If you haven’t read any of my blog posts, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jessica, and I’m the Strategic Storyteller at Imagebox. It’s my job to help you figure out your business’s story and more effectively share it with the world, through your website, social media platforms, and print.
With an educational background in journalism, English, and public relations, I’m no stranger to the written word. I would even call it one of my best friends. Before coming to Imagebox, I wrote copy for lawyers on the West Coast, retailers in the East and home good manufacturers somewhere in between. But now most of my time is spent helping small and medium-sized Pittsburgh businesses tell their story.
Here is how the process of content creation and curation works here at Imagebox:
1. Nice To Meet You
All of our projects begin with an in-person kick-off meeting. This allows us to discuss important details face-to-face and gives you the chance to tell us what you do, why you’re passionate about it and what you want your customers to know. Hearing how you speak in person also helps me get a more accurate tone of writing for your site or print materials.
2. Exchange of Ideas
We’re a creative company. We love big ideas. And we love our clients’ big ideas as much we love our own (sometimes more). You know more about your company than anyone else, so I like to take the time to ask you plenty of questions, not just so that I can get the facts to fill out your content, but so that I can share my ideas with you and soak yours in in return.
We use a project management tool called Basecamp, where most of our communication with clients takes place. Some of our most involved clients have a discussion feed dedicated to thought-provoking articles they’ve read, websites that inspire them, or just thoughts that popped up in their head at 3am.
3. A First Draft
Not everyone decides to make copywriting a part of their website or print project. Some of our clients are talented writers themselves and choose to write the content for their site on their own, relying on us more for editing and to bounce ideas off of.
Regardless of who is writing your content, we work with you to put together a site map, and then turn that site map into a content document. This document includes a page for each page on your site where you or I can write your content. It helps keep everything organized so that we can move on the project efficiently. If you do choose to write content yourself, I am here to answer questions or help you when writer’s block strikes.
4. Fine Tuning
Vladimir Nabokov, a Russian-American novelist, once said, “I have rewritten, often several times, every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers.”
We take the time to think hard about whether the content we’ve come up with is doing the job it needs to do, and this usually involves multiple editing rounds. During this phase, you usually begin to see near-completed content put into design mock ups, so that you can see how the pieces will look together in the final product.
5. Formatting
Most of our clients’ sites are hosted on WordPress. Once we ‘ve gotten the thumbs up from you on content, it’s time to place that content into the site to see how everything looks. Often, we will need to make formatting changes and last-minute edits in order to make sure the site is ready for launch. Once the design and copy are both complete and combined, it’s time to share your story!
If you have any questions about Imagebox’s content process or just want to hear me tell you why I love working with Pittsburgh business owners, email me at jessica@imagebox.com.