A Look Into the Social Media Trend of Corporate Blogs & Bloggers

Ambitious, enthusiastic, results-driven professional with a passion for creative design, writing and systematic thinking pursues a career in the field of communications, marketing and strategic media planning.

Jessica Goodman aspires to pursue a career in marketing where she will be able to utilize her knowledge of and experience in the field, all the while broadening her skill level and learning more about the communications industry.

She is the current Marketing Manager/Sales Assistant of Goodman Truck & Tractor Co., Inc., an International truck dealership located in Amelia, Virginia, and Goodman Specialized Vehicles, LLC, an ambulance and rescue vehicle dealer in Amelia, Virginia. Her responsibilities include but are not limited to creating and distributing print and Web marketing media,  preparing all Sales Department documents, cross-training with the Parts and Service departments, and working closely with customers.

Jessica is a class of 2009 alumna of James Madison University where she graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Arts and Design with a concentration in Corporate Communication.

 

Background

• Corporate Branding: While employed at Goodman Truck & Tractor Co., Inc., Jessica took on the role of Marketing Manager. She brought her experience in the field to the table and created and managed various print advertising media for the company. Jessica was also given the unique opportunity to experience first-hand the creation of a new company, Goodman Specialized Vehicles, LLC, also located in Amelia, Virginia. She collaborated with the company’s owners and sales manager on the creation of the company’s business plan, ultimately helping to secure the support and votes needed to form the new company. Jessica also aided in the creation of the company’s corporate identity, logo, direct mail pieces and calendar graphics, and is currently leading the charge on the creation of a new company Web site and Web presence.
• Writing and Editing: After holding the position of Editor-in-Chief of her high school yearbook over the 2004-2005 school year, Jessica has had a passion for writing and editing. This led her to choose a major in Media Arts and Design where she has both developed and refined her writing and editing skills through various classes, including Corporate Media Writing, News Editing, Feature Writing and Employee Communications.
• Web Communication: With an interest in Corporate Communications, Jessica has not only excelled in the fields of writing and editing, but has also gained experience in Web communication. She has researched and worked with new social media tools, including authoring a blog on Corporate Blogs and Bloggers, and has worked with HTML and Adobe Dreamweaver as well.
• Leadership: Jessica is a member of the Beta Rho chapter of Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity, a coeducational honor fraternity dedicated to promoting scholarship, leadership and fellowship. In the Fall of 2008, she was the fraternity’s Public Relations Committee Chair, a position that allowed her to manage and work closely with her committee to create and distribute advertising for the Fall 2008 rush period and for various events held throughout the semester.
• Group Collaboration: Jessica enjoys learning from others and contributing her skills and knowledge to her teammates, and therefore excels when working with a group to complete a task.
• Technology Proficiency: Macintosh and Windows operating systems; Adobe Creative Suite; various new social media tools; Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
• Personal Characteristics: Jessica prides herself on being an ambitious, diligent, detail-oriented and organized person with a strong work ethic and a passion for positive results.

 

Multimedia Portfolio

Listed below are a few of Jessica’s writing and design samples that she has compiled throughout her employment at Goodman Truck & Tractor Co., Inc., her experience with Goodman Specialized Vehicles, LLC, her education in various Media Arts and Design courses, and her time spent as the Public Relations Committee Chair for the Beta Rho chapter of Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity.

Goodman Truck & Tractor Co., Inc.: Though Goodman Truck & Tractor has been in business since 1951, the marketing side of the company has never truly been established. Therefore, Jessica was able to bring her education and experience in the marketing field to the table, helping to create an informational print flyer that was distributed to customers by mail and after face-to-face interactions with company salespeople. She also created a brochure detailing the company’s history and business aspects that was used throughout the dealership as a customer hand out.

Goodman Specialized Vehicles, LLC: In the spring of 2010, Jessica had the unique experience of aiding the two owners and one of the salespeople of Goodman Truck & Tractor in the creation of a business plan for a new start-up company. Jessica’s main responsibilities included brainstorming new business strategies, researching the competition, both writing and editing the final plan, and carrying the plan through its production. Though the business was unnamed at the time, the plan was successful in securing the support and votes needed by a parterning company to create Goodman Specialized Vehicles, LLC. Knowing that communications, marketing and design were a passion of hers, the owners and news sales manager of Goodman Specialized Vehicles allowed Jessica to create the company’s logo, direct mail and e-mail pieces, informational sales and service fliers, industry publication advertisements, marketing calendar graphics, and Facebook page. In order to further introduce the new company, Jessica and the Goodman Specialized Vehicles’ sales manager chose to hold an Open House for the company in late May of 2011. Jessica was instrumental in brainstorming, designing and producing all of the marketing aspects of the Open House, including the initial invitations sent out through e-mail, the tri-fold brochures, and the informative ”Discover the Difference” CDs and labels.

