Art direction, copywriting, project management,

social media, PR . . . all part of the Marketing role

I played at FileWave, a small global computer

software management company.

FileWave had been a source for software

management for twenty years, but was known

only in Europe. It was time for a major rebranding

for their United States launch. I updated all the

graphics and information systems, refreshing

the color palettes and giving their copy, a new,

current voice.

This was reflected on an updated Joomla

website that featured a banner “billboard” for

updates and new features.Other brand elements

included an eight page brochure, sell sheets

for the various audiences, trade show signage

and exhibits, white papers and other advertising

and collateral. I expanded their marketing

mix by directing and editing a series of video

testamonials, used on the website and in trade

shows. These tools enabled the sale staff to

compete for larger, more lucrative customers

and to challenge our competitors on a level

playing field.

�lewave

Building a brand from scratchOne of the biggest challenges of learning a new client or industry

is understanding their unique ‘voice’. The FileWave ‘voice’ targeted

high-tech developers and engineers, as well as IT administrators,

the decision makers, who would implement the software manage-

ment system. It’s a bit of an understatement to say that this ‘voice’

was outside of my comfort zone. However, in a few weeks, I was

talking tech.

Reviewing the FileWave palette was the first step in refreshing the

brand. I replaced the dated dark blue color with a spectrum of cool

grays, which complimented the warm red that was also part of their

corporate identity. The grays also complimented the Apple and

Windows color palettes. This was important since their computers

and devices were depicted in most of FileWave’s marketing.

With a very limited budget, I developed a technical infographic style

that was effective in telling the FileWave story, how it worked as a

management system and how it made the IT administrators role so

much easier.

FileWave corporate brochure:A study in red and gray - clean, sophisticated and high-tech. FileWave is a cross-platform software, but mirrors the Apple look and feel.

F I L E W A V E

I C O N O G R A P H Y

I implemented our new corporate identity into brochures, sell sheets and our

new Joomla website that featured a sliding banner for updates and product

announcements. Once the basic website was up with new graphics and

copy, I started talking to customers about doing case studies to use on the

site and in our trade show booth. Working with a videographer, I directed and

edited three successful 10-minute videos with our Indianapolis, Fort Wayne

and Mooresville, NC customers that served as strong testamonials to our

product and helped us compete with our much larger competitors. I

developed printed case studies from the videos and utilized social media to

announce the new additions to the website.

I love variety and working as a member of the Filewave team definitely

satisfied my need for wearing lots of hats. I wrote and placed press releases

for every software update as well as doing social media on all updates and

trade shows. It was also my role to write and implement Marketing plans

for FileWave and keep the executive staff

updated on project management.

Organizing the first FileWave conference

for customers was a unique challenge that

required day-to-day collaboration with all

members of our staff. I managed the agenda,

the speakers, the keynote presentations, as

well as the logistics of putting on a full-day

event for over 100 people.

During the year and a half that I worked at

FileWave, I stretched myself considerably −

building the FileWave brand from scratch,

adding social media, PR, email and front-end

website design and editing to my growing list

of skill sets and directing a global marketing

plan with minimal budget − working almost

exclusively on my own.

The FileWave website:The ultimate communication tool. Our site informed visitors of how the software worked, what systems that it worked on, when new updates were available and served as a rallying point for our user-group. I designed the graph-ics, wrote the copy, updated and edited news stories and features and directed and edited the video testamonials on the site.