Wesley House
Embedding a marketing mindset, from training to hiring
Sectors: Charity, Education
The client
Wesley House is one of 12 Theological Colleges within the Cambridge Theological Federation and an independent charity, founded as a Christian community of study, prayer and formation in the Wesleyan tradition.
Based in central Cambridge, its vision is to be a globally significant resource for leadership and scholarship.
Its teaching, research and support staff operate across Cambridge, the USA, Kenya, Zimbabwe and around the UK, with much of its work conducted online.
The numbers
2 marketing training sessions delivered
1 video session from a specialist recommended by Sookio
1 messaging framework
1 role created and skilled candidate appointed in -3 months
The services
Marketing training and consultancy
Brand storytelling and messaging
Marketing team hiring support
Connecting with content specialists
“You helped us conceive of the post, advertise and promote it, join our recruitment panel, select the best-ever candidate, and enabled a seamless induction.”
The challenge
Wesley House has recently undergone a significant change within the organisation; after 100 years on their site in Jesus Lane, in 2026 they moved to new premises without residential facilities, and in parallel, were developing new patterns of work for the changing needs of theological education.
With a small core team of academic and support staff, no one on the team had with specific marketing expertise and they identified a need to bring someone in to develop their skills. This would support the goal of recruiting more students to PhD and MA courses and professional development courses in Reflective Pastoral Supervision. With potential applicants coming from around the world, the potential market is quite big – but how can we reach them effectively?
Phase one: Setting the foundations
First, Wesley House wanted to professionalise its marketing, deciding what to prioritise, the right tools to use, and which social media platforms offered the most potential. They wanted to get the messaging clear and build a marketing mindset across the organisation.
Phase two: Strategic
This involved hiring a Marketing Manager who could develop an effective strategy and bring in a marketing ‘rhythm’ of activity, engagement and outreach. For this, the Wesley House team tecognised the value of bringing in expertise from someone who has built and led highly motivated marketing teams in the past.
The approach
The project began with two training sessions, split across different days to allow time to develop the messaging framework and try out techniques. The training covered social media platforms, practical tools to try and the development of a marketing mindset.
Session one: Defining the audience, strategy and channels
Session two: Putting your marketing plan into practice
The messaging framework became embedded in the organisation and the team became more and more confident in posting regularly on key platforms.
We also recommended a video specialist, Rob Wagstaff, who delivered further training to increase practical skills. He livestreamed a lecture and produced a new video to showcase their calm and beautiful new premises, taking Wesley House output to a greatly higher level.
With the foundations for effective marketing activity now well and truly laid, Sookio helped Wesley House recruit a new Marketing Manager.
This support included:
Defining the roles and responsibilities
Helping advertise and promote the position among our own extensive networks on social media and email marketing
Supporting candidate selection, joining the interview panel
Assisting with induction, handing over from phase one to phase two
“The training was grounded in reality, giving us confidence that doing better was in our reach.”
The results
Social media posting now takes place in a conceptual framework, with a high volume of planned posts in addition to 'happening now' news.
Staff meetings now have a regular slot to consider marketing activity and the team is aware of the need to gather assets when they are out and about.
Creation of a dedicated Marketing Manager role – a new post, not a replacement – with Sookio involved from conception through to induction of the successful candidate.
Messaging framework setting out distinct content pillars and what Wesley House wants people to think, feel, and do when they see the marketing activity.
Confidence and skills building throughout the team, leading to instinctively good marketing activity and the team gathering visual assets on their travels around the world.
Video capability increased through both training and commissioned production, raising the quality of output significantly.
The training was grounded in reality, giving us confidence that doing better was in our reach
We started with a request for a day's training and ended up creating a Marketing Manager post!
Sue helped us all the way and her wide networks helped us welcome a dream candidate to the team.
Business Director, Wesley House
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