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.

HealthTech Content

Run a successful B2B content marketing agency for growth stage health tech brands, focusing primarily on audience research, messaging, and content strategy.

Worked with Johnson & Johnson, DePuy Synthes, Akamai, PerfectServe, AMN Healthcare, and CTG.

Founder & CEO

Decimal.health

Executive in Residence

CancerX

Marketing Advisor

Red Stag Fulfillment

Led every aspect of the content marketing function, including research, messaging, strategy, and execution, spanning hundreds of SEO content assets to garner keyword SERP rankings that included nearly 300 in the top 3 and another 500+ in the top 10.

Developed and spearheaded a strategy to incorporate the expertise of internal SMEs and customized design elements to elevate content quality and position the brand as an industry thought leader.

Built and scaled a content marketing department with full-time hires, freelance contributors, and agency vendor partners to maximize the output and ROI of the lean marketing team.

Collaborated directly with the CMO, CEO, company founder, VP of sales, and VP of customer success for this 9-figure e-commerce business to gain alignment, buy-in, and cooperation across all departments relevant to the marketing function.

Director of Content Marketing

Cliniko

Consistently met deadlines to produce high-quality content for the website, blog, landing pages, social platforms, help guides, and marketing materials. Contributed to a ~13% increase in new trials YoY and a ~9% increase in conversions to paid subscribers.

Collaborated with marketing and design teams to plan and execute content strategies for landing pages, feature releases, email marketing campaigns, customer onboarding, and endorsement announcements. Met 100% of project deadlines.

Interviewed and collaborated with internal and external subject matter experts (including customers) during all stages of the content creation process.

Augmented the publishing schedule by providing editorial reviews for approximately 10-20 pieces of content each month from internal and external contributors, including guest posts, customer support articles, video scripts, and all related social media posts.

Head of Content

Self Employed

I handled anything from content creation and article writing, to email campaigns and brand strategy.

Content Marketing Consultant

Doug Kent Music, LLC

Successful B2B and B2C business with annual improvements, including 20% revenue growth YoY.
Streamlined outbound sales systems and content for B2B clients, earning a 10% increase in the client base and 14% in operational savings.

Engaged extensively across the marketing and sales lifecycles with a 12% improved closing rate. 

Consistently published high-quality social posts and advertisements to gain more than 3,000 social media followers in less than two years and increase website traffic by nearly 30%.

RadiaDyne

Successfully established and managed the Inside Sales Department garnering a 15% increase in the closing rate for new clients, boosting sales from existing clients by 5%, and gaining hundreds of new qualified leads through email marketing. 

Presented complex written and verbal medical information to physicians regarding specific procedural aspects of using the product to provide higher-quality care and improve patient recovery. 

Partnered with the design team to create digital content using Adobe Illustrator and coordinated with the VP of Sales to ensure the accuracy of all technical writing. 

Supported prospects and field reps throughout the sales lifecycle, from initial contact through purchase.

Supported an executive dashboard focused on increased revenue and new client acquisitions by developing weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports used to drive operational meetings toward successful marketing initiatives and establish a culture of continuous improvement.

Marketing Lead

Connect, close, grow | messaging & content strategy | B2B health-tech

Your solution could change healthcare.

But no one knows it yet.

Because you aren’t connecting with your audience.

That’s why your marketing content gets crappy results.


You need to bridge the gap between your brand and your audience.

Connect the dots that lead people to your solution.


That takes great messaging and a killer content strategy.

And that’s what I do best.


I’ll tap into how your audience FEELS about their challenges, 

and dig deep to understand how their lives will be better with your solution.

You’ll get a clear framework for saying the right things, in the right ways, to the right people.


When I'm done, your brand will finally be ready to…
⭐ Stand out in a tough market
⭐ Overcome the underdog label
⭐ Start seeing BIG results.


Brands I’ve worked with include:
– Johnson & Johnson
– DePuy Synthes
– Akamai
– AMN Healthcare
– CTG
– Echo
– PerfectServe
and more.


Ready to join that list?
Want to make something BIG happen?

Book a call to get started.
https://calendly.com/dougpohl/general-chat

taplio

The Battle

Jess Cook

Doug Pohl

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreJess Cook's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Jess Cook

Doug Pohl

Followers

Posts

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

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreJess Cook's LinkedIn Performance