Max Johns Email & Phone Number

Penrose, Auckland, Nz

We do web hosting, domains, and infrastructure. Between SiteHost and our sister brands (including MyHost and Domains Direct) we offer everything from bespoke enterprise networking to low-cost web hosting. MyHost is growing at the consumer end of the market, and is expanding into Australia. SiteHost is literally unrivalled as a locally-owned hosting provider. We're a small company that needs to be smart about our messaging and how we spread it.Compared to my previous roles, this one leans less on my content strategy chops. Yes, I manage content production and distribution, but also web analytics, PPC and other advertising, affiliate marketing, and more.

Launching a new brand with new products very soon.

St Julians, St Julians, Malta, Mt

Cloudways is growing fast and brought me in, remotely, to help professionalise the content side of the business. Their online content was already very successful at the top of the funnel, which opened up the goal of being equally successful (at least) throughout the funnel as the team broadened the range of content that it creates and manages. I worked on processes, tools, individual skillsets, and the accurate measurement our contribution to the company.

Hamilton, Waikato, Nz

I led a small team with overall responsibility for the university’s web content. In a lot of cases we worked with writers and editors with distributed CMS access, making strong governance and workflow crucial. We ran drop-in sessions, operated as a help desk, and offered editorial advice. On the other hand, we managed the site's core marketing and communication content centrally. The (separate) teams devoted to web development and digital content rolled out regular improvements together, both on the front end (e.g. presentation of news stories or student profiles) and within the CMS (e.g. making is it easy for non-expert users to create and manage stories and profiles). The university reorganised its marketing and communications functions, with less emphasis on digital specialists. So that was my cue.

Christchurch, Canterbury, Nz

I was responsible for content across two of Jade's three lines of business, and the corporate brand. We're talking about governance like setting the tone of voice and managing the editorial calendar; intellectual aspects like deciding the direction of longer think-pieces; and, at least until a second copywriter joined the team in late 2015, most of the keyboard-tapping and copy-editing as well.I came in as a web specialist but soon got used to working on words that don't just end up on digital and social media, but also print collateral, advertising, news, and in the odd left-field place like cocktail recipe cards.Jade's capabilities cover everything from innovation services like UX design to software development and support. They're a full-coverage digital business partner, a product developer, and the company behind the JADE development environment. We had customers all over the world, including ports in Qatar, life insurers in Sydney, and ERP software developers in Auckland. I'm equally comfortable explaining the business benefits of agile processes to wealth management CEOs, or breaking down data management issues for IT managers in the energy sector.

I get a real buzz out of seeing businesses get better at working with content, but as a discipline content strategy doesn't exactly have a strong presence in New Zealand. With Content Strategy, Simplified I ran workshops, worked with clients in all sorts of ways, and proved the real value of quality content production and management. It was all about finding easy, low-risk ways for clients to start working on (and with) content in new, more intelligent ways. Then, over time, build up results and capabilities that prove that content strategy work is valuable and practical.As a self-employed addition to my other work, Simplified was a lot of fun. The blog post below explains why I wrapped it up when I did.

Our meetup group grew to 900 people within four years, which makes me smile every time I think of it. Each of our monthly events typically attracted around 30-80 people a night. We three organisers were quietly proud to bring together a community from all over Auckland. We hosted expert presenters, shared work stories and war stories, and help improve the state of the web content profession in Auckland. Or, sometimes, we just go to the pub.I left the Meetup only because I left Auckland. I still miss it.

Auckland, Nz

Staying within the NAB Group, I became BNZ Digital's newest Business Lead, working with an agile team responsible for a wide range of enhancements to the bank's online experience (both the website and Internet Banking). With a strong focus on content, but a wide responsibility for many other aspects of what we offer online, this role was a new challenge in a familiar industry.

Melbourne, Victoria, Au

Responsible for National Australia Bank's web content. Led a team of writers and had the job of creating a content strategy for the company. The aim was to maintain the separate character of our main website, four blogs, internet banking platforms and social media properties, while making sure that they work together and make sense to our millions of customers.In my time at NAB we've moved from 4th to 1st in terms of customer satisfaction among Australia's big four banks. Online sales have consistently beaten our targets and the overall usability and readability of our sites has improved beyond recognition. We've also built a social media audience of over 100,000 people.In 2012 I won a place on "Shine", Personal Banking's reward program for its top 100 people (out of around 8,500).This job was incredibly fun. As I moved from being a writer to an advisor to a manager, I'd never enjoyed a job this much.=in 2009, my first role at NAB was to work on an online chatbot. I was mainly a writer, but the technology was still quite new and the way things worked meant that I needed at least a basic understanding of the natural language processing that happened behind the scenes as people chatted with the bot. MyCyberTwin, the company that built the chatbot platform, considered the bot we built to be the largest-scale and most complex CyberTwin in existence. Later, they were acquired by IBM and their technology was rolled into Watson. So that's kind of cool.

Wellington, Nz

Working with the NZDF's large software development team, I worked on user documentation for a number of systems. With regular releases to the three armed forces and users located all around New Zealand as well as posted overseas, precision and simplicity were the main requirements of my work.

Kingston, Tasmania, Au

Blenheim Mitre 10 had a series of small but important marketing challenges that needed addressing as the business looked ahead to its upcoming conversion to a larger Mitre 10 MEGA store. Partnering closely with the Business Manager, I worked on trade customer relations, print advertising, store layout, and other marketing concerns.

On a six-month contract I conducted thorough research into the South Island's flour market for River Mill Bakeries (which owned Canterbury Flour Mills at the time). With research including interviews of over 200 customers of CFM and our competitors, I built a full picture of the market as it was - essentially a duopoly selling to small businesses that value quality over price - and made recommendations to the company's directors.

Auckland, North Island, Nz

Led Dunedin's "street team" during TelstraClear's push to end Telecom's dominance of toll calling, internet service provision and home phone lines. With up to six people in the team we covered the entirety of Dunedin and its satellite towns in four months, more than doubling the number of TelstraClear subscribers.

Ba (Philosophy), Bcom (Marketing), Dipgrad (Classical Studies)

Education record