Alison Butlin

I'm a strategic communicator based in Canada. Time zone agnostic!

Writing. Strategy. Creative.

I make it easy - very easy - to get your project done in a fresh and original way.

About Me

I love big picture thinking, but I’m always a writer first. I stick to a few simple principles: find out what matters to people, drive home the benefits, talk more about them than you. 

I've also been a marketing director for several successful companies. If you need it, I can create the strategy, manage your project, work with your creative team and stakeholders, photograph and post the social media, dig into the digital marketing metrics or piece together the targeted campaign -- all through my company, Matter. Whatever it takes, I’m in!

Here's a snapshot of my work. There's more! Just ask.

My Latest Work

Articles

Crafting Content: Human Touch vs. AI Efficiency | Art & Science Insights

The surge in AI-written content is hard to ignore, but human expression is enduring, endearing, ineffable. Can the two harmoniously coexist in a marketing strategy? And if so, how?We can celebrate (or blame) Benjamin Franklin for content marketing when he published an almanac to market his printing business and kicked off the whole thing. After that, content marketing was seen as a strategic way to distribute valuable, relevant and consistent messaging to attract and retain audiences.These days,...
Art & Science •

The &: Our Expressive, Gorgeous Little Glyph

We’re pretty enthusiastic about our name, a lot of thought went into it. Art & Science. The coming together of scientific method and artistic creativity. The dyad of measurable and memorable. Of insights and inspiration. Of data and emotion. Of Spock and Kirk. It’s method, and mad genius. You can read more about it here.

Notice we’re not Art and Science. Or Art + Science. Art & Science – with an ampersand – was chosen with a whole lot of intent because deep thinking is how our Wolverine-esque,
Architecture Counsel •

Done Right, Design by Committee Can Work (Really) — Architecture Counsel

Integrating student and stakeholder voices into the Ontario Tech University

When was the last time someone celebrated a project designed by committee? The prevailing feeling is too many opinions can water down good ideas until they’re barely recognizable. But when designing today’s higher education buildings, stakeholder participation is a must – what’s more, if done right, it will advance forward-thinking design concepts, making a good idea, great.

Brad MacIsaac is the associate vice presiden

Is Your Marketing Stuck on the Fluff Cycle?

Marketing can get a bad rep. At the risk of offending my people, I have to say that sometimes it’s justified. Because there’s a lot of fluffy marketing out there. The cutesy animations and emoticons, the parties, the relentless social media posts about the latest office lunch or outing, and oh, the mountains of swag.

Marketing is supposed to know who the consumer of a product or service is, understand their needs, help solve their problems, and reach them in compelling ways. With good marketing

Wi-Fi is Not Magic | Blog Post

For some reason people are scared of cable…they’re scared of wire. Why, I don’t know?

This thought occurred to me as we launched our 500 Mbps service, giving people incredible access to speed in their homes. It’s all great. We’re really happy about it. But no wireless technology will ever let our customers take advantage of that speed.

Even if you were out in a farmer’s field in northern Ontario on a sunny day, you will probably only ever get ¾ of that speed over Wi-Fi. To fully enjoy 500 Mbps

Are You An Anti-Social (Media) Executive? An Intervention in Three Steps.

No business leader would ever say no to a captive room of potential clients. But that happens every time an executive opts out of using social media as a way to connect with their audience.

Most execs have 500+ contacts on their personal LinkedIn pages, but these pages can often be ghost towns of inactivity, barely completed bios, empty head shots with nothing shared, ever. Talk about a missed opportunity to build a personal brand and grow a business!

And today – you might actually be hurting
Primal AI •

Buying Twitter Followers is Sketchy. Could Artificial Intelligence be the (Legit) Alternative? | Blog Post

If you’re doing marketing for a smaller company, you’re very likely doing it all: juggling campaigns, content marketing, SEO, website updates, PR, social media, and whatever else comes along. You know your followers on platforms like Twitter are an important marketing opportunity, and you’re working hard to increase their numbers, in between all the other demands on your time.

Fast tracking followers is a dilemma for any marketer, small business owner or social media manager. We’ve all heard ho

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