Margaret F. Browne

Summer of Tech was The DoSeum’s 2017 Summer Program that encompassed the 2017 summer exhibit DigiPlaypace, the award-winning TIFF exhibit, an interactive, innovative, multimedia exhibit focused on technology and art in education; The DoLympics, a summer learning program meant to combat “summer slide”, learning loss over the summer; a Kids’ Coding Challenge; an adults-only night, ReDo Dot Com; a tech fair; and more.

The challenge was to successfully promote each of Summer of Tech’s programs and initiatives, without fragmenting audience engagement & attendance, and creating an awareness of the The DoSeum’s core competencies as manifested through the summer programming--convening educators, providing educational opportunities and resources for kids outside of school that complement their in-school learning, and providing new, engaging STEM learning experiences integrated with art and literacy.

For Summer of Tech, I worked directly with a small creative agency, Chamoy Creative, and our in-house graphic designers, to direct all creative direction and strategy. I also managed all project timelines and budgets, and the execution of all components of all marketing campaigns.

I was also solely responsible for the development and execution of a strategic public relations plan, managing timelines, budget, and the development and dissemination of all press materials. I also executed my first ever solo press preview--developing all materials, conducting all outreach, and planning the event.

Outcome: The Summer of Tech program proved hugely successful. That summer, we hit our one-millionth visitor, in large part thanks to the attraction of digiPlayspace. Our DoLympics event, the culmination of the summer math challenge, was attended by nearly 200 DoLympians; and ReDo Dot Com sold out at nearly 700 tickets. We also received excellent press coverage, including several television spots and radio coverage--including coverage that highlighted our educational mission & core competencies in addition to our entertainment value, live news, television, and radio coverage.

Beyond Rubik’s Cube was The DoSeum’s first-ever traveling exhibit, taking place in Spring 2016. The exhibit beautifully capitalized on the then-popular trend of rubik’s cubing among children from 6-17 years old, as well as 80’s nostalgia among young adults, educators, and parents. The goal with the traveling exhibit, because it does not require additional admission, is to attract larger and return attendance to the museum, and to provide opportunities for the development of new programming and events to both attract attendees, and to provide additional educational opportunities and resources to convene educators. We also needed to develop a marketing campaign to promote the exhibit throughout its duration, and individual campaigns for each of the events associated with the exhibit--including workshops, a 21+ adults’ night, ReDo: Retro Rubik’s Edition, and a speedcubing competition.

For Beyond Rubik’s Cube, I was responsible for the management of all marketing timelines and budgets, providing direction for all creative, developing content and copy for social and web, and planning and executing both unpaid and paid promotional campaigns. I also assisted in the execution of all public relations efforts--the planning and execution of the exhibit press preview, the development and dissemination of all press materials including press kits, press releases, and media advisories, and conducting outreach to media partners and press.

My favorite part of promoting this exhibit was the series of incredible guerilla/street marketing campaigns my team and I developed and executed both in the weeks preceding the exhibit and throughout the exhibit’s duration. Highlights include:

—Interactive Billboard Campaign: A series of billboards around the city displayed Rubik’s cubes in different stages of being solved, with arrows pointing towards The DoSeum. As the billboards got closer to The DoSeum, they were more and more solved. After a few weeks, we then replaced the billboards with the same design, but this time with information on the exhibit. We also unveiled a complementary social media campaign, dropping clues before the exhibit info was unveiled, hosting giveaways, and more.

—Easter Egg Hunt: In the days before Easter, we left hundreds of plastic Easter Eggs-- stuffed with exhibit SWAG and promotional info--around one of San Antonio’s most popular public parks (known for its Easter BBQ’s and egg hungs).

—Marbles: We partnered with a local glassmaking studio and a group of local artists who hide hand blown glass marbles around the city, leaving clues for people to find them. They created custom marbles for us--including a lucky charm marble & glass rubik’s cubes, which we then hid both within the museum and at community events. We promoted the marbles and the exhibit through social media, and encouraged those who found the marbles to post themselves.

