Director of Digital Marketing & Audience Insights

John G Shedd AquariumDirector of Digital Marketing & Audience Insights

Summary:

This role will lead digital marketing and audience insights to unlock new opportunities for growth at Shedd Aquarium. The Director oversees three functions for the institution, including digital/performance marketing, audience data (CRM) and analytics, and consumer insights. This role requires a combined passion for audience data and broader consumer & market insights to optimize audiences, improve marketing strategy, and drive institutional growth.Reporting to the SVP of External Affairs and Marketing, you will lead a small team of digital marketers and audience analysts and partner with teams across the organization to develop and implement marketing strategies that unlock new engagement opportunities through 1P/2P/3P audience strategy and activation with a focus on driving deeper acquisition, retention and repeat visitation, and revenue efforts across the institution.You will be responsible for planning, implementing, and optimizing digital marketing and CRM campaigns across various channels including paid search, display advertising, paid social media, email marketing, SEO, and paid media. You will also partner closely with Research and Evaluation to build holistic learning agendas that connect broader market and consumer insights and attitudinal drivers of aquarium visitation and engagement to audience data to advance and sustain the institution's role as a leader in our field.Responsibilities Include:Digital Marketing:Oversee and develop comprehensive performance marketing strategies to drive audience acquisition, member retention, and revenue growth.Collaborate with Digital Marketing Manager to build out email, website, and SMS campaign strategies to support brand, revenue, and member strategies.Manage marketing budgets effectively and allocate resources strategically to maximize ROI and achieve organizational goals.Build and maintain relationships with external partners, agencies, and vendors to support marketing and institutional initiatives.Oversee the monitoring and effectiveness of marketing campaigns, making necessary adjustments to achieve acquisition targets and brand health goals.Audience and CRM Insights:Own the audience development strategy and implementation across digital marketing campaigns to develop targetable audience segments, drive membership, drive admission revenue (event/daily), and build repeat/retention efforts.Grow and optimize Shedd's CRM to promote our brand campaigns and drive audience acquisition and attendance. Leverage first-party data to directly communicate through email, using learned habits, behaviors, and preferences to increase campaign efficiency. Develop a roadmap for text/SMS strategy.Collaborate with Development on building CRM playbooks and ensure Shedd is adopting CRM best practices.Own and manage key CRM metrics that directly ties into revenue, remarketing, and acquisition efforts.Partner with Development Directors to consult on membership engagement & retention strategies, Partner with Guest Relations Directors on attendance strategies.Exist as a central point of truth for audience reporting, identifying trends, and collaborating with cross-functional partners on new strategies.Consumer and Market Insights:Elevate internal understanding of the customer and market opportunities in partnership with the Research and Evaluation (Learning & Community) team.Guide consumer, market, and competitive intelligence analysis and research lead the team in the synthesis of ongoing work into actionable insights, and communicate findings and recommendations to leaders across the organization.Collaboration with R&E to develop a holistic view of consumer behaviors/preferences, feedback, and market and competitor trends and insights to identify future opportunities.Team Leadership and Development:Lead and mentor a small team of digital marketing, audience analysts, and consumer insights professionals, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence.Invest in the professional growth and development of team members through training, mentorship, and performance management.Promote cross-functional collaboration to drive holistic marketing efforts and achieve organizational goals.Qualifications:6-8 years experience in Digital Marketing and Insights; bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, or a related field.Proven track record of developing and executing successful performance marketing strategies that drive acquisition and revenue growth.Experience working with marketing automation platforms, CRM systems, analytics tools, SEO strategies, and paid media campaigns.Deep understanding of digital marketing channels and platforms, including Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, etc.Demonstrated ability to think strategically by converting disparate sources of information & data into effective strategies & clear narratives.Proven track record of defining and operationalizing KPIs that align with organizational objectives.Ability to distill insights and drive impact into an organization – bringing the audience to the forefront.Extensive experience defining a problem, designing an approach, and leveraging a variety of sources of data (1/2/3P/qual) to answer questions and/or hypotheses.Excels at storytelling and data visualization in creative and impactful ways - excellent communication, organization and presentation skills.High degree of comfort managing multiple stakeholders, strong collaboration and teamwork skills, and a problem-solver with a results orientation.Ability to lead and mentor teams through the design/build of organizational processes and consumer-facing systems and experiences.Comfortable advising on best practices and innovative approaches, quickly deriving clear priorities from discussions, planning, and delivering.BENEFITS WORKING AT SHEDD:We offer competitive compensation packages and opportunities for professional growth within our organization.Medical InsuranceVision and Dental InsurancePaid HolidaysLife InsuranceEmployee Assistance ProgramReasonable Accommodations:Shedd Aquarium is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need reasonable accommodations for any part of the employment process, please email us at humanresources@sheddaquarium.org.We strongly encourage people of color, LGBTQ+ community, veterans and active duty military, parents, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from all cultural backgrounds to apply. Shedd Aquarium is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes everyone to our team.John G Shedd Aquarium1200 S DuSable Lk Shr Dr.Chicago, IL 60605

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