Manager, Insights and Digital Sales

Overview:
The Manager, Insights and Digital Sales plays a critical leadership role in WatSPEED’s Marketing and Digital Sales team, overseeing market research and developing digital sales strategies to shape critical business decisions. As the lead for WatSPEED’s market research, the Manager is responsible for directing all market research activities, gathering meaningful insight to inform WatSPEED’s decision-making, strategy development, messaging, and marketing spend.

The Manager is a thought leader and highly capable product marketer, responsible for digital advertising and sales initiatives to advance the University’s lifelong learning initiatives and enhance its reputation. The Manager is focused on actively bringing in new business through targeted campaigns in strategic verticals and/or regions, by generating and nurturing leads and converting prospects into paid learners for WatSPEED programs.

This role requires a high level of skill in market research strategy and execution, as well as an excellent understanding of digital marketing strategies, communication, and interpersonal skills to provide high-quality, professional interactions, and customer service to prospective and new clients. The Manager is both a strategic and creative thinker, accountable for the development and implementation of a comprehensive digital marketing and sales strategy founded strongly on insights gleaned from market research. As the keeper of WatSPEED’s website, the Manager plays a critical role in how lifelong learning at the University of Waterloo looks, sounds, and engages with its audiences across all digital platforms (while remaining consistent and complimentary with the overall University brand strategy).

An integral member of the WatSPEED team, the Manager requires a broad range of expertise in marketing, market research, advertising, and public relations, with extensive technical experience and depth of knowledge in the technologies used in digital sales and marketing.

**Responsibilities**:
Market research and insights
- Acts as a trusted advisor for the WatSPEED Senior Leadership team on market research best practices and strategies, including interpreting research results and analyzing data to make informed decisions related to prospective programming and business opportunities
- Develops and oversees a strategic research plan that guides key business decisions, driving growth and helping achieve WatSPEED’s aggressive sales targets
- Manages the market research function for WatSPEED, acting as a supportive and inspirational leader for related team members
- Performs ongoing scanning of the competitive landscape for market intelligence, understanding prospective client demographics, needs, and influences, and keeping knowledgeable about industry shifts and emerging issues
- Stays on top of the latest trends in technology and has a keen awareness of external events and factors that are relevant to WatSPEED’s value proposition
- Understands the information needs of WatSPEED, including the specific requirements of marketing and digital sales, program management, business development, and other units within the department
- Oversee research and information required for grant proposals and projects

Product marketing and sales
- Leverages a deep understanding of effective sales, digital marketing, and conversion tools and techniques to assess prospective clients’ needs and showcase the value of our programming to clients through WatSPEED’s digital channels
- Generates, qualifies, stewards, and converts relevant prospective client leads to enrolled learners, achieving the target enrolment numbers as defined in program goals
- Regularly explores, participates in, and leverages digital industry events and networks and association memberships to target outcomes
- Acts as an expert in the WatSPEED model, understanding programs, learners, target industries, and processes to effectively guide and steward prospects
- Meets established new client targets as indicated in WatSPEED’s overall business goals
- Oversee and manage relationship with external vendors for planning, creating, and executing paid digital campaigns

Planning, communication, and content creation
- Works closely with the Associate Director, Marketing and Digital Sales to plan, develop, deliver and evaluate digital sales, social, and content marketing plans
- Defines digital personas for target audiences, taking into consideration the marketing strategy of the University plus the different characteristics of audiences engaging with digital media versus traditional media channels
- Develops and maintains competitive analyses of lead-conversion business models at other universities (e.g., messaging, design, platform, metrics, templaes, visuals)
- Creates, executes, and evaluates a search engine marketing and social media advertising plan
- Develops and implements social media listening strategies to identify key themes surfacing among def