Big thinkers turn to Ergo Editorial to bring their big ideas to life

We enabled Lippincott to write the book on brand portfolio management. All of it.

Wasting money on strategic content?

(We thought you might be). Here’s what not to do.

Which writers don't you want on your team?

Writers aren’t all created equal. Find out which kind is most valuable to marketers.

Shakespeare would have failed at writing thought leadership content

Great thought leadership isn’t about the clever words.

Does your thought leadership make readers take action?

It would be great if more strategic content were written to prompt “action this day” or any day, for that matter.

With strategic content, it matters who’s on first

Take a tip from Abbott and Costello: get the roles right.

Big thinkers turn to Ergo Editorial to bring their big ideas to life

We enabled Lippincott to write the book on brand portfolio management.
All of it.

Wasting money on strategic content?

(We thought you might be). Here’s what not to do.

Which writers don't you want on your team?

Writers aren’t all created equal. Find out which kind is most valuable to marketers.

Shakespeare would have failed at writing thought leadership content

Great thought leadership isn’t about the clever words.

Does your thought leadership make readers take action?

It would be great if more strategic content were written to prompt “action this day” — or any day, for that matter.

With strategic content, it matters who’s on first

Take a tip from Abbott and Costello: get the roles right.

SAY WHAT?

Ergo Editorial connects you to a universe of highly experienced and talented writers and editors who help thought leaders get the ideas out of their heads and into the hands of their customers and prospects. Those editorial pros create strategic content that makes marketing campaigns far more effective. If you’ve got a big idea you want your target readers to know about, they’ll give the idea the impact it needs to get attention and hold it.

WHO NEEDS THIS STUFF AND WHY?
Business leaders need thought leadership content. So do consultants. So do subject-matter experts of all stripes. Marketers too.

They need premium content because they understand that big ideas, expressed well, cut through the noise to bolster their brand equity, tap new markets, and strengthen relationships with clients, partners, and employees.

WHAT KIND OF STUFF?
Ergo Editorial brings you the talented professionals who write, edit and advise on articles, white papers, blogs, speeches, and much more. It’s big stuff and little stuff, from research-based reports that might take weeks, to articles and viewpoint pieces and all the way to blurbs and teasers that may take just a few minutes.

Our editorial pros meet your subject-matter experts at any point on the content development spectrum. If your experts have already developed bulleted outlines or maybe even full drafts, our people will pressure-test the ideas, reinforce them, and work iteratively with you to get them up to the highest standard and over the finish line. If your experts are still discussing and debating their ideas, we have ways to help them get to decisions that lay the groundwork for robust, consensus-led points of view. Just let us know the starting point, and we’ll help you take it from there.

Our tagline says it all: “The best expression of your great ideas.”

WHAT WE DELIVER

Click the file tabs to learn how Ergo Editorial can help you.

STRATEGIC CONTENT
ADVISORY SERVICES
QUALITY CONTROL
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WORKSHOPS AND TRAINING

POINT-OF-VIEW ARTICLES
Timely mid-sized pieces that express a big idea clearly and crisply and are flexible enough to be used in a variety of channels.

WHITE PAPERS
In-depth guides on the topics that matter most to your firm and your customers.

MINI BOOKS
In-depth content viewed from multiple angles and portioned into easily consumed chapters.

CASE STUDIES
Real-world scenarios that shine the spotlight on your solutions to clients’ challenges.

BYLINED ARTICLES
Expert commentary that cements your credibility in the media your target audience reads regularly.

RESEARCH REPORTS
Your data and the stories behind it, packaged to inform and influence your clients.

SPEECHWRITING
Your ideas, in your voice, targeted to your audience and built to grab and hold their attention.

VIDEO SCRIPTS
Compelling content that your target viewers will want to share with colleagues.

BLOG POSTS
Powerful perspectives that strengthen your authority on key topics and expand your social reach.

WEBSITE CONTENT
Engaging pages and promos that attract and inform your customers.

LAYOUT AND DESIGN
Using your design templates and protocols (or developing new ones) to lay out text and graphics in the most attractive ways.

EDITORIAL CALENDAR PLANNING
Mapping out the editorial elements of your strategic marketing campaign in practical, economical ways.

EDITORIAL BEST PRACTICES
Applying best practices to avoid common pitfalls, accelerate thought leadership delivery, and minimize costs.

CONTENT QUALITY AUDITS
Gauging the impact of your thought leadership content compared to that of your competitors.

COPY EDITING
Ensuring that your best ideas are expressed with correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, and more and all adhering to your style book and your brand guidelines.