In the three months of Beyond Rubik’s Cubes, we saw tens of thousands of visitors, attracted specifically to the exhibit. Our speedcubing competition and ReDo adults’ event were both completely sold out and fully attended. We earned 30-50 media mentions each month, including television, radio, and notable mentions including Univision, Travel Tots Blog, Sa Live, and more.

The Big Give is a 24-hour national day of giving that involves thousands of non-profits raising donations through social media and digital campaigns. In particular in San Antonio, The Big Give is a huge initiative in which the entire community, and hundreds of organizations, participate. The DoSeum participates every year, but our goal to create a campaign that would increase The DoSeum’s visibility during The Big Give, increase donations, and increase the number of individual donors.

Our campaign needed lend itself to online engagement, social sharing, and brand ambassadorship among our staff. We also needed to appeal to children and to their parents. Through my own background in education, and conversations with parents and children, I realized that we could capitalize on the current fad of creating at-home slime amongst children 10 and under, as well as appeal to the rise in 90’s nostalgia amongst the 25+ crowd, who would immediately recognize slime thanks to popular 90’s Nickelodeon legacy of slime. As a result, we came up with the perfect theme for our campaign--The GooSeum.

As we met different donation milestones through The Big Give, donors could watch staff members and educators at The DoSeum get slimed on Facebook Live and Instagram. In addition, staff members and educators were encouraged to act as brand ambassadors--creating individual fundraising goals that they promoted on their own social media channels to friends and family, and in return, if their goal was met, they would be slimed. We also had three giving power hours on the day of the event, during which time, each donation equaled one cup of slime.

The event was promoted through press mentions, social media and email marketing campaigns, in-house signage and advertisements with playful slime-themed graphics and puns, television appearances, and Facebook Like.

Overall, the event reached over 10,000 people, and we raised a sum of over $20,000, surpassing our initial goal of $10k, and nearly tripling the previous year’s total donation of $7k.

ReDo: Summer Camp was one in a series of ongoing ReDo events, after-hours adult-nights at The DoSeum. The concept behind ReDo is to invite adults to “redo” a part of their childhoods inside of the The DoSeum. The challenge of ReDo is to appeal to an audience that greatly differs from The DoSeum’s target audience (San Antonio residents; women; ages 25-54; 1+ children in household). Instead, ReDo caters to an audience of San Antonio men and women aged between 21 and 44 years-old who enjoy nightlife, music, and drinking. The copy and social content must maintain The DoSeum’s energetic, fun-loving brand voice, but include a more adult tone.

At this point, we had already hosted several ReDo Recess events, and engagement & attendance were starting to decrease. Though still popular, it was clear that we needed to revisit the event & its marketing in order for the event to continue to succeed well into the future. We selected the theme for its nostalgia, but also for the many possibilities it offered in terms of activities and partnerships, and because it allowed us to capitalize upon our outdoor space for a larger variety of activities. Partners like Camp Our Way provided tug o’ war, beach volleyball, and Pie in the Face. Local musicians hosted sing-a-longs around an outdoor campfire, staff facilitate a scary story contest, and “campers” could enjoy speciality cocktails, s’mores, and other summery treats.

In order to build up anticipation and interest in the event, we developed a playful social campaign that focused on short, shareable videos titled “What Can You ‘Redo’ at ReDo?” Each video highlights an activity or feature of ReDo: Summer Camp, but includes a comical twist. For example, one video demonstrates telling scary stories, but the ghost is a piece of tissue paper. Other aspects of the social campaign included highlighting food and drink partners with aesthetically-pleasing graphics. Marketing also included street-marketing downtown wearing our very own ReDo canoe passing out special flyers and doing ticket giveaways for reposts, trades with local bloggers and social media influencers, and earned media mentions.

After implementing changes to the event and our digital campaign, ReDo ticket sales moved from 400 tickets per event to 700+ tickets per event, an increase of 75%. Overall, the event had a reach of over 67,000 people and a response of over 1,300 people.

