Tame Content Chaos and Manage Expectations with a Menu of Services

Here’s an awesome start to any content marketing manager’s day. You’ve just opened your content calendar and looked with glee at your perfectly planned month. Just the right number of pieces, just the right number of resources. Smooth sailing and clear seas ahead. That’s when your Slack channel goes nuts. Sales needs a last-minute landing […]

5 Tips for Creating an Editorial Calendar

One of the simplest content marketing tools is also the most powerful: It’s the editorial calendar. Very successful content marketers are more than twice as likely than unsuccessful content marketers to use an editorial calendar (16% versus 7%). I can also tell you from my own experience as a news editor, it makes life a […]

3 Reasons You Need a Creative Brief – and 5 Things to Include

When I first started freelancing, I never asked for creative briefs. Instead, I might spend a few minutes on the phone with the client discussing the topic. On many occasions, I didn’t even do that. The client sent me a working title and that was enough to get me started. Somehow it worked. I spent […]

Staring at a Blank Page? Read/Walk/Nap/Swim and Open the Door to Inspiration

The blank page is every writer’s closed door. Even though I know what I’m writing about, I’m often stuck at how I want to tell the story. Sometimes I find myself banging on that closed door for hours, screaming “let me in!”  Over decades of a writing career, I’ve learned this is an exercise in […]

Avoid a Content Marketing Nightmare: Know Your Audience

I’ve never thought much about how different people approach reading horror stories. After all, I don’t write scary stories. But I recently attended an event celebrating the Centennial Anniversary of the Poe Museum in Richmond, Va., and someone posed the question: What kind of story gives children goosebumps? What type frightens a teenager? I’m sure […]

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Diane Thieke

As the CEO and co-founder of Version A, I’m responsible for strategy and vision, as well as team and client happiness. My experience in journalism, public relations, and marketing proves I’ve built a career out of the things I’m most passionate about – curiosity, writing, media, and tech. I’m surrounded by smart, cool, creative professionals, so I’ve never been bored, had the Monday blues, or wanted to trade in the corporate job for the life of an author. Okay – that last one is a lie. #amwriting
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