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One of the coolest email marketing jobs around!
We are working with Shoe Carnival in their search for an Email and Mobile Marketing Manager based in Evansville, IN. Shoe Carnival, Inc. is a chain of over 417 footwear stores located across 35 states. Combining value pricing with an entertaining store format, Shoe Carnival is a leading retailer of name brand and private label footwear for the entire family.
HARRY’S COMMENTS: This is the third search we’ve done for Shoe Carnival, and I can tell you that these are great people. There are a couple of things I’ll address right out of the gate:
#1.) Evansville, Indiana is awesome. I’ve been there. The home of rocker John Mellancamp, Evansville is the third largest city in the state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. Evansville is ideally located within a 200 mile radius of four major metropolitan cities including Indianapolis, Nashville, Louisville, and St. Louis. Immediate access to all major forms of transportation makes Evansville an expanding location for economic growth and an important factor in Indiana’s global economy. As of the 2012, Evansville was home to 120,000 people.
#2.) Although this role does not report to him directly, it’s part of Kent Zimmerman’s ecom organization. Kent is one of the best-connected execs in the Internet Retailer Top 500, and few people know as much about multichannel integration as Kent. Wonderful guy. I’d want my own kid to work for him.
Suppose you wanted a world-class MBA, and the Harvard Business School was based in Smalltown, USA. Would you move there for two years to study with the best? Of course you would!
Well, this is the same thing: Shoe Carnival offers a perfect opportunity for a rising star to “learn by doing” while working with one of the industry’s best. I’m not sure you could get a better education anywhere.
Plus, the market’s a fertile proving ground for future Ecommerce GM’s:
According to FirstResearch, the US shoe store industry includes about 25,000 stores with combined annual revenue of about $34 billion. New styles and personal income drive demand. The profitability of individual companies depends on effective merchandising and competitive pricing, and larger retailers have advantages in purchasing, distribution, and marketing.
Meanwhile, smaller companies can compete effectively by stocking specialty products, providing superior customer service, or serving a local market. The US industry is concentrated: the top 50 companies account for about 80% of industry revenue.
Shoe stores compete with department stores, mass merchandisers, apparel retailers, Internet retailers, and some shoe manufacturers. In general, ~98% of the shoes sold in the US are imported, and major products sold by shoe stores include women’s casual and dress shoes (nearly 30% of industry revenue); men’s athletic shoes (20%); men’s casual and dress shoes (13%), and women’s athletic shoes (10%).
Shoe Carnival offers merchandise for everyone.
In addition to selling famous name brands, Shoe Carnival merchandises some of its own private label product. The firm prides itself on being a family footwear retailer primarily to the middle market. Traditionally, Shoe Carnival has offered an open inventory concept specializing in self-service value family footwear with outstanding staff support.
SC’s stores are famously interactive, sometimes featuring an in-store emcee on a microphone announcing specials, engaging guests with crazy trivia questions to give away merchandise, and doing different things to interact with customers. On one level, Shoe Carnival is in the entertainment business in the sense that they make shopping fun.
That strategy has worked like a charm.
Shoe Carnival expects to reach $1 billion in sales next year, up from $800 million just 2 years ago. The firm expects to add dozens of stores per year in the next 10 years, taking it to 700 stores total. The company has nearly tripled in size in the past 12 years, and every major metric is headed in the right direction: Number of stores; Sales; Revenue growth; number of states with stores; number of employees; and more. Shoe Carnival has NO DEBT and has plenty of cash in the bank. The people are great, and the firm boasts strong Midwestern values with an open door policy from the CEO on down.
Digital commerce: Front row, center seat.
“Omnichannel” isn’t just a buzzword at Shoe Carnival. It’s absolutely essential to the company’s strategic thrust. The firm spends a fortune on traditional marketing, which only serves to write and the opportunity for growth in its digital channels. Customers who see an magazine ad, for example, are more likely to recognize a Shoe Carnival email or search result later on in their consideration cycle.
Or just as likely, they’ll see a product online and have it shipped to them from a Shoe Carnival store …
Either way, you’ll be in the thick of it all.
