Who Are Pascal & Associates?

Sometimes Pascal & Associates is just me: David Pascal. I'm a writer and designer with over twenty years experience in marketing and advertising.

I can provide a wide range of writing, design, and web design services personally. When the assignment calls for something unusual or special, or especially large or complex, I pull together a team of skilled associates I know, and we do the job together.

Can I see some examples of your work?

Sure. The samples page has a whole set of examples of what I've done for clients over the years.

That page and others feature everything from ads to web design to logo design to direct mail copy. One page even features a full campaign for a client.

Often several people are involved in creating marketing and advertising materials. The designer does this, the writer writes that. You can't always tell who contributed what. But (unless otherwise indicated) the samples you see here are entirely my own writing and my design.

Who specifically are your associates?

Well, I've worked with quite a few people. But there are professionals in the Rochester area whose services I would have to recommend to anyone. I like to work with The Galen Group for general research, and Amherst-based Joel Goldberg & Associates for really top-level market research and market segmentation. Mail Technologies and Epix Marketing can't be beat when it comes to Direct Mail. For printing needs? It's you can't do better than to contact Michelle Ferrin of St VincentPress. Dave Coppola (no web site) managed the graphic designers at Wegmans for several years, and you can't ask for a source of better input. For work involving the Hispanic market, I call on journalist and translator Camy Sorbello. For photography, it's John Retallack all the way -- a superb award-winning photographer and RIT professor will occasionally takes commercial assignments.

And then there are my students. I teach classes in marketing and advertising now and again, and a number of students have either come from major agencies, or gone on to work for them. They stay in touch.

Do you do web programming or e-commerce?

If you want an overall web site with a programming or e-commerce component, I normally call in an expert programmer and we work together on the project. I do the design and copy and layout, and the programmer does the really complicated tech stuff.

There is a name I have to mention. If your focus is completely on the programming or e-commerce, go direct to Lynne Perry at www.lynneperry.com. Super programmer, fine person, great references, and as knowledgeable a programmer as they come. I've worked with her, and there are none better. Few even come close.

What size businesses do you work for?

All sizes. I work for the person that hires me. That person may call me on behalf of a large corporation, a small practice, or be an individual who needs a ghostwriter for an article or a book or speech.

I do admit I have a preference for marketing professionals and professional practices -- attorneys, physicians, dentists, architects, fellow consultants. You can generally talk with the people making decisions directly, and that saves a lot of time. But I've handled everything from government work, to consulting for major corporations, to doing author sites for nationally honored award-winning poets.

I do have a particular liking for ghostwriting. Helping people articulate their knowledge and experiences is sometimes even more a pleasure than articulating your own.

And sometimes I teach classes in writing, advertising, and marketing. Also, on occasion, in fiction and poetry. (Yes, I'm a published author.) I've lectured at colleges, and given talks at conferences. I'm a book lover, and designing book covers is a particular pleasure too.

If what I do has a keynote, it's adaptability. Nowadays, in an age of continual change, there's no other option. You have to shape your services to the client -- large or small, corporate, nonprofit, or individual.

What do your clients say about you?

Nice things.

A recent client said: "I can't congratulate David Pascal enough for the work he's done on our web site and on our direct mail packages. Our site's drawn frequent unsolicited praise from readers and has received unsolicited high rankings and awards from professional Web critics. His writing and consultation, in my opinion and in the personal opinions of the members of our Board of Directors, have been excellent.

"The bottom line is that since hiring David Pascal, our business has had the best year we've had in nearly 25 years, our web traffic has more than tripled, and we're now the fastest growing company in our entire field."

Says journalist, novelist and poet Sarah Freligh (for whom I created www.sarahfreligh.com):

"After an initial consultation with David Pascal, he knew intuitively what I wanted in a Web site and how best to accomplish it. The entire project was done quickly with a mininum of fuss.  Working with David has been a pleasure. I'd recommend David Pascal's web design services to anyone."

Local business owner Eric Koesterich put it more succinctly: "I liked his stuff. My customers liked his stuff. It got me business and it made me money."

Can't beat recommendations like that.

My very oldest client is the Upstate New York marketing firm The Galen Group. I've worked with them on assignments for over fifteen years now, and its CEO, Jonathan Rich, has called me, "the finest copywriter I ever had the pleasure of working with."

OK, he exaggerates. But I am pretty good.

