Perkins School for the Blind
Perkins School for the Blind, the first school for blind people established in the U.S. in 1829, is the worldwide leader in education services for children and young adults with disabilities.
As a legacy brand based in Massachusetts, Perkins needed to increase its awareness outside of New England, and address its aging donor population by engaging the next generation of donors.
Our work together required an entirely new approach to marketing — fresh messaging that considered social/political contexts, digital-first creative, a brand new website that surpassed the standards for digital accessibility, and a fully-integrated marketing strategy.
Leading the in-house content marketing team, I gained a deep level of experience in (and fascination with) accessibility. That allowed me to pay that knowledge forward in my position at Trilogy Interactive, and foster my relationships to bring them in as a client.
A new, modern website
Moving the outdated website from Drupal to WordPress, I led the content marketing strategy that modernized messaging and improved SEO. I wrote compelling pieces that catered to a digital-first audience, and managed web-activated fundraising campaigns.
Reaching diverse audiences through accessibility
Through brand-lift testing, we learned the messages that worked and needed the platforms to match it. I worked with blind and visually impaired people in Greater Boston to fine-tune the audio and digital components of our ads that targeted similar audiences.
Role & Responsibilities
- Lead individual awareness and fundraising digital marketing campaigns, meeting the annual $10.2 million fundraising goal.
- Developed brand style guide and messaging for Perkins’ content streams: disability inclusion, accessibility, child welfare, and global education.
- Executed two month-long digital advertising campaigns on social media and streaming audio, serving 9.8 million impressions and driving a 131% increase in web traffic.
- Wrote content for Perkins.org, email marketing drip campaigns, website opt-ins, digital display ads, organic social media, direct mail and print, and more.
- Trained external departments on multichannel marketing, SEO best practices, AP style writing, short-form video production, and more to establish self-service practices across the organization.
