Brian McKinney
Content Strategist | Digital Project Manager | AI-Savvy Marketing Operations
Elgin, Texas (Central Time) | linkedin.com/in/austinwriter1 | Contact
Summary
Content strategist, project manager, and writer with 25+ years of experience planning and delivering digital content, CMS migrations, and marketing programs across healthcare, insurance, banking, real estate, energy, and entertainment, including contract work for Aetna, Charles Schwab, Express Scripts, Accenture (Facebook), and Indeed. Builds the structure that makes content work: requirements, inventories, review workflows, governance, and plain-language standards. Ran direct marketing for a Medicare supplement brokerage named to the Inc. 500 two years running. Hands-on AI practitioner who designed and built Sprok.ai, an Amplified Intelligence system powered by a large language model (LLM), including its system prompt, knowledge base, and automated workflows. Authorized to work in the U.S. for any employer.
Core Skills
Content & Strategy: Content Strategy | Content Audits and Inventories | Information Architecture | Plain-Language Writing and Editing | Copywriting | Brand Voice and Messaging | Editorial QA | Content Governance | Chicago Manual of Style
Project & Product: Agile | Product Ownership | Requirements Gathering | Business Analysis | CMS Migration | Process Improvement (Lean) | Stakeholder Communication | Vendor Management | Key Account Management
AI & Automation: LLM Prompt and System Prompt Writing | Knowledge Base Design | Reviewing and Correcting AI Output | Workflow Automation
Marketing: Email Marketing | SEO / SEM | Programmatic Advertising | Google Analytics | Content Marketing | Lead Generation | CRM
Tools: Jira | Confluence | Drupal | Adobe Experience Manager | WordPress | Alfresco | SharePoint | HubSpot | GoHighLevel | Zapier | Stripe | Silverpop | Listrak | MS Project | Workamajig | Trello | Google Workspace | Microsoft 365 | Claude
Professional Experience
Founder & Creator, Sprok.ai | Sprocket Digital USA LLC, Elgin, TX
Jan 2026 – Present- Designed and built Sprok.ai, an Amplified Intelligence system that serves as a strategic co-architect for small business owners, guiding them through a proprietary five-phase marketing framework via text or voice while building a persistent knowledge base about each owner’s business. Solo founder, no outside funding.
- Wrote the system prompt and a knowledge base of 30+ structured source documents; keep both current through regular research updates on AI developments.
- Created The 5-Phase Digital Marketing Machine™ and codified it in an 18-document suite (Master Services Agreement, Master SOW, Executive Brief, and a SOW, Implementation Guide, and Staffing Analysis per phase) under version control.
- Built payment, activation, and delivery workflows with Stripe, GoHighLevel, and Telegram, and documented them as versioned SOPs.
- Managed a multi-vendor domain-routing incident: gathered technical evidence (redirect traces, DNS records), drove vendor escalation, and executed a reversible contingency that protected the timeline.
- Use LLMs daily for research, drafting, QA, and documentation, reviewing and correcting model output before anything ships.
Principal Owner | Sprocket Digital USA LLC, Elgin, TX
Oct 2023 – Present- Serve as project manager for small and mid-sized business marketing builds, from discovery through execution: clients contract vetted vendors directly, and I run the job.
- Founded and self-funded The Elgin Chronicle (Oct 2024 – Jun 2025), a digital community news site run as a short-term proof of concept. Wrote original articles and produced a performance report on a 16-week geofencing study funded by downtown businesses.
- Developed content for clients in digital broadcasting, entertainment, and real estate.
- Authorized Simpli.fi programmatic advertising reseller; member of the Umbrella Local national digital marketing team (Sep 2023 – Sep 2024).
Product Owner, Content Strategy | Aetna, Austin, TX (via Aquent)
Jan 2022 – Sep 2022- Acting product owner for re-platforming Mercy Care Arizona’s web presence (six member sites and six provider sites) from TeamSite to Adobe Experience Manager.
- Groomed and tracked epics, user stories, and initiatives in Jira and Confluence for Agile sprint planning; managed communications across all project stakeholders.
- Built benchmark and living content inventories and site maps; wrote requirements for end-to-end content redirection and migration.