FACT CHECKING
Making sure that all names, dates, statistics, calculations, citations, and more are absolutely correct.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS
Customized, hands-on programs on topics from strategy through execution.

TEAM TRAINING
A multi-session approach to turn your junior associates into a strong bench of thought leaders.

ONE-ON-ONE COACHING
Personalized coaching for select thought leaders on your team.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP WEBINARS
Online programs that extend training to a larger audience.

If it’s to do with envisioning, prototyping, proposing, developing,
refining, or planning strategic content, we’re all over it.

HOW WE DO WHAT WE DO (SO WELL)

Creating high-impact content calls for much more than polished wordcraft or a keen nose for news. It doesn’t spring naturally from a degree in English Lit or years as a reporter or magazine editor. It comes from an approach that’s all about business — your business.

OUR WRITERS’ APPROACH STARTS WITH REALLY BASIC QUESTIONS …

Who are you trying to reach with your article? What is your “story”? How would you describe it to your 11-year-old grandson or 92-year-old grandparent? How would you sum it up for a target reader in a 30-second elevator ride? Why do you want to publish this now, this year? Which competitors have published the most on this topic? How is your argument different — and stronger? What data do you have to defend your argument? What examples can you cite to bring the story to life?

If you can quickly and confidently answer those kinds of questions, you’re well on the way to producing top-tier strategic content.

… IS CRYSTAL-CLEAR ABOUT THE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES …

We make it our business to understand why you want to publish in the first place. Is it for brand-building? To generate sales leads? The differences matter. We’re very clear about the marketing roles for thought-leadership contentstrategic publications designed to build awareness and create conversationsand the sales orientation of commercial content, which is overtly selling your services, your offerings, your solutions. We always ensure we’re all working off of the same plan before we get started.

… IS AN “US” NOT “THEM” THING …

We’re working for you, yes, but we’re collaborating with you. Meaning: we don’t earn our salt by just jotting down everything your SMEs say. We act as “story doctors” — thought partners, not just note-takers. That involves constructive push-back to pressure-test your SMEs’ arguments, propose tweaks to their thinking, bring in reinforcing ideas, research fresh examples, and much more. It’s all part of the job.

… FOLLOWS A SMOOTH PROCESS …

The writers and editors we’ve selected use proven publishing practices — with your resources and budget very much in mind.

As with any business process, publishing gets derailed when roles and responsibilities are unclear, when dogma overshadows discussion, and when governance of the process is weak. Our experienced editorial folks check that there’s consensus around your ideas, get clear about who does what on the client’s side, and keep things on track and on time.

… AND IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL IT’S OVER

Throughout the publishing process, Ergo Editorial’s writers and editors listen with both ears open. They check in regularly to stay alert to changes as the project unfolds, and to make sure you’re getting what you need. It’s all part of treating your publishing priorities as real business priorities.

Content may be king but process is the prince.

CLEVER CLIENTS

Our clients are busy C-suite executives and senior partners — and the marketing and publishing professionals who support them. Most of those business leaders are in top-tier management consulting firms, but they’re also in technology firms, academia, and the finance world.

WHAT THEY SHARE

All of our clients have something in common: they live and breathe big ideas. Those ideas are crucial components of their market positioning. For many, the ideas are the primary way they convey their experience, insights and action orientation to their clients and prospects.

WHAT THEY NEED

Our clients think up big ideas — but writing about them is a different matter. They need “story doctors” who can take the outlines of those ideas and turn them into powerful, persuasive messages. Who confidently provide constructive critiques. Who help package those ideas to suit all the channels through which their clients and prospects consume strategic content.

That’s where Ergo Editorial comes in.

