Not every business needs brand strategy—but my clients have big missions, sensitive audiences, and a degree of complexity that demands strategy first.
My projects start with brand strategy. Content strategy, copy, and concepts come after—beautifully guided by our flight plan.
No surprises here. Every firm/freelancer/five-year-old knows to case the joint first.
I come from a journalism background. I ask good questions.
I pull clients into a spotlight they can own in the market, honing in on that elusive sweet spot where their best offering meets the cravings of their most lucrative audience.
Then, I develop a brand guide that leads everything from the marketing to the staff. That’s never to make a client into someone they’re not. It’s to make sure we stay true to who they really are—consistently—to rally their best supporters.
Ads need ideas behind them. I cook up concepts that act as the creative backbone for media ranging from radio to catalogs to print campaigns to websites.
Content strategy is how a story unfolds. I arrange key messages so they appear to an audience when that audience is most receptive to hearing them.
Content strategy usually refers to websites, but structuring messages will make catalogs, campaigns and displays more powerful, too.
For full-blown web content strategy projects, I develop user personas, behavioral modeling, content audits, and most importantly, content outlines. I also like to collaborate with developers and designers on UX and UI considerations and wireframing.
I write to suit the medium, the messenger, and the audience. I specialize in clear, human language with humor and warmth, but can do a range from smartass to sexy to serious to silly. The only voice I won’t do is super-salesy. When a brand sounds like someone the audience trusts, there’s no need.
—Jason Alley, Principal, Jackalope