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Mockingbird Gallery & Peterson Contemporary Art

Fractional Marketing Director (Part-Time)

Mockingbird Gallery & Peterson Contemporary Art | Bend, Oregon | Monthly retainer | 1099 | Heavier in first 90 days, lighter once the system is running | ~5 hrs/week

You have built marketing functions before. Want to do it again for two galleries with real ambition and the taste to match?

This is a senior, part‑time role for a marketer who thinks in systems — someone who can set direction, build the operating model, coach quality, and turn scattered marketing activity into a real growth engine. The role is not about making every post or writing every email. It is about deciding what matters, creating the frameworks that make execution better, and helping a hands‑on Marketing & Content Manager do excellent work with confidence.

This is the rare fractional seat where the owner wants senior marketing judgment and where a dedicated executor carries the weekly engine. It is not a full‑time CMO role shrunk down, and it is not advisory‑only. This seat owns the marketing operating system: strategy, priorities, standards, measurement, coaching, and the scaffolding that helps the function work.

About Us

Mockingbird Gallery and Peterson Contemporary Art are two galleries a few blocks apart in downtown Bend. Mockingbird has a long‑standing reputation for traditional work and deep collector relationships. Peterson Contemporary Art is the newer sibling: sharper, more contemporary, and attracting a different kind of buyer.

The galleries are moving toward one shared gallery group with two expressions: same team, same standards, different voices. Bend has become a real destination for collectors, and First Fridays downtown are a big part of that. The next step is expanding beyond Central Oregon, bringing in more out‑of‑state collectors, and building a marketing function that matches the caliber of the work shown in the galleries.

The Opportunity

The central challenge is a positioning and operating puzzle: one gallery group, two distinct identities — traditional and contemporary — both aiming for broader recognition without blurring into each other.

What You’ll Own

• Take ownership of the ICPs and audience segmentation already developed — validate them against what you see, and refine as you learn, with emphasis on high‑value, out‑of‑state collectors.
• Sharpen the picture of buyer motivations, channel preferences, price sensitivity, and the messages that matter by customer type.
• Own and adjust channel strategy, and recommend budget allocation for Jim’s buy‑in — where to invest, what to prioritize, and what to ignore.
• Own and evolve the brand voice and messaging frameworks that help Mockingbird and PCA sound distinct while belonging to one shared gallery group.
• Take the 90‑day roadmap into execution, and set the quarterly priorities that follow.
• Turn the brand foundation into practical tools — making sure voice, content pillars, templates, artist storytelling, and visual standards get used, not shelved.

Marketing operating system

• Translate the existing strategic foundation into a simple operating rhythm: content calendar, review cadence, decision rules, weekly priorities, and clear expectations for what good looks like.
• Own and extend the experimentation roadmap: what to test, in what order, what each test is meant to teach, and what signals determine whether to repeat, improve, or stop.
• Use the infrastructure audit — email platform, CRM, website, Instagram, analytics, and workflow — to prioritize what needs attention now versus later.
• Extend the onboarding scaffolding for the Marketing & Content Manager, including the first 30/60/90 days of expectations, milestones, and early wins.

Measurement and performance rhythm

• Define the measurement framework and practical KPIs across awareness, engagement, list growth, gallery visits, collector inquiries, and sales conversations where possible.
• Establish baseline metrics and the dashboard structure the Manager will maintain.
• Run a monthly performance review with Jim: what is working, what is not, what has changed, and what the next priorities should be.
• Make marketing less subjective by connecting activity to observable signals and clear decisions.

Coaching and quality

• Coach the Marketing & Content Manager weekly, reviewing work, giving specific feedback, and raising the quality bar over time.
• Own the 60‑90 day approval ramp: reviewed publishing at first, routine direct publishing once standards are clear, then trust‑but‑review as judgment is proven.
• Help the Manager develop stronger taste, sharper writing, better visual judgment, and more analytical instincts.
• Keep Jim out of the day‑to‑day marketing manager role while ensuring the Manager has real direction, not vague autonomy.

