Red Pen Month in Review: May 2023

honeybee on flower

Just like the honeybees exiting hibernation, the Red Pen crew has been busy this spring—both personally and professionally. Some of our fun personal happenings include:

  • Diana volunteered to serve as the pool manager for her HOA, and the pool season launch went swimmingly under her guidance. 

  • Mike ran his 11th half marathon. And he may have passed more people than any other single runner (because he arrived late and started dead last, but that’s besides the point).

  • Stephanie took her toddler to Germany and The Netherlands—a trip rescheduled from 2020 when he wasn’t even on her radar. 

Despite our goings-on, we managed to complete around 80 assignments for the month of May! Here’s a breakdown and some highlights.

May Project Types and Clients

We completed copy editing, blog writing, ghost writing, webinar recaps, landing pages, and social media copy for our May clients. The client roster included:

  • Aspire

  • CAST

  • Central Construction Group

  • eScribe

  • FieldRoutes

  • Marathon Health

  • OnBoard

  • ServiceTitan

  • Webex

  • Zylo

We covered topics from education accessibility and transforming the healthcare system to SaaS management and software for the trades. 

Project Clips

We love to share our work and our fabulous clients with all of you. Here are some May clips:

As we dive into June, we are looking forward to sunshine, swimming, gardening, and of course, producing great results for our clients.

Want to be added to our lineup? Get in touch here. 


Why Real Journalists and Storytellers Know Fact from Fiction Better than AI

AI typing on laptop

Ah, the rise of AI. It can certainly make things faster, more convenient, and less burdensome. But should we really be using AI to report the news, or to write SEO content specifically to help a commercial client’s website rank higher on Google?

As a longtime reporter/editor and owner of a content writing firm, my answer is a firm, “No.” Of course, I’m biased. It is my livelihood, after all. But with nearly 40 years of experience as a journalist and content producer, I can say with conviction — real journalists and storytellers know fact from fiction, unique from plagiarized, and truth from lies better than AI.

Admittedly, there are times when I miss working as a newspaper reporter and editor. My sole purpose every single day was to somehow “be in the know” by digging up facts, talking to real people, and reporting the news. I met daily deadlines, tried hard to never insert my own opinions, and wrote news and feature articles in a way that was fair, balanced, and accurate.

When I read, watch, or listen to the news today, I find myself constantly wondering where have all the “real journalists” gone? It seems as if all the good ones left the industry amidst the mass newsroom layoffs over the past two decades. Hardly anyone digs into the details anymore (especially on a local level), and too many so-called journalists depend on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites to report “the news.”

Now, some in the media world want to use AI to report the news, as well as create other types of content. Do we not remember all of the instances of “false news” posted on social media sites or fake photos and videos going viral after being shared online? How can you tell what’s real or not these days? It’s really quite mind-boggling.

Some experts say conversational chatbots, such as ChatGPT, may use AI programming to write essays, summarize books, produce financial reports, and more — but it has no way of distinguishing between truth and falsehood. Isn’t that essentially the role journalists are supposed to play, to uncover the truth and present the facts simply and clearly for everyone to understand? It used to be, anyway.

The bottom line? AI is a tool that journalists must explore to make their jobs easier, conduct a full data analysis, and do more impactful work. But I personally would never rely solely on AI to write any type of content without my team of humans double- or triple-checking the facts. 

Real journalists ask questions and follow leads. Real storytellers interview real people, then add a creative human touch as they craft the right tone and voice for the subject matter at hand. AI will never be able to do that (at least I hope not!).

Relaxed Writing Environment Reduces Stress, Helps Creativity Shine

A few years ago, I remember venting to my former supervisor from Angie’s List, Diana Lamirand, about how I felt stressed all the time at my start-up job. 

I was constantly distracted from the bazillions of daily Slack messages, I had the Sunday scaries every weekend, and honestly dreaded opening my laptop each morning to discover whatever hot mess awaited me.

I was busy day and night, yet it never felt like I could accomplish anything.

At the time, Diana’s agency, Red Pen Content Creation, was helping me produce content I never had the time to write. While on the call, Diana said something like, “Why don’t you just come work for Red Pen?”

Diana explained how most of Red Pen’s clients developed through relationships with friends or former coworkers, she doesn’t work with difficult people or put up with B.S., and prioritizes a stress-free work environment.

I was sold.

Fast-forward two and a half years later, I’m still writing for Red Pen, and I get to work from home with my best buddy Kira by my side. Not only do I rarely feel stressed while working, I no longer get the Sunday scaries. Most importantly, I’m producing way more content, and constantly sharpening my skills that had started to dull in my previous job.

Why? 

Because I’m free of distractions. I’m not stressed out all the time. I have time to focus and write. 

