Social copy
I’ve been writing social post copy professionally since Twitter was new. I think nothing turns a customer away faster than social copy that’s trying too hard. The best social posts are specific, succinct, and true to the company’s voice. When I’m working on social copy for a client, I always start with the question, “What’s in this for your customer?”
Long-form content
Narrative is as important to long-form copy as it is to fiction. I enjoy helping my stakeholders discover the story in their messaging and bring it to life across a variety of formats.
Click each image to read the full asset.
Video
I wrote the script for this video. Microsoft was debuting new capabilities for an existing product and they wanted this video to illustrate two things: 1) What the capabilities do and 2) Why companies need them.
I worked closely with the creative director, brand strategist, and creative agency to bring this concept to life.
Other writing
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I've written two styles guides from scratch--one for the internal IT communications team at Amazon, the other for Amazon's financial services organization.
Both style guides incorporated accessibility and writing best practices and were developed to help streamline and clarify the writing process.
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I've written emails for everything. From business-to-business, business-to-customer, and business-to-employee, I've written it all.
Relationship marketing, promotional emails, transactional emails, service notifications, been there, written that. For emails, the shorter the better and always put the most important information up top.
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I actually got my start in professional writing with blogging. My first job out of college was so miserable, I started a blog about it and soon amassed a healthy following. From there, I transitioned to much more fun jobs running blogs for Offbeat Mama, Bottle Your Brand, and Qvisory.
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I've written web copy for Microsoft product pages, the Microsoft Security home page, and Amazon's self-service IT how-to content.
I've also written ecommerce content to help customers navigate the site, use the tools, and explore new ways to enjoy the products.
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Believe it or not, narrative is crucial for white papers. Rather than serving as a dumping ground for data, a white paper should start with a supported point of view and build on it from beginning to end.
I've written white papers at Amazon and Microsoft--and yes, that includes dozens of the dreaded Amazon six-pager.
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I've had the pleasure of teaching writers of all ages about writing.
I was a guest lecturer for Northwest University, a featured speaker for Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and a teacher and contest judge for the Sammamish Youth Writing Club. I've also taught hundreds of people at Amazon and Microsoft how to write better and more effectively.
What it’s like to work for me
“Some leaders have excellent communication skills. Some offer insightful feedback. Some are gifted teachers…Thankfully, working with Erika, I got to learn from someone who embodied them all.”
- From a LinkedIn recommendation
What it’s like to work with me