly to your ideal prospect, they won’t get your value. And if you don’t have an in-house marketing lead? Marketing gets cobbled together in the mad dash to get the next proposal out the door.
I specialize in aligning your marketing with your target audiences. No more content that feels misaligned, inconsistent, or a carbon copy of your competitors. And since it’s challenging to figure out where to begin when you can’t pinpoint what needs fixing first, I handle that too.
Here are some of the problems I help firms solve:
“Our website doesn’t inspire potential clients to contact us.”
“Our marketing material no longer explains everything we do.”
“We’re entering a new market - how do we position ourselves?”
“We’re not getting shortlisted when we should.”
“Our potential clients feel that our competitors are offering them greater value than we are.”
“Our marketing feels inconsistent.”
WHY ALISON?
I get it.
No need to tutor me in the world of A/E/C marketing. I’m already prepped on A/E/C marketing collateral, from case studies to cutsheets, and what each needs to do to help you win work.
You get a bonus marketing mind on your team to lighten the load. For testing ideas, getting feedback, sharing experience.
You can let me translate your technical staff’s ‘design speak.’ I already know the industry’s jargon and how to get valuable marketing content from your experts.
Want to know more? Check out my bio or see samples of my work.
SAMPLES
Ascent
Ascent (now part of Anser) helps cultural, healthcare and higher education institutions navigate complex capital programs and projects. As it developed its website, the firm needed to include compelling case studies. I conducted interviews with the firm’s leadership, developed a library of information for each project, and crafted 50 case studies that show how Ascent was critical to client success.
Wheeler Kearns
Wheeler Kearns Architects designs one-of-a-kind homes and meaningful spaces for cultural, social, and arts institutions. When a client noted that their firm brochure felt like it spoke to employees more than clients, they brought me in to re-craft it. WKA’s new firm story focuses on the benefits to their clients and how those benefits come out of the firm’s core beliefs. A refresh on their standard proposal content goes deeper into specific benefits at each stage of their design process.
LerchBates
After acquiring several firms to expand its service offerings to clients, Denver-based Lerch Bates needed help repositioning as a multidisciplinary firm with a wide range of specialties. I took firm leaders through a discovery and branding process to identify core messages, differentiators, and positioning and conducted 20+ client interviews to understand the firm’s value from a client perspective. I developed a messaging framework to guide all communications about the firm around its identity and re-brand, including social media, marketing collateral, and sales collateral. Subsequent projects included website messaging and copywriting, a communication style guide, capabilities and sales brochure copy.
“Alison helped us at a critical point in our business. With new disciplines and cultures to align as the result of several acquisitions, she guided us to a way to communicate about our expanded, multidisciplinary brand that is true to who we are. Her intensive listening sessions and client focus groups form the basis of our marketing efforts today. Her framework for our re-brand continues to guide our social media, marketing collateral, website and client communications.”
Barker Evans
Aptus
Barker Evans, a landscape design firm focused on high-end residential projects, had a beautiful website but its messaging sounded generic. I took the partners through a process to clarify their audience and identify key messages that would resonate with their web visitors.Then, I redefined their messaging strategy, wrote all web copy, created a framework for future project descriptions, and developed starter content for their new business blog.
Alison got to the core of who we are and helped us articulate our unique message.The language she used and vision she crafted was authentic, engaging and inspiring. As a result, the messages on our website and marketing materials are consis- tent and clear and make us feel proud of who we are and what we offer. Our clients often find us through referrals, but they always mention our website as the reason they call us. We owe that, in no small part, to the work we did with Alison.
Aptus, an established architecture firm in Las Vegas seeking to open an office in Chicago, wanted fresh eyes on their marketing collateral before entering their new market. After a brand and messaging audit, I took the firm through a process to identify specific ‘hot button’ issues that their clients considered before hiring an architecture firm. Then, I developed value-focused brochure copy for their target audience.
As we opened our new office in Chicago, Alison assessed our marketing materials and approach. Her high level visioning, incredible organization, and overall expertise were crucial in refining our vision, values, and voice. She created a customized and more appropriate message to resonate with our specific target market. Alison is a genuinely great person that we welcomed as a part of our team. She works hard, is dedicated, and is a joy to work with.
Find out how I can help you by getting in touch.
services
Writing & Editing
Award submittals that leave no doubt about why you deserve recognition
Articles and blogs that position you as an expert
Marketing collateral that moves your audience to contact you
Social media that supports your larger marketing goals
Thought leader ghostwriting that spotlights the brilliance of your technical gurus
Website copy that increases the value of your website as a sales tool
Case studies that wow prospective clients
Strategy & Messaging
Marketing audits that illuminate what isn’t working and how to fix it
Brand messaging that inspires curiosity about your firm
Differentiator messaging that clarifies how you’re different from your competitors
Messaging frameworks that ensure everyone stays consistent
Elevator pitches that inspire better business conversation
Content Strategy sessions that plan and re-focus your blogs, articles, and social
about me
It all started when…
I started my career at a city agency in Virginia, sitting behind a desk stacked high with 3-inch thick proposals from eager developers that had to be read cover to cover. Mea culpa, I skimmed! And that was my first lesson in the importance of brevity, information hierarchy, and clear differentiators.
Later, I jumped to the ‘other side,’ leading marketing for three different firms in New York, Berkeley, and Chicago. Their audiences were both B2B and B2C. On one day I would be writing to a civic client preparing to construct a new library and the next, to a luxury homeowner seeking a boutique architect for their legacy home. It turned me into a preacher on why you need to know your audience.
I launched my own firm to focus on marketing content for people selling services, not products. I’m passionate about how design changes the lives of people, and getting to explain and educate how that happens is a story worth telling again and again.
When the left side of my brain needs a break, I love playing around with paper and pattern, printing and bookmaking.
Want more info? See my LinkedIn profile or better yet, schedule a call.
