Digital consultant for step-up.today – a tech company incubated within Phillips Collection, a third-generation American furniture wholesaler.
I was brought on board to help step-up.today productivize a headless, modular platform built specifically for the furniture industry. I was the lead writer responsible for event marketing, brand, and product messaging. I worked with the CEO and a co-founder to draft op-eds and PR and guide all company communications. I developed collateral material (website, sales pages, and anything that would be used externally, like slides for events or one-pagers for investors). I also handled prep meetings for conversations with the press, investors, and clients.
Company: step-up.today by Phillips Collection (Tech)
Role: Marketing & Business Development lead
Established an Online Presence
Turning a Google doc into a pitch deck and the pitch deck into a website. step-up.today had a great product but hadn't figured out how to explain it to anybody. The company had two objectives: to raise money for their next round of funding and to be attractive to potential customers. The goal was not to get leads through the website but rather to show prospective customers and investors that step-up.today gets the story right. I developed the narrative and synthesized a large number of USPs for each app in the product ecosystem. I oversaw two employees and one freelance illustrator who developed branding and visuals for the website.
Established an offline presence
Developed creative and messaging tactics for marketing events. For this, I worked with the step-up.today co-founder and Phillips Collection CEO to determine what outputs were required to get the company visibility in the market with minimal cost (crying emoji). The goal was to build brand halo via an assortment of marketing collateral materials that were relevant and newsworthy.
Established ongoing industry partnerships
The furniture industry—one of the most fragmented industries in the United States—has a history of strained relationships with outside experts who weren’t always civil collaborators. Building trust and respect among industry leaders is essential to step-up.today’s growth goals because sales in a vertical industry rely on the advice customers get from their peers.
To that end, I advised the co-founder to take the lead on a new program that standardizes how product data information gets exchanged between e-commerce platforms (e.g. Wayfair, Overstock, Amazon) and manufacturers/wholesalers. For this group, I wrote communications materials and developed a product attributes framework. I also developed merchandise to brand the group which got step-up.today conversations with all the companies involved in the initiative.
Established authority in the industry
I sought to build trust among potential customers via a combination of bylines for industry publications, interviews with reporters, and PR. I aimed to position the CEO of Phillips Collection and the CTO of step-up.today as thought leaders on digital transformation.
