Vacancy: Marketing Manager
2 days per week – £25,000 p/a pro-rata
Application Deadline: 9am on Friday 18th March 2022
What You’ll Be Doing
The Poetry Business publisher and writer development agency has an exciting opportunity for a Marketing Manager. Reporting to the Co-Directors, this is a key management role that will enable you to take the lead on all marketing activities across the business to direct and grow the Poetry Business’ marketing strategy.
You will be constantly looking at building relationships to achieve platform growth and create meaningful change. You will be responsible for planning, implementing and reporting on marketing campaigns to: promote and sell a range of poetry book titles; widen subscription take-up for The North magazine; raise the profile of the Poetry Business’ writing workshops; and promote the annual International Book & Pamphlet Competition and New Poets Prize to bolster awareness and increase entry numbers.
As The Poetry Business is a small team, there is no direct line management included in this role. However, you will be expected to collaborate with the Project Manager, the Office Manager, Editorial and Production to delegate, monitor and sign-off on marketing-related activities.
Key tasks for this role include:
- Advising Editorial, Production and Design on marketability of book concept and jacket design
- Collaborating with Editorial to write copy for books jackets and print/digital marketing materials
- Title data management on in-house and industry databases
- Selling to bookshops, liaising with sales reps, and presenting titles at sales conferences
- Composing and disseminating POS/marketing materials
- Author care & expectation management
- Planning, implementing and analysing direct email marketing campaigns to segmented lists
- Coordinating digital marketing (paid social media ads, social media influencers, Google adverts)
- Overseeing and steering PB’s branding, ensuring all customer-facing materials stay on brand
- Managing spend on campaigns to ensure marketing activities across all business strands are delivered within budget
- Maintaining PB’s GDPR compliance with particular regard to digital marketing & speculative emails
- Contributing to marketing sections of funding bid narratives and funding reports
- Forging partnerships and campaigns with sister-organisations
- Promoting and helping out at events as required (digital and in-person)
- Tracking campaign performance and quarterly reporting to the Co-Directors
Who We Are Looking For
We are looking for a highly motivated and resourceful individual able to work independently and with initiative. You will have some previous marketing experience, and an understanding of marketing principles, though previous experience in a managerial role is not required. Excellent communication skills will be crucial for this role, which is a mixture of home-working and in-office working. Strong organisational skills, excellent time management, and an aptitude for computing are also essential, and you will thrive off using data analysis to improve campaign performance. The successful candidate will also have an eye for aesthetic design and visual branding, alongside meticulous attention to detail.
You will understand the value of an audience-first approach and will be passionate about getting poetry into the hands of the right people. Proven experience in project management and multitasking is highly desirable, along with an interest in current marketing trends in the independent publishing and bookselling sector. We are keen to consider applicants who do not have a background in publishing, and formal marketing qualifications are not essential.
It will be desirable, but not essential, for you to have a familiarity with:
- The Poetry Business’ work
- The Adobe suite (particularly InDesign)
- Social media platforms
- Video editing (YouTube)
Mailchimp
- Ecommerce platforms
- Consonance
- Nielsen Title Editor
- Google Analytics
- GDPR
Who We Are and What We Do
The Poetry Business is one of the most established poetry organisations in the UK, with 34 years of experience of developing and publishing outstanding new poets. We publish children’s and general poetry books under our Smith|Doorstop, New Poets List and Small|Donkey imprints; we publish The North magazine bianually; we deliver a busy programme of digital writer development workshops with in-house and guest tutors; and we administer the International Book & Pamphlet Competition and the New Poets Prize annually.
Our poets have won, been shortlisted for or highly commended in almost every major poetry prize, including the Forward Prize, the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize, the National Poetry Competition, and in both 2012 and 2017 The Poetry Business won the Michael Marks Award for Pamphlet Publishers.
We are committed to pursuing ambitious and imaginative new projects which celebrate some of the most exciting contemporary poetry in the UK and beyond. We pride ourselves in fostering new writing talent, and offering continued support to poets working at all levels, throughout their writing careers.
The Poetry Business is an equal opportunities employer. We celebrate our supportive, close-knit and inclusive work environment and encourage folks from all backgrounds and perspectives to apply. At The Poetry Business, every voice is heard and acknowledged, and we embrace our differences, knowing that a diverse team is a strength.
We are committed to developing a barrier-free recruitment process and work environment. If you require any accommodation throughout the application and interview process, please email us at office@poetrybusiness.co.uk and we’ll work with you to meet your accessibility needs.
How to Apply
Please apply by sending a CV with details of two referees, as well as a covering letter explaining how you meet the person specification outlined above.
Applications should be sent to office@poetrybusiness.co.uk with ‘Marketing Manager’ in the subject heading, no later than 9am on Friday 18th March.
Salary: £25,000.00 pro rata
Frequency: Annual
Function: Marketing
Location: home-working or office-based.
We actively encourage individuals from under-represented backgrounds to apply for this position; for example Black, Asian or other minority ethnic background, d/Deaf or disabled, LGBTQIA or any other background that might face barriers in gaining entry to arts professions.
This is because we recognise that individuals in these groups currently receive fewer opportunities to work within the arts and we would like to create more space for this.
At The Poetry Business, every voice is heard and acknowledged, and we embrace our differences, knowing that a diverse team is a strength. We are committed to developing a barrier-free recruitment process and work environment. If you require any accommodation throughout the application and interview process, please email us at office@poetrybusiness.co.uk and we’ll work with you to meet your accessibility needs.