Fundamental Skills in Media Arts and Design I: In this introductory design course, Jessica created and designed a magazine cover using the skills that she acquired in Adobe Photoshop, as well as a new SMAD logo for the School of Media Arts and Design at James Madison University using Adobe Illustrator.

Corporate Media Writing: As the final project for this course, Jessica compiled a Media Kit for an organization that she was involved in at James Madison University, Phi Sigma Pi. Her Media Kit consisted of a new logo that she designed for the organization, a tri-fold brochure introducing the organization and its purpose, a news release that she wrote about a campus-wide event held by Phi Sigma Pi, and a newsletter for distribution to the organization’s members.

Feature Writing: In this course, Jessica refined her reporting, writing, and editing skills. For each story she authored, Jessica decided on the story idea, sought out and interviewed sources, wrote and edited multiple rough drafts, and produced a final, polished feature story. One of her feature stories is titled “Sports Blogs” and highlights four unique sports bloggers and the blogs they author. Another of her stories titled “No Drive Day” details an event held on the James Madison University campus meant to open students’ eyes to alternative forms of transportation to and from class.

Principles of Advertising: Jessica worked with a group of three other students to create an advertising campaign for a client in Harrisonburg, Va., Cat’s Cradle. As a member of the team, Jessica’s role included brainstorming campaign ideas with the other members, helping to carry out the campaign ideas by contributing to the written plan, and presenting the final plan to the client along with her team members. The final, written group campaign consisted of a Cover Page, Title Page, Table of Contents and written plan.

Employee Communication: As a course assignment, Jessica researched new social media tools, including Wikis, blogs, podcasts and RSS feeds. She then wrote a New Media Report aimed at the senior executives of a fictional company, Broadband Unlimited, explaining to them the various tools and both how and why they would or would not improve the company’s internal and external communication.

Web Communication: This course focused on new social media tools and their use within a corporate setting. This allowed Jessica the chance to research three professional blogs and one professional podcast, detailing her impression of what makes them successful corporate tools in her Social Media Report. Jessica also created and authored a blog on Corporate Blogs and Bloggers and wrote and recorded a podcast on tips for corporate blogging practitioners, as well as the risks associated with corporate blogging. The podcast is posted below.

Podcast: Corporate Blogging Tips and Risks

Corporate Communication Management: In this Corporate Communication capstone course, Jessica was able to take the knowledge she gained throughout her her Media Arts and Design courses and apply it to a final group project: a communication plan for an acquired company, The Green Bean. Along with her group members, Jessica detailed key messages and objectives concerning the acquisition, created a timeframe of when to release which media tools to which audiences, defined the key stakeholder groups affected, and discussed the various internal and external communication efforts that would need to take place to successfully communicate the news of the acquisition.

Venture Creation: Jessica’s interest in business, entrepreneurship and strategic planning led her to this course in James Madison University’s College of Business. Along with her four teammates, Jessica brainstormed the concept for a new start-up: an organic dog food company named ENVIgorate. Jessica and her teammates then researched and authored the business plan and presented the plan in front of a panel of professionals at the course’s end-of-semester business plan competition in the spring of 2009, where Envigorate placed second. Jessica’s role in the project included researching the pet food industry and USDA Certified Organic standards, developing the company’s branding strategy, aiding in communicating the group’s business concept into a polished, written plan, and designing the ENVIgorate logo.

Phi Sigma Pi, Public Relations Committee Chair: In the Fall of 2008, Jessica held the position of Public Relations Committee Chair for the Beta Rho chapter of Phi Sigma Pi. As a part of her responsibilites, she created, designed and distributed advertising for various events held by the organization, one of which was the MS Sleepout to help raise money for multiple sclerosis research, the Beta Rho chapter’s local philanthropy. For that event, Jessica created a flyer that was also used as a Facebook profile graphic by members of the organization in order to help promote the event to friends and the community.

 

About Jessica N. Goodman

 Jessica is currently employed at Goodman Truck & Tractor Co., Inc., an International truck dealership, where she has worked since June of 2009, and Goodman Specialized Vehicles, LLC, an ambulance and rescue vehicle dealer, where she has worked since its start-up in June of 2010. She graduated with honors from James Madison University in May of 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Arts and Design with a concentration in Corporate Communication. While at JMU, Jessica was actively involved around campus as a member of the Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity and, with a family history of Dukes pride, as a fan and game attendee of various JMU sports. From media writing to news editing, advertising to public relations, and Web design to new social media, she is ready to apply the knowledge and experience that she has gained during her employment and her time spent at James Madison University and pursue a career in marketing, corporate branding and creative design. To view a PDF version of Jessica’s print resume, please click here. For more information, please contact Jessica at GoodmanJN-at-gmail-dot-com.