Growth Marketing Specialist

At DC Thomson we are a business with a purpose – to make a positive impact on the communities we serve.

We are home to some of the world’s best loved media brands, organised around local news and radio, companionship, kids, advocacy, energy, puzzles and hobbies.

The Courier, The Press & Journal, The Sunday Post, Beano, Stylist, Puzzler, The People’s Friend, My Weekly, bunkered, Energy Voice, Findmypast and Brightsolid are just some of the brands you might know us for.

Deeply rooted in our communities, we are investing in data, technology and talent to unlock a new level of understanding about what really matters to our customers. This is how we are shaping the future of media.

We’re changing the way we work to create a flexible, collaborative, learning-led culture that draws on expertise from across the organisation to create award-winning content and cultural moments that make audiences want to be part of our communities.

Our HQ is in Dundee and we have bases around the UK employing over 1,200 extraordinarily creative colleagues working in a mix of office/home/hybrid. They’re passionate about being part of the story of so many well-loved brands and they’re crucial to our ambitions for the company.

We’re looking for the best people to join us at DC Thomson, to share their energy, ideas and skills and be part of our story.

Role

This role is focused on managing digital marketing campaigns, primarily paid search and paid social but with the opportunity to work across a variety of other channels too.

About the Subscriptions Growth Team

The Subscriptions Growth Team drive all subscriptions activity for DC Thomson and is responsible for the growth of revenue and profit from print and digital subscriptions. The team is made up of four core functions, Digital Subscriptions (paywall), Subscriptions Trading (ecom), Growth Marketing and Operations.

What to expect

The Growth Marketing Specialist will lead on paid digital marketing activity to increase DC Thomson magazine subscribers across the multiple brands and channels. The Growth Marketing Team forms a centre of excellence and internal agency-style resource for performance marketing for DC Thomson subscriptions and products. Using your experience of ads management tools you will deliver impactful digital marketing campaigns geared towards reaching, engaging and converting customers.

You’ll be hands-on, strategic and collaborative – identifying opportunities for growth, carefully managing budgets, writing copy, managing creative assets and deploying, analysing and optimising performance marketing campaigns. The Growth Marketing Specialists are lead users of Google Ads and Facebook Ads Manager and run digital campaigns on other channels too where appropriate (e.g. video, display, Amazon).

You will be experienced in optimising activity to target CPAs, maximising conversions and identifying opportunities for growth while carefully managing budgets. Equally comfortable delivering comprehensive campaign analysis as you are writing impeccable copy and developing digital assets, you’ll be able to work independently and be accountable for the performance of a significant portion of the business’s day-to-day digital marketing activity.

Accountabilities and responsibilities

The Growth Marketing Specialists provide a growth marketing function to the business and the roles are varied with room for further specialisation and/or periods of focus on particular projects.

The below gives an indication of the duties involved:

• Build, deliver and optimise paid social campaigns across platforms; be a lead user of Facebook Ads Manager accounts with understanding of their advanced functions.
• Build, deliver and optimise paid search campaigns across Google Ads (and Bing where relevant); be a lead user of Google Ads manager accounts (Search, Display and Shopping ads), managing audiences and handling retargeting.
• Be a lead user of our Google Merchant Centre accounts and be responsible for ensuring our product feeds (Google Shopping and others) contain complete, accurate and fully optimised information about our products.
• Be responsible for the day-to-day operations of our integrated affiliate platform (Webgains); updating offers, uploading creative, reviewing new invitations, corresponding with publishers.
• Develop digital marketing campaigns utilising in-house ad slots and other functionality on owned-sites; plan assets and liaise with internal teams on ad availability and delivery, booking ads via relevant tools where necessary.
• Ensure all marketing activity is tracked to a high level of detail. Be a lead user of analytical tools including Google Analytics, Google Data Studio, Magento BI and Microsoft Excel to provide analysis and report on digital marketing activity.
• Work to agreed budgets and financial targets; track spend, provide detailed reporting and follow relevant processes with the finance team.
• Brief creative to designers and manage, deploy and test assets to ensure marketing activity has maximum impact.
• Write copy for ads and other content, adhering to SEO best practice where necessary and demonstrating accuracy and creativity.
• Optimise digital marketing activity daily to maximise conversions and achieve target CPAs and/or other related KPIs within budget.
• Integrate audience management tools (Permutive, HubSpot) to aid targeting and enhance the success of acquisition campaigns.

Knowledge, skills and attributes

The postholder will should be able to demonstrate competence and previous experience in the following areas:

• Creating and optimising campaigns in Facebook Ads Manager.
• Managing, and getting the best from, PPC campaigns in Google Ads (including Google Shopping ads and Google Merchant Centre).
• Using Google Merchant Centre at an advanced level and managing product feeds.
• Managing affiliate marketing programmes and getting the best deal as an advertiser.
• Briefing designers efficiently and effectively.
• Demonstrating excellent copywriting skills and attention to detail.
• Using Google Analytics and similar tools at an advanced level.
• Hitting CPA targets consistently and increasing conversions over time.
• Working to a marketing budget and being accountable for spend.
• Planning and managing priorities and competing deadlines.
• Utilising excellent communication and organisation skills.
• Working autonomously and collaborating effectively.

Knowledge of the following will also be beneficial: programmatic / display ads; video ads / YouTube video ads; using Creative Cloud (Photoshop) to edit image assets; Google Search; Console; Amazon PPC.

Shared responsibilities

Across the Subscriptions Growth Team colleagues have a shared responsibility to:

• Be data and insight driven – injecting deeper audience data and insights into subscription management.
• Be customer journey focused – understanding the customer journey ‘funnels’, focusing marketing efforts for maximum growth impact.
• Understand our profit and loss – focus on margin growth in the same way as revenue growth.
• Encourage collaboration – work closely with the subscription team and the wider business to maximise audience opportunities and subscription revenue growth across our portfolio.

To apply for this role, please follow our online application process and submit a CV and cover letter.

This is a full-time, permanent position, working 35 hours per week. This is a hybrid role offering a blend of home and office working from our Aberdeen, Dundee or Glasgow Office. Please note, if you do not live within travelling distance to one of our offices, applications for remote working will be considered on an individual basis. We offer a generous package including 34 days holiday, Health Cash Plan, excellent Pension, a competitive salary, and many more staff discounts and benefits.

We are an equal opportunity employer and encourage applications from everyone and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability or any other protected characteristics.

If you have any issues with your application, please email recruitment@dcthomson.co.uk

Please note that we reserve the right to close the vacancy early once we have received suitable applications. Therefore, please ensure you submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.