While in the thick of the start-up game, I was lucky to write three blogs a month. At Red Pen, I can write three articles in a week, sometimes more. We’re not even halfway through 2023 and the small-but-mighty Red Pen team has already knocked out over 400 pieces for our clients.

Put simply: When we don’t feel stressed, we’re able to create killer content. The model works for me, our team, and especially our clients. We’ve recently had several clients ramp up their agreements with Red Pen, and we frequently pick up new clients from happy referrals.

Whether you’re currently in a similar situation, or need help writing blogs, customer stories, website copy, or case studies, we can help.

Want to see how a boutique agency full of three happy professionals can help you achieve your business goals? Reach out for a free quote.

Wearing Too Many Hats? Outsource Content Creation to the Pros

What’s the difference between a social media manager, email marketing specialist, copywriter and SEO strategist? At many of today’s organizations — nothing! All of the specialized content duties fall under one role, stretching the modern content marketer in several directions. 

In the annual B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Insights for 2023 report, 46% of respondents say one individual or group is responsible for producing all types of content within their organizations, including thought leadership, SEO content, and brochures.

We understand the burden this places on content marketers. In fact, we’ve been there. From small marketing departments to one-person content teams, our careers have allowed us to perfect the skill of multitasking, but also taught us it doesn’t have to be that way. 

Outsource Content Creation for Better Peace of Mind

When you burn the candle at both ends, the work suffers. Not only does quality slip, but with so many competing priorities, content professionals lack time to produce the work they were hired to do. 

There’s strength to be found in knowing when to ask for help. In the same content marketing report, 47% of respondents said they expect their B2B organizations to hire content producers in 2023. If you’re in that boat, might we suggest Red Pen’s content writing services? When you work with our boutique agency, you benefit from:

  • Selected client roster: We’re not one of those giant content agencies or mass-production content farms, and that’s by design. We take on a limited number of clients so we can dive deep into their style guides, missions and goals. We consider ourselves as an extension of the team. 

  • More affordable content: We price our services based on a flat hourly rate, and since we operate with very little overhead, hiring Red Pen to write your content proves much more affordable for businesses and nonprofits of all sizes. 

  • Work to write home about: We’ve never really marketed our services, which is a point of pride for us. Our company has remained solvent through word-of-mouth referrals. We stand on our reputation and don’t let clients down.

  • Veteran journalists: As trained and seasoned reporters, we dig deep to understand our subject matter, and aren’t afraid to ask questions. Rather than guessing, we ensure we know your content goals in order to do it right the first time.

Red Pen Specialties

Red Pen offers content services in the following areas:

  • Blog writing and management

  • Copy editing

  • Website copywriting

  • SEO management

  • Email and marketing newsletters

Check out samples of our work.

Ready to see how hiring help can propel your business forward? We look forward to working together to achieve your content marketing goals in 2023. Contact us today for a free quote.

Red Pen Embraces New Website, Season of Growth

Change is good, and we all need to hit the refresh button once in a while. For me, the urge to reset or regroup tends to fall in line with the changing of seasons. At this time of year as summer winds down and autumn begins its glorious path forward, I always look forward to embracing the endless possibilities on the horizon.

Changes are certainly happening at Red Pen. Our client base continues to expand, revenue growth remains steady, and our full-time, senior writing and editing staff grows with each new year. I also assumed sole ownership of the company about a year ago, and worked to overcome a whole new set of challenges related to running a small business on your own.


With all of these mostly positive changes propelling Red Pen’s reputation as a reliable firm offering quality content writing and editing services, we decided it was the perfect time to give our website a little reboot to better present our current operations. Check out our new look and let me know what you think.

Growth, Despite No Marketing

As Red Pen approaches the end of its sixth year in business, I still marvel over the fact that I’m actually running a successful small business. Never saw that one coming! 🙂 Even so, we grew this boutique content agency based on word-of-mouth through personal and professional connections — despite limited effort to market our content services.

It’s the people we’ve known and worked with throughout the years who have truly moved Red Pen forward. Former bosses, colleagues, staff members, and friends recognize the value that Red Pen brings to the content services industry, and continue to be some of our long-term clients. 

Two of those former colleagues also joined Red Pen as full-time employees. Content Director Mike LaFollette came on board in January 2021, followed by Senior Account Manager Stephanie Figy in April 2022. They’re both extremely talented, capable, and willing to tackle most any project, and I know Red Pen wouldn’t be what it is today without them. 

With Red Pen’s team of professional journalists, highly skilled writers and editors, and excellent digital marketers, you get quality content marketing materials that are specific, solution-driven, and targeted to the right audience to build your brand. Help us get the word out by getting in touch today!