Email is an extremely important channel for Shoe Carnival, and the firm has ramped up its usage of mobile, SMS, push notifications, triggered contacts, and retargeting to drive email growth. We’ve got detailed figures on Shoe Carnival’s total ecommerce and email revenues plus intel regarding the client’s segmentation and contact strategies.
Your job will be to manage SC’s email channel in light of WHO’s buying, WHAT they’re buying, WHERE they’re buying, WHEN they’re buying, HOW they’re buying, and WHY they’re buying. You’ll be responsible for email marketing that’s consistent, relevant, anticipated, and personal – designed to retain customers, drive sales, build loyalty, generate brand awareness, and inspire word-of-mouth activity.
A FINAL NOTE: Shoe Carnival’s culture is very analytically oriented.
Shoe Carnival’s execs know how to count, and they manage to the numbers every single day. They benchmark everything, and they know what’s working in their business (and what’s not). Accordingly, in your interviews for this position, be prepared to get nitty-gritty with the hiring committee regarding your email marketing successes — and failures. Additionally, plan on giving SC a breakdown of the biggest customer acquisition challenges you have faced so far in your email marketing career.
As usual, we have a crazy amount of proprietary information to share with HIGHLY QUALIFIED candidates regarding this client’s industry, culture, underlying economics, and ecommerce strategy. Our market research alone for this search exceeds 50 pages!! Believe me, you don’t want to apply without this intel. To request this packet of research, CLICK HERE. Or simply use the link at the bottom of this page.
View Harry Joiner’s profile
Primary Duties & Responsibilities:
- Plan, develop, lead and execute all aspects of email and SMS marketing campaigns, from calendar creation and creative brief development to the execution and deployment of campaigns.
- Develop and maintain the Email, SMS and Push Marketing calendars.
- Collaborate with internal and external teams for promotional and product planning, customer contact strategy/segmentation and creative content/messaging.
- Provide direction and feedback to creative, marketing and other internal partners to ensure marketing messages are conveyed clearly and align to overall objectives.
- Continuously analyze data from analytics tools to identify customer behavior patterns and leverages remarketing tools to develop customer lifecycle programs that improve customer retention and loyalty.
- Develop, execute and analyze email contact and testing strategies that increase retention and lifetime value from subscribers.
- Plan, develop, execute and continuously improve email and SMS marketing strategies for consistent subscriber growth and new customer acquisition.
- Stay current with best practices, strategies and industry standards related to email and SMS.
- Own and maintain relationship with email service platform (ESP) and other vendor partnerships related to advancing email, SMS and push capabilities.
- Drive process improvement to maximize efficiency, accuracy, and consistency in delivery of email, SMS and push marketing campaigns.
- Define and implement processes, documentation, and standards for the development and execution of email, SMS and push marketing campaigns.
- Analyze campaign results to provide insights, identify trends, and make recommendations for improvement.
- Comply with industry rules and regulations governing commercial email communication (CAN-SPAM).
- Other duties, responsibilities, and qualifications may be required and/or assigned by management.
Requirements (knowledge, skills & abilities):
- Bachelor’s Degree or commensurate experience in email and/or other digital marketing.
- 3-5 years of email marketing experience (preferably with a multichannel retailer).
- Expertise in data-driven marketing and customer segmentation.
- Knowledge of email best practices including subject lines, messaging, list management, deliverability and CAN-SPAM laws.
- Process orientated with an aptitude for building out workflows and communication schedules in line with customer behavior.
- Strong analytical, copy writing and editing skills.
- Excellent leadership and communication skills to include articulating his/her ideas and gathering input from key stakeholders.
- Proficient level ability with MS Office (primarily Excel).
- Familiar with Email Marketing Platforms (e.g. Responsys, Exact Target, etc.).
- Knowledge of HTML and SQL preferred.
Applications for this position are being coordinated by Allan Seibert. To apply, CLICK HERE. Candidates, please be sure to email Allan for additional information that will differentiate you in your candidacy.
