Senior Writer

The Senior Writer position is responsible for planning, writing, and shaping content in support of marketing strategies for North Star Marketing’s K-12 private school clients. In this full-time role, the Senior Writer will collaborate with clients and teammates to develop digital and traditional media.

To be considered for this position, you must have experience writing for K-12 private schools, with a keen understanding of the audience schools are trying to reach. 

Ideal candidates will also possess a degree in Mass Communications/Journalism, English, and/or have at least five years of copywriting, editing, and content strategy experience. A portfolio of completed projects is important to determine range, flexibility, style, and experience. Candidates who are not strong writers need not apply. 

The Senior Writer will be involved in both developing content strategy and writing compelling, engaging content in support of the strategy. The Senior Writer should understand how to write copy for search engine optimization, paid advertising, and social media. 

The Senior Writer must demonstrate excellence in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Excellent communication and research skills are essential to the success of this position. The Senior Writer must have the ability to move quickly between client and projects, efficiently organize information, and deliver on deadlines. Interviewing skills are essential. 

We are looking for candidates who:

• Find North Star’s core values compelling and engaging
• Have integrity and a high degree of personal responsibility
• Demonstrate a positive, can-do, go-the-extra-mile attitude
• Are comfortable working with faith-based clients
• Are strategic thinkers: able to process, plan, and evaluate
• Are eager and able to learn new things and stay on top of current marketing trends
• Are strong communicators and creative thinkers
• Have expert knowledge of spelling, punctuation, and grammar rules
• Have experience with Associated Press style (prefer this experience)
• Have experience with Google Docs (prefer this experience)
• Are comfortable hitting daily deadlines
• Demonstrate strong analytical skills
• Are strong writers: capable of crafting well-written messages efficiently
• Appreciate and value constructive criticism
• Are comfortable being a key player on a variety of projects
• Handle themselves in a pleasant, personable manner (in-person, phone, and email)
• Are social media, web, and tech-savvy 
• Are detail-oriented
• Enjoy working as part of a team
• Are good listeners
• Have a good sense of humor

Position Summary

The primary aim of this role is to contribute well-written content for a wide range of marketing projects. The main activities and responsibilities of the senior writer include the following, broken out by the area of responsibility:

Writing:

• Review of project briefs and available resources
• Conduct topic research
• Develop clear and engaging copy
• Maintain proper voice, tone, and terminology
• Project collaboration and communication
• Campaign theme development

Editing:

• Proofing content for proper writing mechanics and content quality
• Reviewing and revising content
• Providing editorial feedback and recommendations
• Confirming content has been properly translated in the final deliverable

Content Strategy:

• Collaborate with team members in the development of content strategy
• Develop messaging based on identified problems, insights, and illustrations uncovered through discovery
• Research topics and themes to create solutions that align with strategic goals
• Implement SEO best practices 
• Monitor and assess data/analytics to inform strategy and changes
• Review final deliverables to verify content alignment
• Maintain continuity of voice and ethos for a client’s brand and messaging across multiple platforms
• Create recommendations for content promotional strategy
• Revise best practices and rhetorical strategies based on the effectiveness of previous campaigns and comparable messaging

The job will require writing across the following categories:

• Online marketing
  • Blog posts
  • Email campaigns
  • Webpage content
  • Paid search ads
  • Local listing content
  • Social media updates and ads
  • E-books and white papers
  • Landing pages
  • Infographics
  • Promotional video scripts
  • Newsletters

• Marketing infrastructure
  • Brand standards guides
  • Website sitemaps and content
  • Information packets
  • Brochures
• Traditional marketing
  • Print ads
  • Billboards
  • Direct mail pieces
  • Trade show displays
  • TV spots
  • Radio spots
  • Catalogs

The Senior Writer will be instrumental in producing engaging marketing deliverables for clients and growing our content development knowledge base. The Senior Writer will also support the sales team in promoting marketing offerings. This position requires a personality that is energized by change and challenges. As the marketing landscape is constantly shifting, the Senior Writer needs to enjoy learning about new technologies and consistently evaluating ways to improve North Star’s service model.

Summary of Approximate Time Allocation