DonTalend Editorial Content Manager Resume
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Don Talend Resume, Senior Editorial and Thought Leadership Content and Media Relations Manager, May 2025
DonTalend Editorial Content Manager Resume
- 1. DON TALEND Editorial Content Manager Algonquin, IL 60102 847-802-0355 don@dontalend.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/dontalend https://www.clippings.me/dontalend CAREER SUMMARY Award-winning former trade press editor-turned brand journalist (more than 600 articles in 50- plus publications) who manages editorial/thought leadership content programs and platforms, steadily building brands’ authority and positioning them as market leaders. Specialties: Editorial content programs: Customer testimonials and bylined articles that validate product/solution benefits. Building digital libraries of blog and web content optimized for search with SEO best practices. Thought leadership content collaborative ideation, creation and editing: Technical articles and white papers. Media relations: Bylined article and press release pitching that generates brand awareness, e.g., 150-plus placements that facilitated $2 million-plus sales for one technology company. Crafting product use cases for brands that solve users’ familiar problems and address challenging industry trends. Content publishing and distribution support (CMS, social media and email). WORK EXPERIENCE ADVANCED NETWORK DEVICES, Arlington Heights, IL Digital/Content Marketing Consultant 2024–present Web, Social Media and Email Content: Creating copy for collateral, emails, social media posts, web page content and press releases promoting company’s mass notification technology solutions for the K-12 education market. CAPTIVE RESOURCES, LLC, Itasca, IL Content Developer 1/2023–8/2024 Long-Form Thought Leadership Blog Posts: Wrote posts on Risk Control Webinars, insurance cost trends, news releases, trade media placements and company news. Selected featured and background images from Adobe Stock Photos. Formatted posts in WordPress using SEO best practices, e.g., using H2s and H3s to create an information hierarchy and adding alt-text to images for search engines. Company increased organic new website visitors by 48 percent and subscribers by 95 percent between April 2023 and April 2024.
- 2. Don Talend resume, page 2 Social Media Content Creation: Using LinkedIn and HubSpot (for Facebook and Twitter/X), created and published social posts — No.1 source of referral traffic to the blog, website and landing pages. Used SEO best practices, e.g., tagged presenters in social posts and selected hashtags based on use volume. Captiveresources.com social media-referred visitors increased by 52 percent between April 2023 and April 2024. ROBERTSHAW CONTROLS COMPANY, Itasca, IL Content Manager 12/2020–1/2023 Media Relations and Public Relations: Wrote customer testimonials and press releases, ghostwrote bylined articles and pitched and placed them in HVAC and automotive controls trade magazines. Following up on Field Sales leads, interviewed customers by phone. Wrote and pitched ACHR News feature article. Wrote LinkedIn post with article link. Total magazine and LinkedIn reach: 102,000 readers. Interviewed incoming CEO for his strategic vision. Wrote new CEO appointment press release and finalized copy with CEO. Distributed to relevant industry trade magazines. Shared via LinkedIn post. Total reach: 130,000 readers. Interviewed automotive division EVP, wrote feature article on fluid control valves for Engine + Powertrain Technology International. Wrote LinkedIn post. Total magazine and LinkedIn reach: 45,000-plus readers. Social Media Content Management: Developed social media calendar: Three LinkedIn, Facebook and X posts per week. Wrote posts on features of Robertshaw appliance, HVAC and automotive controls; trade show exhibiting and activities; and other company news. Worked with graphic designer on imagery and video to accompany post copy. Published posts on Sprout Social and tracked monthly analytics. Between September 2021 and September 2022, the engagement rate per impression increased by 124 percent and post link clicks jumped by 263 percent for all networks. ZEBRA TECHNOLOGIES, Lincolnshire, IL Marketing Content Writer 11/2017–05/2020 Industry-Specific Thought Leadership Content: Intelligent Fulfillment Campaign (supply chain/logistics) – Co-developed industry survey on consumers’ new faster delivery expectations and need for edge computing technologies with segment manager and research manager. Wrote white paper, e-book and emails for demand-pull drip campaign.
