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The myth of the eight-hour sleep
Sleeping in one eight-hour chunk is a very recent phenomenon, and lying awake at night could be good for you, according to scientists and historians.

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The myth of the eight-hour sleep
Sleeping in one eight-hour chunk is a very recent phenomenon, and lying awake at night could be good for you, according to scientists and historians.

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Michael Tomasky: There Will Be No Saviors for the GOP in 2012
The Republican party’s biggest problem isn’t its candidates. It’s the ideological bloodlust of its base.

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Kevin Smith's "Red State" to Screen Nationwide in One-Night Simulcast
Oh, that zany Kevin Smith. Here's the latest turn in the release-strategy roller coaster ride that is

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Our Media, Ourselves: Are We Headed For A Matrix? : NPR
We're streaming our video, downloading our books and doing away with the hard copies that used to help communicate our personalities to one another. Bob Mondello points to a surprisingly early vision …

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Boo! Ghostwriting Grows In Age Of ‘Book As Badge’
The craft of ghostwriting is a dark art of sorts, replete with secrecy and scandal. But lately, it’s also becoming a booming business.

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Coach Woody Goulart » Blog Archive » Danger in Do It Yourself Business Websites » Coach Woody Goulart
Woody Goulart offers professional coaching service: business coaching for senior executives, coaching for strategic communications, and website coaching.

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Products and Services

Here are the marketing communication products and services that Woody Goulart has experience providing:

• blogging for business
• brochures
• PowerPoint presentations
• public speeches, talking points, scripts
• complete, cutting-edge websites
• digital online strategies/tactics for business/government
• advertising campaigns (online and traditional media channels)
• short digital video presentations
• Photoshop editing/production
• strategies/tactics for dealing with disapproving audiences
• teaching/mentoring writers for business and government
• coaching executives for public appearances/speeches/testimony

Woody Goulart has professional, expert-level technical skills in advanced text writing, graphic design, audio and video Web production using Adobe Creative Suite for Mac, 35mm digital photography, Flash video, iMovie HD, employee intranets (Microsoft SharePoint, Web 2.0 employee collaboration suites), blogging software (Apple, Google, Microsoft, WordPress, others), wiki software (Confluence, ExpressionEngine, Mediawiki, others), content management systems (Expression Engine, Joomla, WordPress, others), social media software (Facebook, Flickr, StumbleUpon, Tumblr, Twitter, Xing, YouTube, others), online forum software (ExpressionEngine, phpBB, others), plus manual coding to optimize RSS, CSS, HTML, XML, PHP and MySQL databases.

Professional Disciplines

Let’s start by looking at Marketing Communications.

Q: What is Marketing Communications?
A: Promoting or selling products, services, credibility, image, reputation, ideas and concepts, or desired behaviors to key audiences using tailored strategies and tactics. Marketing communications sometimes is called “marcom” because a shorter name is often a better way to go.

Here are some other important names with which you should become familiar:

Plain Language is today’s most simple and clear United States English language that you can choose to use when you want to be persuasive in convincing your target audience. The United States has a 2010 federal law that requires agencies of the government to train federal employees to use plain language. Even if you work outside of the federal government, you need to know how to use plain language in your professional communications.

Public Relations is the professional field of creating and managing the image and reputation of a person, group, company, or organization.

Social Marketing (also sometimes called Cause Marketing) is the use of marketing and persuasion methods in an attempt to change beliefs and behaviors of people associated with a social good. The efforts to prevent young people from starting to smoke cigarettes is one of the best known examples of social marketing. Do not confuse Social Marketing with Social Media.

Social Media is the term that applies to today’s interactive online media where people choose to share information about themselves and their opinions with other people.

Social Media Marketing is the use of Social Media for purposes of promoting, selling, or marketing a person, concept, group, company, organization, and so on. Keep in mind that Social Media Marketing is not necessarily Social Marketing.

“Woody has been an invaluable advisor and solution developer for my Job of the Week website and related sites. He got me up and running not once, but again when my initial service provider discontinued the platform that hosted my sites. His careful examination of the options available to me, and his thoughtful recommendation allowed me to overcome any hesitation I had and got me started on a new and better level of service. And once he had turned over my new site to me, he stayed with me to coach me and assist me with the transition, even when there were matters which required the attention of the provider’s tech support staff. He has my recommendation and my gratitude.”

