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We are working with One Click Ventures in their search for a VP of Marketing based in Greenwood, Indiana — near Indianapolis. This is one of the hottest VP Marketing jobs on the market. With two market-leading eyewear brands today and a new consumer eyewear brand on the horizon, One Click Ventures is an innovative, fast-growing etailer on a mission to fundamentally alter the eyewear industry.
One Click seeks innovative and passionate individuals to help it achieve that goal. One Click has earned a spot on the Best Places to Work in Indiana list for three consecutive years — largely because of its fun, transparent, and focused work environment. It’s an amazing company that behaves like a start-up but has the benefit of a proven operating model and a winning team. See for yourself …
One Click Ventures is looking for a world-class marketer to lead the brand vision, growth strategy, and tactics to aggressively grow its network of brands. Reporting to the firm’s CEO, this senior-level position will drive new customer growth and build profitable, long-term customer relationships through the creation and support of strategies across multiple channels.
OCV’s marketing efforts have historically been focused on digital (SEM, SEO, etc), but the firm needs a marketing Top Gun to broaden its mix by building word of mouth, social, and publicity — not simply throwing money into advertising. This position requires a strong leader with high integrity who is passionate about building consumer brands. In short, OCV seeks a gifted leader to take its brands and Marketing team to the next level.
HARRY’S COMMENTS: I’ll begin my commentary the same way I’ll end it: By stating that I possess +10,000 words of proprietary intel on this client, their industry, and the marketing issues required to take this business to the next level. Competitive pressures prevent me from being as transparent in this forum as I’d like, but rest assured the information does exist.
Please ask for it when you apply.
Now then, One Click Ventures (“OCV”) is in the process of transitioning away from a multibrand retailer that focuses on a variety of different product lines to an online eyewear retailer. This role will play an integral part in making the transition from an accessories retailer to an eyewear retailer, and you’ll be working with the team to build the eyewear platform from scratch.
It’s a great opportunity.
While I can’t give you the exact size of the US market for prescription eyewear, I can offer some proxies. In the United States there are roughly 20,000 optometrist offices with a combined revenue of $12 billion. I’ve recruited for Luxottica, and I’ve heard eyewear market size estimates as high as $20 billion. That’s $63 for every man, woman, and child in America.
Key growth drivers include the aging of the population and the increased availability of insurance coverage. Demand is driven by demographics, and the aging of the US population increases demand for eye exams and eyeglasses every year. Additionally, eye diseases such as cataracts and glaucoma, which are often diagnosed by an optometrist but treated by an ophthalmologist, also increase with age.
About the role
As with any senior-level marketing job, your job will be to sell more stuff to more people, more often, for more money. Everything will roll up to you: SEO, SEM, email, affiliate, CRO, merchandising, … everything. The company is very far along in the process of rebranding itself and is working with a top-notch branding agency and consultant. If you get the job before the relaunch at the end of May, your input on the relaunch will be highly valued. To be sure, you’ll need a teachable point of view on branding.
Modern online retailing means having a brand that stands for something, against something else, and “being in the emotional bond business.” Done right, OCV needs to be porous and sticky at the same time, communicating with its customers in a way that’s consistent, relevant, anticipated and personal – so the organization gets smarter about its customers’ needs and values every time they touch it, and the customer never has to tell the company the same thing twice.
About the need to be analytical in this role …
To be analytically agile means going much farther than knowing how to run an SQR in Google Analytics. It means being able to know what’s working (and what’s not), PLUS being able to identify profitable ways improve OCV’s business model to improve stakeholder value.
That sounded fancy, I realize. Let me break it down for you.
In this month’s Harvard Business Review, there’s an excellent article called “The New Patterns of Innovation: How to Use Data to Drive Growth.” The premise of the article is that established companies are notoriously bad at finding new ways to make money, despite the pressure on them to grow.
Part 1 of the solution lies in: a.) Augmenting products and services to generate data; b.) Digitizing assets; c.) Combining data within and across industries; d.) Trading data; and e.) Codifying your company’s distinctive service capabilities. Part 2 of the solution involves using these buckets to ask better questions of your analysts, such as …
- Do we have any physical assets that could be turned into digital assets?
- How might our data be combined with data held by others to create new value?
- How could our data be restructured and reevaluated to yield higher-value information?
