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One of the coolest VP ecommerce jobs around!
We are working with Adorama in their search for a VP Digital Marketing & Experience based in New York City. This is a terrifically cool ecommerce job.
Adorama is more than a camera store. Serving customers for more than 35 years, Adorama grew from its flagship NYC store, to become a leading online destination for photography, video, audio, and consumer electronics.
Adorama’s vast product offerings encompass the deepest assortment of professional photography, audio, video, home entertainment, and mobile computing products. As an “authorized” retailer of leading global brands including Apple®, Nikon®, Canon®, Sony®, and other premier brands, demonstrates Adorama’s commitment to outfitting the professional and amateur with the right equipment.
The Company also offers robust services through its online photo printing business called Adorama Pix, along with a national camera, lens, and cinema gear rental business called Adorama Rental Company. Adorama’s history is a trusted advisor to photographers and professionals alike — and it brings free online education to photographers through its award-winning Adorama Learning Center, and delivers must-see television via a dynamic and exciting video channel called Adorama TV …
Adorama is listed as one of the top five electronics retailers by Consumer Reports, “Best of the Web” by Forbes.com, sits in the Internet Retailers Top 100, and is the official photography retailer of the NY Giants.
Position Overview
The Vice President, Digital Marketing & Experience is a newly expanded role accountable for delivering customer growth and retention, and an industry leading brand, website, mobile, and in-store experience. Adorama encompasses Adorama.com, Adorama Pix, Adorama Rentals, and the firm’s NY flagship store. This role reports to the Chief Executive Officer and owns a staff +20.
CANDIDATES: To fully understand what you will need to LAND this job and then CRUSH IT in the role once you do, Harry Joiner spent 132 minutes on the phone with this firm’s CEO. Now at NEXTgig.com, you can access Harry’s personal notes from that call along with his supporting research from IBIS World, Factiva, First Research, and more. To request your log-in credentials to NEXTgig, please TEXT your name to Harry at (404) 281-2025. Here’s just a taste of what you’ll glean from that information …
- The THREE main types of business models Adorama leverages, and how you will be expected to build them so that the “whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”
- The main thing this role is “ABOUT” — and what you can do to address that thing head-on in your interviews.
- The SIX things you MUST have to get this job — and how the client will know if you are the genuine article …
- The THREE levers (digital and otherwise) that would really turn Adorama’s business — and what these mean to marketing.
- What’s going right on mobile — and where, specifically, Adorama needs help.
- A laundry list of EIGHTEEN marketing media the firm uses to fill its funnel — and how those might impact conversion rates and lifetime values farther down in the sales process.
- A detailed list of issues that are keeping Adorama’s CEO up at night — and what YOU can do about them. (BTW – The CEO is this role’s hiring manager …)
- More market research than you can shake a stick at!
Responsibilities:
- Build and execute a strategic marketing roadmap that delivers a personalized, digital customer acquisition and retention strategy for customers across both online and offline sales channels.
- Build a cross-functional team of marketers, merchants and business leaders that inspire great collaboration and communication to drive important initiatives across the organization.
- Build a scalable and profitable model to deliver traffic growth across all Adorama digital properties using all organic, paid, and offline marketing tactics in an integrated approach that excites customers.
- Elegantly connect Adorama customers across all brands and product offerings to leverage the “buy, rent, and print” differentiation Adorama brings to the photography professional.
- Utilize customer segmentation to clearly articulate and define Adorama’s specific customer segments with respective strategies to grow each respective market.
- Introduce personalization into every customer touch point making the purchase journey highly relevant, building excitement along the way, and educating customers.
- Upgrade and focus Adorama’s brilliant educational video and online destinations (Adorama TV, The Online Learning Channel) to create a compelling destination that attracts, retains and supports a tribe of prosumers and professional customers in the photography, video, and audio markets.
- Build an online merchandising team that delivers category sales performance everyday by pruning the digital experience across search, navigation, product pages, checkout, brand pages, and content.
- Strengthen the marketing and digital analytics competency and capacity through people and technology that ignites a data-driven culture, and informs with insights to improve performance.
- Build a process to monitor and measure customer satisfaction levels across all Adorama business units to ensure resources are applied where customers expect us to be brilliant.
The new VP will maintain key must-have skills including:
- Exceptional leadership skills to grow, build, and retain a talented team of professionals passionate about the customers and the experience they receive from Adorama. This includes strong emotional intelligence and organizational management, creating a culture of opportunity and accountability
- Creative and strategic growth mind-set to guide the vision for the family of Adorama brands. The ability to simplify complex ideas into bite size chunks that improve understanding of plans and ideas to the broader organization.
