Ready to make a difference

Now is the time to make a difference and create positive change. I'm starting this revamped web site to highlight a new direction in my online communications.

The past 5 years of my career built upon freelance, employed and pro-bono marketing work. My foundations in marketing/PR were a great place to start before my fresh 'career' direction that is now starting. I will still do some freelance and part time communications work for other people. But my main priority has changed. This is the time for creating motivating life-changing products and services for my own audience.

Not Out With the Old

I'm keeping my old web site for nostalgic reasons. The old showed details of skills that were best suited to freelance and employed marketing work. There is still a place for that. But now is the time for a fresh look.

Adapting to Technological Changes

Technology is bringing the communications industry into a new direction. Automation and user-friendly tools are helping individuals and organisations, to share messages when using less time and money.

Strategic planning needs to involve frequent changes to keep up with evolving trends. Some trends in 2017 popped up out of nowhere. DeMers at Forbes Magazine said, "Nobody expected the smart speaker industry to blow up the way it did in 2017." I'm ready to work on independent projects that provide freedom to change with my surroundings. I'm hoping to provide innovative products and services that serve people's changing needs.

Needs Based Business Strategies

My new business efforts are all about fulfilling needs. I'm looking to serve these needs in new ways. A consumer might want to gain body confidence, feel better after more sleep, reduce uncertainty, belong to a community, gain a sense of achievement or explore identity. Business managers are also potential customers. They want the business to survive, typically because they desire their own survival. Then a business should be sustainable. Relationships are as powerful in business as in personal life. Whether I'm chatting with a customer or networking in industries, people are the focus. Today's businesses grow structures through systems. Individuals may conduct business when delegating tasks to third parties. As companies grow, they become larger organisations that need new systems. All human beings need purpose, in work and in life. My new efforts in business will explore diverse solutions to problems and needs within audiences' personal and professional life.

Freedom to Independently Innovate

Efficiency is a good thing. In most of my career, I worked for small companies that followed strict budgets. They budgeted their time as much as other resources. Despite that, I always felt that further innovations could have enhanced my creativity. It was just a few years ago that I coded a table from scratch for an email campaign in a job. That gave me insight into how things work. I later introduced vector graphics at one company and scheduling platforms for social media at another place. My naturally inquisitive creativity involves constantly finding new methods for creating the same level of quality communications.

This level of innovation seems easier when I work independently. In an organisation of any size, there are steps to take before changing methods. There's typically a discussion, debate, pitch, approval process... All the steps towards change are needed in organisations to work cohesively and be on the same page. I understand that. I strive to work with others during such projects. However, I seem to thrive more when diving in and testing my ideas for innovative methods through independence. Freedom of experimentation happens more when I work for myself.

Balancing MSW Creativity and Quality Automation

My new personally curated products and services are distributed with automated user-friendly tools. This benefits my potential future customers and audiences, by more efficiently providing greater value and quality control.

When the boring part of business takes less time, I have a greater opportunity to create more unique projects. There will be more time to manage instead of slaving away at the tiny details. Let's keep in mind, I still enjoy zooming in onto every pixel of a picture and every word that is written. Distribution and sharing of messages can now be done with greater ease.

Providing Physical Products, Knowledge Resources and Inspirational Messages

I have many ideas for projects I want to pursue in the future. Some of my offerings have already begun and will grow over time. Other ideas are a lightbulb moment that will evolve in the future. I can share some insight into my new direction.

Informative Resources

Knowledge resources will continue sustaining and growing. I'm currently building products and services that will elaborate on the old blogs that I had for a few years. My new projects will encourage active participation beyond passive reading. Followers will get free and purchased resources to shape their lives.

Blogs brought to life with more products

I currently have a couple of blogs that I write on when I get the chance. They are What Mel Knows and Shake Up Your Style. Knows (for short), my communications site, is a chance to explore new ways to share messages and tell stories. Shake, as I like to nickname it, is my outlet for all things lifestyle. It might be something I want to try or anything I was inspired by. These blogs have been wonderful creative outlets. Instead of just getting words onto the screen regardless of who sees it, I'm now treating those blogs as sustainable business products that can become part of readers' lives.

Facilitating People's Active Learning

Continuous learning will be one of my new offerings. I have met people who don't know what Hootsuite is, or the benefits of a Facebook page and how to create a MailChimp campaign. Some of my resources will be how-to-guides for using platforms like these. I'm now going beyond the practicalities of communications, guiding audiences on how to create strategic branding in any media. Cross-platform approaches are related to Integrated Marketing Communications. The media world has changed immensely since I learned about IMC 8 years ago. Everyone should know how to navigate a variety of current platforms. I'm now keen to share methods for telling stories of brand personalities, regardless of which media will be used.

Give More Than Get

I'm now focusing more on what people get than what I can do.

It's like the old phrase:

Don't tell them, show them.

I hope you enjoy participating in my journey of sharing new valuable offerings with the world.

Melanie Suzanne Wilson