Head of Content @ LASSO | Co-host of That's Marketing, Baby | Delivering daily cheat codes for small content teams

I'm a creative director turned content marketer and strategist with more than 20 years of experience conceptualizing and executing breakthrough work for B2C brands like Eggo, Rice Krispies, Blue Cross, Cottonelle, and McDonald’s, and B2B brands like Fastly and Island.

I have a knack for leading cross-functional teams toward a common goal, bringing order to the oft-chaotic creative process, crafting insight-driven global campaigns, and bringing stories to life via long- and short-form content.

Jess Cook

I've worked with a lot of talented people over the years.
 
But every once in a while, you meet someone who just 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘵 in every way that matters.
 
Annalisa Rodriguez is one of those people.

I had the privilege of working with her for a short time at Fastly.
 
And this week, she joined Vector 👻 as our Sr. Content Marketer Manager — a sentence that makes me so happy I could cry.
 
Annalisa has a journalism background that shows in everything she touches. Long-form, repurposing, content design... she's equally amazing at all of it.
 
But what makes her truly special is her ability to take the things people 𝘴𝘢𝘺, turn them into content that makes readers 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭, and connect it all to results when buyers 𝘢𝘤𝘵.

(Read: not a common skill.)

Bonus: she's already vibing with us in Slack, and keeping our cat-loving hearts fed with pics and videos of her kitties, Oreo and Darkness. 😻
 
With Annalisa on the squad, we now have four marketers at Vector. And for the first time, a real three-legged stool:
 
→ Product marketing 
→ Demand gen 
→ Content

(i.e. I feel like I just collected ALL OF THE POKEMON.)

Annalisa's going to be sharing how she builds content here at Vector. You'll want a front-row seat for that, so go give her a follow.

Then stand back, 'cause sparks are 'bout to fly, y'all.

Just back from an incredible week at Above the Fold where I ran six content workshops over two days. I have but three pieces of photo evidence I was even there.

1) Schnitzel dinner with my ride or die agency guy, Justin Dunham. We've had two Zoom calls a week for nearly 5 years straight and had yet to meet in person. It was worth the wait. (For both the hang and the schnitzel.)

2) Got to meet my buddy from across the pond, Luke Winter - the man, the myth, the legend behind our "Next best way" ads. We talked shop (obvi), and concerts, and about what we do when we're not at our desks. His hair is just as fab in real life.

3) My parents were also flying out of Detroit at the same time as me - something we only realized a few days before. So we met up for an early bird special before boarding. They paid, of course, because I'm only 42. 🥰

So glad I went. So glad to be home. So ready for this damn snow to melt.

I have a rule I live by in marketing: Test small before executing big.

It's why I ran an influencer pilot before making it a full program.
Tested new messaging in ads before our repositioning launch.
And why I'm so excited about what we're announcing today...

Vector 👻 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁-𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝗱𝘀. 🎉 

Here's the metaphor that's been living in my head for this:

Clay is the proving ground. 🏁
It's where GTM teams experiment with signals, build enrichment workflows, test what actually predicts buying behavior, and figure out which audiences are worth activating.

Vector is the Autobahn. 🚗
Once you know what works? You open it up. Contact-level targeting, live audience updates, suppression logic that actually follows your buyers—running modern ads playbooks at full speed.

This isn't hypothetical for us.

It's exactly how Kelly and Sara have been building Vector’s ads program.

• Kelly uses Vector to identify accounts and contacts signaling intent. 
• Sara uses Clay to enrich and score those ICP contacts. 
• Then, they use Vector to activate those contacts across LinkedIn and Google, keeping our paid targeting aligned to real buyer signals as they move through the funnel.

When your team’s already living the use case, you know you're onto something.

Grab some time to see it in action: https://lnkd.in/eugn7rJh

I love a good Uno reverse. 

Especially when it's aimed at Joshua Perk 👻.

In the season two finale (!!!) of This Meeting Could've Been a Podcast, Josh and I take you through our entire website redesign process: from the awkward "you literally told me no when I suggested this six months ago" conversation (haha), to how we worked with our design agency to build the new look and feel, to the 37-item launch checklist 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 (Josh) did not see coming.

But one of my favorite takeaways from the entire project goes a little something like this...

The second someone lands on your site, they start to form an opinion about your product. 𝗔𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.
 
They assume the same level of polish and thought put into your website go into your product, too.
😒 If the design feels dated, they assume the product UI is clunky.
😒 If product screen shots feel too mocked up, they assume the product isn't robust enough.
😒 If it's hard to figure out what you do, they assume the product is just as convoluted.

A lot of teams either go full nuclear on a redesign and lose everything distinctive about their brand, or they're so precious about what they have that the "redesign" is just a fresh coat of paint on the same old house.
 
So when Josh and I sat down to figure out what to actually change, we built three buckets.
 
𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝟭: 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽. These are the things that make you you. The stuff your audience would immediately recognize and miss if it disappeared. You don't want to lose them—you want to evolve them. Same personality, better haircut. For us: Ghostie, bright colors, bold statements with a wink.
 
𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝟮: 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽. These are the things that aren't bad, exactly—they're just limiting. They paint you into a corner or kill your flexibility, even if people associate them with your brand. For us: super saturated color usage that made text basically impossible to read.
 
𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝟯: 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲. These are the things actively working against you. They're building a perception you don't want—making you look smaller or less sophisticated than you actually are. No sentimentality. They gotta go. For us: all-caps headlines and ghost visuals in spots that should have had actual product screenshots.

