Services

Services for SMEs 

each service page is one page, not linking off to multiple pages

You are small, but mighty. Naturally, you want people to know. But when you’re a small business – and especially when you’re self-employed or a solopreneur – it can be difficult to both run your business and promote it. The thought of hiring an agency to help you with marketing is daunting, to boot; it will cost so. much. money, and there’s no guarantee on ROI.

It’s likely you don’t need to hire someone in-house just yet – you wouldn’t have enough work to keep them entertained – but you do need a hand to put things together in a way that will help your potential customers to say “yes please!”

Freelance support can help SMEs in all manner of ways, from a sounding board and a planner to a writer and a doer – and it doesn’t have to cost the earth, either.

Content services to support small and medium sized businesses

I work with founders, marketing leaders and single-person businesses to create compelling stories and build audiences.

Content strategy

Everything we’ve spoken about so far is nothing but a tactic; without a strategy behind them, you’re barking at the wind. Content strategy doesn’t need to be pages long nor does it need to take a long time to create. All you need is a mission, a goal, some objectives and an idea of both how you’ll create the content and how you’ll measure its success.

We can approach your content strategy in a few ways. The deluxe version is based on workshops and interviews with your people to create an all-singing, all-dancing flashy strategy that will see you through the next few years. Of course, that might be a bit much if your business is just you or maybe a handful of people, and you’re just wanting to blog a bit. In that case, we can work together to decide on the relevant topics and audiences for your marketing, and I can create a simple content strategy and editorial plan to keep you on track. Whatever you need, content strategy can be flexible.

Blogs & articles

You’ve no doubt been told that you have to blog regularly to get your website ranking highly on search engines. While SEO is about more than just the words on the page – there’s a whole world of factors that go into your ranking – there is no doubt that you need fresh, regular content to keep your website engaging and to keep your audience returning for more.

As a former newspaper journalist, I understand how to find fresh and interesting ways to tell stories. I can interview your in-house experts, customers or stakeholders to build an article, or I can do some desktop research to create a blog on relevant topics.

Not sure what you want to write about? No worries at all. Let’s chat about topics and come up with a content plan together.

Social media

Of course, once your content or copy is ready, you need to get it out to the proverbial people – and social media is one of the best and most available options. Better yet, it doesn’t cost anything to be present on social media!

But – there is always a “but” – you need to be constantly present on social media in order to be seen, and that takes time and resource as well as creative thinking. How can you best engage your audience, and what’s the best platform to get to them? Do you know the difference between how to get an Instagram following vs creating a Twitter audience? Social media is a beast that needs to be fed, and I can help you make it a delicious dinner.

Small business storytelling

Stories are the oldest way to engaging an audience – from the days of sitting around a campfire and passing on legends, to today’s story-driven content marketing, audiences are inherently drawn to stories.

So, do you know what your business’s story is? Do you know how to tell it?

Many SMEs focus on the sale, on the message push, on shouting about their benefits without thinking about what the audience actually needs. I can help you to discover your story and ensure it’s told consistently across all of your channels – both external and internal.

Training & workshops

Maybe you know you want to do the content thing but are unsure how to approach it – but you do know that you want to handle it in-house. That’s fine, and a great idea to ensure content remains up to the minute for your business needs. But you’ll need to know how to approach it from a content strategist’s mindset.

I can run bespoke training or workshops to get your team up to speed on all manner of content matters: basic writing skills, how to tell a story, how to interview, writing for the web, or introductions or in-depth classes in anything I’ve talked about on this page. If you don’t know what you need but you know there is a skills gap, let’s chat about how to close it.

Copywriting

Writing for businesses isn’t all about articles and blogs – there’s a whole range of ways in which you can communicate your message to your customers and potential customers. I can write websites, flyers, posters, emails, case studies, presentations, leaflets, advertisements, and more. Having worked as an in-house marketer and in agencies, I understand the concepts that build sales collateral, but I do approach these from a storytelling angle rather than a bang-bang sales push.

Services for Corporates

I won’t say “content is king!” – it’s a tired old cliche, and that’s definitely not what you want your content to look like. What you do need is engaging, authoritative content that helps to showcase the expertise of your in-house subject matter experts while also helping you to build a loyal following until that audience is ready to convert.

I understand the power of content for corporates and enterprises; after all, I’ve been in your shoes. In my in-house days, I established and ran brand newsrooms that were total content production machines. I’ve delivered content strategies to help guide and drive international content programmes, and I can pump out high quality content quickly.

I have a rare 360-degree view of content marketing, having been in-house, in agencies and in the media. That’s what helps to set me apart as a content service provider: I have the journalist’s nose for a story and eye for detail, the in-house understanding of office politics and the need to sell, and the agency’s creative nous. I wrap it into a package called The Content Type, and I’m at your service.

Content services to corporates and international enterprises

I work with marketing and communications teams to create compelling stories and build audiences. I can adjust services to budget and available resource, so what’s stopping you from getting in touch?

Content strategy

A good, robust content strategy is not just about figuring out what to do; it’s also about following through and looking back for lessons. I believe there are six essential stages to your content strategy: plan, create, publish, distribute, measure and iterate. Or, you could think of it this way: before, during and after. Beginning, middle and end. Acts 1, 2 and 3. Through workshops, research and interviews with stakeholders, I can create a content strategy from scratch or I can build on what you’ve already done to make it world-class – and it doesn’t have to be the works; short strategies and basic reviews are available, too.

