Writer, Editor, Content Strategist

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Think about when these words were written:

“We have become an over-communicated society…The mind accepts only that which matches prior knowledge…There are just too many products, too many companies, and too much marketing noise.”

It was 1982, in the book “Positioning” by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

So they already felt overwhelmed by information when the internet only existed for a handful of scientific researchers.

Social media, as we know it, was unfathomed. (Mark Zuckerberg was -2 years old.)

Smartphones were beyond even the grasp of science fiction. (Sure, they had portable, wireless communication devices on “Star Trek,” but I don’t think they ever used them to check their email, surf the web, take pictures or get directions to nearby restaurants.)

Somehow, the world got even more over-communicated.

But it’s a world of opportunity.

This is the landscape where I’ve spent my career, finding ways to move clear, meaningful messages through the din—as a journalist, executive communicator and marketing content strategist.

Thank you for visiting my website. Want to reach out? Email me or message me on LinkedIn.

-Mark Waller

Resume

Download as PDF

Firmidable (A national marketing agency for law firms)

Senior Writer & Editor (2019-present)

Writer & Editor (2016-2019)

Copywriter and editor at a marketing agency that provides multi-platform growth strategies for law firms across the United States, helping lead content strategy for the agency and its clients. Planning and writing copy for website builds, search engine optimization (SEO), paid search advertising, TV ads and other channels. Producing content both for attorneys—speaking to their potential clients—and for the agency’s own marketing to attorneys, including social media, blogging and email marketing. Guiding and editing work by other team members and freelancers. Working closely with fellow marketing strategists and clients to develop projects

Tulane University

Communications aide to the president (2014-2016)

Supported executive leadership in conveying the values, challenges and goals of a wide-ranging, complex institution—the largest private employer in New Orleans. Collaborated with departments across the university to coordinate messages. Produced a high volume of talking points, speeches, presentations, online content, print articles, social media messages, letters and other correspondence. Strategized messages for a wide variety of audiences. Contributed planning for major events. 

The Times-Picayune and NOLA.com

Reporter, writer, digital content producer for a metropolitan newspaper &  website (2012-2014)

Journalist covering the entrepreneurship landscape of New Orleans, tourism and other business topics. Planned and conducted coverage of the economics around the city hosting the Super Bowl. Developed new approaches to covering entrepreneurship at the news organization, including intensified coverage of startup events and use of crowd-sourcing to find subjects for business profiles. As a senior journalist, covered high profile events such as trials on the corruption of a former mayor and damage from a historic oil spill.

More Background as a Journalist for The Times-Picayune

– Urban planning reporter, researching, writing about and coordinating coverage of neighborhood-level recovery from Hurricane Katrina, demographic changes after Katrina, government land use and zoning decisions, real estate data analysis and more.

– Elementary and secondary education policy and politics reporter, producing education issue, feature and government accountability stories that received local, statewide and national recognition. Used techniques including data analysis and immersion in educational settings to reveal the challenges and hopes of students and educators to the broader community.

Bachelor of Journalism

University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.
Graduated cum laude with minors in English and political science.

Honors

‣ Member of The Times-Picayune staff that won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for Hurricane Katrina coverage.

‣ National Awards for Education Reporting, second prize for a 2006 Katrina aftermath feature.

‣ Casey Medals for Meritorious
Journalism 2005, honorable mention for a special education narrative.

‣ Press Club of New Orleans, second place, business writing, for Super Bowl 2013 coverage.

‣ Regional Associated Press awards 2012, first place, public service, for a teacher job reform series.

