Senior Marketing Associate - Physical Retail

Location: Remote, must be located in Greater Chicago area

Role Description:

The Physical Retail team at Wayfair is responsible for creating and executing a robust playbook to drive traffic to our expanding retail footprint, and enable the omnichannel shopping experience for customers.

The Wayfair Physical Retail Marketing team is looking for a Community Marketing Senior Associate to drive the community marketing and activation strategy for our first large-format Wayfair store in Wilmette, IL. This individual will lead the development and execution of a community engagement strategy that acquires new customers and drives traffic to the store. This will be achieved through strategies that include in-store and local programming, community partnerships, and digital amplification via social media and other outlets.  

The Senior Marketing Associate will be based out of the Chicago-area, but report to the Home Office Physical Retail Marketing team in Boston. They will also partner cross functionally with other members of the field team and work regularly with other Home Office teams to drive the community strategy and deliver results against it.  The ideal candidate thrives in an entrepreneurial environment and is energized by creating (and executing) new strategies and initiatives. They are both creative and analytical with a passion for serving the customer, connecting with the community, and being part of a high-performing team. 

Core Responsibilities 

• Community Marketing Strategy 
• Partner with Home Office to develop and deliver community marketing roadmap, playbook, seasonal strategies, and execution  
• Proactively identify, vet, and recommend local opportunities that drive our business and objectives forward, including forecasting and analyzing its impact
• Develop and execute local social media strategy and content calendar in partnership with Home Office channel leads
• Analyze and recap activities, inclusive of results, learnings, strategic recommendations, customer feedback, etc.
• In-Store Programming
• Partner with Home Office and local field management to develop an in-store event calendar that balances the brand’s go-to-market priorities with local community priorities and nuances. Initially targeting 1-2 in-store events/month with room to grow.
• Provide on-location support to execute in-store events, property activations, installations, and ad hoc opportunities
• Community Engagement  
• Identify and develop relationships with key community partners to generate awareness of Wayfair’s new store and suite of products. Partner with Home Office to build community engagement calendar of events
• Source and strategically participate in local events to build Wayfair’s presence within the  community
• Plan and execute community outreach to drive awareness of key promotions and initiatives
• Support local hiring initiatives on an ad hoc basis
• Support community outreach efforts
• “Always On” Activities 
• Partner with Home Office Marketing and Creative teams to manage the store’s Instagram account, including capturing and posting content 
• Manage the store’s local online presence including Google, Yelp, Bing listings (photos, hours), and website pages (photos, hours, event calendar)
• Budget management, reporting, and forecasting
• Inventory management of in-store marketing materials (marketing kit, swag, handouts, catalog inventory, printed coupons)
• Support new store openings as they occur
• Ad hoc projects and store support as required

Qualifications:

Required

• Demonstrated success developing and executing community marketing strategies, including forecasting impact/costs, manipulating data to analyze results, and making strategic recommendations
• Ability to drive results and effectively collaborate within a matrixed environment 
• Superb project and time management skills, including the ability to work on multiple projects at once with a variety of partners and stakeholders
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders - Effective presentation skills are a must (both developing materials and presenting them, e.g. recap decks)
• Connection to local community and a pulse on what’s relevant for our customer demographic
• Excellent communication skills and comfort with media appearances, representing the brand, contacting community leaders, hosting events, etc.
• Schedule flexibility to attend on-site activations outside of core working hours as needed 
• Ability to transport and set-up materials that support community activations, e.g. tabling presentations
• Budget management and forecasting

Preferred

• 10+ years in field marketing, experiential marketing, or communications; Retail experience a plus
• Working knowledge of Google Suite tools (Docs, Slides, Sheets, Calendar) or its equivalent
• Working knowledge (or an appetite to learn) reporting tools like Looker
• Working knowledge of retail math (e.g. traffic, conversion, UPT, AOV, etc.) and customer marketing metrics (e.g. customer acquisition, retention, frequency, etc.)

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to sit or stand for long periods of time
• Lifting and carrying objects over 30 lbs may be required