More Than Marketing: How Community Involvement Shapes Leadership at Stoney Creek Social Media
At Stoney Creek Social Media, being social has always meant more than what happens online.
Of course, social media, digital marketing, and helping businesses grow are a big part of what we do. But relationships have always been at the heart of who we are. We believe in getting to know the people behind the businesses, supporting the communities we work in, and finding ways to show up beyond the work we do for our clients.
Our Owner and CEO, Dawn Renshaw, has encouraged that mindset from the beginning, and it still shapes Stoney Creek's culture today.
Being Part of the Community We Serve
We don't just work with businesses and organizations throughout Southwest Michigan. We live here, build relationships here, and care about what happens here.
Over the years, Stoney Creek has had the opportunity to become connected with organizations doing meaningful work throughout our community. Through Dawn's involvement with groups including AMA Southwest Michigan, the Portage Community Center, Women 2 Women Kalamazoo, Southwest Michigan First, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Youth for Christ, and the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kalamazoo, our team is continually introduced to new people, causes, events, and opportunities to get involved.
And that exposure matters.
When you regularly see and experience community involvement, it becomes easier to recognize ways you can contribute, too. An event becomes an opportunity to show support. Learning about a nonprofit can turn into wanting to get involved. Meeting another local business owner can lead to a relationship that extends far beyond work.
Big Brothers Big Sisters is a great example. Supporting an organization dedicated to creating meaningful relationships and opportunities for young people reminds us that being part of a community also means looking for ways to strengthen it.
Those experiences help all of us at Stoney Creek think beyond marketing and consider how we can use our time, talents, and connections to support the people around us.
Relationships Create Opportunities
One of the best parts of working in a close-knit business community is realizing just how connected everything can be.
The relationships we've built have given our team opportunities to meet business owners, learn from other professionals, attend local events, support community organizations, and hear perspectives we may not have encountered otherwise.
A lot of those opportunities begin simply because Dawn is willing to put herself out there and start a conversation.
Over time, that willingness to connect has expanded Stoney Creek's network, but more importantly, it has expanded our team's experiences. We get to learn more about the community we're marketing to and for, while building genuine relationships with the people who make Southwest Michigan what it is.
For a social media agency, that feels especially important.
Good marketing isn't created in a bubble. Understanding people, businesses, challenges, and communities helps us become better marketers and better partners to the clients who trust us with their brands.
Creating a Culture of Growth
Community also gives us opportunities to learn.
Leadership is not about reaching a point where there is nothing left to improve. It requires being open to feedback, new perspectives, and sometimes conversations that challenge the way you think.
Dawn intentionally puts herself in those environments, too. Through groups like C12, she connects with other Christian business leaders who can provide accountability, feedback, and perspective as she continues growing as a leader.
That commitment to growth comes back to Stoney Creek.
As a team, we constantly learn from each other, talk through ideas, adjust processes, and find ways to do things better. Having leadership that is also willing to listen, learn, and be challenged helps create an environment where growth is something all of us can participate in.
More Than Marketing
We love marketing. We love watching a campaign come together, helping a business tell its story, seeing a client's growth, and finding creative ways to connect brands with the people they want to reach.
But Stoney Creek has never been only about marketing.
It's about relationships. It's about being kind, being honest, and, of course, being social.
The connections we've made throughout Southwest Michigan continue to give our team opportunities to learn, serve, participate, and grow. They remind us that the communities behind the businesses we market matter just as much as the numbers on a report.
And when we have opportunities to show up for those communities, we want to take them.
Because to us, that's part of being social, too.