The reason I love this framework is it gives you permission to make bold changes while protecting the things that actually matter. Before we kicked off the project with our design agency, Josh and I literally listed out which parts of our brand fell into which bucket. It made every every design decision after that so much cleaner. 🤌

The FULL second season of is out now! Just search This Meeting Could've Been a Podcast.

Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar

Neurology Resident

Joint Relief Institute

At JRI, we help you live and move pain-free without surgery. 

As time passes, the cartilage cushion in your knees naturally wears away with use, causing the bones to rub against themselves. Using the most advanced medical technology and skilled doctors, we’ve developed a quick, effective, and painless procedure to rejuvenate your joint and ease the pain.

Every day, our doctors and physician assistants speak with people who regret not understanding all the facts before they got a knee replacement. Unfortunately, once you have a metal ball in place of a natural knee joint, your pain management options are severely limited. That is why surgery should be a last resort.

The good news is that there is a safe and effective way of reviving worn-down knees without any side effects. This is done through our unique procedure to rejuvenate your joint. Gel injections may be common, but can be ineffective if done improperly — that’s why we’ve developed a precise method using the fluoroscopic technique (live-imaging) to guarantee a successful outcome. The best part is that you get instant relief without a recovery process.

Freelance Medical Writer

Nectar Allergy

At Nectar Health, we have one mission: to end allergies.

The world is no stranger to allergies and the conditions they trigger. From environmental to food allergies, from asthma to eczema. It is a quiet yet massive epidemic - larger than depression, hypertension, and even diabetes; and it’s only getting worse.

I help Nectar with evidence-based content around our revolutionary treatment that has the potential to change lives. We believe great science can be delivered without compromising the consumer experience.

Confidant Health

Confidant Health seeks to help people establish the mindset, habits, and skills to thrive. Their model pairs incredible providers who deliver evidence-based interventions with digitized behavioral-health resources. The approach focuses on high-quality care with minimum overhead and without traditional marketing techniques.

NOVI Health

Healthcare made better - NOVI Health is a health-tech company and specialist clinic that helps persons with diabetes get healthy and feel better, by providing treatment and support personalized to their unique goals. As a Freelance Medical Writer, I work alongside scientists, doctors and other healthcare professionals to produce physical and online medical documents for educational, promotional or informative purposes. 

For NOVI Health, this means writing papers and articles to educate and treat people with diabetes and other health conditions that NOVI Health manage. I complete this alongside my additional Upwork freelancing service.

Freelance Medical Blog Writer

Bicycle Health

Freelance Medical Writer at Bicycle Health, a remote-first digital health start-up that offers online Medication for Addiction Treatment (MAT) for individuals with Opioid Use Disorder. They offer an evidence-based clinical program focused on med management, peer support, behavioural health treatment, & care coordination.

In my role as a Medical Writer, I regularly produced top-quality content, website copy, branding, and articles that went on to help thousands of Bicycle Health patients who were suffering from opioid dependence, addiction, or withdrawal.

Dawn Health

Dawn Health is a global leader in digital health and specializes in the development of software as a medical device (SaMD) and digital therapeutics (DTx). This has helped it serve millions of customers to drive improved patient outcomes. 

For Dawn Health, I served as a freelance medical writer where I was praised for writing excellent website copy and blog posts relating to sleep. This involved me writing website copy and also engaging in the branding/feel of the website to ensure all copy was on brand and aligned to internal guidelines.

OneLocal

OneLocal's cloud-based tools help their customers provide best-in-class experiences, connecting you with customers in a more meaningful way. Each tool is designed to work independently, but when connected together, they offer full automation to drive revenue growth & save you time. 

I was employed as a Freelance Medical Writer where I served the OneLocal client base in all medical writing needs. This includes branding, copywriting, and journalism needs covering multiple areas of the medical spectrum.

Khyber Teaching Hospital, MTI Peshawar

Medical Doctor at the Khyber Teaching Hospital. In this role I was required to meet the health needs of our community by providing the highest level of care, with an emphasis on primary and preventative care. I provided guidance and support in community health, medical education, and compassionate patient services. This role allowed me to make a difference in the community while learning alongside experienced staff members. From here I discovered medical journalism which resulted in me pursuing a career as a Freelance Medical Writer.

Medical Doctor

Bad content kills health companies.

- Regurgitating the same content from other businesses
- Basing content on opinions, not facts
- Not producing paying customers

If people can't trust you, they won't buy from you.

It's very likely that their first impression of your brand will be through your content. 

That's why it's so important to:

- Give your audience facts that solve their problem
- Have your content stand out from your competitors
- Create a trustworthy brand

That's only part of it because if you ever hope your content is read, it must be SEO-Optimized and primed for conversions. 

All this is easier said than done. 

So, I solve that problem with credible, SEO-optimized, research-backed content.

What my clients have to say👇

"Azrung is a superstar writer. We worked with him on medically-backed articles, and he's the best writer to deliver them. The articles are always well-researched and well-written. I couldn't have asked for a better writer on our team." **VP of Marketing NOVI Health (A Metabolic Health Clinic)***

"Dr. Fayaz has been assisting us for the last two months with content. His work has been technically detailed yet accessible to consumers. He is open to feedback and easy to work with. I recommend him if you have SEO needs or medical content projects." ***VP of Marketing Confidant Health***

Send me a message to discuss how we can add credibility to your brand together.

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Jess Cook

Azrung Fayaz, MD

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The Battle

Jess Cook

Azrung Fayaz, MD

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Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Jess Cook's LinkedIn Performance

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