Brian Tomlinson

🚀 Head of Content, Staffbase | Change Communication, Marketing | I help digital leaders and corporations connect ideas, minds and metrics to drive meaningful transformations

Howdy, Brian here 👋🏾.

 Most content creates noise, not trust. Way more noise than signal.

Brands and leaders are publishing more than ever — blogs, newsletters, carousels, podcasts — and still can't walk into a board meeting and confidently explain what's working.

Traffic goes up. Pipeline stays flat. The team is stretched. And now everyone expects you to have an AI strategy on top of it all.

Sound familiar?

The problem isn't effort. It's architecture.

You don't need more content. You need a system that connects content to trust —and trust to pipeline.

That's what I build.

I help B2B leaders build AI-powered content systems that make them the obvious choice in their market.

I've got a simple thesis: when buyers are overwhelmed, they don't evaluate options. They default to who they already know and trust.

The question is — are you building that trust? Or just adding to the noise?

Here's what I bring to the table:
→ 20+ years across sales, marketing, communications, and content leadership 
→ Built the content engine at Staffbase -- transformed a blog-focused team into a media organization 
→ The brands I've worked for have over 1.1 million followers (on LinkedIn alone) 
→ Ran external and internal comms
→ Created transformation education programs for 12,000+ employees
→ Created a digital marketing COE (Center of Excellence)
→ And folks say I'm fun to work with 🤷🏾‍♂️

My approach: advisory, not agency. I design the system, coach your team, and guide implementation. You own the engine.

My fundamental why? I've spent 20 years doing one thing: helping brands be seen, and people adapt to change. Sales taught me commercial reality. Training taught me how adults learn. Digital transformation taught me adoption at scale. Content taught me audience building.

Now I help leaders and brands be seen, be trusted, and be chosen.

Antiguan 🇦🇬 in Hamburg 🇩🇪. 
Suffering Tottenham Hotspur fan.
Marathon runner. Father of two. 

DM me or subscribe to my newsletter at https://briantomlinson.me/newsletter/

Head of Digital Communications & International Enablement

Communications partner advising on content strategy and writing content for large and small companies, including: healthcare, wellness, biopharma, technology, consumer goods and financial industries.

•	Executive Communications – Advise on strategy and create materials for thought leadership campaigns and employee-focused messages for change and crisis communications. Write speeches and ghostwrite articles for external placement.

•	Internal Communications – Interview leaders for leadership profiles for employee audience; find & create stories that showcase employees’ work & personal accomplishments; interview end users/customers (e.g. patients, tech entrepreneurs) to show how products make a difference for people and companies.

•	External Communications – Create reader-friendly white papers for technology products; Revise press releases & advise on more effective approaches; generate ideas & draft executive profiles & company highlights for corporate responsibility reports.

•	Crisis Communications – Served for 2 years on client’s global COVID task force, advising on crisis, change, and executive communications; wrote employee communications, developed Q&A series with 3rd-party authority to help counter misinformation. Helped create & revise crisis communications playbooks to increase agility across multiple business units when preparing for and responding to emergencies or potential crises. 

•	Brand & Marketing Communications – Advise on brand strategy; Help small and large companies articulate tone of voice and style guidelines; Create copy & advise on navigation/user experience for websites and landing pages; Draft engaging, SEO-friendly blog articles; Write brand & product taglines and advertising headlines & copy; 

•	Coaching – Coach executives & managers on employee communications strategies. Coach individual writers & writing teams on improving content strategy, tone of voice and writing skills.

Freelance Writer & Communications Consultant

Philly Marketing Labs

As a freelance contractor for this company, I handled:

Brand Strategy
•	Drafted brand strategy and messaging for commercial mortgage company.
•	Helped with brand strategy and drafted messaging for proposed rebranding of major food brand

E-mail Marketing
•	Co-managed e-mail marketing for nursing school & commercial mortgage company. Wrote e-mail copy and subject lines.  

Copywriting and Blogging
•	Wrote content for landing pages and websites: SEO copywriting, conversion optimization.
•	Wrote blog posts on commercial mortgage topics as well as digital marketing, niche social networks, online privacy, and more.

