Join Our Crew

Overview

North Star Marketing works extensively with schools across the country (private, independent, faith-based, and charter/public), helping them shape winning marketing and enrollment strategies. We develop comprehensive brand identity packages, websites, print collateral packets, online marketing campaigns, and traditional advertising programs for schools of all sizes. 

The Education Marketing Manager (EMM) consults with Marketing and Admissions Directors, Heads of School, and Advancement/Development Directors to shape marketing strategy. He/she then orchestrates the required ramp-up projects and online/traditional campaign implementation through a blend of hands-on engagement and team coordination. This role’s core purpose is to strengthen, retain, and grow our school client-base by providing marketing leadership, strategic execution and oversight, and quantifiable success towards stated client outcomes. 

Besides stewarding our clients in education, the EMM collaborates daily with North Star’s production managers, copywriters, designers, programmers, and marketing support team.

This position is best suited for a candidate with advanced studies in marketing, public relations, mass communications, or online marketing. Experience in school marketing, admissions, or development is essential for this position. 

Hear from one of our own:

“After working in admissions for two years with a private Christian school, I developed a passion for marketing the school and helping parents evaluate the benefits of a private school education. When I transitioned to my role at North Star Marketing as Education Marketing Manager, I was surprised at how both positions had a very similar mission and how seamlessly I could transition from one to the other.

With experience in running marketing campaigns, giving campus tours,  planning events, and walking through several enrollment seasons, I had a firm understanding of the many hats that marketing and admissions directors wear on a daily basis. As the Education Marketing Manager at NSM,  I have the opportunity to partner with our school clients and take on some of the hats my clients are juggling. Although I am no longer on a school campus, I am very active in managing online marketing campaigns and working toward meeting marketing and enrollment goals.

I help clients develop and implement strategic plans that strengthen Google visibility, improve messaging, generate more leads, and create loyalty with existing families. It is a true joy to work alongside the phenomenal team at North Star Marketing each day and know that my mission is the same as it was as an admissions director: to partner with schools and strengthen their marketing and enrollment.“

– Kaleen Goodeill, Education Marketing Manager at North Star

Roles and Responsibilities
Account Health and Growth

• Purpose: Grow portfolio of education clients by developing strong relationships, trust, and providing strong leadership
  • Making recommendations valuable for the client related to current or potential work
  • Timely communication and regular touchpoints
  • Provide leadership and communicate the value of agency offerings and team approach
  • Keeping clients accountable to the plan
  • Building and nurturing positive relationships with clients
  • Leveraging internal resources at the appropriate times
  • Growing in knowledge of the education industry and market segment
  • Creating a growth plan for the account
  • Proposal development
  • Capturing new opportunities in Salesforce.com CRM

Marketing Strategy & Services Execution

• Purpose: To provide marketing leadership and execution to define, plan,  and achieve the client’s strategic goals and objectives.
  • Client onboarding
  • Organizing, planning, and leading client meetings
  • Create a strategy and game plan
  • Own results and ensure the strategy is implemented correctly by the team
  • Reviewing analytics, tracking software, KPIs
  • Product/service/audience discovery and research
  • Client meetings to develop and refine strategy
  • Inbound marketing and growth-driven development services implementation
  • Strategic updates or recommendations to client backlog
  • Continuing education; staying up-to-date with current trends
  • Facilitate/lead internal client strategy teams

Project Management

• Purpose: To initiate, coordinate, and assess the execution of the client’s marketing plan, ensuring it’s on-time and on-budget; keep clients updated.
  • Weekly update to the client on status and progress of projects
  • Sprint planning and coordination for committed work
  • Update production manager with client schedule changes
  • Strategic gameplan, budget, and retainer management/tracking
  • Create project briefs to update internal teams on details of deliverables
  • Facilitating internal meetings/discussions
  • Scoping new project work with internal teams
  • Plan & conduct project retrospective/post-mortem
  • Event/task creation for one-off tasks
  • Internal time tracking
  • Process improvement

Experience and Education

• BS/BA required
• Must have a proven track record in education marketing
• 2+ years of digital or online marketing experience

Certification Requirements:

• HubSpot certifications preferred:
  • HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification
  • Content Certification
  • Social Media Certification
  • Content Marketing Certification
  • Email Marketing Certification
  • Inbound Sales Certification
• Other certifications preferred:
  • Google Analytics IQ Certification
  • Facebook Certified Digital Marketing Associate