Outside the Lunchbox Luncheon is The DoSeum’s annual fundraiser gala that each year features a guest speaker influential and well-regarded in the world of education. The fundraiser, and its speaker, is meant to host and honor legacy donors of The DoSeum, while also broadening appeal to community educators, parents, and educational stakeholders from the larger San Antonio area.

The 2017 Outside the Lunchbox Luncheon featured guest speaker, Jessica Lahey, author of The New York Times’ Bestseller The Gift of Failure. The challenge is to work closely with the development team to engage large-scale donors, while also promoting general admissions in a timely manner, and to create awareness of the event as one of The DoSeum’s educational offerings that align with the museum’s larger mission.

In order to promote the event, we first targeted donors & those likely to become donors--volunteers & members, through a series of eblasts & mailed letters, personally addressed by members of the development team. Once larger table sales were completed, we promoted individual ticket sales through targeted campaigns towards parents and educators, using paid press placement, and paid & in-house digital ads. I developed all strategic ad campaigns, provided creative direction to all outside vendors for all promotional and day-of event collateral, and managed timelines for all deliverables. I also developed and executed a strategic public relations plan, developed and disseminated all press materials, and conducted media and press outreach.

We successfully met all table sale goals at each tier, and sold out of all individual ticket sales. We received several notable press mentions in advance of the event, as well as day of coverage that highlighted the educational role of The DoSeum within the community.

In 2016, The DoSeum launched its first-ever Artist-in-Residence program, in which an artist would be selected from a pool of applicants and collaborate with our exhibits team to create a temporary exhibit and workshops for The DoSeum.

The challenge was to create a multi-stage marketing plan that began by promoting the program to potential applicants, promoted the selection of the winner, the creation and opening of the exhibit, and then the exhibit itself.

For this exhibit, I provided creative direction & directed creative strategy for all marketing materials, developed and executed targeted social media campaigns and advertising to promote the program to applicants, and developed and executed the strategic public relations plan for the program and the exhibit.

As a result, we exceeded all target goals: number of applicants, attendees to the exhibit, sold out all exhibit workshops and camps, and earned local, regional, and national coverage.

Click here to read The DoSeum 2013/2014 Report to the Community on Issuu.

Click here to read The DoSeum 2015 Annual Report on Issuu.

Click here to read The DoSeum 2016 Annual Report on Issuu.

In 2015, I was hired by The DoSeum as a Communications Contractor to create their first ever Annual Report. The Annual Report was meant both to serve its traditional purpose of reporting the year’s financials and honoring donors, but also to vision cast and create brand awareness for the museum in its opening year.

For the 2014-2015 Report to the Community, I developed the overall creative concept, outlined & developed all content, conducted research and interviews for all stories, did all copywriting and copyediting, and managed all outside vendors including photographers, designers, the museum’s then creative agency, and printer’s. I also worked closely with leadership and development to develop language for the museum’s new mission statement, vision, and core competencies, and to ensure proper donor recognition and preservation of donor relations.

Since then, I created and oversaw the creation and publication of both The DoSeum’s 2016 & 2017 annual reports, switching to contracting with a freelance art director and designer with the 2016 report, and switching to contracting out and overseeing a freelance copywriter and copyeditor for the 2017 report.

Each year, I sought to ensure the annual report captured the creative spirit, “learning at play”, and active engagement that The DoSeum embodied as an organization. Hence, the interactive pages, playful colors, concept and design in each of the reports.

Spark! is The DoSeum’s seasonal members-only newsletter. I managed the production of Spark!, which included creating a timeline, drafting outlines, conducting interviews, writing all content, and coordinating with the graphic designer and printers.

Click here to read Spark! Summer 2015 on Issu.

Click here to read Spark! Winter/Spring 2015 on Issu.

Click here to read Spark! Summer 2016 on Issu.

Click here to read Spark! Winter 2016 on Issu.

Anyone who has worked in non-profits knows that membership, donors, and marketing go hand-in-hand.

