Content Marketing Specialist

Overview:
**Term: 14 Months**

Reporting to the Associate Director, Marketing and Digital Sales the Content Marketing Specialist is a thought-leader and creative storyteller who plays a key role in the development and implementation of all activities associated with an integrated WatSPEED marketing and communications strategy. The incumbent is responsible for the development and implementation of day-to-day editorial planning, content strategy, and content production to advance the University’s lifelong learning initiatives and enhance its reputation.

The incumbent will develop and maintain productive working relationships with colleagues on the WatSPEED team, along with partners in faculties, departments, schools, and units at the University of Waterloo in order to collaboratively plan content and strategically deploy multi-platform communications plans that provide just-in-time information to prospective learners and their key influencers at each stage of their decision-making process, mapped to the marketing funnel.

**Responsibilities**:
Creating and optimizing content to achieve department goals
- Manages the execution of WatSPEED’s multi-channel content strategy across a variety of platforms for domestic and international audiences, in order to ensure effective and timely messaging, implementation of best practices, and coordination of efforts across the team
- Directs the day-to-day communications and editorial calendar for WatSPEED, identifying and delegating new opportunities as they arise
- Maps content to the marketing funnel and makes datadriven decisions and adjustments to the evolving content marketing strategy
- Partners with WatSPEED colleagues to conduct research, interviews, write, edit, and fact-check a variety of marketing materials in support of the overarching WatSPEED marketing plan
- Works with colleagues to establish research objectives and create data analysis solutions to inform decision-making, strategy development, messaging, and budget spend; to determine the optimal methods of evaluating the effectiveness of the strategies for which they are responsible; and to ascertain and recommend the most effective enhancements
- Applies an extremely high standard with regard to grammar, punctuation, and language usage, and for ensuring all materials safeguard the outstanding Waterloo reputation and position WatSPEED as an innovative, high-quality
- Works closely with the Associate Director, Marketing and Digital Sales and Manager, Insights and Digital Sales to plan, develop, deliver, and evaluate integrated content marketing plans

Collaborates, advises, adn consults
- Works closely with WatSPEED team to ensure messaging is cohesive, consistent, and well-timed, and shares knowledge so all team mebers can incorporate new information into initiatives
- Advises the Associate Director, Marketing and Digital Sales and Manager, Insights and Digital Sales and other team members with respect to new or evolving marketing strategies for lifelong learning
- Interacts with the WatSPEED team, and partners in faculties, departments, schools, and units, with respect to scheduling campaigns and contributing to a holistic campus content plan
- Interacts with marketing and communications professionals across the University to share best practices and research and seek opportunities to integrate communications efforts
- Coordinates editorial calendar with colleagues across the Marketing and Digital Sales team to ensure the integration and consistency of messaging of marketing materials and to avoid duplication of effort and audience fatigue
- Advises Creative Services on the WatSPEED brand and voice within marketing materials, and facilitates negotiations related to production schedules, vendors, and budget
- With recognition and understanding of the disparate priorities of University partners, proactively establishes and fosters collaborative relationships with partners in faculties, departments, schools, and units in order to build consensus, and to co-ordinate the alignment of recruitment activities so that the needs of other areas are balanced with the effective marketing of WatSPEED
- Represent WatSPEED at university-wide communications meetings, proactively providing expertise and insight with respect to marketing and communications and advocating on behalf of the lifelong learning audience
- Develop positive relationships within and among WatSPEED and their primary stakeholders, and identify opportunities for internal collaboration and consultation with key departments such as University Relations, etc.

Understands and applies current, relevant market research and institutional knowledge
- Maintains a clear understanding of generational characteristics and the needs of prospective learners and their key influencers at every stage of the marketing funnel to enhance content strategies
- Strategically reviews scholarly research to discern content of interest to WatSPEED target audience
- Evaluate