Brand newsrooms

Ah, the brand newsroom. The reason I call myself a “brand journalist” and offer a “brand newsroom” service is simple: the best content marketing programmes are ones that borrow from the philosophy of a publisher. Think about your website as a newspaper or magazine; your content themes are the publication’s sections, and the topics and tags are the “rounds” or remits of your specialist reporters. I believe enterprises can achieve great things by thinking like a publisher and running their content like a newsroom – it can save time, money and resource; it can save those moments of panic when you don’t know what you’re publishing next week – and I can help you to get to that utopia.

Brand journalism & content marketing

Of course, you can have the best strategy in the world, but if no one’s around to create the darn content then you’ll fall at the first hurdle. I use more than two decades of experience creating content – articles, blogs, social media posts, newsletters, etc – to ease the burden of your content machine and make sure you hit your own deadlines. I aim to make your content production as seamless and successful as possible.

Ghostwriting

I’m not byline-hungry; I’m happy to write that article or report on behalf of your CEO, your in-house experts or whoever is fronting your campaign. I actually offer a white-labelled service to a lot of my regular brand journalism clients, meaning you’d never even know I was involved…

Event coverage

Holding an event? Let’s work together to create a package of content to promote it in advance, create a buzz during the event, and then wrap it all up afterwards. I can write articles and marketing collateral to get people wanting to be there, and handle social media on the day to create the ultimate FOMO, all while taking notes and interviewing panellists and attendees to write that all-important follow-up content.

Editorial support

Sometimes you’ve got a great in-house production machine, but need an impartial eye cast over the content before it goes live. I’m an accredited member of the Chartered Institute of Editors and Proofreaders, and can whip your content into shape – that’s not just checking for spelling and grammar, but also giving a sense check and ensuring it fits with your tone of voice and brand style.

Tone of voice and style guides

Speaking of style and tone of voice, have you got it covered? These essential documents help to ensure that whoever is writing for your brand can keep it consistent with all other content issued under your company name. Tone of voice is how your brands sounds, while style is the way you put words together – how you handle things like bulleted lists, sentence vs title case for headings, and the dreaded Oxford comma. (Yes, it’s all a bit writerly geek.) I’ve researched and created many tone of voice and style guides, and offer this as a separate service as well as wrapped into content strategy projects.

Content health checks and content audits

Been at this content marketing malarky for a while and not really sure how it’s going? Think you could improve but have no idea where to start? I can cast that impartial eye over proceedings and review your progress. We can either focus on a specific part of your content (the quality, the frequency, the distribution), or look together at the bigger picture. What are you trying to achieve, and are you getting close? My health check report will shed some light in a clear way, setting out actions for you to take as next steps.

Case studies and project round-ups

The CSO is crying out for case studies and examples of how great your company is, but you just don’t have the resource in-house to give case studies the justice they deserve. As a bottom-funnel content stream, case studies and project examples are essential to your company converting its prospects. I can either write to your in-house style or help you to create a template for case studies that will get the point across in a straightforward yet engaging way.

Story alignment

You’ve got a great content strategy that is doing the business – but is it aligned across all channels? Does it match what’s happening in your employee comms? It’s so important to make sure both external marketing and internal communications teams are aligned, giving the same messages to employees and customers so that no matter where people come across your business, they get the same result.

Editorial training

I’ve learned a thing or two in my 20 years as a professional writer, and I have plenty of wisdom to impart. I can create bespoke training courses and workshops for your internal teams, guiding them in the ways of content. From building a strategy to the basics of writing a good story, I’ve got it covered.

Bespoke content projects

Need a hand but don’t see it covered here? Get in touch and let’s chat. You’d be surprised at some of the random requests I’ve had over the years…

Services for agencies & publishers

Agencies and publishers are so important to the industry. You are the fresh thinking and the creative head that businesses bring in when they need new ideas or they need to outsource projects.

I get it, because I’ve been on all sides of the fence. I started my career in the media, working as a journalist on a daily newspaper. Then I moved into agencyland, working in a Charlotte Street, London, agency and copywriting for all manner of materials. Soon, though, the bright lights of the in-house life lured me to work in the public sector, first on a government website and then in frontline NHS communications.

Before I set up as The Content Type, I’d spent a decade moving between agencies, marketing teams and the media. I have a rare 360-degree view of all roles, and can seamlessly move between worlds. This makes me valuable to both your agency, and your clients.

Content services to support agencies and publishers

I work with marketing and communications agencies, and publishers, to both support their own marketing efforts and their client work. I can be as visible or as white-labelled as you need me to be. Support is tailored to budget, so let’s have a chat and see where I can slot in.

Support to service your clients

Going through a particularly busy period and don’t have the in-house resource to handle that new request? Got a project on that needs some specialist outside help? I can slip into the team and bring an external eye, some fresh thinking and 20+ years of professional editorial experience to your client work. I’ve worked in agencies, so I get how important your clients are, and how much you want to get this right. I can lead and I can follow instructions.

Support with your own marketing activities

Maybe your team is so busy with servicing clients that they can’t pay attention to your own agency’s marketing efforts. I work with agencies to create blogs, white papers, reports and more to showcase your expertise and help generate leads.

Editorial support

I can also be that external production support, and offer copy editing and proofreading services. I’m an accredited member of the Chartered Institute of Editors and Proofreaders (formerly SfEP), and happy to get stuck in to make your content shine – whoever the ultimate audience is.

Training and workshops

I’ve learned a thing or two in my 20 years as a professional writer, and I have plenty of wisdom to impart. I can create bespoke training courses and workshops for your internal teams, guiding them in the ways of content. From building a strategy to the basics of writing a good story, I’ve got it covered – whether you need support to deliver training for clients, or you want some upskilling in-house.