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 The Central Rockies Wolf Project is a not-for-profit organization focused on the long-term survival of wolves in the central Rocky Mountains through education and outreach. Based in Canmore, Alberta, at the very doorstep of Banff National Park, the CRWP is the only wolf conservation group that collars and studies wild wolves; i.e. not captured or contained in a bordered preserve.
 Press release. As a marketing volunteer, I took ownership of the task of creating public awareness for the group and its efforts by means of a formalized public relations program. To that effect I established "first contact" on behalf of the CRWP with many members of the conservation and Calgary area media, including TV and radio. I spent a great deal of time doing research and talking to each contact individually. As a result, our first press release was released on Jun 01 2001 -- announcing the Second Annual Wolf Research Seminar. The seminar was sold out. Click on the thumbnail at right to view the full document. Developing the press release required close communication with the Outreach Coordinator. The layout was based on elements common to all press releases, with elements standard to the CRWP including their logo and boilerplate text. More press releases are either ready for release or planned at this time.
 Merchandise and Catalog. My work with the CRWP includes creating other marketing materials and helping to manage the web site. One such document is the Christmas 2001 merchandise catalog. Included on the final page is an order form. A compressed version of the PDF can be viewed by clicking on the thumbnail at right.
In addition, the catalog also shows the merchandise purchased by the CRWP for sale to the public. Between myself and another volunteer we selected and ordered all merchandise; decided on color, style, size, quantity and what logo to have imprinted or embroidered; and approved adjustments to logo designs as required. The sweatshirts below are an example of the merchandise selected.
 Wolf Sponsorship Application. In the spring of 2001 the CRWP announced a new pricing strategy for its annual wolf sponsorships. The new form presented some complexities, not the least of which was the fact that wolves go in and out of transceiver range, and are nearly as often lost to hunting, age, or from traffic on the TransCanada or the CP rail. After much discussion with the rest of the marketing volunteers, I created the form available at right in PDF form. This form was created in Word and is easily updated and printed in quantities as needed, should the pool of available wolves change at any time. The reverse side of the form is used for marketing verbage, and can be easily inserted in the quarterly newsletters or the bags of shoppers at the group's retail outlet in Canmore.
Web site updates. For the summer mailing to sponsors, I created versions of the individual wolf updates in standard HTML. Preserving the look of the printed version was the goal, as we were implementing our online update service and we expected sponsors to want to print the reports of their specific wolves for offline reading. More recently, I've placed the catalog and order form on the web for users to easily download, print, and order in time for Christmas.
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 Smart Storage is a small software company based in Andover, Massachusetts. Their products include software for recording data CDs and DVDs, and software that manages multi-user access (and, in some cases, recording) to collections of optical media (CD, DVD, Magneto-Optical) in jukeboxes. As the Marketing Comunications Coordinator for Smart Storage from 1994 to 1995 I managed or was involved with every aspect of the company's marketing, including:
Press releases/press kits. All company press releases during this time were my responsibility. Our PR Manager was part-time, so I frequently interacted with members of the press to promote the company's presence in our industry. I handled each press release from writing to production to delivery, by email or hardcopy. After the company hired a PR firm, The Neva Group, we didn't care for their treatment of our press releases, and so my writing duties continued until later in 1996 when Smart Storage hired a full-time PR manager. At right are links to PDF versions of several press kit documents I wrote, including the official Corporate Backgrounder, Technology Overview, Product Overview; and press releases for the 1996 AIIM Show and the release of the SmartCD LIbrary product.
  White papers. Although more common to larger companies, Smart Storage's principals felt that a white paper would help position the company as the expert in CD technology. Their first white paper (near right), CD Technology & LAN Storage Solutions: Market Changes and Technological Advances Point to CD as the New Storage Standard was used as a fulfillment piece for several successful direct mail programs. I wrote, designed, and produced the entire 11-page document, including the 2-color cover art with bleeds off three sides.
For the company's second white paper (far right), CD Technology: The Standard for Secondary Storage, the role of writer was given to the new junior writer. My role was to edit and approve text and cover art and secure printing services.
 Reseller Guides. With the change in business model from VAR (reselling other companies' hardware with our software pre-configured) to independent software vendor, we found it essential to create accurate information for our inside sales team as well as resellers. To this end we created the SmartCD Marketing Guide series of documents, which changed titles over time but was always intended as a training guide for resellers of our software. Clicking on the thumbnail at right, you can see that these documents were comb-bound. The covers were created with a die cut so that the title of the specific guide would show through. In this way, we were able to purchase large amounts of covers in order to obtain a discounted price, and swap out the contents when changed. An example of a complete guide (338 KB) is also available.
