Student Marketing Director - James Madison Bookstore

Follett Corporation - Harrisonburg, VA

Full-time - Entry Level

Harrisonburg, VA

1,001-5,000 employees

Merchant Wholesalers, Nondurable Goods

About the position

Join the Follett Team where employees are valued, respected, and offered career paths throughout its many campus locations. Follett serves over half of the students in the United States and works with 80,000 schools as a leading provider of education technology, services, and print and digital content. We're higher education's largest campus retailer and a hub for school spirit and community as we operate nearly 1,200 local campus stores and over 1,600 virtual stores across the continent. We take pride in the fact that for more than 140 years, we have been helping to improve people's lives by supporting a lifetime of learning and education. The Student Marketing Director will lead local marketing tactics on campus via in-store and social media efforts, driving traffic, overall awareness, and sales for campus stores. This role requires a creative thinker with a keen eye for engaging content and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic, and entrepreneurial environment. The successful candidate will be a self-starter who takes initiative and possesses excellent verbal and written communication skills, as well as strong organizational skills and attention to detail. The position also requires the ability to manage and work within an assigned local budget and proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite. Some evening and weekend work will be required to oversee events and manage projects based on the needs of the business.

Responsibilities

• Leads campus-level marketing strategy for Campus Stores to drive sales.
• Develop a local marketing calendar and execution plan that includes key campus events (sports, graduation, etc.) in addition to creating excitement for non-key event weeks.
• Track marketing tactics and execution for campaigns, store events, and local initiatives.
• Act as the liaison between the store and the in-house creative/production team to develop desired marketing collateral to support local marketing efforts.
• Develop relationships with school contacts, including marketing, admissions, alumni, athletics, etc., to engage support for sharing local initiatives to drive commissionable sales.
• Discuss local strategy with OTC marketing partners for execution of strategy.
• Meets regularly with the Campus Store Director/Manager on the local marketing calendar.
• Generate and activate in-store events and manage marketing operations to increase foot traffic to stores during non-event times, including NIL opportunities, scavenger hunts, etc.
• Supports national marketing initiatives at the store level.
• Maintain in-store signage, online image maintenance, and EDU compliance.
• Develop and implement social media strategies to enhance brand awareness and drive traffic in-store and online on various platforms (Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter/X, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc.).
• Create regular, original, on-brand content for social media, including copy/storytelling, video, live streams, and photography.
• Grow social media audiences on all platforms with the use of promotions, contests, partnerships, and other effective tactics.
• Analyze performance metrics and trends to refine strategies for optimal outcomes.
• Respond to customer service inquiries on social media and through the website.
• Seek out store opportunities within the NIL space and utilize them as a social media/foot traffic driver, delivering measurable results.

Requirements

• Associate's degree or equivalent.
• Creative thinker with a keen eye for engaging content.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic, and entrepreneurial environment.
• Up-to-date knowledge of social media trends, algorithms, and best practices.
• Self-starter who takes initiative.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Able to build and present reports on your efforts that show an evaluation of your performance and provide leadership with the ability to track results.
• Ability to manage and work within assigned local budget.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite.
• Requires some evening and weekend work to oversee events and manage and complete projects based on the needs of the business.