Job Description

Cruise Planners is the largest franchisor of home-based travel agencies across the country that independently book cruises, tour, and land vacations. Cruise Planners has achieved Top Producer status with virtually every cruise line, tour, and resort company. Cruise Planners has been named the No.1 Cruise Tour / Travel Agency by Entrepreneur Magazine for the past 10 years and recently featured in Entrepreneur as one of the top 30 franchise innovators in technology. Cruise Planners positions franchise owners for success by providing them with innovative marketing, booking and lead-generating tools as well as professional development and hands-on training with the industry’s top executives. Cruise Planners Home Office has won awards such as Coolest Offices and Top Places to Work in South Florida by Sun Sentinel and South Florida Business Journal.

**Candidates must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the United States. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa**

This role will oversee the areas of Franchise Marketing and Marketing Automation activities. This role is responsible for guiding and supporting marketing initiatives to grow new franchise sales and travel sales via traditional and emerging marketing channels. This role will leverage metrics, research and messaging to create marketing strategies to maximize performance.

Responsibilities

Strategy and Reporting:

• Work with AVP Marketing and Director of Marketing on development of B2C marketing strategy
• Create and track performance metrics and goals for ongoing digital campaigns and make recommendations for improvement
• Monitor, interpret and report on marketing assets and campaigns using Power BI Marketing Dashboard
• Analyze email marketing data and develop campaign strategies based on personas, demographics, previous travel history, geolocation and online behavior
• Test new ideas to strengthen the acquisition and retention of opted in clients
• Compile marketing metrics and ROI data and prepare reports for executive team and travel partners
• Support and guide a social media strategy for travel partner posts/ads, performance analysis and preparing reports for travel partners
• Champion online trends, track analytics/KPI’s ensuring that all digital and mobile activities elevate the CP brand and overall organizational strategy
• Work with Tech team to add/edit reports in the marketing dashboard as needed

Marketing Automation and Lead Gen:

• Taking email marketing to the next level, with versioning, personalization and cadence to increase email deliverability, open rates, and CTRs and ultimately create a connection between the travel advisor and client that results in a booking
• Responsible for strategy and execution of all parts of robust retargeting email program, working closely with marketing and sales teams, as we evolve and grow email marketing initiatives
• Use marketing automation tools, audience segmentation and engagement metrics to reach the right consumer base with relevant messaging. Monitor and report results.
• Manage lead gen program from marketing standpoint, including SEO and/or AI optimization, advertising/marketing plan, nurture campaigns. Evaluate performance and share findings with Marketing and Strategic Partnerships departments
• Conduct quarterly reviews of search optimization and rankings for both cruiseplanners.com and cruiseplannersfranchise.com websites
• Suggest and implement strategies to increase organic and non-organic search

Franchise Marketing:

• Create and implement marketing strategies across a variety of digital and traditional channels to generate quality leads for the Franchise Sales Team
• Manage Franchise Marketing Team, including Franchise Marketing Manager and Digital Marketing Specialist and oversee the following:
• Development of brand awareness campaigns and franchise advertising
• Management of the franchise marketing budget
• Email nurture campaigns to guide prospective franchise owners through the buyer’s journey
• Marketing emails to promote events, educational opportunities, and sales promotions
• Franchise Marketing reports evaluating the performance of franchise marketing campaigns/platforms and provide recommendations for improvement
• Management of the prospect database, track the progress of leads through the sales process and optimize the marketing and sales process to close more sales
• Maintenance of the franchise sales website with ongoing optimization to convert leads- create landing pages, forms and calls to action; update content and help optimize pages with backlinks and SEO-rich content that supports key targets
• SEO and Social Media strategy for lead generation, brand awareness/reputation
• Weekly status updates to Executives and Franchise Sales Team to review franchise marketing performance, MQL growth, win/lost sales
• Quarterly presentations to larger Executive team and Franchise Sales Team to review franchise website metrics, franchise marketing initiatives, trends or shifts in marketing strategy

The items listed above are intended to provide an overview of the essential functions of the job.

This is not an exhaustive list of all functions and responsibilities that the position may be required to perform.

Competencies

• Excellent time management skills with the ability to meet deadlines on multiple projects and timelines
• Solid understanding of email metrics, SEO strategy, Google Analytics or Microsoft Clarity, HubSpot
• Experience in email marketing, and/or social content management with demonstrated accomplishments in digital marketing at a corporation, agency or media company
• Is a self-starter, takes initiative and shows continuous growth
• Contributes to the Cruise Planners company culture and is a positive team player with an optimistic, enthusiastic attitude towards life and, of course, travel
• Excellent communicator with verbal, written, presentation skills

Requirements

• 5+ years of marketing experience
• Bachelor's degree
• Previous franchise marketing/sales experience preferred, but not required

This is a hybrid role (Remote: Mondays and Fridays, Onsite: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays)

Cruise Planners provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all team members and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. Cruise Planners complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities or team members. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment.