CAREER CENTER

Department: School of Professional Studies
Salary/Grade: EXS/5

You are: a marketing whiz - A skilled paid media and digital marketing strategist with experience with Google Ads, paid social media, and digital media channels, and a passion for understanding and interpreting the data that make it all work. You might have also dabbled into SEO and content marketing. You are always searching for the next marketing innovation and you are not afraid to negotiate. You pride yourself in being an early adopter of new media and technologies and you're comfortable working across multiple projects at the same time. You're ready to grow in a role that will challenge you intellectually and leverage your skills in project management as well as your entrepreneurial spirit. You understand digital marketing is the way of the world, and are prepared to build integrated marketing plans that lead to top results, generating awareness and lead-gen for professional education programs. Additionally, you have experience and expertise in data analytics: this includes both knowing how to utilize data collection and visualization tools, and knowing how to analyze and report results to produce insights that help optimize marketing efforts at SPS. We are: the School of Professional Studies at top-ranked Northwestern University. We are changing the face of higher education through our dedication to leverage the most innovative technology to support the needs of working professionals that are seeking to grow their careers, enhance their skills and take on new educational and professional challenges. We inherently understand the difference between online learning and remote education, offering online graduate programs since 2014. As the world continues to pivot, our programs are uniquely developed and positioned to address the changing needs and situations of working professionals.

Our team operates on a hybrid remote/in-office schedule. Our office is located on the downtown Chicago campus of Northwestern University. We are right off of Michigan Avenue, in an exciting and supportive office environment. In addition to joining a collaborative team that values personal growth and team collaboration, Northwestern University employees take advantage of excellent healthcare, education, and retirement benefits, as well as generous paid time off and great views of Lake Michigan.

Job Summary:

This position is responsible for developing, executing and evaluating multi-channel media plans for the Northwestern University School of Professional Studies (SPS). As part of an in-house media strategy and planning team, this role manages marketing and media strategy for a segment of its 40+ graduate, undergraduate and certificate programs, with an emphasis on digital marketing and lead generation. The role works cross-functionally with internal teams, including creative, enrollment advisors, finance, and academics. The role conducts media negotiation and manages vendor relations, continually researching and adopting new audiences and media channels. The role is responsible for plan optimizations and develops data analytics and insights to provide assessment of marketing performance.

Specific Responsibilities:

Assume primary responsibility for planning strategic marketing plans for SPS graduate, undergraduate and certificate programs in the offline and online environments

• Develops strategic and integrated marketing plans, with a focus on digital media to launch and grow SPS programs using marketing data and research
• Develops a strong understanding of his/her assigned programs in order to inform effective marketing plan development
• Translates marketing plans for all programs into media schedule including, but not limited to, digital, print, broadcast, outdoor, sponsorship, events, email and direct mail
• Researches new audiences and media channels, bringing creativity and innovation to marketing plans
• Monitors the competitive landscape and stays current with marketing trends, testing new approaches and adopting best-practice strategies
• Communicates requirements and audience elements to email and direct mail list vendor and evaluates and purchases suggested lists
• Ensures clear, accurate communication of marketing plans in visual and written formats
• Supports Associate Director of Marketing and Communications in marketing for school—ensures that plans are coordinated and advertisements are optimized
• Meets regularly with Associate Director of Marketing and Communications to present and discuss campaign performance—implements enhancements/corrections

Media Negotiation and Execution

• Independently plans, negotiates and follows through on media buys 
• Works with manager on negotiating annual contracts with high-volume vendors
• Reconciles incoming invoices with services contracted/delivered and follows-up on discrepancies
• Resolves major problems or inconsistencies and reports to manager

Data Analysis and Measurement

• Provides data analytics expertise (data collection and visualization) to inform insights that lead to data-centric marketing optimizations
• Reviews CRM performance analytics through internal CRM system to make strategic media decisions and optimizations
• Monitors campaigns on a daily basis ensuring fulfillment of services and making adjustments as necessary to ensure marketing investment is producing satisfactory return
• Reviews campaign performance analytics (lead source, web traffic, campaign reports, et. al.) and tweaks online campaigns and email communications based on analytics

Cross-functional leadership in developing program knowledge and in the execution of marketing plans

• Liaisons with academic departments to stay informed of program updates, conference participation for marketing support and develop ongoing knowledge of programs and evolving target audiences
• Integrates closely with Creative/Content team, Digital Marketing Strategist, Enrollment Advising teams, CRM team, and event coordinator(s)

Professional Awareness and Engagement

• Represent SPS and enrollment management at select state, regional and national meetings, conferences and programs as budget allows.
• Provide model leadership, participation, guidance and information when serving on university-wide and School academic and operational committees

Miscellaneous

• Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university
• 2-3 years experience media planning

Minimum Competencies: (Skills, knowledge, and abilities)

• Demonstrated capacity for developing and executing marketing plans
• Basic accounting skills, attention to detail and ability to maintain and reconcile a budget
• Experience with evaluating digital media, social media, SEO and paid search to build brand awareness and recognition
• Intermediate-level skills with Microsoft Excel
• Solid writing and editing skills
• Strong relationship-building and interpersonal skills
• Strong organizational skills
• Strong negotiating skills
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in marketing or related field
• 3+ years of work experience in marketing, with digital marketing expertise
• Previous experience marketing to adult learners
• Experience working with lead generation and lead cultivation
• Experience with data analytics for marketing optimizations

Preferred Competencies: (Skills, knowledge, and abilities)

• Excellent oral communication skills
• Proficient in current technology including email formats and tracking, landing page creation and use, search engine optimization, pay-per-click, paid social media, content marketing, and other digital marketing options
• Experience determining and demonstrating ROI from marketing programs
• Ability to utilize strategic thinking and proactively bring forth ideas and solutions

Benefits:
At Northwestern, we are proud to provide meaningful, competitive, high-quality health care plans, retirement benefits, tuition discounts and more! Visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/index.html to