… and a bunch of other big names you most certainly have heard of …

TESTIMONIALS

“Your writer did a fantastic job. She really turned the document around quickly and her comments were very much on point. Both the team and I would enthusiastically recommend her.”
“Your work has been outstanding to date, and we have greatly enjoyed working with you. We look forward to continuing the relationship.”
“Guys, this is really, really good. Let’s ask the journal for reprint rights.”
“… this point-of-view paper … will become our bible for the next however many months.”
“Our book is picking up nicely — great client feedback from ‘Inspiring!’ to ‘Need more.’ It clearly shows our breadth and depth … to shape the mindset of this industry.”
“Audiences forget facts, but they remember stories.”
“[The partners] loved it. You did a phenomenal job … thanks. You are the best find of my marketing career.”
“… a life-saver. I really appreciate that you found a great writer at such short notice.”
“Outstanding — very strong and really helped us set the tone throughout the report to ensure that it reads more like a story versus a white paper.”
“Please let me echo my sincere thank you for the many contributions to this piece — not just with special writing capabilities but also the intellectual {input and} thinking.”
“Loved all the feedback you had for the team. Very on point. … Looking forward to working on this piece with you — it should be a very good one for our practice.”
“What a pro! I was bracing for a negative meeting with a partner — and your writer’s willingness and flexibility in working in his ideas had made him very happy with the draft so far! So grateful.”
“Your writer has done an outstanding job working with us as the writer for our reports and with your permission we'd like to put him to work again this fall. Please let us know at your earliest convenience if we may continue to work with him. It would be a real pleasure.”
“Your writer was awesome today on the troublesome little project I’ve got her working on. Very responsive and super-quick turnaround.”
“Many thanks for your first draft and comments. As always, very helpful also to sharpen our thoughts.”
“You did a terrific above-and-beyond job on this project. We really hope you’ll be available to work with us again.”
“That makes total sense. A real value-add suggestion. … Bad on me for not paying closer attention to the questions and thinking of this earlier. But what a great thing not to have to think of all the great ideas when we have partners like you who can help us get to the right solution quickly.”
“Your writer is knocking it out of the park with the labor productivity piece. He found a way to get 20 pounds of technical stuff into a 10-pound, compelling piece, working in examples after the initial draft seamlessly.”
“Based on what your team did, certainly would use Ergo Editorial again. Was great help to get the paper going. Has been a huge success with clients.”
“Thanks for all of your help. It was such a HUGE difference working with you. I'm so appreciative of your excellent writing and advising.”

CREATIVE CREW

We’re not what you imagine when you think of “writers.” Ergo Editorial is a premier “talent agency” that stands apart from typical solo freelance writers in all sorts of ways that benefit you. Here’s a glimpse of who we are:

ALL ABOUT IMPACT
With Ergo Editorial, you get far more than “wordsmiths.” You get story doctors — true thought partners who help shape your experts’ stories for highest impact. The writers and editors we use don’t just take notes; they provide prompt, decisive recommendations and informed, constructive pushback.

BUILT FOR BUSINESS
The writers and editors we select are business veterans. Most have worked for decades in publishing and strategic marketing. Many have spent years inside business. Some come from management consulting; others have backgrounds in industrial manufacturing, energy, law, defense, financial services, or technology.

HERE TO SERVE
Ergo Editorial’s team — and all of the writers and editors we use — are customer-first people who listen hard, revise readily, and advise with care. We’re also process perfectionists, promoting best practices from beginning to end of every project. And we’re good stewards of your time and money, working efficiently and advising on efficiencies.

MADE TO SCALE UP
Need to produce big stuff — like a multi-chapter book or a series of related articles? Ergo Editorial assembles teams of experienced writers for just such projects. Then, our project managers work continually with the whole team, keeping things on time and on budget.

DESIGNED TO KEEP PROJECTS MOVING
Projects run late for all kinds of reasons. Your executives always have to put their clients first. Or maybe someone is out sick. No worries: Ergo Editorial puts the start back in start-stop. Our team approach ensures continuous resourcing of your critical projects.

ATTUNED TO CONSISTENT VOICE
Different folks have different strokes — and clients absolutely notice when writing styles differ. Ergo Editorial’s processes ensure that your strategic content is consistent from end to end in tone, voice, and structure.

More than what you’re used to, right?

MEET THE TEAM

Our content creators and editors have distinctive backgrounds in business journalism, management consulting, marketing, and editing. Many on our team have run content businesses or managed thought leadership programs at leading companies. Past employers include The Harvard Business Review, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, not to mention some of the world’s leading universities and the companies we serve as clients.

John Kerr

John Kerr

Founder & Principal

As founder and leader of Ergo Editorial, John has assembled an ace team of business …

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JOHN KERR

Founder & Principal

As founder and leader of Ergo Editorial, John has assembled an ace team of business management and technology editors and writers selected not only for their craft skills and ability to collaborate but also for their focus on helping consultants build business through the best expression of their great ideas.

In previous lifetimes, John led content development for five practice areas at the global management consultancy Bain & Co., crafting articles for The Financial Times, Journal of Business Strategy, European Business Forum, and others. He also conceived and managed strategic marketing campaigns at IT consulting firm Cambridge Technology Partners.

