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.”
Click the file tabs to learn how Ergo Editorial can help you.
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.
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 content — strategic publications designed to build awareness and create conversations — and 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.
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 …
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?
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
Founder & Principal
As founder and leader of Ergo Editorial, John has assembled an ace team of business …
READ MORE
Jeff Garigliano
Editorial
Jeff Garigliano is the editorial operations lead for Ergo Editorial, where he works …
READ MORE
PAUL FELDMAN
Editorial
Paul has been a writer and editor for more than 30 years focusing on topics …
READ MORE
Barbara Rozowsky
Financial
Barbara brings decades of experience in accounting to running the financial …
READ MORE
Whitney Smith
Client Service Manager
Whitney is Ergo Editorial’s Client Service Manager, responsible for managing …
READ MORE
AND HERE’S A GLIMPSE OF SOME OF OUR WRITING AND EDITING TALENT
Read how our clients benefit from Ergo Editorial’s work.
Writing the “Book” on Brand Portfolio Management
To showcase Lippincott’s preeminence in brand portfolio management, we were selected to develop a special issue of the brand consultancy’s “Sense” journal.
Creating Content (and Context) for New Business Book
When he was writing his second business book, Robert A. Rudzki, president of management consultancy Greybeard Advisors, hired us to help him enhance his content and meet his deadlines.
Adding to MIT’s Library of Management Thinking
For MIT’s journal of business research and ideas, we edited select feature articles that had passed muster with peer reviewers.
Getting More Value From Existing Marketing Investments
To help branding consultancy Lippincott get the maximum benefit from its marketing investments, we repurposed the firm’s core thinking on the theme of brand strategy before, during, and after a merger.
Helping Manpower Tell Important Stories About Talent Migration
To stake its claim as an expert in workforce management themes, Manpower worked with us to develop a detailed white paper on the huge migrations of talent across borders and between regions — and the impact of those migrations for policy makers and business leaders alike.
Developing Yearly Industry Report for Bain
We have written and edited Bain’s yearly report on the global diamond industry for six years running.
Presenting an M&A Boutique as Expert Seller Too
C.W. Downer & Co., a prominent merger-and-acquisitions boutique consultancy now known as Alantra, chose us to help reach small business owners who might be considering selling all or part of their companies.
Enabling Accenture to Reach C-Suite Prospects
Accenture called on us to develop articles and position papers that would demonstrate a deep understanding of the issues confronting C-suite business executives.
Turning Accenture’s “Tech Vision” From Modest Bulletin to Flagship Report
Ergo Editorial helped boost Accenture’s yearly “Technology Vision” report from a modest bulletin authored by the CTO to a high-impact, wide-circulation publication that has become central to Accenture’s go-to-market strategy.
Listen up! We have all kinds of opinions about how to do this stuff right. No ranting — we promise.
4 things that just aren’t thought leadership
Every well-meaning marketer wants a piece of “thought leadership.” But apparently not everyone knows what it is. Here are four things I often see posing as thought leadership.
What should customers do with your thought leadership, anyway?
So you and your subject-matter authors have labored long and hard to produce a brilliant thought leadership paper. It’s got a bold, well-differentiated argument. There’s a clear “why now.” It’s jam-packed with lively examples and proprietary data.
Where will your next generation of thought leaders come from?
Who are your current thought leaders? How old are they? And who’ll be authoring the bulk of your company’s thought leadership in 10 years’ time?