JOB DESCRIPTION
TITLE: Director of Digital Direct Response
DEPARTMENT: Advancement
Classification (FLSA): Exempt, Salaried
REPORTS TO: Executive Director of Donor Engagement
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES: Manages a team of digital marketing consultants and a student worker. Manages Principles and digital acquisition budget.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The Director of Digital Direct Response manages and executes the Christendom College Advancement Office’s ongoing efforts to acquire, steward, and renew donors through digital channels in order to build up a community of benefactors supporting Christendom’s Catholic educational apostolate. The director assists in managing the college’s Principles projects to share Christendom’s faithful Catholic education with the wider world and acquire subscribers who can grow into benefactors to further the college’s mission. The position reports to the Exec. Dir. of Donor Engagement.
CHIEF DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Marketing:
- Directing all Advancement Office digital marketing efforts and managing consultants in service of growing and cultivating a thriving community of benefactors and subscribers who support Christendom’s Catholic educational apostolate, through:
- Creating media plans optimized around strategic implementation of financial resources to reach the right audiences with the right content.
- Assisting in the continuing development of a comprehensive marketing strategy to acquire, steward, and renew donors and subscribers through digital channels.
- Purchasing advertisements in the best channels to execute a successful implementation of the media plan.
- Deploying advertising through third party vendors or directly as needed.
- Monitoring advertisements based on real-time tracking of performance data in order to optimize allocation of the budget. Discerning performance patterns, opportunities, and choke points to direct the budget to the highest efficiency channels and tactics (emphasizing the best-performing and the lowest cost).
- Providing regular reporting on advertising performance along with analysis and recommendations for improvements.
- Evaluating the online environment to identify and react to potential challenges and opportunities.
- Overseeing online outreach efforts and stewardship of monthly giving society.
- Email marketing, including:
- Planning and deploying email campaigns in conjunction with the college’s annual fundraising and donor acquisition campaigns.
- Overseeing the maintenance and development of the college’s email platform Autopilot/Ortto to synchronize data, messaging, and analytics. Ensuring data integrity through regular cross-updating with the primary Raiser’s Edge donor database or developing/implementing a solution to automate the update process.
- Seeking to develop and improve skills to enhance the utility of the email platform in order to achieve goals.
- Developing sophisticated action tracks in Autopilot to deliver the right email campaigns to the right audiences.
- Developing and managing audience segments to deliver the right message for the right point in the customer (subscriber/donor) journey.
- Deploying emails with assistance from other staff members.
Creative:
- Managing and ordering the development of creative assets based on analysis.
- Collaborating closely with Donor Engagement staff and at times the Marketing and Communications Department, faculty members, and/or other experts to ensure the best creative content and messaging possible.
- Identifying and utilizing the best resource materials to make ads, emails, and all other creatives successful. Collecting and curating resource content such as stories, images, copy, and video to facilitate creation of emails, landing pages, other webpages, ads, and other media.
Principles:
- Assisting the Executive Director of Donor Engagement in managing the ongoing development and creation of Principles content and media, including online classes, Principles publication, live lectures, Principles for Your Week videos, and other content. Run new content by the Executive Director of Donor Engagement for approval.
Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time for the needs of the College, but a discussion between the employee and supervisor will take place prior to the change.
REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:
- At least five years of experience in digital marketing, including deploying and managing media plans and budget, is preferred.
- Experience using a customer data, messaging, and analytics platform such as Ortto/Autopilot, or a similar platform, is highly desirable. Experience with email tracking tools is also preferred.
- Experience in the use of Raiser’s Edge NXT or similar non-profit databases is preferred.
- A deep desire to support the Catholic educational apostolate and mission of Christendom College.
- Ability to be an excellent member of a team and to build strong working relationships.
- Excellent discernment and follow through.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Excellent organizational, interpersonal, and administrative skills.
- The ability to handle information with complete confidentiality.
- The ability to plan, prioritize. organize, and carry out multiple projects concurrently.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
- A college degree in a related digital marketing discipline is preferred. At least 5 years’ experience in digital marketing and digital direct response with a different college degree is acceptable.
PHYSICAL / MENTAL / EMOTIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
- Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
- Must be able to lift up to 50 pounds.
- Must be able to make quick decisions.
- Must be calm in stressful situations.
