About the Organization: The Eleanor Roosevelt Center is a non-profit organization whose mission is to further the legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt. They create programming based on Eleanor Roosevelt's values and passion for youth leadership, civic engagement, and social justice.
My Role: I am the Marketing Coordinator and Graphic Designer at the Eleanor Roosevelt Center. I'm tasked with creating marketing campaigns and designing marketing materials, maintaining the website and blog and building webpages through WordPress, planning and managing our social media, creating email campaigns, event campaigns, designing merch, editing video content for YouTube and our podcast, and general office support.
The Problem: After 50 years as an organization, Covid forced the Eleanor Roosevelt Center to completely shut down. After the organization was saved and reopened under new leadership, my purpose was to create a rebrand for the organization, to maintain a professional look in all digital and physical communications, and to raise funds and brand awareness through marketing efforts. As most of our audience was older (50+) local residents, the Eleanor Roosevelt Center wanted to broaden their audience and start reaching a younger crowd, and to expand the audience past the local level. This new direction was created to inspire and teach the next generation about Eleanor Roosevelt's legacy.
The Solution: I created new branding that was clean and professional-looking, yet friendly and inviting to mimic Eleanor Roosevelt's personality and the comforting feeling that people felt when they heard her speak. I used pops of color and fun graphics to pull in the younger audience, especially when posting about topics that would interest them on social media. I created content pillars that balanced our content topics to appeal to both an older and a younger audience. I designed a blog to connect with our audience on a more personal level and educate them about Eleanor. I also created a podcast in which different Roosevelt family members interviewed each other about their experience being a Roosevelt, which became a viral series on TikTok. I built an online shop, which increased funding, and an email capture pop-up to grow our mailing list. I also collaborated with major organizations like PEN America and Penguin Random House to raise brand awareness and reach new audiences.
COLORS AND FONTS
The color palette was already provided to me when I started my role, but I utilized the colors in my own way and created a brand guide to show how they were best used in different designs. I picked Poppins as our main font because it is clean, friendly, and professional, which perfectly aligns with the rebrand's personality. I also used Inter and Montserrat as clean, supporting fonts, and created separate branding for our biggest annual event, the Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Book Awards.
WEBSITE DESIGN
At the Eleanor Roosevelt Center, I maintain our website and design webpages for events, blog posts, fundraising, and manage our e-commerce shop. When I began working for ERC, their webpage was just a place to learn about the organization, donate and register for events. I transformed our digital presence by developing new additions to the website, such as adding an online shop to increase fundraising, a blog, which deepened our relationship with our audience and improved our SEO, and an email capture pop-up, which significantly increased our email list. Suddenly, our website wasn't just a place for our current audience to keep up with us, as we were reaching people across the country who were finding our blog and ordering from our shop.
PRINT MATERIALS & POSTERS
I produced a wide range of print materials at the Eleanor Roosevelt Center, including event flyers, donation cards, direct mail marketing, year-end appeal letters and newsletters, event programs, light box display graphics, lectern signs, and event signage.
I produced a wide range of print materials at the Eleanor Roosevelt Center, including event flyers, donation cards, direct mail marketing, year-end appeal letters and newsletters, event programs, light box display graphics, lectern signs, and event signage.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING & DESIGN
I completely rebranded our social media and created campaigns that connected us with a new audience of younger people and broadened our reach past the local level. I used carousels to educate our audience about Eleanor Roosevelt and tied them to current events. I shared inspiring quotes and heartwarming stories from Eleanor Roosevelt, which always brought us great engagement. Before the shutdown, the organization focused on programming related to women's leadership and empowerment, so I created a series where we highlighted women across the world who were doing good in the world. My team and I also created a beloved series called "Dogs of Val-Kill" where we "interviewed" the dogs who came for walks at the park, which fulfilled our commitment to the National Park Service to bring new people to Val-Kill. We even collaborated with local animal shelters to help dogs get adopted!
Our biggest yearly event is the Banned Book Awards, which is an award show that honors authors and advocates who have had their books banned. I collaborated with large organizations like PEN America and Penguin Random House, and public figures like Hilarie Burton Morgan, radio host Joe Donahue, and author John Green, to cross-promote the event and bring more attention to our organization. This campaign brought our socials to 1 million monthly views, a steep increase from our previous views.
I also promoted our YouTube and podcast series by creating clips and sharing them on social media, which quickly became our most viral series on TikTok. The public quickly fell in love with the series, and with our very first post reaching 48,000 views and gaining 2,000 new followers.
Our biggest yearly event is the Banned Book Awards, which is an award show that honors authors and advocates who have had their books banned. I collaborated with large organizations like PEN America and Penguin Random House, and public figures like Hilarie Burton Morgan, radio host Joe Donahue, and author John Green, to cross-promote the event and bring more attention to our organization. This campaign brought our socials to 1 million monthly views, a steep increase from our previous views.
I also promoted our YouTube and podcast series by creating clips and sharing them on social media, which quickly became our most viral series on TikTok. The public quickly fell in love with the series, and with our very first post reaching 48,000 views and gaining 2,000 new followers.
EMAIL DESIGN AND MARKETING
I created email campaigns that educated our customer base on upcoming events, new YouTube and podcast episodes, and new products in our online shop. I also utilized it for fundraising, creating year-end campaigns, and Giving Tuesday campaigns. Our email list increased by 25% compared to the period before I started, and it became our main platform for event signups and fundraising.
I created email campaigns that educated our customer base on upcoming events, new YouTube and podcast episodes, and new products in our online shop. I also utilized it for fundraising, creating year-end campaigns, and Giving Tuesday campaigns. Our email list increased by 25% compared to the period before I started, and it became our main platform for event signups and fundraising.
MERCH DESIGN
I created an online shop and designed merch to sell at events and on our website, which brought a new source of revenue for the organization. I kept the merch design as clean and friendly as the rest of the rebrand to appeal to both our younger and older audiences. I utilized our brand colors and fonts to make our merch recognizable and memorable.
I created an online shop and designed merch to sell at events and on our website, which brought a new source of revenue for the organization. I kept the merch design as clean and friendly as the rest of the rebrand to appeal to both our younger and older audiences. I utilized our brand colors and fonts to make our merch recognizable and memorable.
