Liam Green always knew he wanted to make his living as a writer, but as a writing, literature and publishing student at Emerson College, he didn’t expect to land in the world of marketing. When he saw a job listing for a content writer at Brafton in 2011, he made a choice that shaped his career.
Liam joined Brafton not quite knowing what to expect from a content marketing agency. Though Emerson has a strong marketing program, he didn’t dabble much in those classes. However, what he found at Brafton ultimately intrigued and challenged him.
“I’ve found that through content marketing, we can help our clients develop a relationship with their own customer base that you don’t necessarily form if you’re just using a pay-per-click marketing plan or just doing occasional sponsored content and social media,” he said. “It’s almost like a holistic approach to marketing, as opposed to something direct and unsubtle or abrasive.”
Through content marketing, we can help our clients develop a relationship with their own customer base that you don’t necessarily form if you’re just using a pay-per-click marketing plan or just doing occasional sponsored content and social media. It’s almost like a holistic approach to marketing, as opposed to something direct and unsubtle or abrasive.
Shaping a marketing career at Brafton
In the eight years since coming onboard, Liam has held many positions at Brafton.
After his initial position as a content writer, he became an assistant editor, then a lead editor, and then worked on the quality standards team. There, he strengthened his eye for detail through carefully reviewing writers’ work and client feedback, focusing on the precise application of AP Stylebook standards and grammar rules.
After that, Liam moved back into a writing position, applying all of the skills he learned along the way to produce strong creative content.
“I had become so much more focused on detail and picking apart every last word and character when I was doing audits of writers’ quality for their performance reviews,” he remembered. “So I had to make up a lot of ground when I got back into writing regularly. But I also think it made me a much better writer and editor overall than I’ve ever been.”
His strengthened writing skills have helped him approach new accounts with confidence. When a microelectronic component manufacturing client came to Brafton for help creating its landing pages, the task fell to Liam, and he didn’t know what to expect dealing with such niche subject matter. After the client saw his results, they signed on for another round of content – this time for blogs – then for even more: white papers, case studies and other projects still to come.
Liam said approaching engineering and scientific concepts – which he either hadn’t explored since school or didn’t understand at all to start – was a big learning curve. But he enjoyed the challenge, and the results were not just satisfying to the client but also personally gratifying to Liam.
Taking hold of creative possibilities
Liam has been able to get creative with other clients, as well: He’s especially proud of a multipart jazz history that he happily researched and wrote for a company representing brands known for cutting-edge speakers, headphones, car audio systems and other high-end hi-fi equipment.
As an amateur critic and longtime appreciator of musical history, he was in somewhat familiar territory to begin with, but loved the opportunity to expand his knowledge further.
“I think what’s been most interesting is because of how our content menu has expanded and because of how much more creative we’re able to be in the different content types we offer, we’re not bound [to] strictly covering note-for-note stuff about a client’s particular industry,” he explained.
“We can take the writing in so many different directions, whether it’s covering news in-depth, writing really lively how-to blogs, culture writing or high-level products for industry experts like white papers and eBooks.”
He credits multiple factors for making Brafton’s expanded opportunities and services possible, including how content marketing itself has changed over the years – and most of all, to the talents and expertise of his colleagues. All of this, to our clients’ advantage.
“I think all the creative departments [at Brafton] have so many skilled people and have so much latitude now to be creative – to shape our marketing efforts through our own experiences and knowledge and idiosyncrasies, and then make that vision part of our clients’ messaging to their customers.”
All the creative departments [at Brafton] have so many skilled people and have so much latitude now to be creative – to shape our marketing efforts through our own experiences and knowledge and idiosyncrasies, and then make that vision part of our clients’ messaging to their customers.
Exploring writing outside of work
When Liam isn’t delving into the worlds of electronic components, hi-fi, enterprise tech and much more at Brafton, he’s exploring his interests through writing elsewhere. An avid Celtics fan, he covers games and NBA news for Red’s Army, and writes music criticism and analysis for online magazine Treble.
He also writes fiction; currently, he’s finishing up the second draft of a crime novel set in Boston. Like all dedicated writers, he’s also a dedicated reader – “I read voraciously, like, I read 135 books last year” – and leads a book club with other Braftonites and friends.
His journey to marketing wasn’t exactly what he expected for his career, but it’s a path he’s pleased to have followed. It not only introduced him to a broader variety of writing styles and capabilities but also helped shape his writing and critical thinking outside of work.
“I never thought that I would necessarily be in [marketing], but all in all, it’s been a pretty interesting trip.”