- 3. Don Talend resume, page 3 Customer Testimonials for Field Marketing: Attended strategy calls for customer interviews with Field Marketing and Field Sales and prepared customer interview questions. Conducted interviews with customers via conference calls and obtained images. Wrote testimonial drafts and coordinated customer and Marketing content reviews. Member of Marketing team that exceeded annual goals: Global PR share of voice, 70 percent vs. 55 percent; and campaign responses, +22 percent vs. +6 percent. STERICYCLE, Northbrook, IL Marketing Manager 09/2013–04/2015 Long-Form Thought Leadership Blog Posts: Wrote evergreen healthcare posts for call center services division blog explaining the positive effects of maintaining the continuum of care — enabled by ongoing communication between patients and care providers with services such as appointment scheduling and post-discharge clinical instruction outreach — on clinical outcomes. Posts were instrumental in 17X year-over-year increase in unique website visits. Call Center Services Web Page Copy: Wrote copy for pages targeting the company’s healthcare customer segments: Clinical practices (automated appointment reminders) and hospitals (post-discharge follow-up services). Met with sales leaders to identify value props and solicited their copy reviews. DON TALEND COMMUNICATIONS/WRITE RESULTS Content Writing and Media Relations Consultant 01/2005–12/2020 Long-Form Thought Leadership Blog Posts: NCR o Wrote posts of 2,000 words or more on retail trends underscoring need for new point-of-sale technology for retail POS technology provider’s blog. o Supplemented content from MarketMuse web scraping tool with web research. Lowe’s Home Improvement/Imagination Publishing o Wrote Lowe’s for Pros blog posts, e.g., on remodeling market forecast. o Interviewed contractors and facility managers for insights. Upward Brand Interactions o Wrote manufacturing and retail appliance posts for blogs agency built for clients. o Conducted web research and repurposed agency clients’ existing content. o SEO best practices: Provided H2s and H3s, title tags and related keywords for search engines and meta descriptions for search engine results pages.
- 4. Don Talend resume, page 4 Web Page Copy: Upward Brand Interactions o Wrote and optimized web page copy for manufacturing, higher education and healthcare clients, e.g., Wright State University, Grand Lake Health System. o SEO best practices: Provided H2s and H3s, title tags, related keywords for search engines and meta descriptions for search engine results pages. Centegra Health System o Wrote and optimized copy for new clinical specialty pages: Pediatrics, Electrophysiology/Cardiology and Orthopedics. Media Relations – Bylined Articles, Press Releases and Pitching: Topcon Positioning Systems/Sokkia o Wrote and placed feature articles with customer testimonials of surveying and geospatial positioning solutions in trade magazines. o Conducted interviews and photographed technology in use on customers’ work sites or completed phone interviews. o Pitched articles to editors. Earned 150-plus placements with total reach of more than 4 million readers. o Per client, articles facilitated $2 million-plus equipment sales. Keson/Pete Wiltjer Marketing Group (PWMG) o Using emailed release and pitch calls, secured booth appointments with eight trade press editors and construction measuring and marking products manufacturer at STAFDA trade show. Also obtained eight warm leads among non-attending editors for conference call with company management. Total reach: 320,000-plus readers. Layfield Geosynthetics o Wrote and pitched press release on materials and engineering donations to temporary housing following historic Slave Lake, Alberta fire. o Of 10 trade magazines receiving the pitch, three published the release as a news item. Also wrote a bylined article published by two other magazines. Total reach: 88,000-plus readers. Use Case Articles/Product and Service Marketing: Modular Mining Systems o Interviewed product managers and repurposed existing collateral to develop copy for a new series of collateral profiling benefits of company’s DISPATCH mining operations systems, including Shovel Guidance Module and SpeedAlert Module. EDUCATION HubSpot (Marketing Software Certification) Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop) M.B.A., Marketing, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL B.A., Journalism, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, WI