I create effective sentences that generate attention and response. Because you shouldn't kind of hope your website is working for you.
Exceptional customer insight and inspirational, relatable content = results
Targeted messaging: When your story is told with a unique selling proposition and customer-centric content.
I create customized content that relates to your potential and existing customers. They'll want to know more about you and buy what you have to offer because I zero in on what inspires them to buy. I write so they give serious thought to discovering your blog, watching your video and sticking around to check out your updated website.
Messaging that sets you apart, gets you noticed and helps your business grow
As a senior web content developer and copywriter, I use the power of targeted, engaging messaging across digital and traditional communication channels to set your business apart, get you noticed and help you grow. Your email newsletters, your website, video scripts and other marketing tools will actually increase customer engagement.
Welcome to words that work.
Welcome to well written, SEO-focused marketing content, killer subject lines, distinct headers and compelling calls-to-action.
Hire a qualified content professional that offers an effective, refreshing perspective on what you offer.
After spending 15+ years creating marketing communications campaigns for AT&T Wireless Services, HP, IBM and CBRE, I learned how to effectively communicate the vision, strength and passion of a business, removing barriers to growth. Now I combine marketing communications insight with adept storytelling to drive brand awareness, support purchasing momentum and eliminate ambiguity.
As a professional marketing writer and web content developer, I've supported business growth with words that work for 70+ clients in over 40 industries since 2004. I hold a B.B.A. in Marketing and Economics and am certified in Email Marketing Etiquette and NIH Plain Language.
My clients have turned to me to help them clearly articulate their value, capitalizing on my objectivity and ability to bring about new opportunities.
When you hire me, you'll sound better. And you'll get the attention you deserve. That's what your marketing content is supposed to be doing for your business. Let's talk if it isn't.
Services
Effective content and communication solutions that compel your audience to take action
Copywriting
Website Content
Content Strategy
Direct Mail and Email Marketing
Blog Content
Marketing Communication Campaigns
Video Scripts
Social Media Posts & Profiles
Content Atomization
Search Engine Optimization
Content Strategy
Without this, you don’t need to be putting anything out there. Without this, your brand, your vision, your website—every marketing communication you have isn’t worth much. I evaluate who you really are and what you really want to happen and write a core messaging framework that drives home your true value, your knockout differentiator and your brand to support revenue growth.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
See website content. And call me for anything else you would like to know.
Direct Mail and Email Marketing
I plan and create targeted, persuasive marketing content within both digital and hard copy formats. In your email marketing tools, I identify hyperlinks to your website for more information, CTAs and create a plan that includes social media posts to reinforce your email or direct mail content. I align with your graphic design team so the image and content communicate your vision and have worked with Mail Chimp and Constant Contact.
Marketing communication Campaigns
For 15+ years in the corporate world, I developed integrated marketing communication campaigns. You're disseminating the narrative, creating more interest and increased buzz around what you offer. The marketing tools relevant to your objective are identified, then integrated, so you have multiple touches to your buyer, hitting them with the right marketing tool at the right time with the right message.
copywriting
A good copywriter writes to help sell your product, service or idea. That’s what I do. And I get in the head of your existing customer and potential buyer. I take them to the place where they not only get what you do, they want what you’ve got. This is compelling, original, targeted content that makes you look so much better than the other company that didn’t bring me on board.
WEbsite Content
Google and Yahoo play all kinds of games. You can play ball really well if you have a web content developer that knows how. While SEO is absolutely critical to keep in mind when creating web content, we’re talking things like context and relevancy and simplicity. I provide backend tags and your SERP blurb and clean, concise content with taglines and headlines that all work simultaneously. And I align with your Webmaster so all those brilliant words will tell your story effectively, in seconds.
Social Media Profile & Posts
Your personal and business LinkedIn profile and page need to talk to each other and point your potential buyer to your website. I do that all for you. I build your LI and FB profiles and identify a plan to communicate your story on both platforms, allowing you to create more buzz and reinforce your value. Your posts will be customized to your business and will drive your customer back to your profiles and your website.
Content Atomization
After creating your core message, marketing tools are identified to “spread the word” or tell your story in all kinds of ways. With content atomization, we’re adding SEO value within your digital marketing communication tools and increasing the opportunity to engage and convert your audience.
Blogs
Blogs create lots of opportunities for firms to recap the benefits of their product lines or service capabilities. They support SEO. And when a unique content slant is identified, your blog gains the attention of a potential buyer that may otherwise see your product or service as generic. I offer an efficient process to interview you or your SME’s, submit the content, get feedback, edit if applicable and you receive blogs that tell your story so well that someone actually wants to read them.