During my time at The DoSeum as both a marketing associate and the marketing manager, I worked closely with leadership and with the development team to create strategic, targeted campaigns to reach existing donors and to reach new donors from within specific target groups--members, volunteers, and educators. Using analysis and profiles of these audience groups, I created strategic targeted campaigns to reach these groups--including traditional donor letters, email marketing, and targeted social media campaigns, including Facebook and Instagram ads. In addition to developing the strategy for these campaigns, I also developed copy and led creative direction.

Some of the campaigns I’ve worked on are donor letters, the capital campaign, as well as developing the concept and copy for new donor tiers, The DoSeum “Giving Circles.”

One of my favorite parts of developing donor campaigns and campaign materials has become writing leadership letters on behalf of our CEO, VP’s, and the chair of our board. The challenge is to develop copy that conveys the personal voice of the individual, but is elevated and inspirational, while still capturing the voice of the brand as a whole. The content also needs to connect to the mission and vision of the organization, and needs to utilize both data, storytelling, and metaphor that deeply engages the reader and compels them to become a committed donor.

Anyone who has worked in non-profits knows that membership, donors, and marketing go hand-in-hand.

During my time at The DoSeum as both a marketing associate and the marketing manager, I worked closely with leadership, the development team, and our membership coordinator to create strategic, targeted campaigns to recruit new members and retain existing members. I developed and executed strategic campaigns with targeted audiences of attendees to reach new members, as well as campaigns to retain existing members--ensuring that they renewed. These campaigns consisted of strategic digital and print touches to their audiences, print collateral and mailers, and targeted partnerships with blogs and influencers with our shared target audience. In addition to developing the strategy for these campaigns, I also developed copy and led creative direction.

One of my favorite parts of developing membership campaigns is developing copy that captures the voice of the brand, while still feeling personal and yet elevated enough to be inspirational and persuasive, convincing the reader that opting for a membership is beneficial to them. The content also needs to connect to the mission and vision of the organization, and needs to utilize both data, storytelling, and metaphor that deeply engages the reader and compels them towards the desired outcome, either to join as a member or to renew their current membership.

In fall of 2018, I took over Colorado Review’s Instagram page, ensuring that the page had regular posts. The following summer, our editor met with an outside consultant to revisit Colorado Review’s mission statement, vision, and goals. In talking with her about our new mission statement, I felt inspired to revitalize our social platforms and digital presence to better align with the new mission and more intentionally engage with out audience.

As a result, I developed a strategic digital marketing plan, utilizing our social media analytics and audience information. From there, I developed communications briefs for each of our social media platforms, and developed a series of best practices for each of our posts--including post content, schedules, brand standards and aesthetics, etc.

I then created a master schedule for all of our platforms, incorporating schedules for book releases, prizes, submission dates, etc. and creating campaigns backrolled from those dates. Throughout the year, I created strategic campaigns for our different initiatives and promotions, interwoven with content that highlighted Colorado Review’s role as a teaching press, behind-the-scenes content of our staff, and re-posting and highlighting accomplishments and publications from writers we’ve published and worked with. In spring of 2020, I also had the privilege of training an associate editor to take over my position upon graduating. It has been an incredibly rewarding to watch our social media presence continue to grow stronger and to have an increasing impact.

One of the most fun campaigns I had the privilege of planning & executing for Colorado Review was our digital campaign for Poetry Month, which happens every April. In addition to using Poetry Month to highlight poetry features from our most recent journal issues, our latest poetry manuscripts, and review of poetry collections on our website, Poetry Month was a phenomenal opportunity to highlight our organization’s dedication to poetry by highlighting poets we admire and love, notable poets we’ve published in past issues, and hosting virtual readings. The online Poetry Month campaign became a meaningful way for our literary community to come together online, especially in the midst of the pandemic.

During Poetry Month, we had some of our posts with the highest engagement, and saw an average uptick of 30% in our engagement and reach.

