Position Overview
Manager, Marketing Communications and Public Relations
Reports to Director, Community Marketing and Communication
Why Join Foresters?
ForestersTM is more than a life insurance provider. We don’t have shareholders. Instead, we invest in our members, their family and the communities where they live. Our purpose is to champion the well-being of families through quality life insurance, unique member benefits and inspiring community activities
A career with Foresters
A satisfying career comes from doing business in good company. We offer our employees the opportunity to build a highly rewarding career by helping our members and the communities in which they live.
A career with Foresters offers training to help its employees sustain personal and professional growth, and incentives to celebrate and reward your success
We're committed to serving our members and their communities, and to supporting your success as an employee because when you elevate your career with Foresters, our organization succeeds with you
The Position
The newly created position of Manager, Marketing Communications and PR is a leadership role in the recently reorganized Corporate Marketing department. This position will support the department’s overall objective to build awareness of Foresters good works in order to support prospecting objectives and build and manage Foresters reputation in Canada and the U.S. In addition, the Manager will build Foresters online presence to support Foresters business and awareness goals and create the foundation for future digital marketing strategies. (USA; Canada and the U.K.)
Our successful candidate will use highly targeted marketing/PR campaigns/sponsorships to generate member awareness and build confidence and interest in Foresters with producers in order to ready the market for recruiting and prospecting. Potential marketing mix/tactics will leverage existing community and business activities and create new, as required.
Reporting to the Manager will be a Communications and PR Specialist and a Web/Digital Specialist.
Specifically the role’s responsibilities will be to:
Develop marketing communications strategies and campaigns (PR, direct, social media, merchandizing, trade events, etc) in support of long-term plan
Work with the Director in developing strategic communications plan
Lead the execution, tracking and measurement of campaigns using project and campaign management disciplines, including development of tactical plans and work backs
Assess and leverage ad hoc opportunities for PR
Manage the writing of all media materials, key messages, executive speaking points, Q & As, briefing documents, web and social media content (for projects that are executed by Community Marketing and Communications)
Develop and execute tactical plan to manage the online experience on foresters.com
Develop website as a communications channel for PR, media relations, corporate communications, corporate marketing and corporate sponsorships
Recommend upgrades for foresters.com to industry best practices and introduce social media as a key communications channel
Act as Foresters media spokesperson on a proactive and reactive basis and look for opportunities for Foresters to increase its profile in key markets and with the industry in North America
Develop media outreach plans and pitches
Manage Corporate Communications budget on a project level
Manage agency relationships
Keep abreast of best practices and trends in marketing communications and PR to inform strategies and tactics
Reporting Relationships
The Manager, Marketing Communications and PR, reports to the Director, Community Marketing & Communications, Irene Shimoda. Irene has been with Foresters for nearly four years and brings 20 plus years marketing and corporate communications experience both client and agency side from a number of verticals working with highly regarded brands. In three years, Irene has taken the organization with no public relations and external communications program and built a solid foundation upon which it can grow. With limited resources, she has initiated a number of successful strategies to support business initiatives. Irene, reports to the Assistant Vice President, Corporate Marketing – Laury Heydon-O’Neil who has been with Foresters for 10 years. Laury has been with Foresters for ten years and has developed excellent relationships and achieved significant business success. She is two-time Gold Quill winner and a Silver Leaf winner (International Association of Business Communicators). Laury reports to Kasia Czarski who joined Foresters a year ago as Senior Vice President, and Chief Membership & Marketing Officer. Previously Kasia spent 16 years at Heart & Stroke Foundation where she had a significant role in developing a high performance team and a very successful brand. Kasia is recognized in the industry as one of the leading minds in marketing and communications.
Key Lateral Relationships
Key to the success of this role is the ability to work collaboratively with other Managers in Corporate Marketing as well as internal stakeholders and executives. The Manager of Community Activation is responsible for managing community sponsorships, integrating activities/campaigns with internal stakeholders and merchandising campaigns internally. The Sales Engagement Manager is responsible for the relationships with division sales. Other internal stakeholders include Employee Communications, Finance, subject matter experts and Membership.
Qualifications:
The successful candidate will have:
7 to 10 years experience in marketing communications/public relations with previous corporate experience required
Excellent writing and editing skills
Outstanding verbal communication skills to act as the organization’s spokesperson
Ability to multi task and work effectively under pressure and very solution oriented
Finely tuned project management and time management skills: must be able to manage multiple tasks and individuals both internally and externally to meet deadlines
Someone who enjoys autonomy and is able to work collaboratively and self-starter
Creative – ability to develop and execute newsworthy opportunities and marketing programs to generate positive outcomes
Strong interpersonal skills – influencing at the executive level, collaborative, responsive, motivating others
Conversant in the new social media and web 2.0
Strong people manager
Flexibility to perform effectively in dynamic envirionment where roles and responsibilities may be periodically blurred
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