- A premier analytics and financial competency that can rationalize digital marketing investment based on the ROAS contribution associated with traffic driving offline and online channels. This person should be an example to others leaders on the use of data to make great decisions.
- Creative and strategic mind-set that can simplify complex ideas into bite size chunks that improve understanding of plans and ideas to the broader organization.
- A strong digital competency to lead and direct all marketing tactics with strong knowledge in paid search, SEO, email, retargeting, affiliates, data feeds, trigger campaigns, social media, content re-marketing, with experience across various offline broadcast media.
- Strong experience leading an online merchandising team that maximizes category and product sales performance via desktop, mobile, and offline channels every day.
- A strong combination of leadership skills including organizational management, accountable leadership, and strategic growth experience to guide the vision for the family of Adorama brands.
Scope of Responsibilities
- Manage Marketing Operations for all Adorama business lines including Email, Affiliates, Paid Search, Social Media, Print / Publishing & PR, Sponsorships / Brand Advocacy, Event s & Tradeshows, Analytics & Reporting Strategic Vendor Campaigns & MDF Programs, Customer Loyalty Programs (such as VIP), Online Merchandising, and Store Marketing.
- Owns Organization and Talent Management, improving organizational design, Adorama’s structure, key priorities, management processes and reporting methods. This executive will be responsible for hiring and developing key talent.
- Owns Marketing Strategy and activation efforts for the Adorama brand enterprise. Work closely with the CEO and other cross-functional executives to develop and execute a calendar of year round strategies that drive incremental growth through various channels.
- Lead Acquisition and Retention using a variety of programs, to increase traffic and drive conversion in addition to leveraging marketing channels analysis to drive lifetime value and acquisition of new customers.
- Own Marketing Budget and Agency Management by managing the annual marketing operating budget, working closely with other functions to ensure delivery of the sales plan, forecast, and be the principal liaison with all external digital agencies and vendors.
- Functional Management & Development –responsible for enhancing company-wide eCommerce and Digital Marketing competencies (e.g., Online Display, Retargeting, Web Experience, E-Mail, SEO/SEM, Affiliate Marketing, Social Media, Mobile and Storefront)
Candidate Profile
- Digital Marketing Pro – Experience designing and leading digital marketing plans across all marketing channels with strong results, while understanding of online customer acquisition and retention. Must have a keen sense of tactical execution in the space.
- A Customer Evangelist – This person must be a customer evangelist, and is highly motivated in building and retaining talented teams that are also passionate about customers. This person will be a highly capable digital marketer, with deep experience leading online marketing and merchandising teams within highly competitive online retail markets.
- Ecommerce Experienced – Prior experience leading marketing within a tier-one e-tailer or omni-channel retailer with demonstrated examples of growing traffic, conversion, and AOV, while upgrading the brand and digital experience with measurable impact.
- Talent Development – Demonstrated success building organizational capabilities through process design, organizational development, recruiting and training high-performing marketing e-commerce, and merchandising.
- Team and Culture-Architect – Experience creating an environment of collaboration, intraprenurial spirit and innovation.
Performance Objectives and KPI’s
This newly expanded role will own the performance objectives and KPI’s associated with annual sales and margin growth targets, traffic and customer targets, and CSAT experience targets.
Skill Set
- Strong relationship management and interpersonal skills (high EQ)
- Web Analytics and Digital Marketing (understands how to execute)
- Financially and Data Oriented (keen understanding of P&L & financial analysis)
- Influencing Skills (proven ability to persuade others towards an idea or goal)
- Organized and Attention-to-Detail (strong tactical execution)
- Innovative (need fresh, imaginative thinking)
- Organizational Leadership and Team Development (leads through influence)
- Translates Strategy into Actionable Initiatives (service orientation)
- Intellectual Horsepower (highly creative and strategic)
- Listening Skills (listen first, then respond)
- Highly Resourceful (stretches people and money; compresses time)
- Ability to Express Ideas Clearly both Verbally / Written (communication excellence)
Personality
- Self-directed/motivated / Flexible and adaptable
- Results orientation / Sense of urgency
- Strong work ethic / High integrity and trustworthy
- Intellectually curious
Applications for this position are being coordinated by Harry Joiner. To apply, CLICK HERE. Candidates, please be sure to email Harry for additional information 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.
