Writing

Scroll down for a list of services. Or skip to the bottom for the sins I've committed in the past.

Print

• Brochures, leaflets, annual reports, briefing papers - I specialise in 'translating', rewriting specialist material such as research reports for a wider public audience.
• Case studies - anything from a few paragraphs to a couple of pages. Because they're basically articles, they're great for a former journalist to get her teeth into.
• Directory entries (descriptors and profiles for social media) and landing pages. No job too small (125, 175 and 250 word descriptions will cover most eventualities).
• Direct marketing. Talk about accountability. Write a piece for a client such as the People's Postcode Lottery and it's sent out to 1.3 million people and within a few weeks you know to two decimal places how many people have responded.
• Articles for corporate publications - complex business features for customer magazines through to profile pieces for internal communications. Plus I'm easy to get along with, quick to get up-to-speed, bring marketing savvy to the table, never miss a deadline and ask enough questions upfront to nail the first draft and turn in work that's clean, error-free and logically formatted.
• Advertising copy - providing a new name, campaign slogan, strapline and content for a wide range of public-facing material including web content, posters, bus panels, retail point of sale items etc.

Digital

Digital means there are more channels. And tailoring the message to the medium is as important as ever. The Internet was supposed to be the death of print. Instead we learnt how to 'write for the web' and optimise content.

Additional channels need content whether its script for videos, content for landing pages, ezines and blog posts. Even Twitter (you have to be a good editor to be 140 characters concise).

Change brings opportunity. I'm busy. Writing ezines, landing pages, blog posts and news items, sales emails and entire websites (with optimised content). I can improve existing content or start from scratch. I welcome web developers. But I also think about how the content will appear on a website, and I am often trusted to advise on site structure. Some of the sites I've worked on include:

• New website www.scphrp.ac.uk - the primary online presence for the Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy, which itself is in its infancy.
  
• Phase II rewrite and new content for online gift service Ollie & Forbes.
• New website for Axiom construction consultants.
• New website for business start up Fair Price a kitchen, bathroom and heating showroom and fitting service.
• Angel Designs Jewellery revised website.
• New website for Carol Finlayson Coaching.

And the new marketing mix means figuring out where best to place content (and allocate resources). And that means understanding the marketing strategy.

My sordid past

The relaunch of Lifetimes magazine. The 'before' is shown on the left, the 'after' on the right (images can be expanded) The new look Lifetimes continued a 30-year tradition of a magazine for Scottish Widows employees. Originally known as Pegasus, then Life and more recently Lifetimes, I was the in-house Editor.

Along with White Light Media I was awarded the Communicators in Business Scotland Award for the best redesign of a magazine. The judging panel, which featured some of the leading names in the communications industry in Scotland, commented that the redesign was a 'total transformation'.

My specialist knowledge includes being retained by publishers Legalease as editorial researcher for the Slovakian, Estonian and Iranian chapters of the European Legal 500, the definitive guide to the legal profession.

I am the former Editor of two magazines: Property Executive - the most widely read commercial property magazine in Scotland with a circulation of 20,000. Business & Finance Scotland - a magazine for the Scottish small-to-medium-sized business community, with a circulation of 13,500.