MARKETING MANAGER

The Idea Village’s core belief is that entrepreneurship is an agent of social and economic change. As an early champion of entrepreneurship in New Orleans, the organization has played an integral role in catalyzing the city’s entrepreneurial movement. In addition to supporting over 18,000 entrepreneurs, The Idea Village has successfully elevated New Orleans’ reputation as a hub of innovation, entrepreneurship, and business. By serving as a catalyst and developing programs that provide direct support and education to founders and early-stage companies, The Idea Village helps entrepreneurs build innovative and industry-leading companies that generate revenue and jobs and help create a more vibrant, inclusive, and resilient local economy. www.ideavillage.org 

We are seeking a full-time Marketing Manager based in New Orleans, LA to join our small but mighty krewe. You will report to the Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and drive the year-round storytelling of The Idea Village’s mission, programs, and thought leadership. You are an exceptionally strong writer, have a knack for understanding complex topics and turning them into consumable stories with broad appeal, and are passionate about creating compelling and engaging content for diverse audiences. With your strong graphic design skills, you know how to work within multiple sets of established brand guidelines to create simple yet beautiful and dynamic assets appropriate for various use cases. You are comfortable (you might even say ‘savvy’) on social media platforms and are endlessly curious about ways to maximize engagement and reach for The Idea VIllage’s many constituencies. You thrive as part of a fast-paced, highly productive team and are not intimidated by expectations to produce high-quality results on tight timelines.  You believe that venture-scale entrepreneurship is a critical part of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast’s future economic success, and understand your role in driving audience growth and engagement as a core part of how you and the team will achieve those outcomes.

Responsibilities: 

  • Oversee the design and execution of The Idea Village’s master publishing calendar to consistently produce high-quality content across multiple newsletters, social media channels, websites, blogs, press releases, and additional strategic opportunities as they arise (ex. podcast)

  • Work closely with the Programs Team to understand public communication priorities for the full cycle of each program; ensure that open calls for applications, event invitations, alumni success stories etc are widely circulated through The Idea Village’s channels, across our extensive partner network, and more broadly through press/media as appropriate

  • Lead copywriting for all marketing outlets listed above; harness The Idea Village’s “voice” to create strong written content for public channels and targeted sub-audiences (such as donor engagement, program outcome summaries, etc)

  • Design simple, “day-to-day” graphic assets to visually enhance communication of The Idea Village brand(s); work closely with contracted graphic designers to execute larger and more complex projects by providing project management and detailed feedback

  • Maintain consistent, high-quality execution of marketing materials across all of The Idea Village’s digital channels – which currently consist of 4 websites, 3 newsletters, 7 social media channels, 1 blog, the Big Easy Ideas podcast, and ongoing PR across all brands

  • Steward The Idea Village brand (and its affiliated program brands) and ensure high-quality implementation across all materials; consistently update templates, boilerplates, and brand guidelines to reflect the most recent messaging, program metrics, and brand standards for ongoing use by all team members

  • Fulfill marketing-related commitments in all sponsorship packages; ensure that partners receive the appropriate recognition and are engaged in cross-promotion for each contracted engagement, as appropriate

  • Engage regularly with the community partner network across the entrepreneurship ecosystem; proactively work with partners to cross-promote our core content to extend reach, and deliver reciprocal aligned communications through our channels

  • Coordinate and support creation of general educational and thought leadership content to distribute regularly across newsletter, social media posts, and press; source relevant material from industry blogs, team members, guest bloggers, and community partners

  • Track relevant marketing-related metrics and proactively report back to assigned manager and full team on successes, challenges, and areas of improvement with recommended solutions; design and maintain a “key metrics” dashboard to track progress over time and make available to include in donor reporting 

  • Support the on-site execution of small and large Idea Village events throughout the year, including but not limited to overseeing the registration and check-in process, managing volunteers, supporting set-up and breakdown, and live social media engagement

  • Additional duties as assigned

Organizational Environment: 

  • Our team works with and functions like a startup. This requires team members to move quickly with limited time and/or resources to produce high-quality outcomes

  • Our team works independently and collaboratively with a culture of transparency and clear ownership of projects from idea to execution

  • Our team manages and coordinates several schedules and projects simultaneously

Desired Skills: 

  • Strong ability to synthesize; ability to absorb complex ideas and turn them into simplified, relatable messaging

  • Strong copywriter, editor, and proofreader; impeccable attention to detail (you will be ultimately responsible for maintaining high-quality brand standards for all communication materials that go “out the door”)

  • Strong visual eye for graphic design, visual brand communication and aesthetics; generally creative and self-aware how to both build within and innovate a brand system

  • Ability to switch between multiple brand styles and voices

  • Highly curious; aware of what you don’t know, unafraid to ask questions, and eager to learn

  • Organized; able to manage your own workload amongst multiple competing projects and discern priorities alongside team/supervisor 

  • Good project management skills; able to take point on projects that span weeks/months and organize contributors to effectively collaborate and meet deadlines

  • Comfortable managing external contractors and/or interns to execute complex, ongoing projects

  • People-oriented; able to build and maintain relationships with external partners 

  • Proactive and solutions-oriented

  • Thrives in a fast paced, complex environment

Qualifications: 

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

  • Strong writing and editing skills; ability to write in tone and voice that reflect the distinct organizational brands

  • Exceptional graphic design skills (Canva or Adobe Suite)

  • Strong organizational and administrative skills, including the ability to coordinate & execute on multiple projects simultaneously 

  • Experience managing all social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram

  • Experience with other communications tools, such as MailChimp, Squarespace, and Hootsuite

  • Familiarity with team software tools such as Slack, Google Workspace, and Monday.com

  • Familiarity and/or strong interest with entrepreneurship, startups, and the innovation economy in New Orleans and beyond 

  • Ability to professionally interact and engage with high-level relationships, executives, and VIPs across the network

  • Experience with large events a plus 

  • 5+ years of relevant experience in communications, design, and/or events

  • College level studies and/or experience in communications, English, social media marketing, journalism, or similar preferred

To Apply: 

  • If some or all of this job description resonated with you, we encourage you to submit an application here: https://bit.ly/idea-village-employment-application 

  • Please include at least one writing sample (ideally a short 1-2 page blog  post, or something comparable) when submitting through the application link above)

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work

This is a full-time position with variable hours.

Compensation, Perks, & Benefits:

  • Compensation commensurate with experience

  • Health, Dental, & Vision  Insurance

  • Retirement plan available

  • Generous PTO policy including time off for all major holidays and summer flex schedule

  • Opportunities for periodic remote work around job needs

  • Deep exposure to high-growth founders and a vast network of entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders

To learn more about The Idea Village, please see our core values, our history, and our impact.

Work Environment:

This job operates in a professional office environment and routinely uses standard office equipment.

Physical Demands & Accessibility:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. 

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee is frequently required to stand; walk; use hands and arms to handle and reach. This position requires frequent use of the computer for long durations of time. The employee must be able to stand and walk for long periods of time during events, must be able to lift up to 25 pounds at times, and must be able to work a variety of hours in order to accommodate events.

  

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The Idea Village provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for 

employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Other duties, responsibilities and activities may change or be assigned at any time with or without notice.