Skill Requirements

Computer & Technical Skills

• Proficiency using Google Apps Suite (Gmail, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides)
• Proven competency with social media (Facebook/Instagram), inbound marketing, and paid media strategies
• Ability to assess and report on strategic performance using analytics tools

Tools

• WordPress (required)
• BrightLocal (preferred)
• SEMRush (preferred)
• Salesforce.com (preferred)

Communication Skills

• Ability to secure clear direction and buy-in from business leadership and then maintain visibility as strategy is executed
• Able to work with teams to take high-level vision and translate down to executable actions
• Ability to foster strong professional relationships and manage expectations with clients and fellow team members
• Ability to work across multiple projects and thrive in an environment with shifting priorities and time-sensitive deadlines
• A strong sense of organization and attention to detail are required
• Strong verbal and written skills are required
• Strong ability to prioritize and balance competing requests for support
• Ability to work independently once strategy and direction are identified while maintaining strong visibility for the agency

Qualifications:

• BS/BA required
• Two (2) years of digital or online advertising experience preferred
• Education marketing experience

Summary of Approximate Time Allocation

Overview

North Star Marketing works extensively with schools across the country (private, independent, faith-based, and charter/public), helping them shape winning marketing and enrollment strategies. We develop comprehensive brand identity packages, websites, print collateral packets, online marketing campaigns, and traditional advertising programs for schools of all sizes. 

One of the primary duties of the education marketing coordinator (EMC) is supporting other education marketing managers in the shared pursuit to deliver marketing leadership to our school clients. This audience consists of marketing and admissions directors, heads of school, and advancement/development directors at K-12 schools and colleges. The EMC helps orchestrate the required ramp-up projects and online/traditional campaign implementation through a blend of hands-on engagement and team coordination. In that effort, a primary focus is supporting paid and organic social media management.

This position is focused heavily on online marketing, particularly social media campaign management. It is best suited for a candidate with advanced studies in online marketing, public relations, mass communications, or general marketing. Experience in school marketing, admissions, or development is essential for success in this position. 

The EMC works with North Star’s clients, education marketing managers, project managers, copywriters, designers, programmers, and marketing support team. The EMC also works daily with a production manager to help schedule deliverables for production team members.

Excellent oral communication, written communication, and online research skills are essential for success in this position. In addition to above-average technical skills, the EMC must have strong account management skills, the ability to organize teams, steward projects, and meet client deadlines. This position requires a working knowledge of inbound marketing methodology, social media, paid search(PPC), display advertising, content marketing, and search engine optimization(SEO). 

The EMC will add and edit website content using content management systems such as WordPress and help manage client campaigns in inbound marketing, social, SEO, and PPC software platforms. The EMC must have the ability to move across projects, quickly organize information, and deliver on deadlines in a fast-paced environment. 

EMC candidates should be able to write effectively for an online audience (i.e., content developed for specific buyer personas). Sloppy writing will stop the interview process.

Experience and Education Qualifications:

• BS/BA required
• Two (2) years digital or online advertising experience preferred
• Education marketing experience

Roles and Responsibilities

Account Health & Growth Support

• Purpose: To help your team of education marketing managers grow a portfolio of school clients by developing strong relationships, trust, and providing strong leadership.
  • Help monitor the health of client relationships and campaigns
  • Think creatively, proactively meet, and collaborate with Education Marketing Managers to discuss and identify their client goals and needs
  • Help to communicate the value of agency offerings and team approach
  • Help your team and clients stay accountable to the plan
  • Building and nurturing positive relationships with internal team and clients
  • Leveraging internal resources at the appropriate times
  • Growing in knowledge of the education industry and market segment
  • Helping to create a growth plan for client accounts
  • Proposal and client billing support
  • Contribute to client sales discussions
  • Updating client information in CRM (Salesforce.com)

Marketing Support and Implementation

• Purpose: To provide marketing support that helps shape and implement the client’s strategic marketing plan.
  • Assist with client onboarding and setup
  • Help organize, plan, and participate in client meetings
  • Contribute to strategy and game plan development
  • Client reporting and campaign monitoring 
  • Help with brief development and project monitoring to ensure the strategy is implemented correctly by the team
  • Reviewing analytics, tracking software, KPIs
  • Assist with product/service/audience discovery and research
  • Take detailed notes in client meetings
  • Implementation support for inbound marketing and paid social campaigns/projects
  • Contribute creative recommendations and solutions for improvement
  • Continuing education; staying up-to-date with current trends in education marketing

