Director of Marketing and Communications

Washington, DC, United States

Position Title: Director of Marketing and Communications

Reports to: Executive Director & Artistic Director

Classification: Full time, salaried, exempt

Salary Range: $125,000-$135,000

Work Location: 100% In-Person, Washington, DC

Position Description

The Director of Marketing and Communications (DMC) is an innovator and a changemaker who cultivates and grows the brand of The Washington Ballet and The Washington School of Ballet by engaging the Washington Ballet's (TWB) diverse group of stakeholders. Responsible for the marketing, communications, media relations, and visual identity of TWB and leveraging his/her/their experience and resourcefulness, the DMC's role is to ensure that TWB is top of mind for every prospective audience member - young and old, regardless of ethnicity, background, career, gender, or orientation. The DMC increases engagement with TWB by promoting enrollment in TWB's educational programs and expanding attendance at The Washington Ballet's public performances, translating TWB's vision for dance to targeted messaging to maximize earned revenue including subscription, single tickets and group sales, school registration income and TWB merchandise. He/she/they also helps cultivate an expanding donor base.

Collaborating with the Board of Directors' Marketing Committee, and Executive, Artistic, and Development leadership, the DMC monitors and maintains the marketing plan to align it with strategies that advance TWB's brand while driving engagement, attendance, and ticket sales. This includes pricing strategies and collaborative approaches across departments to optimize total earned and contributed revenue from individuals, organizations, businesses and foundations.

The DMC is responsible for the departmental budget, ensuring marketing and communications strategies are sustainable, offer a positive return on financial investment and are consistent with the organization's balanced commitment to an arts agenda and business objectives. A dual report to the Executive and Artistic Directors, the DMC also collaborates with other senior staff, outside vendors, and members of the board. He/she/they manage, recruit, and retain an effective department of communications, marketing, audience engagement, box office, and patron services staff and volunteers. This staff is assisted by outside contractors and vendors, with contract negotiation and compliance managed by the department and overseen by the DMC

Duties may require occasional evening and weekend work.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Assess and build strategy in response to historical data and behavior, of current and prospective audiences for TWB along with the complexities of its multiple performance venues to direct all activities of the department.

Research, design, and implement programs that leverage data to increase earned revenue through increased attendance, new ticket sales and improve customer loyalty interactions with patrons and prospective patrons, with an eye to moving single-ticket buyers into subscription and group sales relationships;

Improve TWB's market position and visibility as a ticketed or sponsored experience in Washington, DC's business and tourism sectors, and within the region's complex arts and entertainment market; support the Development Department efforts to convert ticketing relationships into donor relationships;

Seek opportunities for partnerships with peer organizations and serve as a visible leader in both local and national communities for TWB;

Actively seek PR opportunities, including highlighting TWB's Artistic Director, Community Engagement impact, performance reviews and general brand awareness;

Lead the Marketing and Communications Department, including recruiting, hiring, research and evaluation strategy, day-to-day management, vendor assessment and relationship, and motivation of marketing staff and contractors, ensuring professional development and excellence, and oversee ticketing outlets, placement of print, media and digital advertising efforts, direct mail and other sales campaigns, and new and returning subscriber activities.

Engage internal and external members of the TWB family to increase brand strength and reputation and maximize earned income.

Mentor TWB colleagues on various marketing and sales challenges and techniques; Manage relationship with current and prospective audience members and school stakeholders

Develop the budget for the marketing and communication department in alignment with organizational strategy and upon approval, ensure adherence to it; ensure contract compliance for vendors and contractors;

Review and interpret performance of all print and digital media tools including data provided by QR code tracking, Tessitura, Google Analytics, and social media strategy.

Oversee, manage, and assess vendor relationships to maximize ticket sales, TWB brand presence, PR, and design.

Collaborate with and support other TWB senior team members to make connections and leverage opportunities for increasing the TWB audience through community engagement programs, enrichment events, The Washington School of Ballet, special events, and the Board of Directors and committees.

Stay informed on new ticket distribution channels; the internet and social media as tools for serving and informing customers and selling tickets; trends across the performing arts and entertainment field; and technology that might be adopted by TWB to advance its objective of maximizing earned income;

Oversee TWB's merchandise program and seek to enhance merchandise revenue opportunities in the school, general company, and The Nutcracker.

Directly supervise TWB's Marketing Manager, Associate Director of Ticketing and Patron Relations, and Ticketing Associate.

Required qualifications, skills, and attributes:

Bachelor's degree in marketing or communications, or a related field

7-years' experience working in Marketing/Public Relations, preferably in the arts, or a non-profit organization in the DMV, 4-years in a supervisory capacity

Demonstrated leadership in all areas of branding, marketing, communications, graphic design, and ticket sales

Knowledge of market trends and audiences in the DMV

Excellent verbal, written, and visual communications skills

An understanding of storyboarding, script writing, video editing and videography and streaming platforms

Digital Marketing savvy

Excellent organizational and collaboration skills

Staff management experience as well as being able to discern and communicate matters of concern or urgency to senior staff as appropriate

Detail oriented, resourceful, and flexible, and able to handle multiple tasks simultaneously

Know when to workindependentlyand when to work aspartofteam

ProficiencywithMicrosoftOfficeSuiteandOutlook

Ability to work in high-pressure situations

Preferred qualifications

Knowledge of and interest in ballet as an art form

Experience with Tessitura

Experience with website content management systems, email systems, databases, html, and Adobe Creative Suite

Must be able to lift 20 lbs.