Marketing Associate (Private Label)

Cardinal Group Companies•Elmwood Park, NJ

2d•$70,000 - $90,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Marketing Associate is a hands-on technical expert and systemic creative, responsible for driving quality lead generation and ensuring every community has a vibrant, high-performing social and digital presence. By optimizing the digital funnel, designs, and campaigns, you will ensure every prospect touchpoint contributes to high-quality leads that support the portfolio's occupancy goals.

Requirements

4–6+ years of experience in digital marketing, ideally within multifamily, student housing, real estate, or high-volume B2C environments.
Intermediate to advanced working knowledge of AI tools including Gemini (or equivalents).
Demonstrated experience analyzing paid media, SEO, and ILS performance and providing data-driven optimization recommendations.
Proven hands-on experience managing and updating websites in WordPress and understanding of UX fundamentals.
Deep understanding of lead funnels, digital attribution, conversion paths, and performance metrics.
Proficiency with Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google Tag Manager (GTM), and tracking ecosystem best practices is required.
Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple projects across dozens of communities simultaneously.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate technical data into actionable business recommendations.
Familiarity with Fair Housing laws, digital accessibility considerations, and industry regulations.
Ability to embody and model the Cardinal Culture and Core Values daily.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary digital performance strategist for the assigned portfolio, ensuring campaigns, spend, and optimizations directly support leasing and occupancy goals.
Gather digital marketing recommendations, spend options, and digital channel proposals from Agency Fifty3, ILS partners, and additional marketing vendors.
Analyze community-specific data (historical leads, GA4 data, market velocity, current occupancy, seasonality) to determine the ideal digital marketing mix per property.
Present digital strategy recommendations, expected impact, and budget allocation guidance to Portfolio Sales & Marketing Managers and Portfolio Managers.
Continuously monitor monthly performance reports to identify trends, assess ROI, validate lead quality, and recommend optimizations.
Prioritize high-impact digital actions across the portfolio by understanding community goals, risk levels, and marketing constraints.
Ensure the accuracy, functionality, and visual quality of all community websites, including WordPress updates, content refreshes, new photos, specials, floor plan updates, and troubleshooting issues.
Conduct monthly website audits to assess SEO health, user experience, compliance, page speed, broken links, content accuracy, and form functionality.
Manage and maintain all vanity numbers ensuring routing, tracking, and call attribution are functioning as intended.
Partner with marketing agency and internal stakeholders to ensure new websites or redesigns follow brand standards and operational needs.
Manage and optimize Internet Listing Service (ILS) platforms (e.g., Apartments.com, Rent., Zumper, Zillow), ensuring compelling content, competitive pricing display, accurate amenities, and optimized tracking.
Monitor ILS performance monthly and recommend spend shifts, package adjustments, or strategic changes to improve lead quality and CPL.
Maintain consistent and accurate property profiles across directory sites including: Google Business Profile, Yelp, Yext (ensuring listings syndication, accuracy, review tracking, and SEO strength).
Ensure all directory profiles are optimized for local search visibility, reputation management, and conversion.
Partner with marketing agency and other digital vendors to oversee paid search, social, retargeting, display, geofencing, and remarketing campaigns.
Evaluate media performance monthly and provide strategic insights such as: Spend reallocation, Updated keyword strategy, Audience refinements, Creative recommendations.
Ensure vendor performance aligns with contractual expectations, KPIs, and community needs.
Maintain a strong understanding of lead quality indicators and downstream leasing metrics to advise on the true value of generated leads.
Canva Brand Governance: Act as the primary "Brand Approver" within Canva. Design, organize, and maintain a library of high-impact, customizable templates that allow on-site teams to create "on-brand" content in minutes.
Content Resource Development: Build "Plug-and-Play" social kits for major student housing milestones (Move-in, Renewal, Pre-leasing 100%, and "Red Light" recovery).
Visual Standards: Set the bar for "High Quality." You aren't just looking for pretty pictures; you are looking for visuals that stop the scroll and drive engagement.
On-Site Empowerment: Conduct regular "Creative Clinics" to teach on-site teams how to capture better iPhone content, write punchier captions, and use the latest social trends to tell their local story.
Content Mapping: Develop monthly content "themes" that align with the Student Housing lifecycle, ensuring we are speaking to the student's needs at the exact right time.
Data-Driven Strategy: Use Sprout Social to monitor portfolio-wide and property-specific metrics. You don’t just report numbers; you provide the "Why" and the "Next Step."
Conversion Optimization: Partner with the digital team to ensure social content is driving traffic that converts.
Oversee all digital output. This position will have final approval on 100% of posts sent by the onsite teams.