The Client
Echoes of the Forest is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit born from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which devastated Western North Carolina in September 2024 — damaging over 821,000 acres of forestland and causing an estimated $59.6 billion in losses. The organization transforms salvaged trees into public art installations, supporting local woodworkers and fostering community healing across the region.
The Challenge
In early 2025, Echoes of the Forest existed as a mission and nothing else. No website, no social media, no email list, no brand identity, no media contacts, no content. They needed a complete marketing operation built from scratch — on a nonprofit budget — and they needed it fast.
The harder challenge was visibility. In the months following Helene, Western North Carolina was saturated with stories of devastation and recovery. Echoes needed to cut through that noise with a fundamentally different narrative — not another story about what was lost, but a story about how a community memorializes, remembers, and creates something positive for generations to see.
What We Did
Jenn Gordon led this engagement as a full-service marketing partner from day one, embedding with the organization rather than handing off deliverables. She built the entire marketing ecosystem alongside Echoes as it grew — and brought in specialized consultants for fundraising strategy, which was fundamental to getting the project funded, visible, and moving in a crowded landscape in under a year.
Brand & Digital Foundation. Brand identity development, full website build, SEO structure, and ongoing site management — creating the professional digital presence the mission deserved.
Content Engine. 20 blog posts, 123 Instagram pieces (posts and stories), Facebook content strategy, and 15 email campaigns — all developed with a consistent voice that translated the emotional weight of the mission into content people wanted to share.
Media & Partnerships. Press releases, media kits, and direct outreach that secured national and regional coverage. Plus hands-on relationship building that cultivated 20+ venue, sponsor, and community partnerships.
Strategy & Operations. Project management infrastructure, monthly marketing calendars, fundraising campaign strategy, and a retail go-to-market plan — the behind-the-scenes structure that makes visible marketing actually work.
The Results
| Social Media | ~98,000 combined views across Facebook and Instagram — with Instagram at 100% organic (zero ad spend) |
| Email Marketing | 58.8% average open rate — more than 2x the nonprofit industry average |
| Media Coverage | 10+ placements including FOX Weather (national TV) and WLOS (syndicated nationally) |
| Partnerships | 20+ venue and community partnerships including NC Arboretum, Burial Beer Co., Cradle of Forestry, and the US Forest Service |
| Audience Precision | Followers are 78% women aged 35–64, concentrated in the exact WNC communities where installations are placed — Asheville, Black Mountain, Weaverville, Swannanoa, Hendersonville |
| Starting Point | Every single metric above started at zero |
Why It Matters
Building a brand from nothing is the hardest marketing challenge there is. There’s no existing audience to leverage, no brand recognition to build on, no content library to repurpose. Everything has to be created, and it has to work immediately because a new organization doesn’t get a long runway.
The Echoes engagement shows what a genuine marketing partnership looks like — not an agency handing off reports, but a team embedded in the mission, building every piece of the operation with deep knowledge of Western North Carolina and the communities it serves.