Resume, in Story Form

Resumes are boring. Just lists of information. Marketing research for generations has revealed that people respond best to a story. So here’s my resume in narrative form:

The teachers kept telling me I should do something with writing. My academic accomplishments tended to concentrate in the writing-heavy classes. Outside school, I even got together with friends and created a neighborhood newspaper, which good-hearted retirees on my block bought for dime. Seemingly by gravitational pulI, I found my way to one of the top journalism schools in the world, The University of Missouri, where I graduated with a bachelors degree in journalism and minors in English and political science.
My first staff writer position was at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper in Little Rock. It was a rare newspaper that still covered an entire state. I got to drive the back roads, meeting interesting people from all walks of life. I was a general assignment reporter, so just about any topic you can imagine came my way. Thorny environmental issues. Terrible tornados. Internet gambling. The legal system. At the time, the president of the United States was from there. I covered some of the controversies he was getting into.
Next, I became a reporter at the The Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans. That was truly a privilege. No other place matches the particular soulful character of New Orleans. And The Times-Picayune was a rising star, winning national accolades for its journalism. I wrote about education policy at a time when school systems in Louisiana were changing dramatically. I made a point of explaining these issues through the everyday, on-the-ground experiences of students and teachers, because, you know, people respond better to a story.
Then there was Hurricane Katrina. That was such a profound event in New Orleans that I spent about three years, maybe more, as a full-time disaster recovery reporter, even though that wasn’t my official title. (Technically, I was a staff writer covering land use planning, neighborhoods and government.) I wrote about individuals and neighborhoods rebuilding. I wrote about the metropolitan area changing. I wrote about local government efforts to manage it all. The stories all of us at the newspaper told during that time—even the routine, everyday ones—took on an urgency for the survival of the community unlike anything else I’ve experienced. (For the team, the effort included winning the Pulitzer Prize.)
Eventually, the economic shocks facing local newspapers everywhere made their way to the The Times-Picayune. First the city changed. Now the newspaper did, as it shifted its emphasis from print to digital and an uncertain future. In the rapidly changing landscape, I pitched the idea of covering the emerging entrepreneurship movement in New Orleans, something that didn’t exist as a position at the paper before. Really, it was a next-phase Katrina recovery beat. Amazingly, my editors said yes, so I became a business journalist. And I got to spend my days meeting some of the most dynamic people in the city—people trying to start something new, often from nothing—and the challenges they faced.
Next I found an opportunity to shift my perspective, into the realm of communicating not just to inform, but to influence. First, I was a speechwriter and communications aide for the president of Tulane University, helping convey the values, strengths and goals of a large, complex institution. I collaborated with people from all corners of campus to craft messages in all kinds of formats.
Then I moved into straight-ahead marketing, becoming the resident marketing writer and editor at Firmidable—a marketing and advertising agency based in New Orleans. The agency’s clients are law firms all over the country. These are the types of firms that focus on helping everyday Americans deal with some of the most difficult times in their lives. So now I write and edit copy with the goal of leading people to the help they need and compelling them to take action. That means copy for web builds, SEO, digital ads, TV ads, email marketing, print collateral pieces, even billboards. And I help my agency market itself to lawyers who want to grow their practices. These days my job is about more than just writing. It’s about content strategy and planning—and guiding and editing the work of other team members and copywriting freelancers.
The through-line in all this is the study of how people think and process information, what they react to and how to reach them. That’s a story that never gets dull.
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Work samples

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B2B Long-Form SEO Blog Post Aimed at Attorneys
Lead Gen & SEO Home Page Copy for Multi-Practice Disability Law Firm - 3
Lead Gen & SEO Home Page Copy for Worker's Comp Law Firm
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Results

What Really Happened When My Copywriting Went Out into the World.

Example: New Website Build

Project Description: Wrote or edited all of the copy for an entirely new website speaking to potential clients of a multi-practice law firm (workers’ compensation, employment law, Social Security disability, veterans’ disability, personal injury, medical malpractice and more).

Project Scope: The project totaled over 130 website pages and 87,000 words of copy (equivalent to the length of a novel).

The Results: In the first year the new site was live, compared to the final year of the firm’s old website:

  • New users to the site increased 72%
  • Page views increased 97%
  • People contacting the firm from online searches (conversions) increased 83%
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