“I am pleased to endorse Woody Goulart and vouch for his character. While working at the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Woody Goulart exemplified a high level of integrity and professionalism in all of his interactions at every level within the agency. In performing his duties, he approached his job with a sense of commitment and duty – to engage every employee in a straightforward and honest manner. He was thorough in his fact-finding efforts and he demonstrated clear-eyed understanding of the facts. He worked closely with key staff members of the agency and was able to convey his understanding of the observable and unobservable facts in a meaningful way to those leading the agency. The seriousness in which Woody met the mandates of his contract did not constrain him from sharing his refreshing sense of humor with the COPS staff in lighter moments during the workday. Woody proved himself to be a trustworthy individual,which allowed staff members to feel that their confidential comments would be guarded by his unflinching professional integrity.”

“Working with Woody was a delight. He is a very knowledgeable individual, who has a wide range of diverse experiences that actually accentuates the value of his recommendations. He demonstrated a self-assured leadership style that reflected confidence and humility. Woody’s visionary leadership is a noteworthy quality that is truly needed in launching the 21st Century ideals in the federal workforce. Woody has the capabilities to be an asset to any agency that employs his services. I consider it a rare privilege to have worked with him. It goes without saying; Woody left a lasting impression on the workforce at the COPS Office.”

“Woody leverages his extensive experience and education to bring thought leadership in the development of communications services to his clients. He is well schooled in the traditional business practices of communications consulting, but also adds a dimension of modernism via his knowledge of Internet-based media. Woody is always willing to lend a hand on special projects. In addition, Woody is the consummate gentlemen – he always presents himself with grace and dignity, with a touch of humor added in for good measure – attributes key to any successful team.”

“Woody has exceptional insight and vision to see areas needing improvement and makes those improvements without being tasked. His understanding of the communications field combined with his web development skills, makes him uniquely suited for any strategic communications or marketing company. He is very intelligent, well read and stays informed. He is not pretentious nor self-serving. He has a keen sense of humor and is a strong team member. His work was always on time and at levels higher then expected. He is well suited to lead a team of web developer, writers or editors. He provides the service equal to two professional; as an editor for an Army publication with over 1 millions copies and developing a simple web site into a professional strategic communications platform.”

“Woody has both a strong education and experience in traditional media / public relations plus a complete handle on new media. It is hard to find someone who is such a perfect blend of both, I know because I tried and failed before doing the classic dope slap and remembering my friend Woody Goulart. He not only explained why but showed me how to step in to the modern marketing era. His work has revitalized not only my image but helped reenergize my enthusiasm for what I do each day.”

“I have known Woody since 2000 when he hired me as a bilingual language editor at AARP, with concentration on Spanish text. His imagination for the difficulties and advantages of publishing in Spanish in the United States is remarkable. My experience is that he simply asks the right questions and takes the right decisions. For someone whose native language is English–but is also knowledgeable of Spanish–Woody demonstrates a strong respect for the use of standard, accessible, and correct usage of the Spanish language within the United States. In addition, he is gifted at building healthy and stimulating work relationships. Woody Goulart is very good professional and an excellent human being. I cannot but highly recommend Woody for editorial management of Spanish language content within an English-speaking organization.”

“When I needed to hire a writer, the first person I turned to was Woody. He is an excellent writer, a quick study and a forward thinker. He also has the temperament to work well under pressure and deal comfortably with our top leaders. He is a true professional with the skills, commitment and character to succeed. He is an accomplished professional of the highest character. I highly recommend him.”

“I first got to know Woody Goulart when I was head of Public Relations and Development at a greater Boston community-based hospital. He was starting up the community activities and channel operations for Continental Cablevision, working hard to bring the region quality local programming. His energy and interest in building programming that would benefit, play a key role in and help build the community was enormous. He fearlessly navigated the waters of a fairly parochial community structure, bringing relevance to the work of many different and often disparate groups and organizations. Woody was able to build consensus among leaders and programming that worked to enrich the efforts of these various organizations as well as the lives of the community. He was able to very quickly establish support for his work and became revered within the region.”

“I worked with Woody for 2 years while at Booz Allen Hamilton and he is one of the most professional, hard-working teammates I’ve had the pleasure to work with. We worked on both the Real Warriors Campaign and on a white paper. I witnessed him as a gifted strategic communication thinker with specific talents in crafting messages and in leadership of online channels (new media). He is a self-starter with an intelligent approach to management issues. He’s a true pleasure to work with and consistently delivers the highest-quality products.”

