TROY, MI – With more than 200 digital commerce searches each year, EcommerceRecruiter.com is the leading contingency-based executive search firm serving the Shop.org, Ad:Tech, and IR-500 communities. To opt-in to our popular “Ecommerce Job of the Day” email, click here. (Simply unsubscribe at the end of your job search.)
One of the coolest Marketing Director jobs around!
We are working with Entertainment.com in their search for a Director of Marketing – Customer Retention & Loyalty based in Troy, MI — just 28 minutes up the road from Detroit, a lovely town that’s so cheap that it’s becoming a hotbed of opportunity and a magnet for talent …
HARRY’S COMMENTS: Don’t you just love that kind of moxie in a citizenry? I do! To be clear (since my readers are both nationally and internationally based), you could spend your whole life in Troy and rarely venture into Detroit. After all, I live in Milton, GA — which is 26 miles from Atlanta, and I couldn’t care less what happens in Atlanta. It’s irrelevant.
HOWEVER: Just in case you’re a closet worrier (or your spouse is a worrier), I’ll make it easy for you to bail out right now: Here’s a Google SERP of everything wrong with Detroit. There! It’s all there if that’s what you want to focus on. Leave now and I’ll grant you “worrier amnesty” for today only. Please go quietly.
…
…
…
Still here? Heck yeah, Player! Let’s get to work unpacking all the opportunities for personal and professional growth with this search.
As background on this client, since 1962 Entertainment® has been a leader in providing the most recognized and sought-after discount, promotion and coupon products in communities throughout North America. The firm provides a mutually beneficial solution for consumers looking to spend less on the things they love to do, businesses seeking to increase sales, and schools and community groups searching for effective fundraising solutions.
My kickoff call for this search lasted 45 minutes, and there’s a massive amount of intel I can share with candidates regarding this firm’s culture, financial health (which is fine, btw), lines of business and competitive position. At a high level, the main selling point of this search is that you’ll be a pillar of leadership on a very smart marketing team in a numbers oriented culture.
And let’s face it: CRM is all about the numbers. Right?
This role reports to Entertainment’s EVP of Consumer Marketing, who is in change of the firm’s ecommerce sales, integration, and tracking initiatives. Entertainment had someone in this position last year, but that individual took a more tactical approach to the job. That was fine to a point, but the company needs a more strategic focus based on a mutlitouch, multichannel analysis of its segmentation, cadence, and engagement activities in ways that drive ROI.
Whereas many of the email marketing searches we see involve customer acquisition, this role will require solid direct response chops to improve the retention and engagement of current and former customers, which is essentially managed through email and site recognition. It’s all about looking for clues on how to grow the business.
Currently, Entertainment® distributes a diverse suite of membership products including: The Entertainment® Book; Entertainment Digital Access; Entertainment Mobile App; custom local discount products; online member discount sites and specialized promotions designed for corporate clients. But there’s so much more they could be doing to develop new products and grow their customers’ LTV. Very often in this role, you’ll be asked …
“What new revenue opportunity have you developed today?”
This position will be responsible for increasing customer retention and driving engagement with Entertainment’s subscription products. The Director of Marketing will manage a team to create, execute and oversee a marketing strategy to generate Entertainment book and digital product sales and to increase product utilization.
The name of the game is driving customer loyalty from Entertainment’s multi-million record database while creating a focused strategy to win back customers. This role will be responsible for critical input on …
- Pricing and margin analytics,
- Creative strategy,
- Competitive research,
- Enhancing the brand,
- New products and services, and
- Existing product management.
To do that, you’ll need to know how to “work a building” and get things done internally, externally, as well as up, down, and across the organization. In an average day, you’ll be checking to see what’s happening with revenue; evaluating current campaigns; troubleshooting specific tests; and so forth.
Plan on having your sleeves rolled up. You’ll be working with your team (consisting of a Retention Marketing Manager + a Merchandising Manager) to constantly review the database’s contact strategies, marketing successes and failures, premium pricing opportunities, cancellation and retention trends, and more.
Much more.
There is a great scene in the TV show Mad Men about Don Draper wanting it all. Check out ol’ Don as he pitches Ed Baxter, CEO of Dow Chemical …
In this role, we want someone who is as restless for growth as Don Draper. We want someone who wants a 100% share of the “50% off” niche (so to speak) and won’t rest until they get it. It’s not complicated.
Entertainment.com wants it ALL. And they want YOU to want it all.
The role is perfect for someone who’s creative but also loves numbers. It’s perfect for a resilient, high-energy, positive outcome oriented WINNER who enjoys seeing things through from start to finish. Entertainment tests a lot of things, and they move very quickly. The company’s culture prizes action and innovation, which makes Entertainment a perfect breeding ground for future CMO’s who are flexible, adaptable, opportunistic, and reality-based. If that’s you, then I encourage you to apply below.
View Harry Joiner’s profile
Responsibilities:
- Develop the integrated retention marketing strategy and manage the retention marketing team to increase customer repurchase rates, reduce customer attrition and increase customer lifetime value to secure revenue opportunities.
- Drive innovation by identifying loyalty attributes and testing new ideas including online product offerings, website optimization, data feeds, and other future applications with specific attention to product specifications, use cases, and functionality requirements for the internal development team.
- Project leadership skills, including a demonstrated ability to lead multi-functional teams to drive concrete actions and results.
- Understand merchandising concepts that drive consumer interest on the website.
- Budget management with proven ability to optimize the marketing mix across multiple channels.
- Lead research efforts into better understanding Entertainment’s customer, using purchase history, source data and yield analysis as a guideline in developing targeting recommendations.
- Manage continuity, subscription and renewal membership programs: communication and notification recommendations, offer testing, risk management, program benefits development, cancellation mitigation, credit card management, monitor results and activity.
- Direct internal and external relationships to maximize budget efficiencies and develop successful ecommerce campaigns. Drive the marketing calendar from a creative development, strategic implementation timeline, with specifically segmented, database-driven email and other campaigns. Forecast associated revenue and yields.
- Direct and utilize data analytics to improve efficiency and identify new opportunity.
- Use customer data to establish offer, segment and variable test and then track associated sales performance and retention cost. Become consumer advocate for Big Data within the organization.
- Communicate requirements for tools to better predict, model and analyze customer information. Oversee process to enhance customer info via third party data append sources.
- Recommend reporting to understand overall customer retention/repeat behavior/lifetime value across customer segments.
- A proactive, metrics-focused approach with accountability for results, including a demonstrated ability to deliver ROI. Accountability to revenue goals.
Qualifications:
- BA/BS or equivalent experience in marketing, advertising, or product development/management. MBA highly preferred.
- A minimum of 10 years direct response marketing experience; customer retention and email experience essential
- Ecommerce and digital strategy and implementation background
- Database marketing background; using front-end marketing software a plus
- In depth experience with web analytics, email stats, online consumer insights, and behavioral trends
- Excellent proven organizational, time-management and multi-taking skills. Ability to work independently
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills. Be able to understand multiple data sources
- Excellent verbal, interpersonal and written communication.
- Computer and Internet proficiency required.
- Team orientation and ability to work with cross-functional departments
- Some occasional air travel may be required
UPDATE: THIS SEARCH IS CLOSED.
