A New Collaboration: Intouch Solutions

I’ve told stories before about some of the many jobs I’ve held in my life. And, for the last nine months, I’ve been writing a new story: my life as a freelance writer and communications consultant. It’s been one of the most enjoyable – although also, honestly, the most frightening – times in my career. I’m working with smart, fun, kind people and having an amazing time.

The latest development is the best yet, and I’m over the moon that it’s time to announce it.

I’m consulting for the Intouch Solutions business development team on content strategy. Here’s why I’m excited.

First, the company is – well, kind of a big deal. Among other things, they were named by Medical Marketing & Media (for whom I’ve twice been a stringer this year) as their agency of the year for 2014. The magazine called them a “Yoda” for pharma, providing wise counsel that goes beyond simple social-media marketing to a deeper understanding of how to solve problems in the industry. *

Second, while the vast majority of people in this world are indeed good-hearted, it’s still a happy surprise when you get to work with people you click with: that combination of cleverness and joy that makes work a delight. That’s here as well.

And third, the work is exactly what I want to be doing. Writing is my lifelong love, so I’m enamored of its logical counterpart: content marketing. If it’s new for you, here’s what (I think) it is and why it matters.

• The communications revolution of the 1990s was, of course, the internet. Companies had to get that it was going to really matter to be on the web. Then they had to build that online presence for themselves and their goods and services.
• The revolution of the 2000s? Social media. Again, companies had to first appreciate its importance – then, learn how to have conversations with their customers.
• The revolution of the 2010s? Here’s where we get content marketing. It’s the result of the previous two. With innumerable websites and unending social feeds, the content glut is insurmountable. Nobody can just cross its fingers that prospects will find them. You must deliver the right information directly to the right person at precisely the right moment. There are technology-enabled ways, and there are interpersonal ones. There’s a lot of organization on the back end, and a lot of coordination in the moment. And what you’re delivering can’t be promotional – it has to be genuinely useful in order for it to matter. It’s a gorgeous, fascinating ballet of information.

I get to continue to do work that focuses on how we can do the best possible by patients and doctors. I get to write like hell and love every minute of it, continuing this grand adventure with existing and new clients. And I get to deepen my work with this brilliant company in new and exciting ways.

I firmly believe that the best thing you can do in response to good fortune is to work hard to deserve it as much as possible. So here goes.

* By the way: that Yoda reference? Back when I started this grand adventure of entrepreneurship, my announcement referenced a Zen Habits story – one about Luke Skywalker. I’m not the biggest Star Wars nerd, but even I can see the coincidence. And… What do we say about coincidence? The universe is rarely so lazy.