Meet Beth Axtell of Axtell Communication Services in Marietta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Beth Axtell.

Beth, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started my career in medical publishing more than 25 years ago in New York City. When I moved to Atlanta in 1990, I got a job working in the publishing department of the Arthritis Foundation. I worked for many years at the Foundation doing medical communications.

When I started my family, I decided to leave that full-time position and work for myself as a freelance writer and editor. I edited medical texts and journals and wrote patient-education materials for six years while my children were young.

Once my younger child went to kindergarten, the Arthritis Foundation called me up and asked me to come back. I was happy to oblige. I started back as research communications specialist. In that role, I translated the research the Foundation was funding into lay language for use in newsletters, annual reports, and fundraising requests. I moved into management and strategic operations positions. Eventually, I ended up as senior director of the Foundation’s research department.

During senior management changes and departmental reorganization, I — and the rest of the research department staff — was laid off at the end of 2014.

That’s when I decided to open Axtell Communication Services. I offer complete content development consulting and hand-on services. I use my years of publishing, communication, and nonprofit management experience and expertise to give as much or as little help as my clients need. I do most of the work myself and hire additional freelance writers and editors as needed, depending on the project.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The first two years went very smoothly. My previous employer contracted my services for a set number of hours per week. I was able to fill in that contract with other smaller-scale jobs scattered through the months. I had plenty of work and made enough money to meet my family’s needs.

My contract was reduced considerably at the beginning of 2017. My monthly billables dropped to about one-third what they had been. Fortunately, I am a planner, and I had reserves built up. I ate through those savings and my husband filled in on some of the household bills when necessary.

Business has picked up a bit in the second half of 2017 with a couple of new clients. I’ve been seeking new contacts and new clients, and look forward to growing my business in the coming months and years.

Axtell Communication Services – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I offer complete content strategy services. I work with clients to identify and refine their communication goals, messaging, audience, voice, and tone. I create plans for meaningful, cohesive, engaging, and sustainable content. I focus on how content will be organized, prioritized, and accessed. Through my project management, writing and editing services, I execute the plan to produce a fully realized content package.

I specialize in medical, health and wellness topics, but am comfortable in other realms as well. Food, fitness, sports, arts, and lifestyle topics are fun and are of interest to me in my personal life. I am an athlete and outdoor enthusiast; my husband is a foodie and beer snob; my daughter is an artist and cos-player; and my son is a gamer. My life takes me in all directions, and I love to write about them all.

What sets me apart is my ability to talk with a client, understand their end goal, and develop a plan to achieve that goal. Many big-picture thinkers can see what they want in the end, but have trouble envisioning the pathway to get there. I see the pieces, put them in order, and create a step-by-step plan for creating the complete communication package.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
A few projects come to mind. One in particular was Breaking the Arthritis Pain Chain.

The client wanted an easy-to-read, but comprehensive pain management toolkit. It was envisioned to be a self-contained subsection of the website. I developed the content plan for the toolkit as well as a content plan for the pain management section of the main website so the toolkit and the main site would be cohesive and complementary, but independent.

Once the content plan was approved, I wrote content myself but also hired and managed freelancers to write content. I recruited medical professionals to contribute to articles and review copy. I edited all copy, and worked with the web team to create the pages of the toolkit.

We completed the whole thing, conception to launch in about three months. It was a great success.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.axtellcomm.com
• Phone: 770-695-7427
• Email: beaxtell@gmail.com

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