Copywriting and content Strategy for a national cooperative of independent bike and fitness retailers
“Outfox the big box competition”
The Bike Cooperative (TBC) is a national co-op of independent bike retailers, determined to give locally owned bike shops the network, scale, and solutions to succeed in a rapidly evolving marketplace. Fitness Shop Edge is a similar cooperative, created with the momentum of TBC’s rapid growth and success in the last two years.
I cherished working with this co-op crew and the reason’s pretty simple: it was one of the first times a personal and professional passion (cycling and copywriting) truly had an opportunity to get to know each other. That felt nice. With improved messaging and content, The Bike Cooperative nearly doubled its membership & location count in a single year.
A little more about the work…
Copywriting & content strategy for the co-op
The Bike Cooperative (TBC) has a big vision, with a big need for authentic, audience-aware content that actively supports membership recruitment & retention. As the sole copywriter and content strategist, the opportunity to collaborate with the TBC team as well as designers, developers, and members to help make that vision a reality was incredibly rewarding.
The Result: 2020 and 2021 were banner years for the co-op, which added a multitude of new members and experienced a rapid rise in member participation and engagement.
A whole lot of key strokes (and some pedal-strokes thrown in for inspiration)
I love creating copy and content strategies that help brands find their voice and make it sing. The puzzle of making that song resonate (for readers & search engines) is a challenge I don’t get tired of. The opportunity to do that for The Bike Cooperative tops the list of my favorite projects. I’ll be honest with you, though: I was a little ashamed at the number of cycling puns I had to back-pedal (oof) on the first edit. Hey, we’re not all perfect. Here’s the gist of my work with the co-op:
Collaborated with designers and developers on the co-op’s new website & membership portal, including all messaging and copy with a distinct focus on attracting new members to their growing platform.
Pitched and created content for the co-op’s membership intranet, focused on promoting member engagement with the co-op and the variety of tools, benefits, and solutions membership provides.
Created promotional and UI/UX copy for membership apps including branding for new software tools such as Co-Optics (retail benchmarking & analytics) and membership marketing tools while working directly with design teams to streamline the creative process and meet tight deadlines.
Managed all PR, blog, advertising, and promotional content for the co-op while collaborating with internal and external stakeholders. Check out some live samples here:
Sample copy from TBC's public, member recruitment website
Blog and press release in partnership with Youth Bike Summit and PeopleForBikes
Sample copy from TBC's member recruitment website
An event landing page built to generate awareness prior to an event at CABDA, East
Advertising copy for use in a series of display ads on targeted websites
'About Us' copy for TBC's website
Headline copy for Fitness Shop Edge, TBC's sister group.
Template & copy for TBC's national "Retailer of the Year" award
Article content to support the launch of new marketing tools being released by the co-op.