As a freelance copywriter, I wrote new creative copy for web and social for the relaunch of The DoSeum’s Spy Academy exhibit. The copy needed to capture the playful tone of the brand voice, while also making it clear what was being changes and to put a positive spin on the exhibit’s closing and re-opening.

As a freelance marketing specialist, I was asked to generate several different potential themes for the first fall ReDo Recess event of 2018. ReDo Recess is an ongoing series of after-hours adult-nights at The DoSeum. The concept behind ReDo is to invite adults to “redo” a part of their childhoods inside of the The DoSeum.

For ReDo Fall Fest, I arrived at the theme by looking at the themes of past ReDo Recess night and themes of other similar events in the area, to ensure that The DoSeum differentiated itself. I also considered what potential food and drink vendors would make strong partners for the event, and because so much of the activities are either in-kind donations, trades, or completely developed by The DoSeum staff, tried to consider the resources available to the museum.

As a result, ReDo Fall Fest was selected as the theme, and from there I generated a series of suggestions for activities, potential vendors and partners, and web and social copy to promote the event.

Overall, the event reached nearly 3k people online, had 1.3k interested on Facebook, and sold out at nearly 700 tickets.

As a freelance copywriter, I was responsible for crafting messaging and copy around the relaunch of The DoSeum’s Sensory Friendly Hours, rebranded as The DoSeum Beyond Limits. The DoSeum Sensory Friendly Hours/Beyond Limits is an ongoing program of after-hours nights that take place a couple of times each month with reduced attendance and sensory accommodations for children with disabilities and sensory processing disorders, especially those overwhelmed by large crowds, loud noises, and bright lights.

The challenge was to create new copy for the program that emphasizes The DoSeum’s dedication to accessibility and inclusivity, renewing interest and enthusiasm for the program and creating awareness for families and children who would benefit from the program. The colors, title, and copy are meant to be welcoming and inspirational, as well as promotional.

In early 2016 I began assisting our then contracted PR agency with all PR efforts, before bringing all PR efforts in house that spring. As our public relations manager, I managed all media relationships and outreach, prepared and disseminated all press materials, developing and executing strategic public relations plans, arranging all interviews for television, radio, and print, often appeared on television as a representative of The DoSeum, and generated monthly and quarterly report on all press coverage, earned revenue, and audience reach.

During my time as public relations manager, I earned hundreds of press mentions and television spots on behalf of The DoSeum, including notable mentions from Southwest Magazine, Univision, Sa Live, TravelWeek, Fatherly, San Antonio Magazine, and more.

As an Associate Editor of the literary journal Colorado Review and a graduate student at Colorado State University’s MFA Program in Creative Writing, I had the opportunity to write blog posts for both the MFA blog and Colorado Review’s blog. For each blog post, I was responsible for the topic selection, research, writing, and copyediting.

Click here to read “Why a Social Media Cynic Loves Posting as Colorado Review” here at Colorado Review.

Click here to read “The Female Lyric: Creating Space for Female Experience” at Colorado Review.

“Why am I here?” was first published in April 2018 on the CSU MFA blog.

During my tenure at The DoSeum, I had the opportunity to write several editorials and sponsored articles on behalf of leadership at The DoSeum and The DoSeum itself, as a corporate author for different publications. Here, I’ve featured a selection of some of those pieces--including two editorials written on behalf of Vanessa Lacoss Hurd, CEO of The DoSeum.

Click here to read “The DoSeum Welcomes Author Amanda Ripley,” written on behalf of CEO Vanessa Lacoss Hurd.

Click here to read “DoSeum’s First Year an Unmitigated Success,” written on behalf of CEO Vanessa Lacoss Hurd.

Click here to read “Empowering San Antonio Educators…,” written on behalf of The DoSeum.

Click here to read “Summer of Tech Launches June 3rd at The DoSeum,” written on behalf of The DoSeum.

Click here to read “DoSeum Focuses on Accessibility to Empower Generation of Techie Trailblazers,” written on behalf of The DoSeum.