Katie Dennis and Taryn Hardes - the Architects of the Edmonton Valve Website

Creating weekly technical articles is no easy feat. Luckily, the Edmonton Valve marketing team is up for the challenge.

	Katie Dennis, left, and Taryn Hardes, right, are the key associates responsible for content creation and digital delivery.

Since 1965, Edmonton Valve has provided critical fluid system components to customers throughout Northern and Central Alberta. Fourty-nine years ago, we primarily communicated with customers face-to-face, and that part of our business hasn’t changed. However, today we use a variety of technology to bring us closer to our customers. This includes phone calls, email, Microsoft Dynamics, and of course, our website.

The new website has opened up a new venue for communication with our customers – and it’s provided an easier way for customers to get the information they need. We post a new article every week to continue to build up the content that’s available for both customers and associates - it’s even become a training tool for new associates. By providing information about our products that is specific to our industry, we’ve reached out in a completely new way.

The people behind the blog pages are Katie Dennis and Taryn Hardes. Both have been with the company for just over two years and have worked on the blog since its inception in 2012. Between the two of them, they create the content calendar, connect a writer to a subject matter expert, research, proofread, edit, stage, and publish articles. They are also responsible for a variety of other roles at Edmonton Valve, including events, training, human resources, and marketing.

Katie Dennis is a born and raised Edmontonian. She loves to walk with her dog in the Edmonton River Valley in the summer and snowboard in the Rocky Mountains in the winter. She is also an avid traveler, meaning she is always keen to make trips to our corporate office in Cleveland, Ohio.  She is a graduate of the Bachelor of Business Administration at NAIT, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology here in Edmonton. She previously worked as a wedding planner and has brought those event planning skills over to our own events, including our charity golf tournament and our holiday staff parties.

Taryn Hardes is originally from Lloydminster, Alberta. She studied English Literature at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and upon graduation, moved to Edmonton to start her career in communications. In her spare time she likes to jog in the river valley and go to movies on Whyte Avenue. She also reads, writes, cooks, and practices yoga. She is a big fan of travelling as well – she spends most weekends taking road trips to various cities across the prairies.

Initially, running the website was a large time commitment. Over the last two years, however, the team has streamlined the process and involved people from every facet of the organization.

Hardes says, “It’s a total team effort. We count on people from every department to help us put together articles and create content for our customers.”

Dennis says, “Our process allows us to build on Swagelok’s technical content and utilize our expertise to share unique applications and experiences with our audience. It’s great to see the capacity of knowledge throughout the organization and create an online learning environment.”

Not only does this platform allow us to share this information with our customers, but the associates at our Edmonton branch, as well as worldwide, all enjoy taking a read.

Andy Shepherd from Swagelok London says, “This platform has allowed us to share universal context and create the One Swagelok vision that our company strives for.”

Since the website is for the readers, our team would love to hear from you! If you have any suggestions for article topics you would like to see, please let us know here.