Welcome to AJ Beltis' Portfolio! Media ● Content ● Marketing ● Writing ● Communication ● Business ● Journalism ● Film
Hello! My name is AJ Beltis. I'm a content creator and marketer skilled in blogging, analytics, events, podcasting, inbound, and more.
I'm available for freelance writing and speaking opportunities – head on over to the contact tab to get in touch with me!
Who is AJ Beltis? Academics
In 2016, I graduated summa cum laude, earning my Bachelor's degree with a double major in Communication and Marketing from Bryant University in Smithfield, RI.
This website contains a portfolio of some of the work I did during my four years of college. Each example aligns with one of the nine goals put forth by the National Communication Association. If you explore these nine pages (cleverly labeled 1-9 above), you will see what I have written, created, and completed for classes, on-campus organizations, and jobs & internships.
During college, I was one of those overly involved guys. I hosted two radio shows and won two awards for them. I took a leadership role for the Bryant Debaters and brought the team to its first intercollegiate tournament, where we debated against Ivy League schools (and actually beat them in a couple rounds). I wrote for the school newspaper, achieved Dean's List every semester (including two 4.0 President's List placements), and attained membership in four honor societies. My time at Bryant brought me around the world – I studied abroad twice and attended conferences and events in Chicago, Orlando, Providence, and more.
My most active involvement was in the Bryant University Public Speaking Program. I was president of Bryant's version of Toastmasters, The Podium, running meetings and speaking in various classes. I also participated in Bryant's prestigious Public Speaking Colloquium – an event where 50 students write and deliver their own speeches in front of a panel of judges, with the top 6 presenting in a crowd of 200+ people. I advanced to final event all four years – the first and to date only person to do so – was runner up in 2013, and won the event in 2015. Below is the link for the speech I wrote and delivered at the 2015 Public Speaking Colloquium, where I was named the winner.
Professional Experience My professional experience in the content and media industry started with an internship at WPRI-TV in Providence, where I wrote online news stories as the CBS affiliate's Digital News Intern. I also worked as a Studio Production Assistant at Bryant University's Communication Complex from sophomore until senior year.
Additionally, I was a Team Advisor for two consecutive summers at the National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC) in California and Washington, D.C., where I served as a mentor and teacher to some of the most promising future communication professionals. At the NSLC, I wrote a workshop on media literacy, taught classes on communication ethics and broadcast journalism, and partnered with American University's Discover the World of Communication program as a Teaching Assistant. Ultimately, it was my job to ensure the safety and foster the leadership potential of over 500 students over the two summers and form a personal connection with my groups of 12-17 conference attendees. I continued to lead and participate in conferences by serving as a mentor for the Bryant IDEA program and the 2016 Beta Gamma Sigma Global Leadership Summit in Dallas, TX.
I held a second internship at Figmints Digital Creative Marketing in the marketing department, where I started writing my first blog posts and created digital content for the sales enablement software company SalesBrief. My interest in Inbound marketing skyrocketed and I soon started looking for content marketing roles after graduation, which led me to my first job at Toast, Inc. in Boston.
Over the course of 2+ years, I took charge of the Toast Restaurant Management Blog, a leading publication in the industry. I wrote, edited, and historically optimized up to six blog posts each week and collaborated with Toast's marketing team and dozens of guest contributors. Aside from this, I created downloadable long-form offers as part of Toast's lead generation campaigns. These eBooks, guides, templates, and calculators have generated thousands of inbound leads and over 1,000,000 annual visits to the Toast Restaurant Management Blog, which has been recognized by the Content Marketing Institute as one of the Top 5 Corporate Blogs. My other projects included founding and hosting The Garnish Podcast, speaking at the national Food for Thought event series, and various video projects.
I moved from Toast to HubSpot in 2018, where I shifted my focus from growing blog traffic to increasing blog conversion rates. The HubSpot blog has thousands of entries and is viewed millions of times every month, and my efforts directly resulted in a 1,000+% increase in CVR for specific blog topics and a 25% increase in overall blog conversion rates. My projects include ideating, executing, and analyzing results from CRO tests before implementing a statistically significant winner, creating tailored lead generating content for our blog readers, and writing blog posts to generate more leads.
During my tenure at HubSpot, I spoke at INBOUND and was ranked a Top 10 Speaker from a pool of hundreds of breakout sessions. I also collaborate regularly with HubSpot Academy and was featured in the relaunched Content Marketing Certification. Other projects include speaking at HubSpot User Group events, writing and being featured for HubSpot YouTube videos, working with regional enablement for our international marketing team, and collaborating with our Senior SEO Strategist to choose which blog content to focus on quarterly.
Freelancing & Side Projects
I love what I do, but nothing trumps my passion for movies. I have a film blog, on which I occasionally write something. I also have a YouTube channel for video essays I've made on some of my favorite (and one of my least favorite) movies. You can also check out my podcast on millennial kids and family movies, The Old Kids Movies, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Even after all that, I still find myself wanting to do more. So, in 2019, I started freelance writing. My clients have included 7shifts Restaurant Scheduling, Boston Venture Capital Firm Underscore VC, and video captioning company 3Play Media.
I'd love to add you to my portfolio and bring my signature brand of SEO-focused, lead-generating, human writing to your blog or content library. Head over to the content tab to get in touch with me for rates and project availability.