How do I know you're any good?

Read me. Look at the work I've done. My web site can show you ads and ad campaigns, articles I've written, web sites I've designed, graphic work I've done, an extensive list of clients, my resume, and so on.

If you want to find out if someone can cook -- have a taste!

Do you do Search Engine Optimization?

Of course. Pay-per-click optimization (such as Adwords) too.

Are you good?

Type 'Rochester copywriter' or 'Rochester NY copywriter' into Google and I come in #1 in both general and local searches.

Type 'Rochester ghostwriter' and I also come in #1, page 1.

If I can get myself on top of page one, I can get you there too. Yes. I'm good.

Do you do Social Media marketing?

You mean like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or even Second Life? Yup. You can check out my own pages there at twitter.com/davidpascal, linkedin.com/in/davidpascalceo, facebook.com/pascalandassociates, and my Second Life avatar ID is Vissarion Obolensky.

And yes, I have both introduced clients to these media, and used them to market and promote clients too.

Why should I hire you and not some other writer or marketing guy?

What distinguishes me from most other such professionals is that I'm not 'just' a writer. Or even just a marketing guy.

I am a published writer, and a marketing professional with long in-house marketing experience.

But I also have skills and a background in graphics and design. And my academic and training credentials are in psychology -- in particular, the psychology of persuasion and behavior.

I learned early on that being competitive these days means being up to a par with computer skills and graphics and design software. So I got up to par. So I can not only write the marketing piece you need, but research it, design it, and produce it too.

If you hire me, you don't just get someone with writing experience. You get someone with marketing experience, design skills, a performance training background, formal training in persuasion skills and psychology, and someone who can produce and deliver the goods as well as just write them. You get work that's totally integrated. And you don't have to pay six or seven separate people to do it.

Of course, if you have money to burn, you can always hire a team or an agency to do all that. Personally I think six for the price of one is a good deal.

Is there anything you can't do?

Sure. That's where the associates come in. I have limitations -- I write English, HTML, and CSS, but PHP and C++ code is not my area of expertise. I'm not a master photographer. I'm adequate. If a client needs really stellar quality in those areas, I do what agencies do: I find the right person and bring them in on it.

It isn't always necessary or always cost-effective to bring in a lot of people. But when people are needed, I know several that are available, and all of them are good. If I can do it solo, I generally will. If it takes a team, I can put one together.

What do you charge?

Depends on the project. I wish I could be more exact, but you really need to know the job before you can estimate it. A web site for a multi-million dollar nonprofit (which I've done) is going to be more work than a classified ad for a hypnotherapist. Which I've also done.

Is getting a quote expensive?

Heck no. There's no charge at all. I'd be glad to chat about a project or an assignment. Call me at 585.643.1167. Or email me via the contact page. Talk to me. We can work it out from there.

What's your background?

If you'd like to know more about my professional background, my resume's on my resume page.

My personal background? I was born in Buffalo, New York, and currently live at my home in the Brighton area of Rochester, New York, not far from the celebrated Harley School.

I have a bachelor's degree in Psychology, and a second bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities (graduating first in my class and magnum cum laude). I've done some post grad study and have Practitioner Certification in neuro-linguistic programming.

I've also lectured at colleges, and taught writing, copywriting, and web design at various places, principally the nationally celebrated organization Writers & Books, where I teach regularly.

I'm a member of Mensa, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, as well as several other groups and charities.

Professionally, I started out as an illustrator for The Galen Group in the 80's, soon turned copywriter, then Chief Copywriter, then Partner. I've freelanced since roughly 1990. I'm an award-winning writer who's been published in numerous publications.

I'm also active in the Rochester writing community generally. I recently designed and host www.writinginrochester.org, a resource for people locally who are interested in writing.

How can I get in touch with you and find out more?

Just click over to my Contact page and drop me a note. Or call me: I'm at 585.643.1167.

And to find out more about what I can do? Tour my web site. I'm afraid I can't offer you a frappuccinno, but there's plenty of things to read, a much celebrated research page, nice design work, plenty of interesting links. If you're in a rush you can even subscribe to my e-newsletter or Twitter feed and stay updated automatically.

So look around and enjoy your tour. And if you have any comments or suggestions on the site and how I can improve it? Stop by the Contact page on your way out and let me know.

Thanks for stopping by.

-- David Pascal

Photograph of David Pascal by John Retallack.

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