Job Abstract

Salary Range $90K - $100K

City Experiences is seeking a Director of Regional Marketing for our City Cruises operation in the Mid Atlantic region.

About Us:

City Experiences’ passion is to provide amazing experiences on land and water. Our 40-year success through organic growth and acquisitions has resulted in a portfolio of over 25+ brands that welcome upwards of 30 million guests/riders annually. If you’re an enthusiastic team player who thrives in an environment where communication, creativity, and cooperation are encouraged, this may just be the opportunity for you.

About You:

This person will be adaptable, dynamic, and embody City Experiences’ RESPECT Service System.

About the Opportunity:

The successful Director of Regional Marketing, Mid-Atlantic will be responsible for driving sustainable, long-term growth across the Mid-Atlantic region’s B2C and B2B demand through the execution of national initiatives and creation and execution of regional activity.

• The individual in this role is responsible for ensuring top-notch marketing delivery by closely partnering with the VP of Marketing. They will work to ensure that regional and local marketing efforts fully utilize City Cruises' marketing engine.
• This position will act as the central marketing hub for the region, handling all marketing functions (such as Brand, Strategy, Partnerships, Media, eCommerce, Communications, etc.), commercial services, and regional operations, serving both the point of supply (port) and point of demand (guest).
• Additionally, this role will function as the regional arm of City Cruises' Marketing organization for revenue-generating activities. This involves creating and implementing regional and local port marketing plans, ensuring alignment with regional and fleet-wide marketing strategies.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

Key Relationships:

• Internal: City Cruises Core Marketing Team (sales, product and revenue), Hornblower Group’s Marketing Team (Portfolio Social Media Team, Brand team, PR Team, Digital Team, Analytics Team, ), Port Teams (Sales and Operations)
• External: Agency and Various Media Partners.

Planning Activities (30%)

• Work closely with VP of Marketing to define and support the implementation of regional and individual marketing plans and budgets for each of the ports in the region (or fleet as required). Ensure that these marketing plans are in line with overall brand strategy and meet commercial objectives while also enabling the exceeding of annual revenue targets.
• Alongside VP of Marketing work closely with Group Marketing team on marketing strategy alignment between Portfolio and Vertical business units.
• Assist with defining and tracking marketing goals and KPIs on an ongoing and annual basis.
• Stay abreast of local competitor actions and lead the development of marketing plans to counter competitive threats.
• Manage local PR opportunities such as listings, community conversations and work closely with PR team to identify earned media opportunities from the regional/local perspective.
• Drive marketing strategies rooted in performance and new idea generation. Develop marketing strategies with a strong understanding of key performance indicators along with intense curiosity of ever-changing marketing landscape to stay ahead on trends and drive new ideas.

Organizing Activities (20%)

• Schedule and lead/participate in regular meetings with Regional/Local Port Sales teams to ensure that an open communication is maintained.
• Maintain close lines of communication with the region's Vice President, Port General Managers, Sales and Operations functions to ensure marketing strategies are well conveyed and understood.
• Drive cross-marketing and cross-promotional activities across the Region.
• Regularly report status of plan and areas of opportunities to key stakeholders and continue to improve and develop brand awareness at the regional/local level.
• Be a brand advocate and owner of regional/local marketing!

Managing & Supporting Activities (40%)

• Own port and regional level marketing KPIs. Actively participate and gain agreement on all activity through Commercial Focus process to ensure revenue and EBITDA goals are met.
• Provide marketing support, partnership, and leadership to port and regional sales teams. Enable them with the tools they need (such as segment-specific strategies and marketing tactics, including direct mail, e-mail, showcase cruises, and promotional partnerships) to effectively convert opportunities.
• Lead port and regional B2B initiatives such as collateral development and trade show representation to build awareness and effectively convert opportunities.
• Effectively activate fleet, regional, and local promotions at a port/regional level.
• Leverage fleet, regional, and local promotions in local media and channels to drive revenue for regional properties and fleet- overall.
• Own port pages on website, ensure content is accurate and up to date and work with Brand & Product Marketing team / Group teams to maximize visitor conversion.
• Partner/manage relationships with third party marketing vendors/agencies on locally driven media channels such as Audio, OOH, Print, Digital etc.
• Liaise with Creative Services team on regional creative requests and project manage the process from start to finish.
• Exploit and monitor performance of initiatives and revenue through all channels and develop and/or support any required initiatives with guidance of vertical core marketing team.
• Oversee the management of all regional marketing and sponsorship agreements. Work in partnership with VP of Marketing to ensure the maximization of reach and exposure of these agreements have a positive effect on revenue targets.
• Support and assist with content capture/photoshoots if the need arises.
• Document and track all the marketing expenses by port and resolve any billing discrepancies.
• Work closely with corporate accounting team to ensure timely invoice submission for payments.

Controlling Activities (10%)

• Manage local and regional budgets, provide weekly reporting and performance metrics as required.
• Track timelines on planned marketing campaigns to ensure timely delivery and activation.
• Ensure the consistent implementation of Fleet Product, Service and Brand standards across the region while also adopting a flexible and consultative approach to local marketing initiatives and promotions enabling the regions to achieve maximum exposure.
• Manage performance of all activity (fleet, regional, port promotions and offers) and provide performance reporting to all business functions.

Supportive Functions

In addition to performance of the essential functions, this position may be required to perform a combination of the following supportive functions, with the percentage of time performing each function to be solely determined by the supervisor based upon the requirements of the company.

• Be the voice of the Guest in the region:
  • Analyze and champion the regional guest & market trends, needs and developments.
  • Input key learnings to inform marketing strategy and positioning in the regions.
  • Maximize messages for guests coming inbound or going outbound from the region to the whole City Experiences portfolio.
  • Obtain access to regional market research, collate relevant details and propose the implementation within City Cruises brand guidelines.
• Develop port marketing capabilities:
  • Provide regional input into vertical brand development and marketing initiatives and coordinate all communication and feedback between the teams.
  • Adapt and implement promotional marketing campaigns for Fleet products against B2B & B2C revenue streams.
  • Advise and provide support on the development of ad hoc activities on a regional/port level considering guest demographics and needs in the area.
  • Ensure that ports are aligned to the overall business strategy.
  • Leverage all available marketing toolkits.
  • Share best practices.
• Ensure that City Cruises adopts the right Content for each market:
  • Ensure that ports use appropriate content in all channels.
  • Work with eCommerce teams to ensure they build relevant landing pages and promotional content appropriate to each port.
• Work and collaborate on local and regional PR.
  • Support Portfolio Communications team to ensure PR effectiveness by supporting national, regional and local port needs in the regions.
  • Develop and leverage PR for all relevant marketing initiatives.

Requirements & Qualifications:

• This role will be located at the City Cruises office in Washington DC and will maintain a three-day in-office schedule (subject to change).
• Bachelor’s degree required. MBA or marketing related master’s degree preferred.
• Hospitality Industry experience highly desired
• Experience (5+years) in holding a regional (multi city) role, supporting business units in multiple geographies.
• Demonstrated success in working in managing teams and working in a matrixed organization (achieving through influence vs authority)
• Experience (5+ years) in both B2B and B2C marketing
• Demonstrated success in building insight driven, metric focused, multi-channel, integrated marketing plans that deliver YOY revenue growth.
• Demonstrated success in offline and online media planning and buying that drives brand awareness and conversion.
• Demonstrated success in innovative, revenue driving partnership development and activation.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills – both written and verbal – to be able to develop relationships with local business units.
• A problem-solver and self-starter, capable of working in a fast-paced environment, with some experience managing a team.