Proposal for Freelance Marketing Director
A proposal for a strategic marketing partnership with Green Door Folk School
Nicholas Perez
Traverse City, Michigan
Hello Kristina!
My name is Nicholas Perez. I am a lifelong Traverse City resident, and I am writing with genuine interest in the Freelance Marketing Director role at Green Door Folk School. Instead of sending one more email among many, I wanted to take the time to put real thought and care into this proposal—so you can see how I think, how I work, and why this opportunity matters to me.
Green Door Folk School is doing something rare in Northern Michigan: building a place where adults can learn with their hands, gather with neighbors, and reconnect with land and tradition. I am proposing a marketing partnership that protects that spirit while giving the school the systems, storytelling, and steady execution it needs to grow with care.
I can manage the day-to-day marketing work Green Door Folk School needs today while helping build the communications foundation for thoughtful, sustainable growth.
Prepared in response to the Freelance Marketing Director Request for Proposal. Proposals due July 22, 2026.
Interest
I am drawn to Green Door Folk School because it is creating something meaningful and locally important—something that feels rooted in Leelanau County rather than imported from somewhere else.
Adults need places to learn, make, connect, and belong. Many of us spend our days behind screens, schedules, and obligations. A folk school offers a different kind of invitation: come make something useful, meet someone new, and leave with a skill you can carry into the rest of your life.
Traditional skills are not nostalgia for their own sake. They support individual fulfillment, community resilience, and environmental sustainability. When people learn to repair, grow, craft, and create, they also learn to value what lasts.
What makes Green Door Folk School especially compelling is the combination of education, community, craft, land, and storytelling. The one-room schoolhouse at Cedar North is more than a classroom. It is a gathering place with a point of view.
I am especially interested in helping a young organization establish systems without losing its personality. Growth should make Green Door Folk School more itself—not more corporate, more generic, or more distant from the people who already love it.
Partnership
Executing the vision together
Green Door Folk School already has a clear heart in Kristina Schnepf, Folk School Director. What I am offering is a steady operational and marketing partner—someone who can help carry the vision day to day so the school can grow without losing what makes it human.
Folk School Director
Compelled by a desire for more simplicity and community, Kristina stepped off the corporate treadmill in 2019, returned to Michigan, and rebuilt a life around slowing down, working with her hands, and mutual support. With roughly 30 years of business experience, she is bringing Green Door Folk School to Northwest Michigan as a place for traditional skills, belonging, and place-based learning.
Proposed Marketing Partner
A lifelong Traverse City resident with more than 20 years across marketing, growth, technology, and operations. After years helping organizations scale and run more efficiently, I am drawn to work with clearer purpose: helping a young folk school build systems, tell true stories, and invite more people into a community that already feels special.
“Two people with deep professional experience, ready to put that experience in service of community, craft, and a more purposeful kind of work.”
Both of us know corporate pace and pressure. Green Door Folk School is a chance to use that experience for something more grounded and lasting.
Kristina holds the educational and community vision. I would help translate that vision into calendars, campaigns, enrollment pathways, and repeatable marketing operations.
Rooted in Northern Michigan, close enough to Cedar for real collaboration—not a remote vendor relationship.
Understanding
Green Door Folk School is not looking for someone to post more often. It is looking for a partner who can listen carefully, tell true stories, grow enrollment thoughtfully, and build communications practices that a small organization can sustain.
01
Seasonal plans, clear priorities, and decisions grounded in what the community actually needs and responds to.
02
Authentic photos, short video, instructor voices, and student stories that feel like the schoolhouse—not like ads.
03
Nurture an already engaged audience while helping more of the right people find, trust, and register for programs.
04
Strengthen belonging before, during, and after class—online and in Cedar, including barn dances, Repair Cafes, and special events.
05
Calendars, templates, workflows, reporting, and vendor coordination that make good marketing repeatable.
One strategy, many channels
Everything Green Door Folk School publishes should serve the same goal: help people feel invited into the schoolhouse community—and make it easy to join a class.
