It is delightful being an online professional!

Through the years I have had the opportunity to experience, learn and work with many technologies, tools, companies, and people. These experiences have given me a wealth of knowledge and ability to be able to plan, execute and manage many online solutions.

Kevin W. Ward – Consultant

The diversity of my skillset over the years has some times made it difficult for me to network effectively and give people an understanding of what I do. The reason I’m good at what I do is I make it easier for people to integrate with and comprehend complicated processes and provide solutions in terms of Marketing Strategy, Online & Creative Services, and Media Production.

I have worked and progressed over the years in my profession just as technology has progressed; This has given me a greater understanding of online systems and how they work together. It has also allowed me to develop many skills and abilities that include but are not limited to:

• Proposal Writing
• Online Marketing & Business Development
• Web Hosting – Planning & Implementation
• Website Development – Planning & Implementation
• Website Design – UI/UX – Functionality – Usability
• Online Business Development – Integration of Online Assets
• Online Marketing – Creating and Tracking Online Campaigns
• Online Advertising – Implementation of Marketing Campaigns
• Art Direction & Graphic Design – Planning, Branding & Design
• Managed Services and Online Maintenance
• Content Creation
• Social Media Management & Integration
• Management of online advertising campaigns
• Online Analytics Tracking
• Search Engine Optimization

THE EARLY YARS

MILITARY CAREER
My career with the Military was for 8 years as an Aeromedical Specialist. The military discipline and structured environment helped me thrive and learn how to work with a team to get things done no matter what the goal. I also finished my degree in Allied Health Science and became an instructor/adjunct instructor for the Air Force, City Colleges of Chicago, The National Registry of EMT’s (Course Director/Instructor), as well as The American Heart Association (Instructor Trainer – ACLS, BLS, PALS).

POST MILITARY
After being Honorably Discharged from the military, I continued to work in the medical field as well as some management jobs and a few entrepreneurial pursuits while working on finishing my degree in design & marketing. Immediately upon graduation, I was picked up by the schools Center For Visual Technology (in a two-year design program at St Louis Community College at Meramec)as Adjunct Faculty to teach Web Design, Graphic Design, and Online Development classes and seminars. A year later I was invited to teach Web Design at Maryville University. I have continued working in education part-time since

DOING THINGS FOR OTHER PEOPLE

The ORCA Partnership
Art Director 2003-2006

I was hired by The ORCA Partnership to work in the Creative Department as an Art Director and heading up online design and development. I worked on and developed many hosting and client solution plans as well as implementing and managing all online projects. One of the key things about ORCA that I learned was how we approached strategically planning and working on client engagements using our White ROOM. The White Room was a conference room with all of the walls converted to whiteboards from floor to ceiling.

• Audio Production
• Video Production
• Graphic Design
• Print Production
• Packaging
• Materials Sourcing

Sendouts
Creative Director 2006-2007
Sendouts was an online (thin client) Recruiting Software provider

I was responsible for the creation and development of online assets for Marketing as well as providing production and direction of all video and audio resources such as training and marketing videos.
I Developed online marketing strategies using AdWords and Social Media.
Implemented SEO protocols so that all content would be displayed accurately on desktop and mobile devices as well as crawled and indexed by search engines.

Corporate Express / Staples Promotional Products
UI/UX Developer/Art Director 2007-2010
Responsible for the UI/UX of over 120 stores national and international and New Client Design & Development. I also provided Tier3 Support for existing clients relating to thier online stores and helped out with Business Development for new client projects/pitches

As an Art Director I worked on

• Content regulation, Translation for Canadian, Mexican & European websites,
• Coordinated with the Client Marketing Departments regarding client needs
• Client Project/Needs Assessments and planning
• Wireframing & Prototyping
• Graphic Design, 3d Design, Video Production, Audio Production
• Website Front end design & Development
• ASP.NET
• ASP Classic
• Javascript
• HTML
• CSS
• Beta Server & Usability Testing

One of the key things I did was to transition all sites to a common framework adding: Ability to roll out design/development changes to all sites using a
Grid System that allowed for Responsive Design and a more consistent approach to individual page design and design templates.

I also got to work on the team for the Staples Online Product Builder (Kansas City) doing

• Site Design UI/UX
• Video Production – Training Videos
• Training Materials Design

Concierge Creative Marketing Consultant 2010 to Present Day
Self Guided Entrepreneur and all around person who gets it done!

In this time frame I have Done Business As:

• OCCAM Online Consulting
• BlumenKraft Design
• Kevin Ward Consulting
• Juke Joint Productions

The following represents many of the services
that I have provided to various clients.

• Business Development (Online Mainly)
• Branding
• Value Proposition Strategy, Analysis & Development

Marketing & Advertising

• Marketing Strategy, Analysis & Planning
• Advertising Planning, Implementation & Management
• Analytics
• Digital Asset Management
• Evaluation & Integration of Tools and Resources
• Software and Online Service – analysis and strategy
• Cloud Server Integration
• Secure Remote Access
• Consolidation and organization of assets
• Art Direction
• Graphic Design
• Audio & Video Production
• Broadcasting and Streaming or what we used to call PodCasting, VidCasting (Portable and Traditional Studios)
• Web Hosting, Email & Server Management
• Security, Updates & Backups
• Web Site Design & Development
  (responsive mobile design considerations made with all online resources)
• Web Site Updates & Maintenance
• Brochureware
• E-Commerce
• SEO compliant Content Creation (Copy & Design)
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Social Media Integration & Branding
• eCommerce Systems – full implementation
• Membership Systems – full implementation
• CRM Implementation and Training
• Content Management / Managed Services
  (SEO best practices used with all online content)
• Editorial Content, Page Updates
• Social Media Content & Posts
• Adwords
• Strategic website analysis with a report outlining possibilities
• Online Marketing & Advertising
• Best Practices Training & Implementation
• Goal Conversion Tracking
• Sales Funnel Tracking
• Email Marketing
• Training
• Training programs for all online resources
• CMS – Content Management Systems