How Direction Works

Jim Peterson is the formal manager and business owner. The Fractional Marketing Director owns the marketing operating system — priorities, standards, roadmap, coaching, experiments, and performance review. The Marketing & Content Manager owns weekly execution. This keeps the execution role from drifting into unsupported strategy while also keeping Jim from becoming the day‑to‑day marketing manager.

The Director should coach the Manager with the seriousness and ownership of a direct manager, even though Jim remains the formal reporting line. The Manager receives weekly direction and coaching from the Director, with Jim involved on business decisions, high‑stakes brand questions, and final hiring/employment matters.

Time, Retainer, and Scope

Compensation: Monthly retainer, scoped to the engagement. 1099 contractor.

Expected rhythm: heavier involvement during the first 90 days while the foundation is put into motion, then lighter ongoing involvement once the system is running. The engagement is designed around an average of roughly 5 focused hours per week, front‑loaded during setup and lighter once the Manager is operating with more independence.

• First 90 days: roughly 6–8 hours/week during setup for strategy, roadmap, coaching, review, and measurement design.
• After the foundation is running: roughly 3–5 hours/week for coaching, performance review, roadmap adjustments, and quality control.
• Review: structured review at month six to assess what the function needs next, whether the Manager is operating independently enough, and whether the retainer should change based on scope.

What Success Looks Like First 90 Days

• Inherited ICPs, channel priorities, and brand voice frameworks are validated, adjusted, and actively guiding the work.
• The 90‑day roadmap is owned and in motion, with the Marketing & Content Manager executing against it.
• Content calendar, content library, approval ramp, and weekly review rhythm are in place.
• Measurement framework is activated, baseline metrics are tracked, and a simple dashboard is running.
• The Manager’s writing, visual judgment, and routine publishing decisions improve visibly over time.
• Jim is no longer the day‑to‑day marketing manager.
• At least two or three focused wins are shipped — a stronger First Friday process, improved email rhythm, Google Business cleanup, a welcome email flow, or clearer website updates.

First Year

• A self‑sustaining marketing operating system the Manager can run with light direction.
• The Manager is publishing independently, with quality holding and fewer edits required.
• The galleries have a growing, better‑segmented audience and a clearer view of out‑of‑state collector interest.
• Marketing activity connects more clearly to gallery visits, collector inquiries, and sales conversations.
• Mockingbird and PCA feel like two distinct expressions of one stronger gallery group.
• Marketing functions as a growth engine, not a quiet cost center.

Who You Are

• 8+ years in marketing, including real ownership of marketing strategy, a function, or a meaningful growth system.
• Strong strategic architecture skills: ICPs, channel strategy, messaging, brand voice, measurement, roadmaps, and experimentation.
• Strong taste and judgment — especially around premium brands, creative work, customer experience, and what makes something feel credible rather than generic.
• Data‑fluent, not dashboard‑obsessed: able to define practical measurement, read it honestly, and use it to steer decisions.
• Comfortable coaching an earlier‑career Marketing & Content Manager with clarity, specificity, and high standards.
• Able to work fractionally: high impact in focused hours, clear priorities, low ego, and no need for a full‑time seat.
• Ideally based in Bend, or able to be on‑site regularly for strategy sessions, gallery moments, and key events.
• Genuine passion for art. Prior gallery, luxury, hospitality, design, architecture, travel, or high‑end customer experience is a plus, not a requirement.

How to Express Interest

If this resonates, I’d love to talk. Send a note to john@mockingbird-gallery.com with the subject line 'Fractional Marketing Director Interest — [Your Name]'. Include a resume, LinkedIn profile, or short background note, plus a few thoughts on:

• What draws you to this role, and to these galleries specifically?
• What is your relationship with art — as a maker, buyer, fan, collector, or something else?
• Tell us about a marketing function you built or led. What shape was it in when you arrived, what did you do, and what changed?
• How do you coach a talented, hands‑on marketer who is earlier in their career?
• What would you want to understand first before setting strategy for two galleries moving toward one shared group with two distinct expressions?

Optional but encouraged: a short case study, strategy artifact, scorecard, roadmap, messaging framework, or example of a function you shaped — anything that shows how you think.

If there is mutual interest, we will schedule a conversation and a short, paid working session to think through a real gallery marketing challenge together before deciding whether there is a fit.