Social Media Strategy, Execution and Training
•	Led social media execution & support for local financial institution, including Twitter and Facebook. 
•	Created social media guidelines for small and medium-sized businesses to use

Custom Corporate Training and Public Workshops, including:
•	LinkedIn: Leveraging the Power of Connections to Grow Your Business (for business owners through Drexel’s Baiada Center)
•	LinkedIn Training: Basics & How to Use for B2B Marketing (for property trust group) 
•	Twitter 101: How to Use for B2B Marketing (for software & technology company)

Freelance Digital Communicator & Brand Strategist

TE Connectivity

Currently (as of 2017), I still work with TE on a freelance basis. As a freelance consultant, I mainly do copywriting and editing, including for:
--Internal communications including intranet articles & executive messages
--Advertising and email campaigns for Digital Marketing, Medical and Appliances units
--Press releases
--Corporate responsibility report

I worked full-time for a short period in 2012, in which I did the following:
-- Wrote and edited new drafts of brand guidelines and public relations guidelines.
-- Helped with beginning strategy for content marketing and social media.
-- Reviewed RFPs and consulted with team on agency hiring.
-- Edited press releases.
-- Wrote articles for company intranet and edited HR benefits materials

Senior Copywriter, Corporate Marketing

Aetna

--Developed e-mail marketing standards for entire company.
--Created key marketing messages for product launches and write marketing materials for print and multimedia.
--Served on health literacy workgroup focused on improving use of plain language to help consumers better understand health insurance and health care. 
--Helped rewrite Aetna.com website to improve SEO, readability and increase site usage.
--Led team to create brand style guide for entire company. 
--Played key role in planning and implementing writer certification program for all writers in company. Created test and study materials. 
--Promoted in 2009 to lead team of 7 copywriters.
--Developed and led training classes on web writing for writers and account managers.
--Trained coworkers to incorporate brand messaging into marketing materials, and created and implemented my own resource tools.
--Reviewed companywide marketing materials for compliance, brand messaging, grammar, style and accuracy.
--Began as sole person in charge of member handbooks. Wrote handbooks and managed multi-departmental review process for all health plans and over 100 versions for use nationwide.

Senior Marketing Copywriter, Team Lead

Various Companies

--Freelanced at various companies. 
--Long-term proofreading for pharmacy at Wyeth.

Freelance Writer/Editor/Proofreader

ECRI

--Edited journal articles, technology assessments, medical abstracts and marketing materials, under strict deadlines.
--Trained new proofreaders and copy editors.

Medical Copy Editor

Ursinus College

--Wrote and edited all department publications.
--Managed full production of mass-mailed course brochure and catalog.
--Coordinated, led redesign of major marketing literature as part of developing new marketing plan.
--Advised adult undergraduate and graduate students on program entry and course selection. 
--Organized and ran charity donation program in second month of employment.

Information & Communication Specialist

There’s often a gap between what companies intend and what they achieve with communications. If this sounds like your company or simply you as a leader or manager, let’s talk. This is a gap I can help you fill. 

LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY – Let’s figure out why your communications are falling flat. I can:
•	Evaluate systems, processes, strategy and execution for improvement opportunities.
•	Establish frameworks for timing, messaging and delivery channels for different audiences and situations.
•	Create messaging and talking points to cascade information through managers effectively.
•	Provide communication coaching and ghostwriting for leaders.

BRAND & MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS – Let’s get your in-house, agency, and freelance content creators speaking in one voice. I can:
•	Audit current content, brand & style guides, and creative briefs.
•	Create style guides for internal comms and tone of voice guidelines for external comms.
•	Coach and mentor content teams and the product managers who direct and review marketing content.

CRISIS & TASK FORCE COMMUNICATIONS – Let’s make sure you’re prepared for any crisis and have an expert you can turn to if that crisis already hit. I can:
•	Audit current playbooks, prepared messaging, and processes for crisis comms.
•	Help you create playbooks, key messaging, and processes for different types of crises.
•	Serve as a fractional communications lead for a temporary task force or crisis team.

Contact me through LinkedIn and I'll send you my personal contact information so we can chat.

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