Community strategy
The center
expressed through
Social, email, website, PR, events, and storytelling are not six separate jobs. They are six ways of carrying the same invitation.
Method
Good marketing for a folk school starts with listening. The work then moves from understanding, to foundation-building, to thoughtful growth.
How the work moves
Listen
People + place
Build
Systems + voice
Grow
Enrollment + belonging
Phase 1 · First 30 days
Phase 2 · Months 2–3
Phase 3 · Ongoing
Capabilities
Below is the scope I am best suited to support. Priorities can be sequenced together so the work stays focused and manageable.
01
Clear seasonal priorities, useful reporting, and room to try new outreach without losing focus.
02
Authentic Instagram and Facebook presence rooted in real class moments and community life.
03
Steady MailerLite rhythms that nurture interest, registration, and return visits.
04
WordPress upkeep and clearer paths from curiosity to registration.
05
Support for barn dances, Repair Cafes, and special programs before and after the gathering.
06
Simple, beautiful materials that feel handmade without looking homemade.
07
Local and regional story pitching that expands awareness beyond the existing audience.
Campaign strategy
Made by Hand: A Season of Learning at Green Door Folk School
One seasonal theme expressed across every channel, so Green Door Folk School’s communications feel cohesive without becoming rigid. The campaign invites people into the schoolhouse through craft, community, and the quiet pleasure of learning something useful with their hands.
This is a concept campaign created for this proposal. Specific class names below are labeled as examples and can be replaced with actual programming.
The point is not more content. It is one clear seasonal invitation, expressed consistently wherever people already meet Green Door Folk School.
A seasonal landing page with the campaign theme, featured classes, instructor highlights, and a clear path to register.
A steady rhythm of process photos, short videos, maker profiles, and registration reminders tied to the same visual language.
A bi-weekly series that mixes upcoming classes, student stories, and soft calls to register—never only promotional.
Short profiles that show why instructors teach, what beginners can expect, and the human side of each craft.
Real reflections from people who came curious, stayed for community, and left with a skill.
A pitch focused on the folk school model, adult learning, and Leelanau County’s growing appetite for hands-on community spaces.
Cross-promotion with aligned farms, makers, libraries, arts organizations, and local businesses.
Simple, beautiful posters for local cafés, co-ops, studios, and community boards.
15–30 second clips of hands at work, laughter between students, and the schoolhouse filling up before class.
Campaign presence at barn dances, Repair Cafes, and open-house style gatherings that let people experience Green Door Folk School before registering.
Messaging direction
This season at Green Door Folk School, learning happens the old-fashioned way: together, by hand, and close to the land. Whether you are brand new or returning for another class, there is a seat for you in the schoolhouse.
Email subject line: Made by Hand: your season of learning starts here
Sample channel language
Some skills are best learned side by side. This season at Green Door Folk School, we are gathering in Cedar to make, repair, cook, craft, and remember how good it feels to learn with our hands. Which class are you joining first?
Looking for something more lasting than another weekend scroll? Green Door Folk School’s Made by Hand season is an invitation to learn useful skills, meet neighbors, and spend time in a welcoming one-room schoolhouse in Cedar. Browse upcoming classes and save your spot.
Week 1
Theme launch, website update, first social series, instructor teaser
Week 2
Email newsletter, student story, registration push for early classes
Week 3
Local poster drop, partnership outreach, short-form video series
Week 4
Press pitch, event promotion, waitlist nurturing, mid-season recap
Story system
These six pillars keep storytelling varied while staying true to Green Door Folk School’s mission and voice.
Pillar 1
Pillar 2
Pillar 3
Pillar 4
Pillar 5
Pillar 6
Rhythm
A practical two-week rhythm designed for a small organization—enough presence to stay visible, not so much that the work becomes unsustainable.
Sample calendar for illustration. Actual cadence would follow Green Door Folk School’s programming and capacity.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Measurement
A simple monthly view can help Green Door Folk School see what is working, where enrollment needs attention, and which channels deserve more care.
All metrics below are illustrative sample data for discussion—not Green Door Folk School’s actual performance.