- Would seeing our data in new ways help us identify a new, distinctive capability that others might value?
- And much more.
My point is that every single one of this role’s Position Highlights (shown below) should be informed by the numbers as you work to extract value from every asset OCV controls. This means creatively and aggressively looking for ways to add services to products, and to “productize services.”
As stated above, I’ve pulled as much research on this search as any I’ve ever handled. OCV and I discussed for 125 minutes the 12 (of 33) most critical ecommerce disciplines for success in this role, and we teased out this position’s 100 day key initiatives in four main areas (people, metrics, etc). Qualified candidates, please don’t be shy about asking for this information. You’ll need it to get the job.
Position Highlights:
- Strategy & Execution: Provide a vision and strategic direction for the Marketing team. This includes developing and executing sustainable/scalable marketing programs to drive rapid, profitable growth, while achieving sales and margin objectives.
- Leadership & Development: Build and shape a growing, high performing team (18 people today) by hiring, managing, mentoring, and coaching. Attract and retain elite talent by creating a fun and inspiring work environment that is results-oriented.
- Brand Vision & Stewardship: Create an inspiring vision for OCV’s brands and put the tactics in place to bring it to life. Ensure that brand standards are developed and adhered to across all customer touch points, and that each of the firm’s brands deliver on its brand promises.
- P&L Responsibility: Accountable for marketing budgets, revenue, and growth targets, as well as qualitative measures to evaluate success of marketing programs. This includes preparing annual budgets, providing ongoing results analysis and forecasting, and driving prioritization of investments through quantitative business justification.
- Customer Experience: Drive continuous improvement in the customer experience for OCV’s brands, building a strategic roadmap for evolving each brand’s online shopping experience in web and mobile channels.
- Collaborate with the Senior Leadership Team: The team has lofty growth goals for OCV’s brands, so the firm needs a very committed executive that thrives in a fast-paced, ever-changing, but highly collaborative work environment. The VP of Marketing will contribute to the overall company strategy and organizational development as a key member of OCV’s 4-person senior leadership team.
- Tracking & Reporting: Develop effective methods to track and evaluate the performance of the organization’s marketing functions.
Additional Highlights:
- Acquire new customers through organic search, paid search, PR, social media, and other marketing programs
- Identify new opportunities to expand the visibility and customer acquisition of OCV’s brands through new marketing channels
- Increase customer retention and maximize LTV through effective use of targeted retention marketing programs
- Oversee all branding, including positioning, content, design, video, and photography
- Set and refine key metrics for success in all channels/roles and evaluate progress against them (Fanatical about continual measurement!)
- Oversee the development of promotional strategies for each of the firm’s brands
- Maintain an in-depth knowledge of industry best practices, competition, trends, and consumers insights
- Foster a culture of continuous optimization by testing multiple strategies and analyzing results to determine optimal mix of segments, channels, and tactics
- Build strong cross-team relationships to ensure that the Marketing team is part of a well-oiled machine
- Identify, select and manage external partners; ensure they meet performance objectives
- Oversee the tools and technology to support the execution of the marketing strategies; negotiate vendor contracts and arrangements
Requirements:
- Full alignment with OCV’s core values
- Put people first – Your team and your customers are your top priorities and your track record reflects that
- 8+ years experience in digital marketing (B2C online retail experience a plus)
- Has led team of 10+ to do amazing things, with a modest budget
- Indisputable track record in bringing a blend of creativity, business acumen and passion to produce results
- Metrics-driven and ROI-focused with a rigorous, highly analytical approach to management and decision-making based on facts and data
- Strong analytical and Excel skills – ability to turn empirical data into insightful, strategic decisions and tactical team plans (You love data!)
- Scrappy, high energy individual with a hands-on style
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex concepts and analyses up and down the organization to influence others
- Relentlessly resourceful with a history of making things happen against all odds
- Strong proficiency in Google Analytics and testing/optimization techniques
- Bachelors degree in Business, Marketing, or related field
- MBA preferred
- Bonus: Built (not just inherited) a compelling and clearly-positioned brand from scratch (or almost scratch)
UPDATE: THIS SEARCH IS CLOSED.
PS – If you’re thinking about changing jobs this year (though us or anyone else), you might want to check out this post on why even TOP candidates get rejected.
