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We are working with Alibris Retail in their search for an Acquisition Marketing Manager, in Emeryville, CA. Alibris Retail is the premier online marketplace for independent sellers of books, music and movies. Alibris offers more than 140 million new and used books, movie and music items from more than 20,000 independent sellers in over 50 countries and Google eBooks to consumers through their web sites (Alibris.com, Alibris.co.uk) and Library Services group.
HARRY’S COMMENTS: I have been an ecommerce recruiter for seven years, and one of the coolest things about my job is that there are candidates whom I have placed more than once. Such is the case with this role’s hiring manager, Adam Silverman, who is a rock star anyway you slice it.
I placed Adam as a VP of Ecommerce with Monsoon Commerce last October, and it’s Adam’s charge to develop and manage the growth of Monsoon’s retail arm, Alibris, currently No. 123 in Internet Retailer’s Top 500 Guide. Prior to Alibris, Adam was Director of Marketing at Musician’s Friend (IR-44), and from 2006 to 2009, he was Director of Ecommerce for apparel retail chain Wet Seal (IR-316).
Smart. Funny. Authentic. Driven (in a good way). Highly competent. Endlessly resourceful. I have never seen Adam in an easy role, and somehow he always finds a way to win. Seriously, I would want my own kid to work for him.
In fact, I’m going to post that as a LinkedIn recommendation for him.
Now about the role: We need a real, live marketer who is an inch wide and a mile deep in customer acquisition experience. This person needs to eat, sleep, and dream multichannel customer acquisition: Affiliate marketing, Display advertising and retargeting, CSE’s, PPC, Mobile, and possibly, when appropriate, direct mail. You will need to know how to acquire customers with each of these channels individually, but much more importantly – you will need to combine these channels so that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Your ads will need to do it all:
- Stop prospects in a way that allows them to self-select.
- Hold prospects.
- Create desire by hinting at the value of the Alibris experience.
- Give the prospect a reason to act now.
Imagine a cross between the late, great PPC savant Alan Rimm-Kaufman and legendary adman John Caples. You don’t have to be that now – but you should aspire to be that.
We need someone who sees Alibris’ categories through the customer’s eyes. That means developing an affinity with each type of Alibris customer so that you can anticipate their needs and behaviors.
Both Caples and Rimm-Kaufman would question everything: What went wrong and why? Was it the place? The time of day? The kind of customer we attracted? Was it the offer? And so on. Next, what went right and why? For each thing that went right, could we do it again, only bigger, or cheaper, or both? The questions are endless.
To answer these questions, you’d need to be very creative in not only what clues you’ll be looking for, but where those clues might be found. Alibris’ analytics package is certainly one place. But we need someone who’s not afraid to profile customers based on their RFM history, demographics, psychographics, geography, etc.
Alibris has already done much of this work with one of America’s foremost database marketing consultants – but you’ll need to build on that exemplary work, realizing that all markets are dynamic. Things change, which is why we expect you to have a teachable point of view regarding multichannel attribution models.
As I’ve said many times before, I don’t take every search that comes my way. Not by a long shot. There has to be a compelling reason that an A-player would want to apply for this role.
And here ‘tis: This role is about giving a bright up-and-comer who has a ton of depth the kind of breadth that will come in handy for the rest of his or her career. It’s about giving an exceptional candidate an opportunity to have a real impact on a $150 million etailer’s business, while working for a great guy in a high visibility role in one of America’s coolest cities: San Francisco.
And truly, I am not looking for someone who can just “press the buttons” with AdWords. Heck no. This role is about so much more than that. I need a marketer. I need someone who is hypothesis driven in their approach to customer acquisition and is not afraid to make smart bets on how to grow the business.
As always, I’m loaded with proprietary info on this search. Apply below and I’d be happy to give you all I’ve got.
Please Tweet this job, and you’ll be automatically entered into our monthly drawing. Just do it and see what happens: 2010 prizes included $100 Amazon gift certs, Dean & Deluca steaks, and Keurig coffee machines …
Position Overview:
The Acquisition Marketing Manager’s primary responsibilities will owning the strategic roadmap, including optimizing and growing the acquisition marketing revenue for the Alibris Retail division in accordance with business goals. As the acquisition guru, you will design tests, track program performance, implement campaigns, and come up with strategies and recommendations on how Alibris can optimize the breadth and depth of their acquisition programs across paid search, natural search, direct response, display, non-affiliate shopping comparison engines, and other emerging acquisition channels. You will also own the strategy and presence on the social media channels, and look for general growth opportunities in the acquisition marketing field.
Responsibilities include:
- Own the overall acquisition strategy for Alibris Retail (B2C), and provide acquisition support for Monsoon Selling Solutions division (B2B)
- Grow the keyword portfolio by figuring out how to scale and manage a program with potentially millions of keywords and finding new search venues to advertise in.
- Optimize the keywords portfolio through testing with ad copy, landing pages, bidding strategies, negative keywording, etc.
- Tracking, reporting, and analyzing PPC initiatives and campaigns, including understanding attribution analysis and impact of lifetime value .
- Create business requirements for engineering as well as develop your own solutions to improve the search engine marketing process.
- Stay current with new advances in search engine marketing and the competitive landscape. PPC & online marketing are part of your DNA
- Grow and manage Alibris’ presence on non-affiliate comparison shopping engines such as Pricegrabber and Google Product Search.
- Drive improvements in the natural search channel by developing content strategies and facilitating technical solutions that allow for greater visibility in search engnies
- Provide reporting and analysis on a weekly basis for acquisition marketing channels and additional initiatives
- Contribute and form overarching strategy for social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Blog) and provide basic customer service when necessary
- Research and implement new acquisition marketing tactics and vendor partnerships
- Effectively manage strategic vendors and partners related to the acquisition of new customers
Position Requirements:
- Self-learner and a passion for search engine marketing.
- Experience managing PPC campaigns across Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
- Analytical Experience
- Expert knowledge of performance marketing, conversion, and online customer acquisition strategies.
- Proficient in Microsoft Excel. You should love spreadsheets and lots of data.
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in a quantitative, test-driven field (economics, market research, science, etc.)
- Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, work within a marketing team, and work with other departments in a matrix environment.
- Excellent verbal and written skills. Detail oriented. Supportive of co-workers.
- Ability to re-prioritize projects as needed.
- Knowledge of search engine optimization (SEO)
- Expert with web analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Coremetrics, etc.
Applications for this position are being coordinated by Harry Joiner. To apply, CLICK HERE. Candidates, please be sure to email Harry Joiner for a packet of market research and company / competitive intel that will differentiate you in your candidacy. Due to the intensely competitive nature of this search, thorough preparation for these interviews with this proprietary material is strongly recommended.
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