 Trade Shows. Each year, the company participated in 5-10 trade shows. As part of my job, I was required to make all necessary arrangements for these shows, including: booth set-up and tear down, travel for attendees, signage, shipping and drayage, utilities, and any special arrangements for presentations or company-hosted events. I also wrote all copy for signage and other advertising related to the shows. Shows I managed included: AIIM, ARMA, UNIX Expo, Networld + Interop, and others in cities across the US and Canada. Other shows were in Munich, France, and Amsterdam. Because the company was small, we sometimes shared booth space with our hardware partners and so I worked with my counterparts at these companies to complete arrangements.
 The most challenging of my trade show responsibilities was when I was handed the task of managing the construction of a new trade show booth. My prior experience at UMass Physical Plant, design ability, knowledge of materials, and attention to detail made me the natural choice to manage the new booth's construction and in 1995 it was completed. At a cost of just over $40,000 we were able to build a stylish 20' x 20' booth that continued to be used after my departure. The booth was built in such a fashion that it could be adapted for use in a 10' x 20' space. We could even send two 10' x 10' configurations to two separate shows.
Other collateral. Of course, marketing materials must be created and distributed. Most of my job entailed re-vamping and updating the company's data sheets, catalogs and other literature. Before I was hired they relied mostly on a generic, disjointed look for their marketing collateral. I brought in a graphic design house (leveraging the end products for our advertising campaigns as well as the web) and gave their literature a same-look-and-feel. Several months later, the software documentation fell in line with the new look.
As the most experienced writer in the company I wrote, designed, and produced data sheets, succes stories, catalogs, advertisements, brochures, registration cards, readme files, frequently asked questions (FAQs), positioning documents, sales guides, newsletters, white papers, articles, and boilerplate text for use in the press and other media. I was also called upon to design company stationery, newsletter mastheads, and business cards. From time to time I managed outside resources (artists, printers, writers) to accomplish projects on time.
 My duties as a writer continued throughout my time as the company's webmaster. During those years, I slowly weaned myself away from the company literature but continued to write newsletters, FAQs, data sheets and anything else that was required for the web sites. And, as part of a team, I helped decide the company's press strategy, tag line ("Bright ideas in Network Storage") and product names such as SmartStor and SmartCD Manager.
Database Management. It naturally fell upon the marketing department to manage Smart Storage's contact databases. I fought for a single unified database of names and this was achieved in 1995. Prior to this, each salesperson and product manager kept their own databases of contacts, which were never merged or purged. In that year we also performed our first purge, eliminating several thousand dead leads, duplicates, and incomplete records.
Marketing Programs. Being the department's writer put me right in the middle of our marketing programs. As part of a team I designed, wrote and produced fliers and mailers, including an especially successful postcard mailer that had a 4% response rate. I still believe that these response rates were heightened by the selects we chose as well as the support of the web site. Perhaps the most successful campaign was a mass emailer, which I single-handedly conducted with Arial Software's Campaign product.
Documentation. My training as a technical writer made me a unique and convenient addition to the staff when the documentation people were over-burdened. On occasion I was called upon to help with the writing, formatting, and usability testing of the company's software manuals.
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Moneystream was a provider of online payment, payroll, and other transaction services. Near the end of its life, the manager of the PayrollKey product approached me about several jobs. Before the company went out of business, I created a tri-fold brochure and a direct mail letter to help build interest in PayrollKey.
Smart Storage is a small software company based in Andover, Massachusetts. Their products include software for recording data CDs and DVDs, and software that manages multi-user access (and, in some cases, recording) to collections of optical media (CD, DVD, Magneto-Optical) in jukeboxes. As the Marketing Comunications Coordinator for Smart Storage from 1994 to 1995 I managed or was involved with every aspect of the company's marketing, including:
The most challenging of my trade show responsibilities was when I was handed the task of managing the construction of a new trade show booth. My prior experience at UMass Physical Plant, design ability, knowledge of materials, and attention to detail made me the natural choice to manage the new booth's construction and in 1995 it was completed. At a cost of just over $40,000 we were able to build a stylish 20' x 20' booth that continued to be used after my departure. The booth was built in such a fashion that it could be adapted for use in a 10' x 20' space. We could even send two 10' x 10' configurations to two separate shows.
Spring 1996 Law Cypress newsletter article