• Federal Government Internal Communications Experience: My leadership in an employee communications effort inside an agency of the Department of Justice in Washington, DC made a significant impact upon the organization. See recommendation regarding my work at this agency. This involved day-to-day work with senior level executives. My work made it possible for research findings to be adapted by the agency to establish an employee communications program where none previously existed.

 

• Internal Communication Experience with Major Global Corporation: My experience at Booz Allen served 20,000+ employees through the use of social media to eliminate widespread silos and increase employee engagement and satisfaction. The efforts that I led (2008-2009) were designed to implement an employee communications program for the very first time in this established consulting firm. This employee communications program attempted to stimulate the use of interactive digital technology that most employees resisted as irrelevant to their daily work lives. My leadership helped win a 40% participation during the first few months of the 2008 launch.

 

• Entrepreneur in Internal Communications: I was entrepreneurial when I created and developed a proprietary online portal using Web 2.0 technology exclusively for employees that enabled sharing of up-to-the-minute organizational messages to keep all employees unified and “on the same page.” This portal was especially valuable in communicating strategically to employees as a new CEO took over at AARP in 2001. This considerable cultural shift with the new CEO included a complete rebranding of the organization internally for employees–a significant change management effort in which I had a key editorial management role. I wrote a rebranding guidelines document that served as one of the core elements of the redefinition of AARP in the transition the new century. I won the APEX award three consecutive years in the row (2003, 2004, 2005) in the Washington, DC market for my work on employee communications.

 

• Prior to arriving in DC in 1995, my experience in the corporate world prepared me and defined me as the leader and strategist that I am today. In Arizona (1993-1995) I led statewide marketing and sales for a regional cable television corporation. I represented management interests as employees entered into a unionization attempt following a downward trend in employee engagement and satisfaction. In Massachusetts (1982-1990) I had full budgetary responsibilities for a multimillion-dollar regional cable television operation during an era of high government regulation and employee unionization attempts. My direct general management responsibilities included quality control of a regional customer call center, evaluating and launching new products and services for customers and overall revenue generation. I was directly responsible for a total staff of 85 persons, including five department heads. I wrote and delivered employee communications in the context of a fight against unionization as guided by corporate training in National Labor Relations Board issues.

That Latin word is widely used in today’s business world even while most people may not know it comes from ancient Rome. There simply is no better, singular word in the English language to describe the highly valued traits of personal substance, depth of character, and essential strength of personality.

You either have it or you don’t. You may eventually acquire it as you gain personal experience in life. But, nobody can fake it if they haven’t already got it.

My gravitas is the direct outcome of my having chosen to learn from many life lessons. It’s one thing to age–everybody does. Not everybody wants to grow or change, however, while experiencing personal and professional challenges.

Unique Blend of Experience and Savvy

When I talk about what I can bring to an organization for marketing and communication leadership, I point out how unique I am. I connect the dots to show that who I am comes from where I have been and what I have already done:

Why I am unique is that I have major-market experience in executive speechwriting and other traditional methods of public relations and strategic communication, experience in mainstream media news and public affairs, and experience using today’s digital media and succeeding in strategies and tactics for social media channels use.

To Whom Should You Listen?

You may hear someone with a recent college diploma telling you that it’s important to use Twitter or Facebook when making strategic communication plans for your business. Yet, no matter what that person may say, you won’t be able to dismiss the essential truth that they never lived in a world without the Internet.

A person’s ability to master communication and marketing cannot focus primarily upon computer technology or software. A core understanding of how and why people interact as they do must guide all strategic communications and marketing, regardless of what technology people may use.

Think about this carefully: What can anyone who did not survive in business before the Internet or social media really offer as professional counsel to you?

My gravitas derives directly from my many years of professional experience writing and providing strategic communication leadership and counsel to business executives. Plus, I also have years of professional university-level teaching of business writing, news writing, and writing for public presentations such as speeches, PowerPoint decks and similar presentations. I am both traditional and contemporary in communications and marketing leadership based on a breadth and depth of professional experience as a writer, editor, and producer of print, broadcast and online content.