Content Strategist | Charles Schwab, Austin, TX (contract)
May 2021 – Nov 2021- Created and managed the single-source-of-truth database used to plan page retirement and migration of client-facing content from a legacy CMS to Drupal.
Content Strategist / Writer / Project Manager | Self-Employed, Austin, TX
Jan 2020 – Mar 2021- Freelance content strategy, editing, and writing; consulted for a brick-and-mortar retailer preparing for online sales, including an inventory management and barcode-scanning installation.
Senior Content Strategist | Express Scripts, Austin, TX
Aug 2019 – Sep 2019- Short-term contract through U.S. Tech Solutions for quality assurance review, content loading (Drupal 8), and functional pre-launch testing of a website for the Department of Defense.
Digital Marketing Consultant | Web.com, Austin, TX
May 2018 – Dec 2018- Marketed proprietary products and services for a publicly traded digital agency.
Content Management Coordinator | Indeed, Austin, TX
Mar 2018 – Apr 2018- Coordinated an IT department content migration to a new content management system.
Content Analyst | Accenture (Facebook), Austin, TX
Oct 2017 – Feb 2018- Oversaw globally generated social media content for a Facebook project.
Communications Manager / Content Strategist / ECM Administrator | Aetna, Austin, TX
May 2013 – Feb 2017- Managed workflow for Aetna’s Writers Center for Excellence content quality review team: triaged 2,500+ submissions from 50 internal departments and assigned work across 15 team members, upholding brand and plain-language standards.
- Designed enterprise-wide review processes and configured 62 collaboration worksites on Alfresco, an open-source enterprise content management system, serving 236 users.
- Liaison to the Marketing Technology Operations team on digital asset management strategy; led process improvements using Lean methods.
- Wrote and directed “How to Enroll in Medicare,” an explainer video produced for Aetna.
Director of Direct Marketing | MediGap360 / Insuraprise, Austin, TX
Mar 2011 – Mar 2013- Inc. 500 honoree two years running: 2011 (No. 190; 5th fastest-growing U.S. insurance company) and 2012 (No. 291).
- Ran the email-driven lead-flow strategy for licensed in-house agents, generating an estimated $2 million+ in sales over 25 months across two email platforms (Silverpop, Listrak).
- Managed a 50,000-subscriber monthly newsletter and a 100,000-contact opt-in list; launched the Medigap360 Benefits Card for 8,000+ policyholders.
Earlier Experience
- Independent Strategic Consultant, Austin, TX (2008 – 2011): internet strategy and web production for Victory Medical; produced the live webcast of the 75th Miss Texas Pageant.
- Consulting Manager, First ROI / BancVue (2007 – 2008): ran web development for an agency serving 400+ community banks and credit unions; won an Interactive Media Council “Best in Class” award and the 2007 Leadership Award.
- Content Strategist / Account Manager, New Media Gateway, Dallas (2006 – 2007): managed the Texas Ford account for J. Walter Thompson; scoped, estimated, and managed project requirements and budgets; wrote proposals.
- Independent Consultant, Dallas, TX (2001 – 2006): creative director and writer for Kraft Foods television commercials; installed video replay equipment for the National Hockey League in 30 cities; content strategy for Mannatech, Constellation NewEnergy, and Hillwood Properties.
- Vice President, Business Strategy, Rare Medium (2000 – 2001): one of the firm’s VPs; led engagements for Dallas County Community College District and Home Interiors & Gifts; contributed to accounts including Neiman Marcus, Wyndham Hotels, Forbes, and TiVo; co-founded the “Geek Meet” technology networking group.
- Independent Consultant, Dallas, TX (1995 – 2001): strategy and content for Bristol Hotels & Resorts (Holiday Inn), Twinlab, Fujitsu, and Loral Qualcomm.
- Former Creative Director at two Dallas agencies: shaped experience design strategies for Aetna, Ford, Federal Express, and Dr Pepper.
Education & Certifications
B.S., Journalism (Radio-TV-Film), William Allen White School of Journalism, University of Kansas
Aetna Achieving Business eXcellence (ABX) Lean Six Sigma program | Aetna Lean Yellow Belt | Aetna Agile 101 | Certified Writer, Aetna | HubSpot Inbound Marketing (2017) | Google Analytics (2019) | Alfresco Records Management
— 30 —