Good to read.
I'm a professional writer specialising in clarity.
Planning a new website or publication? I can audit what you have and help you plan what you need.
Turn that wordy report into something people will really want to read! Give me what you've got and I'll bring out the best in it.
Ads, video scripting, web copy, newsletters, media releases, editorial - you name it, I've done it.
I trained as a journalist and worked in corporate communications before co-founding one of New Zealand's first digital content companies, Writeclick, in 2005. It was the early days and we still had to explain what 'content' was. Imagine!
Writeclick was on the government's web services panel for technical writing. I'm very proud of what our hard-working team achieved over a decade: engaging, useful content for scores of high profile organisations and brands.
These days I freelance from Hawke's Bay for clients all over New Zealand.
Here's some of the work I can share.
Translating a technical guide into plain English to help farmers protect their irrigation gear in bad weather.
Social media strategy and implementation, and rewriting the content for the Trust's new site.
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Givealittle gives a lot! I wrote a series of case studies for this popular crowd funding website.
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Go Bamboo is on a mission to keep plastic out of the oceans, one elegant bamboo peg at a time. I helped them with copywriting for their new site.
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The ClearMark Awards celebrate the best of plain language in America. I served on an international judging panel in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
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Momentum is Opus International's client magazine covering thought leadership in engineering and design. I wrote a series of articles for the April 2015 issue.
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Red Cross have a lot of good stories to share. I worked with their Wellington HQ on a content strategy to streamline their print and digital communications.
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Plain English editing for the Palmerston North City Council's website.
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Copy editing for the Human Rights Commission's Business & Work Hub.
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Refreshing Tower's suite of customer letters to make them more customer-centric.
Copywriting job ads to attract great talent.
Editing key sections of Gisborne District Council's Long Term Plan.
Visit siteGovernment & public sector
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment | Sorted.org.nz | Ministry for Culture and Heritage | National Library of New Zealand | Ministry of Education | Housing New Zealand Corporation | Wellington City Council | Gisborne District Council | Education New Zealand | Serious Fraud Office | New Zealand Transport Agency | Inland Revenue | Central Economic Development Agency | State Services Commission | Statistics NZ | Sport Gisborne | ACC
Corporate & agency
AIA Insurance | Atlantic Pacific American Express | Kensington Swan | Kiwibank |ANZ Bank | Meridian | NZ Post | State | Forsyth Barr | Eastland Group | Weta Digital | Te Runanganui o Ngati Porou | Mercury Energy | Clemenger BBDO | Brandalism (Sydney) | Hunch | Eastland Group | Architects 44 | ThinkPlace
Heartland
Pasture Renewal Charitable Trust | Beef + Lamb NZ | Farmax | Figured | Ingham | Massey University | Sirona | Tracta | Simmental | Riversun | FMG | Pasture Renewal Charitable Trust | Citrus NZ
Melua has worked alongside the Opus team for the past two years on a range of projects. What we appreciate most about working with Melua is her ability to understand the nuances of our organisation, her superior communications skills, and her ability and willingness to go the extra mile.
Lauren Gibson, Opus InternationalWe had an impossible timeline. Melua was unflappable and moved mountains for us… delivering beautiful, easy-to-understand words and more. Not only did she deliver, but kept us on time, on track, and smiling. I’m happy to recommend her wholeheartedly.
Lisa Wilde, Beef + Lamb NZTimeframes are tight, expectations are high and we didn’t consider anyone else for the job.
Emma Saunders, EmpathyWorking with Melua was a similar experience to the principles of plain English: straightforward, clear, friendly and informative.
Michelle Tayler, Ministry for Culture and HeritageMelua quickly got to grips with who we are, delivering a solid strategic social media plan backed-up with practical tips. She is generous with her time and advice.
Paula Granger, Antarctic Heritage TrustThank you so much for your assistance with our project. You have directly influenced the volume of overwhelming positive feedback we are receiving.
Lee Hales, Givealittle
I contracted Melua Watson to work on a series of public testimonials on behalf of Hawke’s Bay Regional Council. She did a fantastic job of coordinating interviews, writing content and securing appropriate imagery for seven articles to promote our TANK Plan project.
Melua was professional, personable, cost-effective and a great communicator. I recommend her services to prospective clients.
We engaged Melua to rewrite a significant number of our customer letters. Our existing letters were traditional, full of insurance jargon and not customer friendly. With minimal briefing on the content, and a simple request to make these letters friendly, customer focussed and easy to understand, Melua rewrote all of our letters in a new style and tone. Melua’s work was outstanding, she met all timeframes with ease and her style of writing meant minimal to no feedback from our core project team – quite a feat! I would have no trouble in recommending Melua and will be using her again in future.
Nicholas Meseldzija, Head of Corporate Communications, Tower InsuranceGet in touch for a chat about your project, I'd love to hear from you.