From my very first call with Laurel Eberle, founder of Story Seekers, I knew we were a fit.
Laurel, a homeschooling mom of three with a PhD in English, was in the early stages of launching something exciting. More than just a small business, she was pursuing a dream – a labor of love borne of decades of teaching and loving literature.
She found her way to me thanks to Stephanie Audette Connor, founder and lead designer of awen&co. As an expert in building brands, Stephanie knew that before design, Laurel needed a strong messaging foundation and clarity about her offers.
I was thrilled to help Laurel get this new business off the ground, especially since I, too, am a mom and a bibliophile!
Read on to see how strategic brand messaging and website copy set Story Seekers up for aligned design and a strong start.
Scope: Strategic Messaging + Website Copy
Laurel initially engaged me to craft Story Seekers’ foundational brand messaging. When that work was complete, she hired me to use the messaging we'd created as a foundation for professionally written website copy.
Goals
My goal was to deliver clear messaging to support consistent communication and inform visual branding, plus a professional website that helps families understand the value of Story Seekers' curriculum and easily enroll.
Discovery Process
In preparation for this project, Laurel completed an onboarding questionnaire. She also shared drafts of her middle grade reading curriculum with me so that I could get a deep understanding of what she was offering to homeschooling families.
Additionally, I created a Voice of Customer survey that Laurel shared with homeschooling families in her network so that we could learn how they talk about what they struggle with and what they look for in a reading program.
Finally, I researched other middle grade reading programs for homeschooling families to get a clear sense of the competitor landscape and know how to position Story Seekers within the market.
Brand Messaging Development
Laurel knew she wanted to focus on creating a reading curriculum specifically for homeschooled middle graders and small independent school cohorts. She also knew that she wanted to go beyond literary analysis to use each book as a catalyst for character-building.
At the start, Laurel was still determining the specific structure for her program, and she initially had a different business name. Through our work together, we renamed the business, refined the offer, and honed the voice, personality, and core messages of the Story Seekers brand.
The Name: Story Seekers
When the original business name faced some copyright challenges, we needed to make a change. The good news? We ended up loving the new name even more! “Story Seekers” captures the sense of adventure and the active, engaging nature of the curriculum. It is also a nod to how the curriculum uses books as a place for middle graders to grapple with big questions about the human experience.
The Core Offer: Literary Quests
We also refined Story Seeker’s core offer to ensure that it was clear, compelling, and differentiated from other programs out there. Each Literary Quest is a six-week deep dive into a modern classic that includes a robust yet flexible Book Guide, a companion Parent Guide, and enrollment in live virtual Book Talks. Few programs of this kind offer completely original, book-specific guides AND live book talks facilitated by an experienced educator like Laurel!
The Mission
Story Seekers saves homeschooled middle graders from the reading gap by meeting them in their comfort zone and taking them on transformational literary journeys that build character, skills, and a lifelong love of reading!
The Values
Community
We make reading relevant by creating community around great stories.
Freedom
We encourage learners to confidently chart their own course through every story.
Learning
Our program teaches middle graders to read critically, communicate powerfully, and understand themselves in new ways.
Value
Our original, high-quality curriculum delivers results and can be used for multiple learners.
Virtue
We help learners connect text to life through the exploration of moral and ethical questions.
The Brand Personality
Playful, wholesome, smart, friendly, and adventurous!
Website Copywriting
Once we established foundational messaging, it was time to tackle website copy. It was immediately clear to me from the discovery phase that Story Seekers was offering something far more comprehensive than many of their competitors. It was crucial for us to emphasize the unique value of the program and make it simple to enroll to justify the price point.
The Story Seekers Difference
Beyond making the target audience of middle grade readers clear, we highlighted the following differentiators on the homepage and reinforced them throughout the copy:
100% originally developed content
A blend of rigorous learning and imaginative fun
Live discussions for deeper learning and peer socialization
Confident Customers
We knew that homeschooling families would be careful consumers, so we gave them a chance to explore upcoming books and included subpages for each specific book to highlight the creative sample activities, virtue-building focus themes, and language arts learning areas.
On the registration page, we laid out the three enrollment options (Single Quest, Season of Questions, or Year of Quests) in a comparison table, guiding families to the best option for their schedule and budget. We also recap all that's included in each Literary Quest and offer information about options for co-ops and schools, as well as for entirely screen-free use of the curriculum.
For those not yet ready to enroll, we added a pre-footer with a targeted lead magnet to grow Story Seekers’ email list while also building trust with customers. Subscribers can access the first two chapters of the Book Guide for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as a cost-free, risk-free way to try the program before enrolling.
Collaboration
The entire process of working with Laurel was made even sweeter thanks to the collaboration with awen&co. The awen&co team designed the most magical visual branding and custom illustrations that truly capture the heart of Story Seekers. Then they transformed the copy I wrote into a stunning custom Wix Studio website, not to mention the additional email templates and other assets they created.
Deliverables
Foundational Brand Messaging Assets captured in both Microsoft Word format and in a PDF Brand Messaging Book, including:
"Big Three" Messages + Proof Points
Mission Statement
Vision Statement
Core Values Statement
Brand Promise
1–2 Tagline Options
About Statement (Long)
About Statement (Brief)
Elevator Pitch Talking Points
Brand Voice/Tone/Style Guidelines
Wireframed Website Copy for:
Home
About
Register Your Reader
Explore Upcoming Books
Book-Specific Pages
The Launch
With the site freshly launched, Story Seekers has just opened enrollment for their first year of programming, and I know many homeschooling families will fall in love with what they offer.
When asked about our work together, Laurel shared the following:
"Oh, Amanda Grazioli. How can I possibly articulate how awesome you are? Cue fireworks, confetti, and all the cool things!
But seriously, working with Amanda has been wonderful. She turned a bevy of ideas into streamlined brand messaging brilliance. Then, she took all of that perfection and translated it into clever, strategic web copy. She's a wizard, I tell ya!
Her process was smooth, organized, insightful, and--*gasp*-- fun. She asked all the right questions, listened intently, and somehow turned my long-winded rants into a message that truly reflects my company's purpose and mission.
So, if you're thinking about hiring Amanda for brand messaging or web copy help: DO IT. Hire her. Then prepare to swoon over her words like you've just read a Shakespearean sonnet.”
—Laurel Eberle, Founder, Story Seekers
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