The Director of Marketing is responsible for the strategy and oversight of the Bank’s Marketing Department, communications, and community relations functions.  The position is also responsible for managing various vendors and collaborating with marketing partners in the community, as well as evaluating and developing long-term strategies that align with the Bank’s vision.  Responsibilities also include collaborating and coordinating communications strategies with the Bank’s senior team to effectively transmit messages to stakeholders, such as a product rollout to customers or quarterly reports to investors and the Board of Directors. 

This person must be well versed in implementing a strategic marking plan, managing a marketing budget, establishing community sponsorships, supporting the Bank’s senior team with public speaking engagements, supporting the organization’s relationship development initiatives, and delivering positive earned media.  The position will report directly to the CEO and will be responsible for planning and execution of events that impact the public and customer base.

Sales and marketing planning:

• Lead and oversee the Bank’s Marketing Department.
• Plan, implement and manage marketing strategy.
• Establish and achieve marketing goals and objectives
• Collaborate with and oversee strategic partners and vendors.
• Researches, develops, and implements an annual strategic marketing plan to help accomplish the bank’s strategic growth objectives.
• Ensures that sound banking practices are followed as they relate to marketing and that all regulations governing the marketing functions are strictly observed.
• Stay informed of technology improvement and best practices

Sales and marketing support:

• Develop and manage advertising campaigns.
• Coordinate special marketing projects.
• Designs, maintains, and manages content for the bank website.
• Partner with branch leadership to ensure staff receive training and education to have a high degree of product knowledge.
• Develop sales and marketing promotions and campaigns to support First Option performance goals.
• Partner with appropriate third-party resources to maximize customer and prospect audience engagement using digital communications (social media, geotargeting and site retargeting).
• Oversee social media and content marketing strategy.
• Develop content to support the execution of First Option corporate communications, including ad copy, internal employee newsletter, relevant internal communications, social media posts, product training and press releases.
• Direct and coordinate all bank advertising functions and marketing materials.

Research and data management:

• Manage the consumer experience through onboarding activities and customer surveys
• Research demand for products and services; share results with Senior Team
• Analyze marketing strategy for continuous improvement
• Determine KPIs for the marketing team, track, and present status report
• Use data and reports to make evidence-based decisions
• Build out, expand upon and report on marketing efforts including advertising, SEO, landing page optimization, Google Business page (analytics) and online user experience
• Comply with budget and expense with a strong awareness of return-on-marketing-investment

Public relations:

• Provide organizational leadership for key bank events and other community events

Brand management:

• Manage the First Option brand across all bank operations and within the bank’s core trade area - digital, print, outdoor, direct marketing and broadcast communications.
• Build brand awareness and thought leadership for Bank’s senior team.
• Support community bank branding and imaging across all channels.
• Understand and own the branding and digital customer journey for current and future consumers.
• Customer awareness to ensure campaigns align with complex customer demographic

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in marketing, journalism, branding, communications, or equivalent professional experience
• 5-7 years marketing and/or communications experience, preferably in financial services
• Understanding of digital marketing: B2C customer journey and tying it back to analytics
• Self-driven, analytics-based, strong critical thinking, attention to detail (copyrighting skills), organized and enthusiastic
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Passion for serving community, above-and-beyond job description spirit, willing to look for opportunities to bring the task at hand to the next level
• Strong team player, also self-motivated and deadline-driven
• Banking experience and graphic design knowledge a plus
• Able to manage outside vendors
• Competency in Microsoft applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
• Hands-on experience with CRM and SEO tools like Google Analytics, Google AdWords, HubSpot, WebTrends, SalesForce, and other related products Adobe Creative Suite, Google AdWords, Facebook Business Manager, Google Business 
• Excellent overall knowledge of marketing strategies
• Self-motivated and results oriented with a focus on setting and achieving goals
• Presentation skills
• Time management skills