Shawn Mountcastle, Finance Director | Ambassador of Random Magical Things

“We were struggling to create content for our marketing campaigns. Now, we’re way more organized around our processes for event marketing. We’re also repurposing content across platforms more efficiently. Hillary is super-organized and can provide structure and support for any team.”

Shawn Mountcastle
Social emotional learning with Soul Shoppe

Soul Shoppe is a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, CA. For over two decades, Soul Shoppe has provided schools and students with social emotional learning (SEL) programs designed to teach kids the conflict resolution tools and social skills to thrive. Their ultimate mission is to foster a culture of compassion, connection, and curiosity so together, we can eliminate bullying at the roots and build a world where we all belong.

Learn more about Soul Shoppe
Soul Shoppe content marketing strategy

The Challenge

Adding value to the cultural conversation

When the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools in March of 2020, Soul Shoppe leapt into action and began offering livestream lessons. Then, that May, George Floyd was murdered and protests erupted across the country.

Soul Shoppe felt called upon – not only to offer support to its community of educators, parents, and students during this period of constant flux – but also, to take a stand and speak out against racial injustice. The question was: how?

Though Soul Shoppe was ahead of the curve in terms of digitizing their courses, there was no rhyme or rhythm to their marketing communications. The organization had not engaged in charged cultural conversations such as those happening around race and Black Lives Matter.

Soul Shoppe knew they had to rediscover their brand voice and determine how they could genuinely add value to these conversations, but they weren’t sure where to begin.

Soul Shoppe content marketing mockup

The Solution

Intentional content &

strategic community building

A comprehensive content marketing strategy, and simple systems to streamline content production and marketing campaigns.

We accomplished this by:

Content marketing strategy
  • Conducting a content audit to identify the organization’s values, clarify their offerings, hone in on their audience(s), and fine tune their voice
  • Developing an archive of evergreen social media copy & establishing a posting rhythm to regularly engage/educate ou audience(s)
  • Laser-focused copywriting for landing pages, emails, social media & marketing materials
  • Branded lead magnets built into targeted marketing funnels to capture email addresses
Simple marketing systems
  • Creating a Virtual Events Checklist outlining the essential tasks and timeline for hosting a virtual event
  • Designing a custom content creation workflow and content calendar to systematize production & posting
  • Setting up a task & project management software to coordinate between team members and independent contractors
  • Organizing the Google drive so all files were more intuitively accessible

The Results

With the help of our content strategy and streamlining, Soul Shoppe began hosting regular community events. Each month hundreds of kids, parents, and educators joined us to engage in activities ranging from virtual recess, to an online SEL gameshow, to panel discussions about racially-motivated violence.

After gaining clarity on Soul Shoppe’s brand voice, we established a content cadence and published cohesive messaging across all channels. Soul Shoppe was able to speak up and stand out. They were able to meaningfully engage in the cultural conversation and share insightful resources that could empower their community to do the same.

With the new marketing campaign framework in place, Soul Shoppe was able to roll out their timely online courses and sell directly to homeschoolers and parents for the first time. These efforts were met with enthusiasm and heartfelt appreciation by Soul Shoppes longtime friends and fans.

Hillary Lyons copywriter & brand strategist
Like what you see?

Are you ready to…

  • Get clarity on your brand’s voice & vision?
  • Have your message land with the right people?
  • Build a brand community with engaging content?
  • Drive conversions and boost sales?

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