Content portfolio - written copy
I love creating content of all types and about all topics. I have experience in creating written, audio and video content for a range of organisations. Writing is perhaps my personal favourite, probably as a result of a lifelong love of books and theatre.
I have been writing content for websites, press releases, email campaigns, internal reports, adverts and more since my first marketing role. I have picked out a small number of projects that I'm particularly proud of below, to give an indication of the range of content I can develop.
NHS National Services Scotland
Communications Strategy
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Content type: strategy
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Purpose: define communications goals and actions, support organisational strategic objectives
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Audience: internal
NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) is one of Scotland's national health boards. It provides a range of services which enable front-line healthcare to be successful, for example IT, procurement, blood donation, payroll and COVID-19 testing.
NSS had a corporate strategy, but was struggling to translate this into external communication goals, while balancing the ongoing pressure for improvements in staff engagement.
I created the organisation's first Communications Strategy in many years, and led a transformation programme within the Marketing and Communications service to enable the strategy's aims to be more effectively delivered.
Scoffable
Marketing Strategy, Messaging Framework and starter content
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Content type: strategy and content
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Purpose: increase sales
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Audience: external B2B and B2C
Scoffable is a small technology business. It had never had a marketing function before and I was asked to map out a marketing plan to drive significant revenue increases. In addition to creating a robust marketing strategy and messaging framework to effectively position the business against its competition, I also provided a range of written content in the form of press releases, blog posts and social media.
This resulted in Scoffable's first press coverage as a result of a proactive press release, a shift change in social media output and performance (one post I created resulted in more clicks through to website than in the whole of the previous year) and a new authentic, human tone for the organisation.
NHS National Services Scotland
Annual Report and Accounts
I saw the opportunity to turn a relatively dry financial document into a reputation-enhancing opportunity for NSS. I wrote much of the copy for the Annual Report, supported by my team who gathered content from stakeholders across the organisation. I also oversaw the design, which was also produced in my team.
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Content type: corporate report
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Purpose: boost reputation
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Audience: government and sector stakeholders
Bloxx
Case studies
Bloxx was a Scottish web filtering company, which was later bought by Akamai Technologies.
I wrote a large number of case studies to use as sales materials in this role, as well as creating press releases and website copy.
Unfortunately when Bloxx was bought, the resources I created disappeared from the web, but some are still viewable via the Wayback Machine.
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Content type: online and printable content
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Purpose: increase sales, enhance credibility
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Audience: external B2B
NHS National Services Scotland
News announcements
I wrote a number of press releases, press statements, and internal news announcements in my time at NSS. Having come out of a time of intense media scrutiny through the pandemic, I wanted to create content around good news stories which also helped to boost the organisation's reputation.
My favourite of these was announcing the award of an MBE to a colleague, who had been central to the UK Government's COVID-19 testing activity in Scotland. I interviewed the recipient, Janis Heaney MBE, and created a press release and internal news announcement following the award.
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Content type: press releases and web content
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Purpose: enhance credibility
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Audience: journalists
Consultancy business
How to guides, sector commentary and book reviews
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Content type: blog
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Purpose: enhance credibility, increase sales
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Audience: external prospects
I have run my own freelance consultancy business for a number of years. I recently relaunched my website, with a focus on content marketing. This means providing helpful content to prospective clients to build trust and credibility, with the aim of generating business.
NHS National Services Scotland
Internal incident review
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Content type: corporate report
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Purpose: ensure transparency, address criticism, develop improvements
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Audience: internal stakeholders, government stakeholders, journalists
The bulk of my work focuses on building reputation, through high quality marketing content. For this project however, I was asked to undertake an internal review of an adverse incident relating to web content in a separate area of NSS. This was a high profile issue relating to gender reform, with a significant amount of media interest.
The review report is in the public domain, and I include it here to show the breadth of my writing experience. I also supported the media engagement on this incident, as well as helping to develop the FOI response.