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 digital marketing jobs around!
HARRY’S COMMENTS: Not too long ago I launched a new recruiting practice at cmo | search and the business is starting to get traction. To whit: I’m doing a confidential search for an omnichannel retailer that’s a household name. In all likelihood, you’ve shopped there (and loved it).
Great business. Wonderful people.
The company is looking for a VP of Digital marketing. This is a fantastic job in one of America’s greatest warm weather cities. Never been there myself. But I know lots of people who say America doesn’t get any better than this.
In January, the temperature averages a balmy 55 degrees.
The firm operates in one of my all time favorite categories. Just the online slice of this retail market is $5 billion. The total market is a giant melting pot of smaller niches and subcultures – all bound by the love of _____.
It’s a direct marketer’s paradise.
At a high level, this is a critical role in the development and delivery of the client’s digital presence, driving purchases through the use of all available digital techniques, including emerging platforms and technologies. The client’s websites (they operate a few) get XX million monthly unique visitors, and online retail revenues exceed $XXX million.
There’s a lot at stake here.
Your responsibilities will include the development of business plans in conjunction with the channel and merchandising leaders as well as oversee marketing channels (including but not limited to): Display, Affiliate, SEM, Programmatic, Mobile, Partner, Paid Social, and Retargeting. The budget for each of these channels is enormous, and you’ll be tasked with driving revenue, profit, demand, web traffic, site conversion, retention, and engagement.
It’s what you’d expect from a VP-level digital marketing job.
Yet this is a very complicated business with a massive (X,XXX) retail store footprint, plus the firm operates an established service business as well. Not only must you know who, what, when, where, how, and why your customer buys (and market to them accordingly) — but it’ll fall to you to marshal the necessary human, financial, and technology resources to make this happen.
Job One will involve effective cross channel attribution, with which you can …
- Generate a “complete view” of the customer’s journey.
- Allocate credit appropriately to each marketing interaction.
- Provide insight into relevant channel interactions.
- Empower your stakeholders to spend their time, energy, and resources more wisely, and …
- Calculate more accurately customer lifetime valuation metrics and ROI.
This last point is critical.
The company has a big initiative in co-op advertising, from which flows a hefty chunk of the firms marketing budget. Initially, much of your time will be spent getting the gnarly math right in terms of helping co-op partners understand what’s their ROI on product it flows through the value chain.
You’ll need to be deeply knowledgeable in multi-channel, multi-device analytics to identify trends and optimize the firm’s marketing effectiveness, channel performance, and customer interaction with the brand. You’ll also need to articulate the enterprise value of the work your team is doing.
The best job you’ll ever have!
During my kickoff calls for this search, the client made it clear that their mission involves three things: Education, Affirmation, and Having Fun. Your goal will be to market the business online in ways that make people feel better about themselves because of their relationship with the company, and then rave to their friends and families about their experience.
This is an EXTREMELY high profile job.
As usual, I spent a ton of time on the phone with this client teasing out exactly what you’ll need to KNOW and DO to hit the ground running in this role. Some of the things I can share with highly qualified candidates include …
- The “real” background requirements for this position, along with the top five things all resumes MUST have to be considered for the role.
- The top five problems that exist due to this position being open. These are the little brush fires you will be expected to put out during your first month on the job. Every job has these — and this one’s no different.
- What your average day / week will look like in this role. There’s what you read in the standard job posting … then there’s reality. We’ve got the reality.
- The leading and lagging KPI’s that will determine your success in this role. In a nutshell: How you keep score.
- The major projects you’ll need to complete by Day 100 to be considered a home-run in this position. We’ve got the lowdown on how you can plug-and-play and drive REAL value in this job.
To be clear: I have a massive amount of proprietary intel to share with qualified candidates. My industry research for this assignment exceeds 100 pages! Be sure to TEXT me, Harry Joiner, for this info at (404) 281-2025. Or simply use the email link when you apply for the role below.
View Harry Joiner’s profile
Responsibilities:
- Lead and rebuild the team and act as the business leader on program and team development while overseeing program and media build out, use, distribution and monetization of customer data, including technical and process improvements
- Develop and implement best in class practices of digital, mobile and social paid marketing which is robust in its financial contribution, leveraging marketing channels including but not limited to: SEM, Display, Affiliates, Re-targeting, Programmatic Marketing, Partner Marketing, Mobile Marketing and Paid Social
- Explore and evaluate new media and marketing channels, overseeing and in some cases managing key opportunities in partnership with the head of eCommerce in areas such as chatbots and alternative shopping partnerships
- Lead the organization in development of marketing plans to support key initiatives and launch plans for projects such as: Ship from Store, Buy Online Pick up in Store, launch of mobile app(s), etc.
- Lead expertise in all acquisition efforts through data-driven approach and leadership with fluent expertise major analytics packages, as well as building and understanding cohort analysis to integrate and lever LTV of the customer by segment or channel of acquisition
- Develop digital marketing plans to increase traffic and engagement with new, prospective customers
- Work closely with peers in CRM / People-based marketing and leader of Membership / Repeat Delivery and ecommerce to maximize investments
- Drive and lead the function of marketing mix modeling to develop the appropriate spend by channel, working closely with the Marketing Operations team on budgeting, forecasting, and planning
- Grow and upgrade organizational capability in the digital area and seamlessly integrate digital marketing into each marketing program
- Develop and meet financial goals for programs for acquisition, retention and incremental sales – understanding crossover efforts with the CRM and collaborating with business partners to maximize these functions
- Bring new ideas to the marketing channel to drive financial and EBITDA growth to the organization
- Understand and create best in class customer journey mapping for marketing to maximize customer metrics and customer value
- Report and lead marketing channel expertise, comfortable with frequent board of director interactions and be able to communicate complex ideas simply
- Develop consistent measurable customer cohort/channel forecasting of sales and margin for marketing, in conjunction with other marketing COE’s and company forecast
- Develop – in conjunction with CRM analytics and web analytics teams – standard KPIs and reporting to properly assess value of customer and value to enterprise
- Leverage channels in a portfolio approach to maximize corporate investment across multiple brands
- Direct a comprehensive marketing calendar in conjunction with Go to Market activities and team that allow for maximum touch points across channels
- Implement a test and learn culture into the team that leads to faster learning and implementation of new ideas.
Skills and Experience Requirements:
- 15+ years of marketing experience with at least 8+ years digital experience with integrated media/marketing platforms to include paid social, digital, mobile & traditional marketing
- 5-8 years experience in a retail and direct to consumer environment
- Demonstrated experience with implementing digital marketing initiatives that will scale to support the requirements of a growing organization with multiple brands and channels
- Deep understanding of the digital environment and evolving tools and platforms used to improve online presence with excellent working knowledge of new/emerging outreach strategies
- Able to translate trends into brand-right business opportunities
- Strong leadership and consensus building skills with a willingness to continually embrace personal and professional development in a fast-changing retail environment
- Prior experience leading and developing a team of professionals, as well as working across indirect reports and cross functional partners
- Ability to interact with all levels of the organization; must be able to articulate a vision and develop and deliver supporting marketing plans, including frequent interactions with C-Suite and Board of Directors
- Strong relationship builder both within the organization and with external partners
- Comfortable working with ambiguity and change – must be able to work in a fast pace environment
- Bachelor Degree in Marketing / MBA strongly preferred
THIS SEARCH IS CLOSED.