Video Scripts
The majority of them have been Infographic or Storytelling scripts. Most of them have been written for a website, like a 30-second script. All of them say what you want to say, with targeted messaging and strong CTAs that can take your business to the next level. I align with you and your videographer on the concept, create the content to complement the format and drive home your short, sweet message.
Testimonials
“Cindy Stephens is a very creative and enlightening writer. Her monthly blog is always thoroughly researched and informative. And her posts have resulted in a 70% increase in our Facebook followers. She is a tremendous addition to our efforts to promote Fayette County, TX.”
Vicki LaRue, Board Chair, Fayette County Tourism Association
“On our website, Cindy offered recommendations that got us closer to communicating how we identify with the day-to-day challenges, needs and concerns of our customer base. She highlighted how our expertise directly related to the specific needs of our key business segments. We liked the approach and respected the direction the site was going.”
Dan Szymanski, Former Chief Operating Officer, Synergy AV, Inc.
“Cindy produces targeted, polished writing, and her passion and curiosity are contagious. When we work together, we are a well-oiled team, producing only best-in-class marketing materials and her significant contributions are undeniably attributable to our success.”
Tahirah Mahan Thomas, Vice President, Advisory Services Marketing, Americas, CBRE
”Cindy has had an immeasurable impact on our business. She is an integral part of our team here and the communications she has created for us have taken us to a whole new level. For over six years, her insight, creativity, and expertise have unquestionably resulted in our clients having a stronger understanding of the value we bring to the table and a significant increase in our event attendance. Don’t know what I would do without her and don’t plan on finding out.”
Heath D. Barnes, , Branch Manager, Peoples Home Equity
“Our consultants are a part of our team and Cindy was a seamless team member. She provided professional, capable expertise in an extremely important community project that would ultimately determine the way our Cultural District would be perceived. Her indelible imprint is still visible.“
Cynthia Alvarado, CRM, Operations Manager, Midtown Management District, Houston’s Midtown Cultural Arts and Entertainment District
“Reliable, flexible and an excellent resource—that’s Cindy. Her high-level knowledge of communications and her strong sense of ownership are invaluable in a fast-paced public relations environment like ours. She grasps who we’re talking to, often offers a unique spin and gets a tight deadline. Cindy is an invaluable asset to us as a large healthcare organization."
Debra Burbridge, Assistant Vice President, Community Engagement and Public Relations, HCA Gulf Coast Division
“"Cindy is very responsive in a timely manner and extremely professional. She listens to what your ideas may be and helps develop what you envision into action. I highly recommend her and will use her talents again."
Lezlie Turicchi, Owner, The Smiling Fox Den
“When you engage Cindy in a client project, you don’t have to chase down content. She knows the ins and outs of SEO content strategy and works with my clients to get what’s needed for effective on-page SEO. I’m confident Cindy can take on just about any project I land.”
Joe Banasik, E-Commerce Consultant/Web Developer, perfomancetechnology.solutions
“WOW – Cynthia is a very talented writer and we are so glad that we have found her. She is so very organized, persistent and focused on getting projects perfected. Her writing makes us look good and we are proud to recommend her to our clients and even use her on our internal projects. If you are trying to write something and you do not have that gift/skill, do yourself a favor and call Cynthia today!”
Michael Reiland, Owner, Integrity Images
“Cindy and I worked together almost daily on our 150+ page website, aligning with all eight divisions under one unified voice, while insuring all divisions’ information was covered. She made my life easier. Cindy is a content pro that I highly respect and look forward to working with again.”
Andres Velasco, Webmaster/Lead Graphic Designer, Harris County Public Health
“Cindy provides more than just words. She understands me, and the message I want to convey to my clients. I believe it is her super power - the keen ability to really hear who I am. It’s refreshing. I’ve worked with other writers that just write content that has very little to do with my vision.”
Diana Rinkoff
Cindy and I worked together on a multi-page website and it was a seamless process. She handled a lot of the project management, which allowed me to focus on the design and the back end functionality. Cindy has a strong understanding of end user navigation and offered effective recommendations. She worked closely with the client, addressed client challenges efficiently and provided all the content (brief and client approved!) on time. The end result was a great looking site that really highlights the client’s strengths and service and product offerings. And I’ve gained a happy, long-term client.
Reagan Kelly, RED Designs
Work
The success of targeted messaging
Fayette County Tourism
Delux Realty
Sava Senior Care
Harris County
OCS Group
CBRE
Net IQ
Midtown
Halliburton
Southeast Media
Backroads Blog: Fayette County Tourism Association
Briefly: Blog targeted tourists in Austin, Houston and San Antonio; central message was "Get away to Central Texas and stay for the weekend."
Result: Content focus: easy weekend away, history, rich cultural scene and small town hospitality; mapped out and hyperlinked locations, events, websites and included direct phone numbers when there wasn't an online presence for the museums or restaurants, which was often; 3-year project.
