Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

High Rise Capital•New York, NY

About The Position

The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) will have ownership of Highrise Capital's overall marketing strategy and will work directly with executive leadership and the sales organization. The role involves building the necessary infrastructure to elevate Highrise Capital's marketing operations. The CMO will oversee the entire customer acquisition funnel, from initial lead generation to repeat business, with a focus on generating high-quality opportunities that result in funded business and profitable customer relationships. Key areas of responsibility include marketing strategy, customer acquisition, performance marketing, CRM, marketing automation, creative development, analytics, brand development, team building, and conversion optimization.

Requirements

Proven experience in performance marketing and lead generation.
Experience managing significant marketing budgets.
Demonstrated ability to connect marketing spend to measurable revenue.
Strong understanding of digital acquisition.
Strong understanding of sales funnels and conversion optimization.
Experience with CRM and marketing automation.
Strong analytical and financial skills.
Experience hiring and managing marketing teams.
Excellent communication skills.
Strong strategic and operational capabilities.
Entrepreneurial mindset.
Ability to operate in a fast-paced, highly competitive environment.

Nice To Haves

Experience in one or more of the following industries: Merchant Cash Advance, Business financing, Commercial lending, Alternative finance, Fintech, Small-business lending, Merchant services, Business banking, Insurance, B2B financial services.
Direct-response marketing experience.
Lead generation experience.
High-ticket sales experience.
Call-center sales experience.
Direct experience scaling customer acquisition in financial services.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute Highrise Capital's overall marketing strategy.
Build a scalable customer acquisition engine.
Establish annual, quarterly, and monthly marketing objectives.
Develop and manage the marketing budget.
Identify new channels for customer acquisition.
Analyze market trends and competitive positioning.
Develop strategies to increase qualified lead volume.
Improve the quality and conversion of marketing-generated opportunities.
Develop strategies for customer retention, repeat business, and database reactivation.
Work directly with the CEO and executive team to align marketing strategy with company growth objectives.
Own Highrise Capital's lead-generation strategy across multiple channels, including Google, Meta, LinkedIn, YouTube, Native advertising, SEO, Email marketing, SMS marketing, Retargeting, Affiliate marketing, Strategic partnerships, Referral programs, Database reactivation, Content marketing, Direct-response campaigns, and Emerging digital acquisition channels.
Determine which channels provide the strongest combination of Lead Volume, Lead Quality, Conversion, Revenue, and Profitability.
Build and manage a data-driven performance marketing operation, including developing paid acquisition strategy, managing advertising budgets, establishing campaign KPIs, monitoring campaign performance, managing internal media buyers and external agencies, developing creative testing strategies, optimizing campaigns, scaling successful campaigns, identifying underperforming channels, testing new advertising platforms, improving customer acquisition economics, and establishing appropriate attribution systems.
Analyze marketing data to determine spending effectiveness, return on investment, and channel optimization.
Work closely with Highrise Capital's sales leadership to improve conversion throughout the entire funnel, focusing on metrics such as Cost per lead, Lead quality, Contact rate, Application rate, Qualified opportunity rate, Approval rate, Funding rate, Lead-to-funding conversion, Revenue per lead, Cost per funded deal, Customer acquisition cost, Marketing ROI, Sales cycle, and Repeat customer rate.
Identify funnel bottlenecks and develop strategies to improve performance at every stage.
Develop and optimize Highrise Capital's CRM and marketing automation infrastructure, including lead routing, lead scoring, automated follow-up, email campaigns, SMS campaigns, retargeting, customer segmentation, database management, re-engagement campaigns, marketing attribution, sales alerts, campaign tracking, and automated customer communications.
Develop strategies to maximize the value of Highrise Capital's existing prospect and customer database through targeted campaigns.
Develop a strong and differentiated Highrise Capital brand within the alternative business financing marketplace, focusing on brand positioning, messaging, website strategy, digital presence, marketing materials, sales collateral, customer testimonials, case studies, educational content, video, social media, and industry-specific campaigns.
Own the strategy for Highrise Capital's digital properties, continuously improving website conversion, landing pages, lead forms, calls-to-action, application flow, user experience, mobile experience, page performance, analytics, SEO, and conversion rates.
Establish a culture of continuous testing for headlines, offers, creative, messaging, landing pages, forms, calls-to-action, customer segments, and advertising formats.
Lead Highrise Capital's creative marketing strategy, overseeing the development of digital advertising, video advertising, social media creative, landing pages, email campaigns, sales materials, direct-response campaigns, educational content, customer testimonials, and case studies.
Work closely with sales leadership to develop sales presentations, product materials, industry-specific campaigns, customer case studies, email templates, marketing collateral, objection-handling resources, competitive positioning, sales messaging, and campaign-specific sales materials.
Build a comprehensive marketing reporting system providing visibility into marketing spend, leads, cost per lead, qualified leads, cost per qualified lead, conversion rates, sales funnel metrics, financial performance, marketing-attributed revenue, return on advertising spend, marketing ROI, customer repeat business, reactivation, customer retention, referral activity, and customer acquisition.
Use data to make decisions rather than relying on assumptions or vanity metrics.
Build and lead Highrise Capital's marketing organization, including recruiting, hiring, training, performance management, compensation structures, KPI development, and accountability.
Manage and evaluate external marketing partners, including advertising agencies, lead providers, media partners, creative agencies, SEO firms, technology providers, CRM providers, data providers, and marketing automation platforms.
Ensure marketing campaigns, advertising, customer communications, disclosures, data practices, and lead-generation activities comply with applicable laws, regulations, platform policies, and company standards.
Pursue growth while maintaining high standards for accuracy, transparency, professionalism, and responsible communication.