Project Coordination and Management

• Purpose: To help your team coordinate and manage the execution of client marketing plans, ensuring they are on-time and on-budget; keep the team and clients updated.
  • Help communicate weekly updates to clients on status and progress
  • Assist with sprint planning and coordination for committed work
  • Help communicate client schedule changes with production managers
  • Support game plan and budget/retainer updates
  • Assist with project briefs to update internal teams on details of deliverables
  • Help facilitate internal meetings/discussions
  • Scoping new project work with internal teams
  • Internal time tracking
  • Continuous process improvement

Experience and Education

• BS/BA required
• 1-2 years of marketing experience in the education industry preferred
• 1+ years of experience with Facebook Ads

Certification Requirements:

• HubSpot certifications preferred:
  • HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification
  • Content Certification
  • Social Media Certification
  • Content Marketing Certification
  • Email Marketing Certification
  • Inbound Sales Certification
• Other certifications preferred:
  • Google Analytics IQ Certification
  • Facebook Certified Digital Marketing Associate

Skill Requirements

Computer & Technical Skills

• Proficiency using Google Apps Suite (Gmail, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides)
• Working proficiency with social media (Facebook/Instagram), inbound marketing, and paid media strategies
• Ability to assess and report on strategic performance using analytics tools

Tools

• WordPress (required)
• BrightLocal (preferred)
• SEMRush (preferred)
• Salesforce.com (preferred)

Communication and Other Skills

• Ability to foster strong professional relationships and manage expectations with clients and fellow team members
• Ability to work across multiple projects and thrive in an environment with shifting priorities and time-sensitive deadlines
• Willingness to support education marketing managers, traffic, production, and creative teammates as the needs arise
• A strong sense of organization and attention to detail are required
• Strong client and customer service mindset
• Task-oriented with a keen eye for details. Must be excellent at proofing.
• Strong verbal and written skills are required
• Strong ability to prioritize and balance competing requests for support
• Ability to work independently once strategy and direction are identified while maintaining strong visibility for the agency

Summary of Approximate Time Allocation

Overview

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. Ideal candidates will 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

Overview

North Star Marketing is looking for a WordPress Developer to join our development and support team. The developer we are looking for will be responsible for developing WordPress-based themes and plugins primarily using PHP, CSS and HTML, configuring content management interfaces within WordPress, and entering complex content in Gutenberg or other page builders. The development will include off-the-shelf theme configuration and extension as well as custom theme development.  In addition, the developer will support internal team members and external clients with website questions and needs.

The position is best suited for a candidate that has intermediate to advanced experience in WordPress and general website development.  Candidates should have a good technical acumen to be able to learn concepts quickly and be well-suited to discuss and assist with others with strong written and verbal communication skills.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Create new WordPress themes and edit or configure current themes.
• Implement a development project from inception to launch.
• Test solutions across multiple browsers and platforms in a local testing environment.
• Leverage WordPress APIs (Actions and Filters) and extend the WordPress admin experience.
• Assist in the remediation, enhancement, and maintenance of client sites.
• Solve team member and client challenges with understanding and empathy.
• Provide insight info and implementation of the platform and related products related to

Experience and Education

• BS/BA preferred
• 3+ years experience of concentrated WordPress usage in theme development and configuration including working with the Gutenberg editor.

Requirements

• Intermediate to advanced skills in PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and WordPress.
• Ability to clearly communicate with peers and clients (verbal and written) about complex ideas in simple ways.
• Experience with Git and preferably GitHub.
• The ability to set up a local environment for development and testing. We use Local by Flywheel.
• Exceptionally creative problem-solver.
• Knowledge of CSS preprocessors and front-end build systems. We use Webpack and SCSS.
• Basic interactive animation skills using CSS and JavaScript.

Nice to Have

• More advanced interactive animation skills.
• Plugin development experience.
• Knowledge of and experience with meeting WCAG 2.1 standards.
• Evidence of contribution to the broader web development community.
• Experience with Object-Oriented Programming and RESTful APIs.

Examples of Work

• Participating in development of a new website with a cross-functional team
• Creating a new feature for a North Star plugin or theme
• Creating a video for how to add a new user in WordPress
• Troubleshooting a client’s support request
• Assisting a marketing manager with questions about a client’s site
• Working with Git, local development and tools (Local by Flywheel, PHPloy)
• Adding scrolling testimonials to a current website home page
• Changing the style and layout of a photo gallery

Summary of Approximate Time Allocation