Extra: Developed a marketing communications strategy that maximized a restricted budget and presented innovative alternatives to traditional promotions
Website: Delux Realty
Briefly: Introduce a new concept in residential real estate, emphasizing simplicity, innovation and access to multiple resources
Result: The challenge was to solicit homebuyers, sellers and real estate agents within one site, clarifying the benefits to all. Strong tagline communicated innovation and web content spoke directly to needs of each target market.
Extra: Wrote video scripts that reinforced capabilities
Posters/Email Marketing: Sava Senior Care
Briefly: Ad agency client needed a writer to effectively communicate a value proposition to internal audience: efficiency, ease of use and the “right” way to manage medical records. The senior living centers were migrating from paper medical records to an integrated clinical software, PointClickCare.
Result: Content played on the name of the solution and encouraged buy-in to a new process, focusing on ease of use.
The poster content was leveraged and tweaked for email marketing messaging.
Website: Harris County Public Health
Briefly: Content updates for a 150+ page county health department website in the 3rd most populous county in the U.S. Worked with all management levels in12 divisions over a 10-month period.
Result: Gained insight into their visions, their accomplishments and government processes; Researched clinic and shelter hours, locations, permits, additional government resources; was certified in NIH Plain Language for federal agencies and wrote alt text content
Extra: Learned back-end functionality of DNN (DotNetNuke)
Tradeshow Collateral: OCS
Briefly: OCS needed to consolidate collateral for distribution at OTC (Offshore Technology Conference), one of the largest oil and gas conferences in the world. Three distinct capabilities were targeted to rig managers, rig supervisors and company owners.
Result: Clearly highlighted their strengths and focused on the solution provided. Bullets reinforced their capabilities,, directly speaking to the needs of the target audience.
Pocket Folder: CBRE
Briefly: Senior-level landlord rep brokers for Class A properties wanted to differentiate the property in a highly competitive market space. All the amenities needed to be included, putting the piece at risk of information overload.
Result: Content aligned with the property brand, reinforced existing tagline and all amenities were presented without diluting the objective.
More: Partnered with over-the-top talented graphic designers and managed content in InDesign
Tradeshow Collateral: Net IQ
Briefly: Targeted the Public Sector at GITEC, the premier IT executive conference for key government agencies.
Result: Content outlined the systems management, security management and regulatory compliance software solutions that government IT director-level attendees were looking for.
More: We leveraged the content to speak to the same audience outside of the tradeshow environment, employing a higher-level message in additional collateral.
Website: Midtown Cultural Arts and Entertainment District
Result: Hired by a digital marketing agency to write the multi-page website; Objective: express the character and convenience of a walkable, mixed-use art district adjacent to downtown Houston.
Briefly: Concepted and created detailed itineraries for exploring by foot: art walks, date nights, park activities and pet-friendly destinations
More: SEO-focused; extensive project management and research, physically exploring the area’s restaurants, galleries and theaters for proximity to each other
Magazine article: Halliburton
Briefly: A series of reports highlighted project successes between Chevron and Halliburton for Chevron Executive Magazine. This is one of six technical reports.
Result: Interviewed teams of SME’s in the upstream market space to obtain project stats and background on all the collaborative projects. Each piece ended with messaging that reinforced the success of each one.
Direct Mail: Southeast Media
Briefly: The ad agency was introducing their talent to a new vertical market: restaurants. Hired to write a series of postcards that informed the niche group of all the advantages of working with the agency.
Result: After researching industry-specific language and market need for that vertical, I wrote tight, focused copy that highlighted the end result restaurant owner’s would receive when hiring the agency.
Clients
A sample of select clients who have benefited from my services
CBRE
CB Realty
InteroCorp
Delux Realty
Rockdale Resources
Roman Law Firm
LexProf, LLC
HCA Gulf Coast Division
Harris County Public Health
E. Englett & Associates, LLC
Atlantic Health Solutions
Alcon Labs
Diana Rinkoff
Apptrix
OuLaLa! What an Event, LLC
Performance Mobile Technology Solutions
Content Active
Proforma Angelina & Associates
NEOS Marketing
Marion Graphics
Raxa Design
Southeast Media
Integrity Images
WhiteSpace
OCS Group
Maersk Oil
Schlumberger
Halliburton
Shell
KBR
Houston Chronicle
Ambassador Services Inc.
Signet Maritime
Designs Anew
Electronic Dreams
CMCI
Texas Executive Women
Alpha Graphics of Northwest Houston
Alpha Graphics Sugar Land
SummerWorks
The Polder Group
University of St. Thomas
Fayette County Tourism Association
Joanne Gore CPA, LLC
Peoples Home Equity
The Edge Group
GlobalSpex
InfoDat
Heights Plant Farm
Practical Designs
Corbett Personnel
Endothelix
CSRS Inc.