Prior to that, John was the senior editor at Inc., the magazine for growing businesses, and the vice president of editorial products at The Sentry Group, a venture-backed provider of IT consulting and content services. Under his stewardship as editor-in-chief at Electronic Business and then Electronics Purchasing, those publications won awards for editorial excellence. Through all these roles, John has gained decades of experience in writing and editing about business, the economy and technology.

John earned his B.Sc. Honours in mechanical engineering from Queen’s University Belfast, where he worked as an engineer in heavy and light industry in his homeland of Northern Ireland. These days, that background barely equips him to change the oil in his own car.

Jeff Garigliano

Jeff Garigliano

Editorial

Jeff Garigliano is the editorial operations lead for Ergo Editorial, where he works …

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JEFF GARIGLIANO

Editorial

Jeff Garigliano is the editorial operations lead for Ergo Editorial, where he works with clients to help get their ideas out in clear and concise language, emphasizing facts and evidence, with a minimum of adjectives, puffery and jargon. He handles all aspects of the editorial process, including content development, ghostwriting, editing, and project management, and he is particularly strong in the healthcare, financial services, aviation, and consumer goods industries.

Prior to becoming a freelancer and operating his own business, STET, LLC, Jeff worked for nearly 15 years as a magazine editor at business publications, including Fortune, Fortune Small Business, Condé Nast Portfolio, SmartMoney, and others. He received his B.Sc. in aerospace engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and served for five years as a naval flight officer. After leaving the Navy, he earned his M.A. in journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In addition to thought leadership projects for management consulting firms, Jeff has ghostwritten two books and published a novel under his own name. Jeff believes all clients should read “Made to Stick” at some point in their professional lives.

PAUL FELDMAN

PAUL FELDMAN

Editorial

Paul has been a writer and editor for more than 30 years focusing on topics …

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PAUL FELDMAN

Editorial

Paul has been a writer and editor for more than 30 years, focusing on topics ranging from financial services to fly-fishing. He was with McKinsey for over 20 years, serving most recently as executive editor for the firm’s Global Banking Practice. In that role he led the development of insights on retail, corporate and investment banking, digital payments, and wealth and asset management. As a freelancer, his most recent projects include reports on angel investing, generative AI in banking, and sustainable business practices. He loves the challenges and rewards of making business topics a joy to read. Paul lives with his family in the small town of Brooklyn, New York.

Barbara Rozowsky

Barbara Rozowsky

Financial

Barbara brings decades of experience in accounting to running the financial …

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BARBARA ROZOWSKY

Financial

Barbara brings decades of experience in accounting to running the financial systems of Ergo Editorial. With a background at leading accountancy firms and many years of running her own accounting-systems business, Barbara ensures that payables, receivables, credits, debits, and all the systems that support them stay on track, week after week. Barbara is our liaison to our payroll provider and is the manager who keeps our Quickbooks Online service in shape. Barbara lives in Framingham, Massachusetts, with her husband, two contented cats, and one (slightly neurotic) dog.

Whitney Smith

Whitney Smith

Client Service Manager

Whitney is Ergo Editorial’s Client Service Manager, responsible for managing …

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WHITNEY SMITH

Client Service Manager

Whitney is Ergo Editorial’s Client Service Manager, responsible for managing and analyzing our ongoing surveys that help to ensure that our writers are continually providing the service expected by clients. Whitney has abundant experience with customer service functions, having managed a retail bank branch for Bank of America, worked with the rigorous customer satisfaction frameworks used by credit card provider MBNA, handled the personalized client needs of a Maine kayak tour firm and a driving instruction school, as well as (currently) managing and training customer service teams at nationwide retailer L.L. Bean. Her first corporate job was with MBNA, where customer satisfaction scores were incorporated into every employee's goals and incentive payouts. Even while offering balance transfers, the expectation was to treat each customer like a person, not a number. It should go without saying that Whitney deeply understands the importance of every client interaction, whether in a business-to-customer or business-to-business environment.

AND HERE’S A GLIMPSE OF SOME OF OUR WRITING AND EDITING TALENT

LET US TURN YOUR GREAT IDEAS INTO LASTING IMPRESSIONS

HOW WE'VE HELPED

Read how our clients benefit from Ergo Editorial’s work.

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Listen up! We have all kinds of opinions about how to do this stuff right. No ranting — we promise.

Why Thought Leaders Should Never be Writers

Why Thought Leaders Should Never be Writers

Imagine this: a senior partner has a great idea for an article. She jots down a few thoughts during a break in her client meeting. She writes up that idea on the plane ride back from the client. Done! Published. Posted. Right? Not right.

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