I have had full-bird colonels in the US military and Senior Executive Service people at the Pentagon who read, reviewed, and ultimately approved my editorial work. I also have survived in major markets in business before the Internet in writing and communication counseling of civilian people, business people and even a celebrity or two. In short, I have been tested under the most demanding circumstances and I have prospered.

From experience, I have learned that using the Internet is only one tool of many available for creating success in today’s strategic communication efforts towards effective social marketing.

“The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem of what to say and how to say it.”

– Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965)

Washington, DC is a city of secrets. You know that. So, it should not surprise you to know that within the world of secrecy that is Washington, DC, there are people who blog in secret. This is an inside look into one of the most fascinating elements of today’s digital media online, ghost blogging.

I am someone who can now admit to being a professional ghost blogger. It’s true. In February 2006, Lawrence Ragan Communications of Chicago published an online profile of me because of my ghost blogging work in Washington, DC. Download a pdf of that 2006 online story here.

Since the need for secrecy no longer exists, in the interest of historical accuracy and honesty, I am happy to share with you the fact that I was a ghost blogger in Washington, DC for AARP, the well-known nonprofit organization for older Americans.

In those days, the purpose of AARP’s public-facing blog was marketing. The AARP blog was one of that organization’s first attempts to use new media to reach out to its target audiences in innovative ways. The organization started in 1958 and for decades was known for using traditional, mainstream media methods for outreach. Due to management changes at the organization during the early 2000s, the original AARP blog as it was conceived and produced in those days, no longer exists.

A current version is now online in a completely revamped format. The value for any organization to have a public-facing blog for marketing to target audiences cannot be denied. An organization like AARP that needs to keep constant interaction going with its target audience or lose relevance by now understands the importance of maintaining online interaction channels such as blogging.

From my experience, being a ghost blogger is very similar to being a speechwriter who functions as a ghost writer for someone else. Since I started as a Washington, DC ghostwriter of executive speeches at AARP in 1995, I am someone with significant experience in writing for someone else while concealing my own identity. I can tell you from experience that in Washington, DC, concealing your own identity while writing blog entries on behalf of someone else is an extension of concealing your own identity while writing speeches on behalf of executives.

But, let me warn you from my own experience: Only if you can set aside your own ego and submerge your natural need for recognition of your writing from others will you be successful at the craft of ghost blogging. (Why is ghost blogging two words compared to ghostwriting, which is one word!?)

Here’s a less comical question: Is ghost blogging better or worse than bylined blogging? My experience has taught me that one form of blogging is not better or worse than the other. Writing for a blog is what it is–writing for a blog. Whether you conceal your true identity or you put your real name right there online for the world to see, you need to know how to write for a blog and how to adapt what you write to your blog’s intended audience.

While there may be business reasons or even political reasons for concealing your true identity when you write for a blog, knowing how to write and knowing how to adapt what you write will always remain more important to your blog’s success or failure. When I worked as AARP’s unnamed blogger, I understood the reality that what was important was the messages conveyed in AARP’s blog. My identity as the blogger was completely irrelevant and secondary to the primary importance of the messages that AARP wanted to transmit in its blog.

Here you can download three pdf samples of my writing that are representative of my work as a ghost blogger in Washington, DC:

blog archive 1 (pdf); blog archive 2 (pdf); blog archive 3 (pdf)

Professionals like me who have succeeded in executive communications in Washington, DC are a different breed. We know the great challenges and difficulties of Washington, DC–the one, unique place where professional speechwriting is a vital industry. Our experience in the world of Washington, DC speechwriting is not like anywhere else.

But let me show you what I mean rather than just talking about it. Below is the full text of what I consider my best work as a Washington, DC speechwriter.

Executive Communications

In addition to speechwriting, I also have a track record of writing print/online products. See these PDFs:

• annual report
• advocacy brochure
• advocacy journalism product
• member expo newspaper
• op-ed

Speech: “First View”

Length/Format:
15 – 20 minutes on teleprompter before an audience of 5,000 people at a national convention.

Purpose:
Inaugural address of Margaret Dixon, who was the first African American to serve as president of AARP in Washington, DC.

Context:
AARP recognized the need to rebrand itself from a stodgy organization of grandparents to become relevant to the huge Baby Boom generation, which collectively does not consider itself as being “old.” The venue of this inaugural address was Denver, Colorado at the annual AARP convention for members and the general public.

