Director of Marketing and Public Relations

Director of Marketing and Public Relations

SUMMARY/OBJECTIVE: The Director of Marketing & Public Relations serves as the chief public relations officer for National Park College (NPC). While the Director supports all campus departments, the position works closely with the President’s Office and the College’s leadership executives to provide a positive public image for the College. This position is responsible for developing and executing marketing strategies and communications that enhance the College’s ability to engage stakeholders, to broaden its visibility and reputation, to highlight the College's strengths, to generate enrollment, and to position it competitively within budget constraints.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

·        Develops the marketing, advertising, and public relations program of the College to advance the goals and mission of the College

·        Serves as the lead media spokesperson for the College

·        Manages all media relations for the College to ensure accurate and timely coverage of events and news using all formats of media

·        Coordinates all media interviews and the photography and video needs of the College

·        Establishes strategies for earned media and communications, negotiates with media agents to secure advertising, and maintains a consistency throughout all media and communications

·        Write press releases, articles, announcements, presentations, profiles and stories highlighting students and programs that support college and campus communications and meet the College's outreach efforts

·        Maintains the College’s branding standards, develops brand objectives, and protects NPC’s brand identity and visual assets

·        Remains up to date on current web, social, marketing and public relations programs, practices, and procedures being utilized in the higher education sector

·        Maintains the highest level of integrity and expects the highest level of competency from marketing team

·        Coordinates with the Enrollment Management team to develop and implement marketing strategies that advance student enrollment efforts

·        Provides leadership in maintaining the institutional policies of the Board of Trustees

·        Assures adherence to state and federal regulations, institution policies, and relevant standards as they relate to the marketing and public relations functions of the College

·        Coordinates and offers leadership on FOIA requests

·        Provide assistance to senior College executives on external engagement to ensure consistency in the strategic communications of the leadership team

·        Assists the campus communications team ensuring that any written or spoken communications from the President’s Office, Board of Trustees, or from the Cabinet reflect the strategic priorities of the College

• Continually reviews and analyzes the effectiveness of all aspects of external engagement operations and revise as necessary

·        Serves as a member of the Crisis Communication Team

• Gather and assimilate annual marketing data on departmental objectives to determine success in achieving goals
• Oversee the development and maintenance of the College’s web properties and social media profiles
• Supervise staff for web services, sports information, marketing and public relations
• Understanding of the strategic uses of all College resources

Required Skills and Abilities:

·        Has a strong background and knowledge of current web-based, social media marketing and public relations programs, practices, strategies, and procedures in the education sector

·        Has the capacity and desire to continue to grow and evolve as the field of marketing and public relations changes

·        Possesses a high level of energy and curiosity

·        Demonstrates exceptional listening skills

·        Understands the needs of the varied academic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds of the community, employees and students

·        Performs tasks with attention to detail and provide high quality deliverables

·        Able to manage workloads across multiple projects, manage project timelines and work independently with little direction

·        Able to work both autonomously and as a member of a collaborative team

·        Able to learn and explain the diverse programming and processes of the College in a way that propels the NPC mission

·        Able to work effectively with various internal and external constituencies and bring together disparate resources and voices to advance the College

• Able to lead a team in areas including goal-setting and accountability, staff hiring, supervision, delegation and evaluation, and budget planning

·        Effective interpersonal, organizational, presentation, and project management skills with the capacity to develop and implement creative solutions and strategies

·        Committed to the mission, vision, and values of the campus

·        Demonstrates an entrepreneurial mindset that seeks opportunities to generate resources, expand external engagement, and strengthen the College’s visibility and reputation

• Strong verbal and written communications skills, and an approach that prioritizes clear, suitable, effective, and open communications

·        Willing to work irregular hours including after hours

·        Able to handle multiple tasks and changing priorities in a deadline-sensitive environment 

·        Knowledgeable of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA and can assist the College in compliance with these guidelines

·        Knowledgeable of Arkansas State Freedom of Information Act rules

·        Professionalism in dealing with sensitive and confidential information

·        Demonstrates high character, drive, creativity, and integrity

Education and Experience:

• Graduate degree preferred, but will have appropriate experience (at least three years) in one or more of the following areas: communications, marketing, management, and sales

·        Supervisory experience with evidence of helping to build and manage effective, collaborative cross-divisional programs and teams

·        Other job-related education and/or experience may be substituted for all or part of these basic requirements, except for certification or licensure requirements, upon approval of the hiring committee

Physical Requirements:

• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer

• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Accommodations are determined on a case-by-case basis and will be provided unless doing so would result in undue hardship to NPC.

National Park College is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.