I’m a passionate person with a healthy obsession for doing things the right way.
Those traits initially led me to newspaper reporting, mostly at The Press of Atlantic City, where I spent five years and published 1,800 articles.
I’m also a detailed planner who is always seeking new experiences. Those parts of my personality led me to leave journalism and join a marketing and communications firm in Philadelphia named Braithwaite Communications, where I worked with some of the most respected companies in the world, including Wynn Resorts, Wawa and B. Braun.
My drive to make a dramatic impact on the growing industry of content marketing led me to move to an in-house role where I could have greater ability to control all aspects of strategy and operations. I’m now the Director of Content at Dorman Products, where we’re building a best-in-class marketing content department from the ground up.
But enough of me telling you about my experience. You can read my thinking and previous work below.
Independent Thinking
7 simple metaphors to explain content marketing
Content marketing often gets overcomplicated, but it’s a simple idea: give people the substance they’re seeking and they will come to you.
The One Metric Journalists Need to Steal from Content Marketers
“Conversion” might be an alien term for journalists, but it’s elementary for marketers.
Will content marketing ever be considered journalism?
Only if journalists stop ignoring it, and content marketers stop acting like marketers.
What’s the real ratio of PR reps to journalists?
And what do those terms even mean anymore?
Want to really improve election coverage? Do less
After Trump’s election, the media’s asking how they missed the story. They didn’t. They distorted it.
Stop blaming the internet for killing newspapers. Start blaming editors.
The media blames all newspapers’ problems on the Internet and technology, as if the medium is the message. It’s time we recognized that much of what newspapers produce should be improved, not preserved.
Even PR people don’t understand content marketing
You’d think people in the same marketing departments would understand and respect what each other does.
Content marketers need to stop “creating by numbers”
Analytics are killing creativity in marketing-related content development.
Changing careers from journalism to marketing is a shift, not a switch
The traditional view is that reporters and marketers are on different sides, that they are diametrically opposed careers. In reality, it’s more like different points along a spectrum.
Journalism to PR career change: 5 realities of joining the dark side
#1: “Public relations” is an outdated term from a long time ago.
“Serial” is a great example of how native advertising should work
The best practice of native advertising is to use someone else’s platform to promote your own great content. That’s what launched Serial.
6 news sources every journalist AND content marketer should consume
Podcasts, newsletters and websites to break content creators out of their bubbles.
How the originators of the internet imagined digital journalism
“We and other journalism enterprises decided that it was best to make our content free and garner as many eyeballs as we could for our eager advertisers.”
Why I left journalism for marketing
It was a mix of unique and universal motivators.
Leaving journalism could make you a better journalist
Journalists can learn a lot from the marketing world.
Braithwaite Communications
Introducing our weekly newsletter, Long Story Short
This article introduced a new weekly newsletter I launched for my marketing agency.
Celebrity body part insurance policies, from head to toe
A lot of content marketing efforts publish very surface level content. I simply can’t operate that way, and this article for an insurance client is a testament to that.
Daenerys Targaryen’s best shot at taking The Iron Throne? Dragon insurance.
I wrote this piece in 2016 for the insurance and risk management recruiting initiative called MyPath.
The Press of Atlantic City
Two Atlantic City clubs serve niche of tourists with a wild side
This was probably the toughest story I ever had to publish. Not because of anything to do with the content – because I had to fight with my old school, conservative editors for a year before they would print it.
Mullica Township cranberry farm the last of its kind in Atlantic County
I wrote this article in 2011 for The Press of Atlantic City. I had been writing about the local cranberry economy for a few years, and was looking for a new angle when I discovered this little farm that even locals didn’t know about.
Outcome of federal court case could sour New Jersey’s wine industry
There were a number of times while I was at The Press of Atlantic City that I broke statewide news and became the only reporter regularly covering that topic. This was one of those ongoing stories.
New Jersey’s sand mining industry provides some of the country’s best sand, but finds itself in an economic slump
I loved finding fascinating stories that no other publications had written about, especially those that were hiding in plain sight. This was one of those that my editors didn’t think would turn into anything, but somehow I made sand fascinating.
Conditions for blueberry pickers under scrutiny at area farms
This “watchdog” article took me several months to gather data from federal agencies and interview dozens of farmers. It was the first time my newspaper ever took an in-depth look at how often area farms violated labor laws.
Thrills, tradition at Long Beach Island fishing tournament
This was the most personally meaningful article I wrote as a reporter, because my grandfather participated in the LBI fishing tournament for decades, and I wrote this the year after he passed away.
“Oh my goodness, this isn’t a Wawa!”; Old locations retain familiar look even as restaurants, Laundromat
Most of my best story ideas stem from the same initial thought: “What’s up with that?” In this case, it lead to a very popular article in which I coined the term “Ghost Wawas.”