Complete Speech Text:
Out on the prairie a couple of hundred miles east of here is a place called Firstview, Colorado. It sounds like an unlikely name–and it is. But the early frontier explorers gave it that name for a very good reason.

And together we will channel the power and the spirit that live within all of us to build a brighter tomorrow. But, we must not wait for the future–we must shape it.

Speech written by Woody Goulart. Given by Margaret Dixon, Denver, Colorado, May 22, 1996.

      

One tangible proof of the effectiveness of my Web 2.0 work is that my writing efforts won me three consecutive years recognition in the Washington, DC metropolitan region for the 2003, 2004, and 2005 APEX Awards.

My direct experience using the Internet for business started back in 1996 in Washington, DC—one of the most competitive major media markets in the United States.

My expertise using the Web for business comes from many lessons learned over the span of several years. I am very different from the many people today whose expertise and passion for using the Web for business comes primarily from their recent college degree or only a couple of years experience working for one organization that happens to have a website.

This body of work online demonstrates how well Woody Goulart provides specific public relations, communications and marketing communications solutions using online technology and traditional methods to meet a wide variety of client needs. What he has done for others shows what he can do for you and for your organization:

Corporate Communications and Writing for Executives

These selected works written by Woody Goulart demonstrate his vision and skills in corporate communications and writing for executives. He also has specific management and writing skills in internal communications:

• Advocacy organization annual report — A fresh new, highly visual and conversational approach to communicating an advocacy organization’s accomplishments and relevance: excerpt (PDF, 2.8 MB).
• My best work as an executive speechwriter — Inauguration speech for advocacy organization President — Evocative and intensely personal appeals used to motivate the listeners to embrace an advocacy organization’s future: full text.

Editorial Management and Writing for Print Media

These print media products written, produced, and managed by Woody Goulart demonstrate his editorial management skills, writing skills for print media, and vision for best practices in print media communication for target audiences:

• Daily Convention Newspaper: Las Vegas, Nevada (PDF)
• Health Communications Booklet for advocacy organization; excerpt (PDF)
• Advocacy Journalism for United States Army (PDF)
• Prescription Drug Importation Opinion Editorial (Web page)
• Aging of America Opinion Editorial (Web page)
• Prescription Drug Benefit in Medicare Opinion Editorial (Web page)

Website Creation and Online Writing

These selected websites written and produced by Woody Goulart demonstrate his creativity, design skills, online writing skills, and vision for best online communication practices:

• Ned’s Job of the Week (2012) Complete update/facelift of website
• Your DEFCON 1: Defense Careers (2012) Complete update/facelift of website
• Your Very Next Step travel website (2012) Complete update/facelift of website
• Abundant Edibles in Seattle (2010) Web 2.0 concept development and implementation
• LaPlantz Studios in Santa Fe (2010) Web 2.0 concept development and implementation
• The Shops at Seascape Village at Monterey Bay (2010) Web 2.0 concept development and implementation
• Stevton Consulting of Maryland (2010) Web 2.0 concept development and implementation
• Eat Like Jeannie health guidance in Washington, DC (2010) Web 2.0 concept development and implementation
• Oregon Trail Mobile Estates in Nebraska (2010) Concept development and implementation
• Breckenridge, Colorado Ski Vacation Accommodations (2010) Concept development and implementation
• Stagnaro Strategic Marketing Blog in Silicon Valley (2010) Web 2.0 concept development and implementation
• Frank & Pam Network, San Luis Obispo, CA (2009) Memorial website for Frank Calabrese (1946-2009) — Web 2.0 concept develop and implementation plus video production for online distribution
• Palette Dome Cuisine in Washington, DC (2008) Web 2.0 concept development and implementation
• AARP Issues Blog, Washington, DC (no longer online) (2005) National blog editor and chief national blogger for advocacy organization: blog archive 1 (pdf); blog archive 2 (pdf); blog archive 3 (pdf)
• Washington, DC Blogging: AARP Message Center (no longer online) (2001) Strategic communications, message management online using Web 2.0 tactics
• Body By Dan, Personal Trainer, Washington, DC (1999) Original site concept and Web 2.0 upgrade, information architecture, digital photography, development and implementation
• Neon Fun Jungle: Rock and Roll Radio History Original research, writing, concept development and implementation (uninterrupted online presence since 1996)