IF YOU’RE READING THIS, YOU’RE WORKING IN A ROLE RESPONSIBLE FOR “CONTENT,” “THOUGHT LEADERSHIP,” OR “BRAND.”

You’re asking questions like:

• What does success look like? 
• How should you think about setting objectives?
• Where do you start prioritizing?
• When is a good time to invest, or divest, in branding and content?
• Who do you need to hire, and who will they need to work with?
  

Perhaps you’ve already gotten started. Maybe your team has hired freelance writers and you need support staying organized, or increasing awareness for the work you’re already doing. Maybe you’re producing content and unsure if it fits into your brand strategy. Or, you’ve just got a million dollar budget allocated to your content initiative, and you have no idea how to spend it wisely. 

These are all challenges I’ve been approached to solve. I’ve worked with organizations such as Shopify, the City of Toronto, and Intuit to advise on all of these challenges, as well as to lead or start their content teams. The breadth and depth of my experiences enable me to support you and your team as a marketing advisor.

Super

I consulted with Super (fka Snaptravel) to hire ghostwriters and manage a project for its engineering team. For example, I worked with a ghostwriter to turn the VP of Engineering’s conference talk into a blog post at Medium. The Medium post got 100x more views than the conference talk as a result.

Link to more info ⤵
A domain-based structure for software engineering teams

WorkOS

I worked a full-time assignment with WorkOS as its editorial director. I developed an editorial calendar and produced weekly blog posts to grow top funnel awareness (+30% one month after joining). We reached the front page of SERPs with simple SEO processes (e.g., “SP-initiated SSO”) and improved blog-sourced lead generation. I led the research, production, and launch of Crossing the Enterprise Chasm, a podcast about startups and their journeys moving up-market to serve enterprise customers. I also worked with engineering leaders to create recruiting content (e.g., key values page).

Link to more info ⤵
What Makes a Good Changelog (Picked up organically at Programming Digest, submitted at Reddit, sponsor content for Pointer)

QuickBooks (Intuit)

I worked a full-time assignment as an editor in chief at Intuit, starting and leading the editorial team for QuickBooks Online Advanced and Desktop Enterprise products, driving tens of thousands of pageviews to a new publication at the QuickBooks Resource Center. I worked with the SEO team and consultants, product marketing managers, researchers, customer insights, and leadership to manage $1 million in marketing spend. I also introduced new editorial processes (including SEO-driven blog posts, customer stories, co-written entrepreneur pieces, etc.) and integrated with web marketing teams. I hired and managed a team of deputy editors and over a dozen freelance writers for two product lines and joint marketing campaigns.

Links to more info ⤵
Is a US manufacturing decline being overblown? (Picked up at Forbes)
I drafted up quotes for Intuit’s VP Karen Barson (Forbes)
How business networking can help you leverage the wisdom of other entrepreneurs by Ben Oliveri and Brian Lim

Pagecloud

Within six months of consulting with Pagecloud on their content marketing and strategy, we increased their blog traffic by 10x, through organic tactics, and we left a playbook with them to continue this process and refine it.

Link to more info ⤵
Why Every Freelance Designer Should Work with Style Guides by Lauren Olson

Skillshare

I worked with Skillshare CEO Michael Karnjanaprakorn as an editor to develop his writing at Medium. We exceeded our goal of 100,000 pageviews at Medium. (He also republished some of these pieces at LinkedIn and Quartz.) Michael transitioned to become the exec chairman of the company, and Skillshare retained me and my team at Wonder Shuttle to continue with their new CEO Matt Cooper (sample) and the rest of their exec team (sample).

Links to more info ⤵
How to Plan Your Ideal Year by Michael Karnjanaprakorn
Why Every Leader Needs to Take a Think Week by Michael Karnjanaprakorn
My Ideal Work Week as a Startup CEO by Michael Karnjanaprakorn
The Future of Full-Time Jobs in the Age of Freelancers by Matt Cooper
The 10,000 Hours Rule Doesn’t Apply to the Single Most Important Skill. Here’s Why by Cam Lay

Prologue

My friends and I developed a video interview series entitled Prologue, in which we interviewed recording artists about their early work. We did this with literally no funding, formal media education, or support from external organizations. Instead, through hard work and many attempts, we discovered opportunities during artists’ press runs and tours to make these interviews happen. This sharpened my skill as an interviewer and improviser.

Links to more info ⤵
A$AP Ferg said it was the best interview he ever did
Post Malone interview for Prologue
Hypebeast coverage of Prologue

Connected

Connected (fka Connected Lab) CEO Mike Stern approached me to support with content and publicity, and the role expanded to fractional marketing leader. Amongst many content and publishing initiatives, my team and I organized Canada’s first Amazon Alexa hackathon with over 100 developers.

Link to more info ⤵
Globe and Mail coverage of Amazon Alexa hackathon

Flipp

Flipp’s communications team approached me to advise on their employer brand. I worked with Flipp’s technology leadership team to hire ghostwriters, write, edit, and publish articles in publications, as well as its engineering team to republish articles at Free Code Camp, which over 7,000 people from its engineering community read shortly after.

Links to more info ⤵
How we improved our interview process at Flipp by David Meyers at The Globe and Mail
Why Hiring Rockstars Is Harmful to Your Organization by David Meyers by David Meyers at Techvibes
How our company culture helped us scale from 10 employees to 275 by David Meyers at The Next Web
Quality Assurance is broken. Here’s how we can make it as agile as everything else by Derwin de Vera

I worked with Herbert to build compelling content to promote our brand and engage with the community. Herbert and his team effectively coached our engineering and data teams through the writing process where they worked as leaders, editors, and publicists. They also worked directly with our executive team to co-write articles and published them at mainstream media outlets. I would recommend Herbert and his team to any technology company interested in taking their brand to the next level.

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Charmaine D’Silva
(Vice President of Communications, Flipp)

Even though we had worked with freelancers for our blog before, we really started seeing drastic results after working with [Herbert]. [He] worked well autonomously with little coordination, often in parallel with our team. With [his] strategic counsel, creative input, and editorial expertise, we saw over a 10x increase in organic traffic to the PageCloud blog — and have a tried-and-true playbook to build our brand and audience through content.

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Henry Brown
(Customer Acquisition Manager, PageCloud)

[Herbert’s] coaching, counsel, and direction were invaluable to my efforts. Together, starting with absolutely no readers, we reached over 100,000 pageviews in a year. Their wide range of experience and capabilities make them an incredibly ally in content marketing, strategy, and communications.

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Michael Karnjanaprakorn Founder, Skillshare

Educating prospective customers, especially about complex technical concepts, can be challenging. [Herbert]’s team specializes in communicating about new technologies and tools, and cultivating the new perspectives required to adopt them successfully. Whether you’re a marketing team looking to expand into content, or already have a well-oiled content marketing machine, [Herbert] is a great partner to ensure your team sees results through content.

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Nichole Y. Wong
(Senior Product Marketing Manager, Twilio)

Before we hired Herbert, our company was in stealth mode. We started working with Herbert to help guide our marketing team and to build a foundation for thought leadership. His understanding of content and attention, his editorial insights, and his counsel for strategy, have been great for developing our marketing team and working with our PR firm. I'm excited to continue our work with him.

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Mike Stern
(CEO, Connected)