Director of Audience Growth & Marketing

Description

Help build the audience strategy for a public media organization being reinvented around its community.

Lehigh Valley Public Media is looking for a Director of Audience Growth & Marketing to build something new.

We are the public media organization serving Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. We are community-powered and community-centered, connecting people through trusted local news and information, educational programs, storytelling and experiences that bring neighbors together. Our mission is to engage everyone in our community through public media resources to make the Lehigh Valley better tomorrow than it is today.

We’re looking for a person who will help more people discover us, engage with us and build an ongoing relationship with us.

This isn’t a traditional marketing director’s job. You won’t inherit a large department or spend your days processing promotional requests. You’ll build LVPM’s internal audience and marketing capability and serve as a strategic partner to leaders across Content, Product, Development and Community Engagement.

When someone says, “We need to promote this,” we want you to ask:

· Who are we trying to reach?

· What are we trying to accomplish?

· What do we want the audience to do?

· And what’s the smartest way to get there?

What You’ll Build

You’ll lead LVPM’s audience growth strategy and create an integrated approach to marketing across broadcast, email, web, social, paid media, trade, community partners, events and membership.

You’ll be responsible for:

• Defining priority audiences and strategies for acquisition, engagement and retention.
• Building integrated campaigns around audience and organizational objectives, not individual tactics.
• Creating an enterprise marketing calendar that helps LVPM show up as one organization with one recognizable voice.
• Using audience insights and performance data to inform strategy and improve results.
• Leading paid, owned, earned and trade media strategy.
• Developing media, community and cross-promotional partnerships that extend our reach.
• Helping turn audience attention into stronger, more direct relationships with LVPM.

You’ll Be an Internal Strategist, Not an Order Desk

This role serves the entire LVPM organization. Content knows the stories, programs and experiences we’re creating. Development knows what we need to accomplish with members and donors. Community Engagement understands the relationships we’re building in the community. Product owns the digital experiences, data and technology that make those relationships possible.

You’ll help connect those priorities to audiences.

Social Is Part of the Mix—But This Isn’t a Social Media Job

Our Content team owns social-native content creation and uses social media to distribute and extend our journalism and programming.

You’ll use social in a different way: as one channel within an integrated marketing campaign.

You’ll Help Steward the LVPM Brand

We’re undertaking foundational brand work as part of LVPM’s transformation. We’ll use outside expertise when it makes sense rather than expecting this role to do everything internally.

You’ll:

• Help define what LVPM needs from agency, research and creative partners.
• Manage outside expertise while keeping strategic ownership inside LVPM.
• Steward LVPM’s brand voice, messaging standards and consistency.
• Provide strong writing, editing and messaging support for institutional and membership communications.

Requirements

Who We’re Looking For

We’re looking for someone who has a track record of growing audiences—not simply promoting things.

You should bring:

• At least seven (7) years of progressive marketing, audience development or related experience.
• Demonstrated success growing audiences and delivering measurable integrated campaigns.
• Strong strategic thinking across channels, campaigns, partnerships and brand.
• Excellent writing, editing and brand-voice skills.
• Comfort using data and analytics to make better decisions.
• Experience working across departments as a strategic partner.
• The ability to manage agencies, freelancers and other outside specialists.
• Experience in media, nonprofit, higher education, arts and culture, or another community-focused organization is especially relevant.

Most importantly, you should be curious about the community we serve and naturally inclined to ask why before deciding how.

Why This Role, and Why Now?

We’re not looking for someone to maintain an existing marketing machine.

We’re looking for someone to help build the next one.

LVPM is rethinking how a local public media organization serves its community: how people discover us, participate in our work, move between journalism, television, digital experiences, events and community programs, and ultimately build a direct relationship with us.

If you’re excited by the idea of building an audience function rather than inheriting one and believe marketing can be a strategic discipline rather than a collection of tactics; we’d like to hear from you.