Federation of African Canadian Economics

Work Location: FACE Office / Remote work with target markets across Canada.

People Manager : Yes

The opportunity:

Reporting directly to the Director, Communications and Stakeholder Engagement, the Manager Marketing & Communications (MMC) assists with providing marketing and communications support and will coordinate, develop, lead, communicate and execute activities to ensure objectives are accomplished on time. A Marketing and Communications professional who will build and execute differentiating, client-centric marketing efforts regionally, nationally and/or internationally, supporting the organization's Mission, Vision and key priorities. The incumbent is equally comfortable developing innovative strategies as in diving deep into the details to ensure the smooth execution of campaigns and initiatives.

The MMC works at the intersection of marketing, communications, product and sales supporting marketing strategy, go-to-market planning, and execution. These include creating communications and engagement strategies for key stakeholders including regional communities, clients, staff, government, partners, and other agencies; crisis and issues management; media relations; reputation management, branding and marketing and digital communications (social, web and media engagement).

You will develop and lead a high-performing team of B2B and B2C marketers, digital specialists, content and brand strategists, and experienced marketing & communications service professionals supporting the ambitious goals of our growth-oriented enterprise.

The incumbent has a passion for storytelling and driving engagement and possesses excellent leadership, project management, and communication skills. An essential requirement is practiced functional expertise in creating positioning strategies, value propositions, and messaging to align with FACE's target market needs and FACE's business objectives.

The MMC has a proven ability to develop product marketing strategies aligned to business goals, establish comprehensive go-to-market (GTM) plans, present ideas to senior management for input and buy-in, and work cross-functionally and regionally to execute flawlessly. The Manager Marketing & Communications takes ownership and accountability for personal and collective high performance, embracing diversity for innovation and growth, and holding the highest standards to build trust internally and externally.

Overview of Responsibilities:

Marketing:

• Understand and align marketing efforts with business objectives and product strategy to conceive, lead and execute breakthrough product marketing initiatives.
• Create strategic advantage through knowledge of FACE products, methods, markets and partnerships.
• Develop marketing plans that clearly communicate the unique value our products and services offer to clients.
• Contribute innovative marketing ideas that enhance positioning and impact of regional, national and/or international marketing initiatives to drive growth.
• Use functional expertise to create value propositions, positioning, messaging maps, and internal activation strategies to ensure all client / stakeholder touchpoints reinforce essential messages.
• Deliver program implementation; manage execution of all mass and digital advertising initiatives, executing flawlessly to get campaigns into market within timelines and budget.
• Lead development of marketing assets, campaigns and content, brand & PR strategy across a wide variety of media, including websites, videos, podcasts, email campaigns, events, and sales enablement materials that strengthen the brand, drive customer engagement and consideration, and grow the business.
• Support performance marketing channels, working closely with internal marketing partners to drive acquisition.
• Adhere to departmental objectives, policies, processes and standards; positively contribute to the marketing team culture and the overall effectiveness of the department.
• Assist end-to-end management of marketing budgets, including management of estimates, invoices, tracking, monthly re-forecasting, reconciliation and stakeholder updates.
• Responsible for maintenance and governance of the organization's website.
• Implement and manage social media campaigns (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc).
• Assist in recording, editing and publishing of videos, podcasts and related.
• Develop the strategy, including keyword research and target audience segmentation.
• Experience with onsite and technical aspects of SEO. Build keyword strategy, implement recommendations / optimise page content.
• Prioritize and manage materials - fact sheets, newsletters, brochures, tokens and related. Manage and execute submissions to update existing materials.

Communications:

• Deliver high-quality, timely internal and external communications.
• Proactively engages, collaborates and acts as a strategic partner for FACE's cross-functional departments including the Face Support Center and Lending units and understands product, service and sales offerings to build effective distributions lists and lead generation capabilities.
• Collaborate, coordinate, manage and support day-to-day interactions with external partners / stakeholders to deliver media, content strategy, digital campaigns, web, brand, creative services, events, impactful applicant and post-client support. Drive integrated planning and oversee integrated campaign strategy etc. to deliver go-to-market plans for products and services aligned with business priorities and objectives. Partner with and manage external agencies.
• Ensure messaging resonates with internal and external audiences - avoid jargon, lead with client benefits, create clarity, and eliminate confusion.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to represent the consumer voice and acting as a marketing point person to influence market research, identify gaps, opportunities and ensure flawless execution of campaigns.
• Present ideas, strategies, and plans to FACE leadership and other internal and external partners to gain input and buy-in.
• Maintain a detailed understanding of our channel partner acquisition goals and priorities to develop and execute marketing plans that produce required results.
• Manage full integrated calendars for mass and digital activity, including media blocking chart ownership, and competitive media monitoring/reporting.
• Increase external engagement through blog posts, video profiles, interest groups/events etc.
• Develop and lead employee engagement activities and participate in committees.
• Develop/update FACE websites to increase awareness.
• Track and publish monthly applicant testimonials.
• Manage media engagement: directing agency partners, employees and other stakeholders to appropriate channels being yourself, for replies and/or the development and delivery of inspiring creative/media briefs, evaluation/execution of media plans.
• Work with your team to formulate and run digital, B2B, B2C, and other campaigns in line with marketing and business objectives.
• Identify best campaign tactics to drive desired outcomes.

Analytics:

• Define Key Performance Indicators to monitor campaign performance, develop dashboards, prepare reports, and identify areas for improvement. Ensure disciplined KPI establishment, measurement and analyses to enable strategic conversations, and fuel insights and future marketing opportunities.
• Track KPIs to assess performance to enable strategic conversions and recommend new campaigns across multiple channels, develop ongoing tests to improve conversion rates and cost per account.
• Responsible for the delivery, data segmentation, and post-analysis of campaigns and related activities as well as managing A/B tests, with presentation of results at monthly, quarterly, bi-annual and annual meetings.
• Implement and utilise marketing analytics and performance tools to assess the effectiveness of team's performance and marketing and comms efforts, provide regular insights and reporting focusing on KPIs across the website, social, email, organic, paid search etc. Analyze and synthesize data to deliver meaningful insights to drive business decision-making.
• Use recognized and proven tools and methods to plan, track and report on initiative progress to ensure the project team is consistently driving for results and keep leadership aware of progress. These include updated project timelines, regular status reports, meetings, RACI documents, etc.
• Create and assemble reports for Monthly, Quarterly, Bi-annual and Annual Business Reviews - tracking results and analyzing performance by channel.
• Track and report monthly accomplishments and success stories.
• Act as marketing lead to establish and manage project roadmap and timelines and meet all deadlines. Drive execution through completion, including analysis of results and lessons learned, to inform future results.
• Analyze issues, problems, and opportunities and use sound judgment to recommend action plans to achieve business goals and objectives.
• Continuously provide insights from competitors to fuel innovative thinking and new opportunities to test and learn.
• Manage marketing budget and optimize marketing spend.

Qualifications:

• Strong project management, content management and organizational skills. Ability to confidently and effectively lead a project team through multiple projects simultaneously respecting and utilizing timelines, prioritization, budget forecasting & management, collaboration and ensuring ROI and consensus on marketing/communications campaigns.
• Ability to lead multiple stakeholder groups to develop and execute campaigns with strong influencing skills for relationship management, collaborative goal setting with action-oriented approach.
• Comfortable with development and implementation of marketing strategies and roadmaps via thought leadership, insight-based planning, campaign strategy, and executional expertise.
• Excellent interpersonal and strong communication skills (verbal and written): demonstrate active listening skills, excellent written communication, and ability to speak with impact. Foster open communication always and able to work across functions and business.
• Knowledgeable about marketing functions (e.g. digital marketing, targeted, content strategy, social media, collateral) and the role each plays in a successful marketing organization.
• Positive, upbeat, professional and responsible attitude, independent and self-directed with a strong ability to work collaboratively with peers and senior leadership and executive teams.
• Bachelor's Degree Business Admin / BCOMM with concentration in marketing or other relevant degree.
• 3 -5 years of experience.
• Strategic mindset with the ability to think creatively and tactically to drive business outcomes and execute flawlessly.
• Bilingual (French & English) will be an asset.
• This position will remain open untill the position is filled. Recruitment is ongoing and applications will be reviewed as they are received.