Doug Stern has been a professional writer and editor for nearly 30 years, earning several PR and business communication awards. These include a first place for Editorial Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists.

 

Doug taught writing at the college level. He's also handled just about every kind of writing assignment, including sourcing and editing Search-Engine-Optimized Web sites, speeches, ghost-written articles and op-eds, brochures, videos, print ads, press releases and technical reports.

Publications, presentations and free press

Doug Stern recently produced a series of how-to video clips, "THE KILLER BEs: Sharpening Your Business Development Writing:" part one, part two and part three. "This guy is completely on game," wrote Pip Pullen, Director of Account Planning, red7e. "What an outstanding contribution to social media and writing."

The clips evolved from a popular national Webinar, presented in 2006 by the Boston-based Legal Sales and Service Organization. Kate Daisley, Marketing Manager for ALM Research, sat in on the Webinar. Kate later blogged that "Doug Stern provided very smart, common sense tips, and explanations, on how to better communicate effectively through writing...."

Doug has also published several articles on business writing, strategy and marketing communication, most from his editorial home, MarketingProfs.com...

"Plus, I've contributed to the Louisville Ad Federation's bi-monthly, Communique. Take a look at 'Guerrilla Marketing in Louisville' (October 2007), 'If It's Too Good To Be True: Ethics, Advertising and Marketing'(December 2007) and 'History Sells: Louisville's Oldest Companies Act Their Age' (February 2008)."

My book of work

Here's a representative sample from Doug Stern's business-writing portfolio. Install the free Adobe Reader if you haven't already.

Healthcare marketing

  • Muhlenberg Community Hospital, Greenville, Ky., MRI direct-mail postcard, 2006. "I didn't pick or direct the art, but I like the rest of this piece…which I wrote."
  • Louisville Magazine hired Doug Stern to write a special supplement in 1998 for the Louisville Medical Center Development Corporation. Here's part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.
  • Outlook, Spring 1993, Eye Centers of Louisville. "This newsletter was part of series of collateral pieces I did for Dr. Bennett."
  • Eye Centers of Louisville, flexible brochure. "Donald Bennett, M.D., hired me in about 1992 when he was a couple years into his ophthalmology practice. I did a variety of things to help him build his practice, including development of an ID program and this collateral piece. John Lair shot it, Jeff Tull designed it, and I planned, wrote and managed it."

Heritage and urban planning

  • Bardstown Road-Baxter Avenue Design Review Process: A Guide for Developers, Business Owners & Citizens, January 1992, City of Louisville. "Elee Bingham designed this, and Donny Weber illustrated. It won a first-place from the Public Relations Society of American and the International Association of Business Communicators. I had a lot of fun planning, directing and writing it. Plus, I have a lot of passion for the subject, so it mattered a lot to me."
  • Louisville Downtown Development Plan, August 1989, Louisville Central Area. "I have a gift for technical translations. I handled several assignments like this brochure for various local and state planning agencies, including transportation and airport officials."
  • Tyler Settlement Rural Historic District, June 1986, Jefferson County Government. "This brochure was one of several pieces I did with Jeff Tull after I came back to Louisville in 1983 and ran the county's heritage program."
  • Jefferson County Kentucky: Guide to Selected Historic Sites, 1985. “I planned, edited and managed this piece. A staffer from the National Trust said something to the effect that this ‘...was as good or better than anything from the AIA.’”
  • Historic Preservation Easement, 1984, Jefferson County Government. "The easement program was the first of its kind in Kentucky, and the brochure was a promotional piece. Its companion——which I also planned and wrote——was an 'owner's manual' complete with model easement agreements which I helped draft."

Law firm marketing and business development

  • Web site content, Foster Swift, Lansing, Mich., July 2010.
  • Web site content, Hemenway & Barnes, Boston, April 2010.
  • Web site, Merchants' Counsel LLP, Ridgefield, Conn., January 2010. The site was designed by Design Monsters, of New Haven, Conn. "I sourced or edited the content for this law firm Web site, which targets the multichannel and upscale brands sector." Doug also edited and sourced content for a legal survival guide for the same industry, BRIEFS.
  • Lending Opportunties in the Restaurant Industry, Goulston & Storrs, Boston, January 2009. "This took the form of an interview with an industry analyst, with sidebars by two attorneys."
  • Web site, Sherin and Lodgen, Boston, October 2008. "I wrote or edited the site's SEO-ed content. The site was designed and developed by Clockwork Design Group, Woburn, Mass. The New England Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association recognized the site for excellence."
  • What our clients said about us: A report card from Stites & Harbison's October 2003 Client Satisfaction Survey. "This became one of the firm's most effective pitch-pieces."
  • Construction Law Update, December 2002, Stites Harbison. "These construction law pieces were the first of what eventually became five quarterly newsletters that I wrote, planned, edited, directed or managed while I was with the firm between 1998 and 2005."
  • Construction Law Update, May 2002, Stites & Harbison. "In addition to the construction law service group, I put out newsletters for intellectual property and entrepreneurial law, banking and real estate, litigation and employment law."
  • Innovation, August 2002, Stites & Harbison. "I was always pleased to hear when clients asked to be featured on the covers of our newsletters. I worked hard to make every print piece from the firm more about 'them' and less about 'us.'"
  • Report To Clients, 2002, Stites & Harbison.
  • The Commercial Mortgage Loan Law Firm, Stites & Harbison. "The firm's conduit-lending group was one of the firm's most highly evolved when it came to business development. They came to me originally in about 2002 or 2003 wanting a piece to hand out at the annual mortgage brokers conference in Florida, and this brochure is what I came up with."
  • Annual Report: The Year in Review 2001, Stites & Harbison. "I still don't know why this didn't win an LMA award. Julie Breeding designed it, and Quadrant Photography shot it. I planned, art directed and managed the project…and wrote or edited all of the copy. It's one of the best things I've ever done."

Public awareness and policy communications

  • Kentucky Suicide Prevention Group, 2008. Doug Stern was part of a team, Business Communication Group, responsible for videos, a kick-off event, re-launched statewide Web site and other collateral materials.
  • Equalization brochure, 1992, Jefferson Co., Ky., Property Valuation Administrator. “I wrote this See-Spot-Run simple…and coupled it with media relations and other actions designed to dampen the public’s angst over a countywide property re-assessment.”

Real estate sales and development

  • "Gallery district gets a lift from Legacy Lofts," in BOOM! Louisville, 2007. Doug Stern wrote this for a downtown promo publication produced by the city's alternative weekly. "I lived a couple blocks from this up-market arts district project and grew up with the architect. So, I was really into this."
  • Skyword, June 2006, Museum Plaza. This was the first of two newsletters Doug Stern was hired to write for the $465 million development, slated for Louisville's riverfront and designed by New York City's Ramus Ella Architects.
  • "You're Home" print ads, Park DuValle, 2006. "I came up with the concepts and wrote the copy for this series of print ads. They're targeted for the final phase of this mixed-income, mixed-use development in West Louisville."
  • New Vision, Spring 1997, Park DuValle. "Hope was riding high, and the Louisville housing authority wanted a series of newsletters to leverage that message with stakeholders. This was one of the first, which I planned, art directed and wrote."
  • Tax Incentives for Historic Preservation, Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. “I had lots of experience explaining the ITC when I worked in Evansville. So, it was easy for me to give HLFI copy that was clear, concise and to the point…involving a pretty arcane subject.”

Other assignments

Doug is also currently working on a short story (involving the original Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and Ft. Knox) which he's planning to turn into a movie treatment.