Associate Director Jobs in Waukee, IA (NOW HIRING)

Directive Consulting is the leading B2B marketing agency for brands that are serious about the metrics that matter most.

With over a decade of expertise and 420+ B2B brands under our belt, we've earned our reputation on real outcomes. We run through 3 divisions: Performance, Communications, and Commerce, all wired to share intelligence and answer to revenue. That system spans everything from Paid Media and Content Marketing, to PR and Paid Social, to Marketplace and Lifecycle Marketing. Tying it all together is our methodology, DiscoverabilityOS™, which aligns brand and demand to guide your ICP to choose you across every decision point.
We move fast. We think boldly. We hire people who challenge the status quo, build campaigns worth talking about, and make bold brands impossible to ignore. If you live for performance, love solving hard problems, and want your work to actually mean something, you'll fit right in.
About The Role:

The Content Strategist is a crucial, client-facing role that is responsible for day-to-day client deliverables, creating and managing custom client strategies, and communicating both with clients and internal stakeholders. The Strategist is responsible for more Enterprise clients and is expected to have a deep understanding of their service line and how it impacts other areas of business to create a holistic marketing strategy.

Please note: internally, this role is titled Account Strategist, Content & SEO.

What You'll Do:

1. Strategic Excellence and Best Practices: Strategists are responsible for creating custom strategies and implementing best practices for their clients that ultimately result in achieving our NSMs. The strategist will use project phase as a foundational moment for building the initial client strategy, but will also use our clients overall marketing goals, current and ongoing campaigns, and historical performance to optimize and revise strategies over the lifetime of the client while adhering to Directive best practices

   1. Strategists will work closely with their Associate Director (AsD) when roadblocks arise that impact their strategy and goal attainment.

   2. Strategists display a strong ability to craft creative briefs and compelling content campaigns with a focus on ideation based on competitor and audience insights.

   3. Best practices should be used to inform our strategies to ensure our clients are in the best position to exceed their goals. In particular:

      1. LTV:CAC modeling

      2. Customer Generation

      3. Share of SERP

      4. Content Production

2. Goal Setting: Strategists are responsible for using available data to set goals for clients during their engagement period. These goals will be reviewed and approved by their Associate Director (AsD), who should be in the meeting with them.

   1. Data sources include Google Analytics, CRM data, SEMRush reporting, and Ahrefs reporting

   2. All Goals must be approved by the Associate Director (AsD) before the Strategist can present it to their client alongside their Associate Director (AsD).

3. Project Management: Strategists are responsible for ensuring that their planned strategy is executed. Project Management ensures that the Directive team and the client team knows who is responsible for specific tasks to ensure we make progress towards our goals.

   1. Use of the project management tool Asana is required.

   2. This includes delegating tasks to other team members, such as Specialists, as well as our clients and then ensuring that these tasks are completed in a timely manner.

   3. In pods where Project Managers are present, Strategists will ensure they partner with Project Managers to ensure all tasks are created, assigned and due dates are met and communicated to the client

   4. Strategists will work closely with content writers and designers to complete content campaigns for clients on time while also being responsible for ensuring that the quality is up to client standards.

4. Internal and External Communication: Strategists are the main interface between our clients and our team. Strategists are expected to build relationships with our clients that goes beyond just deliverables and get to know them on a human level with the primary goal of being the best consultant for our clients and their business. Additionally Strategists are expected to proactively communicate to clients and internal leadership on a regular basis to ensure we are driving the best results for clients.

   1. When proactively communicating with clients we want to ensure we communicate timeline expectations for deliverables, goal attainment progress, and actively use our shared communication channels, such as Slack, to communicate between bi-weekly meetings. This includes sending deliverables on a regular cadence instead of only during bi-weekly meetings

   2. When proactively communicating with internal leadership this should include communicating any roadblocks, opportunities for account growth, and any moments of change on clients accounts. Moments of change can look like a needed change in strategy, internal client marketing changes, point of contact changes, and more.

5. Reporting: Strategists are expected to regularly report to clients the progress and impact of their strategy. In support of this pilar strategists are expected to report on the following cadence:

   1. Bi-weekly meetings with the client

      1. Note in these meetings strategists are expected to report on NSM progress and ongoing deliverables

   2. Monthly reports

   3. Quarterly reports

   4. 2 Bi-Annual business review presentation

What You'll Bring:

• A proven track record of success around implementing SEO principles and content strategy: keyword research, on-page optimization, and link building

• Analytical insight: ability to analyse website traffic and SEO metrics using tools like Google Analytics

• Strong Communication skills: comfortable client facing and owning relationships with key stakeholders

• Strong familiarity with industry tools such as Google Search Console, Google Analytics, SEMRush, Ahrefs, Screaming Frog/crawling tools

• Proven organisational, project, and time management skills

• Genuine enthusiasm for digital marketing, SEO and Content

• Must have agency experience

• Must have B2B tech and/or SaaS experience

• Driven to stay ahead of industry trends, including actively learning how AI and automation can enhance marketing and operations.

Goals:

1. NSM Attainment: 100%

2. MRR Retainment: 96%

3. CSAT > 4.2

4. Upsells / Cross-sells / Referrals -

   1. Strategists are expected to regularly look for opportunities for our clients to grow their business with Directive.

      1. Examples of this include:

         1. Growing into another service line such as SEO or Paid Media

         2. Growing within their current service line such as increasing content, SEO, or Paid Media budgets

   2. Referrals are a natural extension of building a solid relationship with our clients and strategists should be in the habit of asking for a referral at key moments.

      1. Example of moments to ask for a referral:

         1. Point of contact starts a new job

   3. Client leaves a 5 CSAT score

What We Offer

🏠 Compensation for this role includes a competitive base salary in the $75,000-95,000 USD range, commensurate with experience and geography.

🙏 Medical, dental, vision plans, disability, and life insurance coverage for you and your family that fit your lifestyle

Including a 100% employer-paid plan for you and a 50% employer contribution for your dependents

Benefits to Support the Whole Person:

🧠 Mental - Access to certified therapists through Spring Health, membership to Headspace

💪 Physical - Gympass

🛫 Time Off - Unlimited PTO (2-week minimum), Paid Company Holidays, Your Birthday Off, End of Year Recharge (Closed December 24 - January 1), Paid Parental Leave

💰 Financial - Traditional and Roth 401(k) with a 3% company match

🌟 Bonus - Annual bonus based on tenure, which scales in total amount over time

🌴 Annual Anniversary Trip with peers and executive leadership for fun and entertainment!

Work Environment Requirements

As a remote-first company, you’ll have the ability to work from your home office. For some positions, as posted, we will accommodate global opportunities where we have established businesses, including Canada, Mexico, and the UK. For global locations, you must have established and current work authorization and permanently reside in that country.

This role has the opportunity to operate 100% virtually from your home office. We primarily collaborate with our colleagues through virtual meetings (Zoom), and Slack. In this role, you will be required to operate a laptop computer (PC or Mac available), computer software platforms, and other office productivity tools as necessary. Due to the nature of this role, you must be able to remain stationary for extended periods, must be able to observe and interpret written and/or verbal communication, must have reliable internet access, and a professional background.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential job duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.

If you require reasonable accommodations in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, direct your inquiries to recruiting@directiveconsulting.com.

Additional Information

At Directive, one of our core values is People First. We’re committed to fostering a more diverse and inclusive culture in the digital landscape. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

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