Manager, Advancement Digital Marketing

University of Denver•Denver, CO

9d•Hybrid

About The Position

The University of Denver (DU) is seeking a Manager, Digital Marketing to lead and execute digital marketing initiatives supporting Advancement communications and engagement goals. This role will manage email campaigns, landing pages, website content, paid media, social media, and content marketing efforts to enhance awareness of The Denver Difference campaign and strengthen relationships with alumni and donors. The Manager will collaborate with partners across Advancement and the University to develop and execute communications for events, solicitations, campaign initiatives, leadership announcements, and other strategic priorities. This position also serves as a key contributor to Advancement's Salesforce Marketing Cloud strategy, supporting audience segmentation, journey building, automation, A/B testing, AI-enabled tools, and campaign optimization. The ideal candidate is a collaborative and results-oriented digital marketer with experience in email marketing, marketing automation platforms, website content management, and multi-channel campaign execution.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and work experience.
2-4 years of experience
Experience collaborating with internal and external partners
Experience with a marketing automation platform
Experience with Drupal, WordPress, or similar CMS platforms
Ability to lead and prioritize while working in a fast-paced, team environment.
Strong knowledge of digital marketing channels, including email, social media, paid media, and web development, with the ability to create and implement comprehensive campaigns that align with Advancement goals.
Deep understanding of email marketing best practices, ideally in the fundraising space.
Solid project management skills and proficiency in handling multiple projects within tight deadlines and delegating as needed.
Exceptional partner management, collaboration and active listening skills.
Strong understanding of and experience working in marketing automation platforms, ideally Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
Expertise in building audiences based on content, previous engagement and project goals and objectives.
Experience managing freelancers, ideally in web development and paid media.
Proficiency in analyzing campaign performance and web analytics to measure success, identify opportunities for optimization, and adjust strategies to maximize engagement.
Ability to develop compelling, audience-focused messaging and campaigns that resonate with alumni, donors and other stakeholders while aligning with the broader goals of the organization.
Deep understanding of audience building best practices based on project and/or channel.

Nice To Haves

Salesforce Marketing Cloud experience
Automated journey development
Content marketing expertise
SEO knowledge
Experience in higher education or another complex nonprofit environment.

Responsibilities

Serve as one of the digital marketing leads for DU Advancement.
Work closely with digital communications coordinator in email, web, content and social media marketing including data reporting for each area.
Manage external vendors when needed to produce content for Advancement campaigns.
Support the successful promotion of content to our alumni, donor and key constituent audiences for The Denver Difference campaign.
Keep abreast of emerging trends in digital marketing, specifically in marketing automation, always looking to remain at the forefront of best practices.
Engage across DU as a creative thinker, problem solver, partner manager and collaborative partner for external communications.
Oversee a robust and complex communications calendar, effectively managing priorities and deadlines for the digital marketing team.
Ability to work closely with partners to ensure all projects are aligned with strategic goals and advancement objectives.
Serve as a lead in the strategy, development and execution of email marketing campaigns using Salesforce Marketing Cloud to engage alumni, donors, and other key constituents, driving philanthropic and engagement goals.
Collaborate with Advancement and campus partners to create targeted event marketing campaigns, ensuring a seamless digital experience for event promotion, registration, and post-event follow-up.
Leverage Salesforce Marketing Cloud to segment audiences, analyze campaign performance, create constituent journeys and optimize digital communication strategies for maximum reach and impact.
Develop and manage comprehensive email marketing workflows to support strategic advancement goals and The Denver Difference campaign, including automated communications, fundraising solicitations and alumni engagement initiatives.
Partner with Salesforce Marketing Cloud implementation team to support the roadmap to ensure DU Advancement is able to utilize functionality available in the system at the right time based on department priorities.
Develop and execute comprehensive content marketing and storytelling strategies across social media platforms, targeting donors, alumni, and key constituents to increase engagement and support philanthropic goals.
Work collaboratively with our partners in University Relations to ensure social media and paid media strategies compliment each other including scheduling, branding, targeting and messaging.
Maintain a detailed social media calendar, ensuring timely and consistent delivery of relevant, compelling and well-crafted posts that align with organizational priorities.
Strategically manage paid media campaigns, including monitoring budgets and performance, optimizing ads to maximize ROI, and ensuring alignment with overall campaign objectives.
Serve as primary point of contact for digital marketing vendors, ensuring top-quality results in work performed for the University.
Oversee the creation and scheduling of social media content, ensuring all products are completed on schedule, compelling, and contribute to the achievement of engagement and fundraising objectives.
Oversee the maintenance, updating and optimization of Advancement’s web properties, including The Denver Difference campaign site, ensuring alignment with the strategic goals of DU’s billion-dollar fundraising campaign and regular review of analytics reports to track performance and inform improvements.
Serve as the Advancement lead for campus-wide web development meetings.
Collaborate with various teams to ensure the strategic integration and functionality of digital assets across alumni, give and campaign sites.
Ensure all digital content across the alumni, give, and campaign sites is aligned with Advancement goals and objectives, effectively communicating with alumni and donor audiences to support engagement and giving.
Build and optimize landing pages with strong calls to action and lead capture features.
Support the ambitious goals of the Advancement team while enhancing web presence to drive alumni engagement and campaign success.
Ensure landing page development is in line with multi-channel campaigns developed in Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
Serve as the lead in building and launching engaging event pages encouraging registration and attendance.
Establish and maintain collaborative partnerships with peers, campus colleagues and senior leaders; strengthen ties across multiple departments.
Receive feedback from many sources, with divergent points of view, and synthesize into creative, on-brand solutions that bring messages and ideas to life.
Serve as an active and collaborative partner to all central and unit-based advancement functions and campus colleagues to foster strategic, effective, and collaborative digital marketing practices.