PRESS RELEASE
InnVision -
Marissa Mirbach
The challenge in writing this press release was persuading the high school student, who was being honored with a 49ers Service Achievement Award for her volunteer efforts with InnVision to aid the homeless, to openly discuss her personal experiences and achievements.
Writing Samples
PRACTICE AREA INFO SHEETS
Phalanx Biotech: Human One-Array
PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS
2023 UTV Vehicle
Product Descriptions
The challenge I faced in writing the descriptions arose because I was not provided with any clear features and benefits for the products from the manufacturer, nor were there any SMEs (subject matter experts) who I could interview, and therefore, I had to obtain all product details and features and benefits information from sources that I found on the Internet.
PRODUCT DATA SHEET
Volunteering to Pay Off Parking Tickets
This was a technical marketing piece that was used to promote our products to our newly found niche clients--University-level scientists and researchers. who would benefit greatly from using our Micro-arrays in their gene expression experiments because they were less expensive than their non-generic counterparts and therefore would enable science and research departments with limited budgets to purchase more of them, which in turn would enable them to complete more experiments.
WEB SITES
Reverse Bench Press - What's All the Hype?
This article appeared in the Fitness section of GQ Magazine, Issue 246, October 2011, and while I enjoyed researching and writing it, I found it challenging to find men who would spot me in the gym so that I could report first-hand on the innovative, updated version of a "staple exercise."
WHITE PAPER
Info Plus Int'l.com
These Practice Area Info Sheets that I wrote for an IT and Communications Consulting firm were rather challenging to write because the descriptions of the real-world applications of the technology they discussed combined with the terminology used to discuss them were complex and required additional research and interviews with subject matter experts (SMEs). However, in the end, as you will see, they turned out to be quite effective marketing pieces and the IT firm was very pleased with them.
FITNESS ARTICLE
This was an assignment I created to provide a writing sample for a freelance job. The instructions were to write a letter to an elected official about an issue I found important. Here's what I came up with.
LETTER TO CITY COUNCILWOMAN
Case Studies section
Phalanx Biotech.com
Phalanx Biotech:
Micro-Arrays Save Researchers Time & Money
To write this white paper, I worked with the scientist who completed the experiments to prove that this company's invention of the generic Micro-array to conduct genome experiments was cost-effective and saved time and therefore money without sacrificing quality or integrity of the micro-arrays or the experiments themselves.
I took a Drupal class so that I could rewrite and update the graphics for this consulting company’s Web site. The challenge was understanding the details about the issues the company’s clients faced and how the company resolved them to accurately illustrate the company’s successes for the Case Studies section I wrote for their new site.
This company was originally headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, where I worked as a Technical Marketing Writer and was responsible for creating all of the company's Marketing Communications Deliverables, which included overhauling their Web site, writing technical manuals and white papers, creating advertisements - post card mailings and online email campaigns, as well as creating magazine ads. They have since moved their headquarters to Taiwan but have kept the Web site mostly the same, simply adding local language graphics (Chinese characters), and changing the address.
Info Plus Int'l
Advisory Services
System Integration
Landing Page
Projects
Outlined below are projects I completed for some of the organizations for which I worked that highlight my project management skills as well as my creativity and problem solving abilities to craft solutions through successful writing and communications.
Project Manager on the team that created the first tool in the documentation industry for publishing documentation both online and in hard-copy when we published the Cisco Systems Product Catalog from one set of single-source files. Successfully rolled out to 250 Product Managers and SMEs a new, online update tool for updating the Product Catalog, which enabled updates to be made online to new and existing products for inclusion in the next publication of the Cisco Product Catalog. This online tool was successfully adopted by 97% of users on the first release of it.
CISCO SYSTEMS–
For Old Republic Home Warranty, a home warranty company, created and wrote a new section in the company monthly newsletter called the “President’s Corner,” which featured a photo of the president of the company and a short, motivational message to employees. The section was well-received by employees, who felt recognized and appreciated for their work by upper management. The section was also well-liked by the President who appreciated the opportunity to connect with company employees. I was responsible for developing the concept of each topic of the president’s discussion each month and wrote the first draft of the article, which the president edited, and I then I rewrote and then was approved by the president for final publication.
OLD REPUBLIC HOME PROTECTION—
PHALANX BIOTECH–
For a Biotechnical company that manufactured micro-arrays for use in genome experiments, overhauled the Web site so that landing page clearly stated what we did and what products and services we offered. Prior to my re-design of the Web page, it was unclear what the company did and what its services and products were. Additionally, worked with the Vice President of Sales and Marketing as well as Scientists and other team members to identify niche markets then created effective email and advertising campaigns to target them. Results: Increased sales by 200% within the first six months of the first product release, and by an additional 50% after the first year upon the release of our second product.
INNVISION – THE WAY HOME—
For a non-profit organization that helped homeless individuals and families find permanent housing, wrote effective Holiday Donation Request Letter and Donor Appreciation Newsletter that highlighted recent projects and programs that had been successfully implemented, celebrated client success stories and appreciated specific donors and donor-programs that exceeded beneficiary goals during the past two years to raise donations for the upcoming Holiday Season. Both communications exceeded donations goals by 75% and 85% respectively and were well-received by donors and clients alike.
SHOP LOCAL – MOUNTAIN VIEW—
In conjunction with Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, was the Program Manager for Shop Local ~ Mountain View, a program where local businesses signed up and agreed to give a certain percentage of their total daily, weekly, or monthly sales to Local Schools with the goal of raising $10,000 in 6 months. I created the logo for the program and designed T-shirts and reusable shopping bags that could be purchased by people in the community to support the program and increase school donations. Also, as part of the program, weekly full-page “Shop Local ~ Mountain View” ads ran in the local paper, which featured participating businesses and their logos, and each week there was a feature story on a different participating Shop Local business. The Program was well-received by local businesses and townspeople and participation was high—I sold all 20 spots in the weekly full-page ad and I successfully interviewed and wrote the weekly feature article that highlighted a different local Mountain View business. We exceeded our goal of raising $10,000 and actually raised $11,432 for local schools, which was presented in a check to the Mountain View School Board by the CEO and President of the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, Oscar Garcia.
INFO PLUS INT’L—
Used Drupal, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Photoshop and MS Word to successfully create copy and implement graphics to update the Web site for and IT and Communications Consulting Firm, Info Plus Int’l. Wrote compelling, detailed information about the company and their products and services and descriptive Case Studies stories to capture the attention of the prospective customer and compel him or her to “Learn more” and “Request Additional Information,” which improved the user experience by 100% and increased Web traffic and prospective clients by more than 200%.
LOS GATOS RESEARCH—
CYMA ORCHIDS—
Overhauled a set of 30 user guides for high-performance gas and liquid measurement analyzers so that they were well organized, clear, succinct and easy to understand. Additionally, I updated the accompanying graphics and made sure they were technically accurate. My updates improved usability by 100% and almost eliminated support phone calls coming in from new and existing customers (calls were reduced from approximately 10 – 15 per day to about 2 -3 per month).
For a whole-seller of orchids, succulents and home décor products, I crafted and wrote effective email messages that successfully captured the attention of high-level executives in national chain grocery stores and elicited response messages, which resulted in successfully setting up sales meetings where the Vice President and I presented our products that we hoped to sell in their national stores. This resulted in obtaining several new multi-million-dollar customer contracts, which prevented the company from going under. In addition, I identified the need for the creation of a Product Catalog and I wrote all the product descriptions that accompanied product photographs.
Outlined below are projects I completed for some of the organizations for which I worked that highlight my project management skills as well as my creativity and problem solving abilities to craft solutions through successful writing and communications.
