Marketing and Brand Strategy Manager

Department: Advancement and External Relations

Job Type: Limited Term

Full-time/Part-time: Full Time (>=1249 hrs/year)

Campus: Waterloo

Reports to: Director, Marketing and Brand Strategy

Employee Group: Management

Application Deadline: March 16, 2025

Requisition ID: 9074

Wilfrid Laurier University is a leading multi-campus university that excels at educating with purpose. Through its exceptional employees, students, researchers, leaders, and educators, Laurier has built a reputation as a world-class institution known for its rich student experience, academic excellence, and global impact. With a commitment to Indigenization and commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, Laurier's thriving community has a place for everyone.

Laurier has more than 21,000 students and 2,100 faculty and staff across campuses in Waterloo and Brantford, as well locations in Kitchener and Milton. The university is committed to providing an inclusive workplace, a flexible work policy and employing a workforce that is reflective of local and national demographics. Laurier's Waterloo, Kitchener, and Brantford campuses are located on the shared traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishnaabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples. This land is part of the Dish with One Spoon Treaty between the Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabe peoples and symbolizes the agreement to share, protect our resources, and not to engage in conflict. Laurier's Milton campus is located on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, and part of the Nanfan Treaty of 1701 between the British Crown and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Director of Marketing and Brand Strategy, the Manager, Marketing and Brand Strategy will be a leader in developing and implementing the university's marketing strategy to achieve the organization's strategic objectives.

The Manager, Marketing and Brand Strategy is a hands-on strategic marketing professional who creates and implements marketing strategies and campaigns that "tell the story of Wilfrid Laurier University" and are aligned with the organization's vision, mission, goals and objectives in support of recruitment, fundraising and corporate purposes. With a data-driven strategic approach, the Manager uses results and market research to identify audience insights, and strategic opportunity areas for growth and brand building. Translating these opportunity areas into strategic plans, the Manager leads the organization through cross-functional planning to develop strategic, audience-centric marketing plans that incorporate branding best-practices and results-driven and measurable action plans.

With a focus on multiple audiences, including but not limited to government, industry leaders, academics, employers, etc., the Manager, Marketing and Brand Strategy will lead the development of integrated marketing strategies, campaigns and programs to support Laurier's institutional objectives including the elevation of the university's reputation and supporting revenue-generation among key audiences. This includes responsibility for:

• leading institutional strategic marketing initiatives - including market research studies, brand strategy development, agency partner reviews and integrated marketing campaigns
• creating campaign objectives and strategies
• developing paid media and creative recommendations
• engaging, informing and aligning key stakeholders and decision makers
• managing, building and maintaining agency partner relationships and budgets
• leading agency partner procurement processes, including managing cross-functional committees
• leading cross-functional team members and managing project execution
• tracking and analyzing the effectiveness of campaigns, marketing ROI/ROAS
• overseeing and achieving annual campaign/project budgets
• preparing and presenting reports across the organization, to share results, insights and strategic recommendations for implications and optimizations

As a passionate, target-centric marketer, the Manager brings proven experience in achieving results with effective marketing programs. With experience in developing insight-based marketing recommendations, the incumbent is strong in both analytical skills and strategic thinking. The Manager also bring expertise in managing marketing campaigns (including paid search, digital/display ads, video and social media). Finally, the Manager is a strong leader who can effectively manage complex projects, and collaborates with both internal and external partners to build effective relationships and achieve common goals.

Direct reports:

• Videographer & Multimedia Producer

Accountabilities

Marketing strategy:

• With the Director of Marketing and Brand Strategy, support the development of the marketing strategy and marketing plans for Wilfrid Laurier University to enhance the university's reputation among its key stakeholder audiences and achieve the organization's strategic objectives - including building brand awareness, strengthening institutional reputation, generating revenue and advancing goals
• With a focus on professional audiences and strategic initiatives, the Manager relies on data and research to develop a deep understanding of target audiences' needs, beliefs, behaviours and media habits to ensure a strong, effective audience-first approach to developing strategies and action plans
• Create and implement key marketing programs and campaigns to build the Laurier brand and achieve critical objectives - including the strategic development and execution of paid media plans, creative ideas and messaging, events, and other sub-strategies
• Consult and collaborate with campus partners to support the development of their strategic marketing priorities and initiatives, particularly around university branding, revenue-generating opportunities, and externally-focused paid advertising

Marketing campaigns:

• Create, lead and deliver marketing campaigns that enhance the university's reputation through consistent, compelling and authentic marketing programs and campaigns

• Support campus partners with strategic advice and recommendations to assist with their marketing needs and campaigns

• Support the development and execution of both traditional paid media and leading digital media programs - with solid understanding of key success factors, metrics, and technologies
• Coordinates with key campus and agency partners to gather all pertinent project context, develop content and messaging, and manage consistent execution across all touchpoints
• Works with External Relations colleagues in Digital Experience, Communications and Social Media to ensure strategic alignment and tactical execution of campaigns

Analytics & insights:

• Set measurable goals for each marketing strategy and program; and utilize analytics extensively to inform recommendations
• Measure effectiveness of marketing programs and investments to continuously optimize results and learnings.
• Conduct market research to identify marketing insights and strategic opportunity areas and develop data-driven recommended actions
• Conduct competitive analysis, environmental scanning and market exploration to identify marketing trends, best practices and potential opportunity areas
• Produce regular updates that include analytics to report on the results of each strategy/program
• Develop and present reports tailored to specific audiences to share results and recommendations for marketing programs
• Works closely with the Digital Experience team to understand institutional web traffic in support of marketing measurement plans
• Builds and shares expertise into audience-specific data and insights to advocate as a champion for audience-first marketing plans

Project management:

• Manage complex projects including developing and aligning objectives; leading cross-functional team members and agency partners; consulting with appropriate stakeholders; aligning decision-makers; executing with excellence; and reporting on results achieved
• Execute projects on strategy, on time and on budget

Team leadership:

• In collaboration with the Marketing Leadership Team, develop annual and long-term team priorities
• Set annual performance objectives for self and direct reports
• Manage, support, mentor and evaluate the performance of direct reports
• Within University and department policies and procedures, and where applicable, establish job descriptions, employment agreements for staff, discuss performance on a regular basis, coach and provide feedback and identify professional development opportunities

Partner management:

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with internal partners and colleagues to collaborate together on marketing programs
• Facilitate and foster strong working relationship with agency/community partners to collaboratively achieve strong results

• Communicate frequently with key stakeholders on marketing initiatives - to ensure collaboration, visibility, consultation and alignment
• Support pan-university marketing collaboration and amplification with frequent updates of marketing programs

Marketing expertise development:

• Monitor and share trends and best practices from marketing subject matter experts, agency partners, advertising providers and higher-education industry
• Identify knowledge gaps and learning opportunities for pan-university marketing partners - and provide recommended learning plans to ensure Laurier's marketing understanding is continuously evolving

Qualifications

• A university degree in Business, Marketing, or related field
• Minimum five years' work experience in marketing, ideally within brand management, and with digital marketing leadership experience
• A passion for marketing and delivering results through effective marketing programs

Proven experience in:

• Developing strategic/annual marketing plans
• Executing marketing plans across multiple sub-strategies (media, creative, packaging/visual design, video, PR, communications, product, etc.), working in collaboration with cross-functional teams
• Leading the development of marketing campaigns - including integrated media plans and the creative development process
• Managing agency partner relationships
• Analyzing marketing metrics and results vs objectives, and developing and presenting reports
• Conducting market research studies, identifying insights and translating to strategic plans
• Managing complex projects on-time, on-budget, and on-strategy
• Leading cross-functional teams to achieve successful results
• Leading market research projects
• Managing marketing budgets

Expertise in:

• Developing target-centric marketing programs
• Managing digital marketing programs (including paid search, digital/display ads, video, social media)
• Leading development of brand-building sub-strategies, including creative development, ad design and execution
• Analyzing and interpreting digital campaign results to develop recommendations
• Building strong relationships with internal and external partners

Required skills:

• Excellent leadership skills
• Strategic thinking skills
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Superior interpersonal skills and proven ability to work in a collaborative environment
• Excellent communication and presentation skills
• Strong project management and time management skills
• Effective negotiating and influencing skills
• Proven ability to deal with multiple demands and priorities, and often competing deadlines, including under tight time pressures while meeting the needs of a variety of stakeholders

Hours of Work

This is a Full-time, Limited-term position with an anticipated end date of August 28, 2026. The normal hours of work are Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.

This position is eligible for a flexible work arrangement, as per Policy 8.14 (Flexible Work Policy). All arrangement must be approved by the direct manager. In-person attendance for events, as required to meet operational needs, is expected. On occasion, this schedule may need to be adjusted to meet operational requirements.

This role has a university-wide mandate and travel to other campuses and locations may be required to attend meetings or events.

Compensation

Level: 2B

Rate of pay: $81,888 to $102,360 annually

Broad salary ranges include a hiring range ($81,888- $92,124 of range midpoint), a target range ($92,125 - $112,596 of range midpoint), and a premium range ($112,597 - $127,951 of range midpoint).

When new employees are hired the appropriate base salary is determined using these sub-ranges as a guide while adhering to rules on hiring as defined in our compensation policy. Considerations for new hire salaries include, qualifications and length/depth of required experience, relevant market rates for similar jobs, internal equity, and estimated learning curve in starting the job.

Wilfrid Laurier University endeavors to fill positions with qualified candidates who have a combination of education, experience, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position while demonstrating Laurier's Employee Success Factors.

Equity, diversity and creating a culture of inclusion are part of Laurier's core values and central to the Laurier Strategy. Laurier is committed to increasing the diversity of faculty and staff and welcomes applications from candidates who identify as Indigenous, racialized, having disabilities, and from persons of any minority sexual and gender identities. Indigenous candidates who would like to learn more about equity and inclusive programing at Laurier are welcomed to contact the Office of Indigenous Initiatives. Candidates from other equity deserving groups who would like to learn more about equity and inclusive programing at Laurier are welcomed to contact Equity & Accessibility. We have strived to make our application process accessible, however if you require any assistance applying for a position or would like this job posting in an alternative format, please contact Human Resources. Contact information can be found at careers.wlu.ca/content/How-to-apply/

Should you be interested in learning more about this opportunity, please visit www.wlu.ca/careers for additional information and the online application system. All applications must be submitted online. Please note, a resume and cover letter will be required in electronic form.