Sample monthly overview
Green Door Folk School Marketing Pulse
Illustrative data
Class inquiries
146
+12%
Registrations
89
+8%
Registration conversion rate
61%
+3 pts
Waitlist volume
27
Steady
Email subscribers
2,840
+96
Email open rate
48%
+2 pts
Email click rate
9.4%
+0.8 pts
Social reach
92K
+6%
Social engagement
4.1%
+0.4 pts
Website traffic
5,620
+11%
Returning students
34%
+5 pts
Top referral source
Primary
AI-assisted monthly summary · sample
“Registrations increased this month, but three upcoming classes remain below target enrollment. Email continues to be the strongest conversion channel.”
Most popular programs
Upcoming classes needing promotion
Background
“I am at my best when I can combine strategy, storytelling, technology, and execution to help a meaningful organization grow.”
I am a lifelong Traverse City resident. Northern Michigan is not a place I discovered later in life—it is home. That matters for this role: I can be present in Cedar, stay close to the work, and understand the community Green Door Folk School serves.
I earned my undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Lawrence Technological University. Those years shaped how I think about people, systems, and responsible growth.
Community and environment are central to what I believe. I have served on the boards of Norte and Child and Family Services, and stewardship of place runs through my family as well—including the founder of FLOW (For the Love of Water) and the founder of NREC, now TitleTrack.
Marketing only works when the work behind it is organized. A large part of what I bring is operational: turning good intentions into clear rhythms, simple tools, and systems a small team can actually keep.
A simple operating loop
The goal is a calm weekly rhythm—not more meetings, more tools, or more noise.
Content calendars, approval paths, class launch checklists, and templates so each new program does not start from scratch.
Comfortable aligning directors, instructors, vendors, designers, and partners around one shared plan and timeline.
Enough structure to reduce chaos—never so much process that Green Door Folk School starts to feel corporate.
Simple reporting on enrollment, email, web, and social so priorities stay grounded in what is working.
Led marketing across a healthcare platform with more than 100 locations—building systems that scale without losing local relevance.
MailerLite, WordPress, CRM habits, AI-assisted drafting, and clean handoffs that save time for the human work that matters.
I live in Traverse City and can be present in Cedar for classes, workshops, events, photography, and community engagement. Lifelong learning, local culture, environmental stewardship, traditional skills, and experiential education are not side interests for me—they are part of why this work matters.
Visual storytelling
Class photography and visual storytelling are part of how I would support Green Door Folk School day to day—not something handed off and hoped for. I photograph people, place, food, craft, and Northern Michigan with the same eye I bring to brand work: warm, specific, and useful.
Selected personal work below. For Green Door Folk School, the goal would be honest schoolhouse moments—hands at work, instructors teaching, students connecting, and the seasonal life of Cedar North.
Discovery and place
Small human details
Land and season
Michigan winters
Gathering and craft
Local lifestyle
Collaboration
Investment
Recommended monthly fee: $3,000 to start.
Estimated scope includes
Final scope and priorities can be adjusted collaboratively. This proposal assumes focused part-time partnership—not unlimited availability.
Plan
Days 1–30
Days 31–60
Days 61–90
Fit
A lifelong Traverse City resident, with real ability to show up in Cedar.
Past board service with Norte and Child and Family Services, and a deep personal commitment to community and environment.
Comfortable writing the plan and doing the Tuesday afternoon post.
Two decades of work, paired with genuine interest in how adults learn and belong.
Excited to help a young organization shape systems that fit its size and spirit.
Clear, warm communication that sounds like a real person.
WordPress, email platforms, analytics, CRM, photography, and modern AI-assisted workflows.
Calendars, reporting, and follow-through without unnecessary process.
Folk education, craft, land, and community are personally meaningful.
Structure that supports the work without making Green Door Folk School feel like an institution.
Invitation
“Green Door Folk School has already created something people want to be part of. I would welcome the opportunity to help more people discover it, strengthen the relationships already forming around it, and build the marketing foundation that supports its next chapter.”
Nicholas Perez
Lifelong Traverse City, Michigan resident