Host Staff
Kay Krenek Creative
Offshore Physician Staffing International
MAG & Associates
SalesNexus
Arts for Rural Texas
SMART Group Houston
Shea Writing and Training
Network in Action
AIGA
FTLOC Production
Roofing Analytics
Synergy AV
DG Medina Construction
Editorial Freelancers Association Houston
Millenium Millwork Ltd.
Pharma's Compliance Solution
Antiques and Vintage Round Top
Contact
When you hire me, you'll sound better.
As a freelance writer, I offer ongoing support, flat rates for a “one-time or sometimes” project and special pricing for bundled marketing tools. You choose what works best for you and your business.
If it's time to talk about how your marketing content can work for you, then let's do.
Copywriting
A good copywriter writes to help sell your product, service or idea. That’s what I do. And I get in the head of your existing customer and potential buyer. I take them to the place where they not only get what you do, they want what you’ve got. This is compelling, original, targeted content that makes you look so much better than the other company that didn’t bring me on board.
Website Content
Google and Yahoo play all kinds of games. You can play ball really well if you have a web content developer that knows how. While SEO is absolutely critical to keep in mind when creating web content, we’re talking things like context and relevancy and simplicity. I provide backend tags and your SERP blurb and clean, concise content with taglines and headlines that all work simultaneously. And I align with your Webmaster so all those brilliant words will tell your story effectively, in seconds.
Content Strategy
Without this, you don’t need to be putting anything out there. Without this, your brand, your vision, your website—every marketing communication you have isn’t worth anything. I evaluate who you really are and what you really want to happen and write a high-level message that drives home your true value, your knockout differentiator and your brand to support revenue growth.
Direct Mail and Email Marketing
I plan and create targeted, persuasive marketing content within both digital and hard copy formats. In your email marketing tools, I identify hyperlinks to your website for more information, CTAs and create a plan that includes social media posts to reinforce your email or direct mail content. I align with your graphic design team so the image and content communicate your vision and have worked within Mail Chimp and Constant Contact and all kinds of other content management systems.
Blog Content
Blogs create lots of opportunities for firms to recap the benefits of their product lines or service capabilities. They support SEO. And when a unique content slant is identified, your blog gains the attention of a potential buyer that may otherwise see your product or service as generic. I offer an efficient process to interview you or your SME’s, submit the content, get feedback, edit if applicable and you receive blogs that tell your story so well that someone actually wants to read them.
Marketing Communication Campaigns
For 15+ years in the corporate world, I developed integrated marketing communication campaigns. The marketing tools relevant to your objective are identified, then integrated, so you have multiple touches to your buyer, hitting them the right way at the right time with the right message.
Video Scripts
The majority of them have been Infographic or Storytelling scripts. Most of them have been written for a website, like a 30-second script. All of them say what you want to say, only better. I align with you and your videographer on the concept, create the content to complement the format and drive home your short, sweet message.
Social Media
Your personal and business LinkedIn profile and page need to talk to each other and point your potential buyer to your website and I do that all for you. I build your LI and FB profiles and identify a plan to communicate your story on both platforms so it all makes sense to your business and helps you grow.
Content Atomization
After creating your core message, marketing tools are identified to “spread the word” or tell your story in all kinds of ways. With content atomization, we’re adding SEO value within your digital marketing communication tools and increasing the opportunity to engage and convert your audience.
Search Engine Optimization
See website content. And call me for anything else you would like to know.
Harris County
Halliburton
CBRE
Website: Harris County Public Health
Briefly: Hired to update content on a 125+ page website for a county health department in the third most populous county in the U.S. Worked with all management levels in12 divisions.
Result: In 1:1 meetings, gained insight into their visions, their accomplishments and government processes and created a step-by-step process to report progress to Director of Communications over a 10-month period.
Extra: Collaborated with Webmaster on overall vision and learned back-end functionality of DNN (DotNetNuke)
Magazine article: Halliburton
Briefly: A series of reports highlighted project successes between Chevron and Halliburton for Chevron Executive Magazine. This is one of six technical reports.
Result: Interviewed teams of SME’s in the upstream market space to obtain project stats and background on all the collaborative projects. Each piece ended with messaging that reinforced the success of each one.
Pocket Folder: CBRE
Briefly: Senior-level landlord rep brokers for Class A properties wanted to differentiate the property in a highly competitive market space. All the amenities needed to be included, putting the piece at risk of information overload.
Result: Content aligned with the property brand, reinforced existing tagline and all amenities were presented without diluting the objective.
More: Partnered with over-the-top talented graphic designers and managed content in InDesign