Closing date: 9am on Monday 16 August 2021

We are looking for a communications professional with expertise in digital marketing for a new role within our growing marketing team. From Google and social media advertising to email marketing and analytics, you’ll enhance our capabilities and help us to expand our reach. As part of a busy team, however, you’ll also help to deliver other aspects of our marketing action plans, from writing press releases, newsletters and website content through to producing flyers. You’ll play a critical part in the success of our projects and in enabling us to achieve our vision of a zero carbon Cumbria.

Application & Interview Process

To apply, please send a CV along with a covering letter outlining the skills and abilities you can bring to this job. Please include in your letter any special qualities that you feel might differentiate you from other candidates, and identify how your experience and abilities relate to the essential/desirable qualities listed in the person specification.

In your letter, please also answer the following questions:

  • Do you have a driving licence and access to a car for work? If no, please outline (in under 50 words) how you plan to travel independently throughout rural Cumbria.
  • How much notice do you need to give your current employer?
  • How did you hear about this job?

Please indicate the title of the job you are applying for. Please submit no more than 2 x A4 pages of text in font size 11.

Please send your CV and covering letter to: [email protected].

INTERVIEWS: Online interviews via Zoom will be held on Wednesday 25 August 2021. (Applicants will be informed by Wednesday 18 August 2021 if they are invited for interview.)

If you are selected for interview, you will be asked to prepare a short presentation, to be delivered during the interview. The interview process will also involve one or more marketing related tasks.

Job description

If you prefer to download the job description and person specification, please use the link below:

Marketing Officer – Job Description

BENEFITS: CAfS offers an excellent working environment, with benefits ranging from flexible working to a pension contribution. Find out more about the benefits of working at CAfS >

THE EMPLOYER Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS)

LOCATION: Contractually based at our office, Eden Rural Foyer, Old London Road, Penrith, CA11 8ET, however, homeworking can be agreed.

REPORTS TO: Marketing & Communications Manager

HOURS: 22.5 hours (3 days) a week

SALARY RANGE: £21,000 to £25,000 full-time equivalent (£12,600 to £15,000 for the 3-day week), depending on skills and experience

DURATION:  Fixed-term contract for 12 months (with potential to extend subject to funding)

START DATE: As soon as possible

ABOUT CAfS

Our vision is a zero-carbon Cumbria and we strive to bring about a better way of life, in balance with our environment.

Our mission is to empower and enable people, communities and businesses to live and work more sustainably by sharing our knowledge, practice, skills, networks and practical experience. We manage and deliver events, advice, training and practical projects across the county as well as providing specialist consultancy services to enable individuals, communities, businesses and local authorities to drive a shift towards a zero-carbon Cumbria.

Formed in 1998, CAfS is an award-winning charity with a team of 25 highly skilled staff, working with specialist contractors and volunteers to deliver a range of transformational low-carbon projects each year. CAfS is the leading organisation in Cumbria driving action on climate change and serving as the first point of reference on sustainability co-chairing the Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership of nearly 80 organisations working to reduce our county’s emissions.

MAIN PURPOSE OF ROLE

Motivating and empowering individuals and organisations to take action on climate change is what CAfS is all about, and marketing plays a critical role. As part of our growing marketing team, your work will be crucial in making our many exciting projects a success – from the high-profile Zero Carbon Cumbria programme through to our Cold to Cosy Homes Cumbria service.

You’ll use your marketing skills and experience to engage people from different walks of life in our projects, whether that’s attracting attendees for our events and training courses, bringing in new customers for our paid and free services, and encouraging people to use the resources we provide to enable them to live and work more sustainably. Your work will help to broaden our reach, deepen our engagement and continue building our strong reputation and profile.

KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

You’ll enhance the digital marketing expertise in our team, spending over 50% of your time on this increasingly critical aspect of our marketing.

As part of a small and busy team, however, you’ll also deliver other aspects of our marketing plans, from writing website content to responding to media enquiries and producing publicity materials.

MAIN TASKS

  • Contribute to the development of marketing strategies and action plans by senior marketing staff, feeding in your insights and ideas
  • Create, schedule and monitor organic social media content
  • Google ads – researching keywords, setting up and monitoring ad campaigns across the search and display networks
  • Social media advertising – developing ad content (text and imagery), setting up and monitoring campaigns on a range of platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
  • Google analytics and tag manager – setting up and monitoring conversion events and traffic on our website and reporting on the outcomes of campaigns
  • Maximising our use of email marketing, integrating into our wider digital marketing
  • Write and publish/distribute content such as newsletter articles, website pages and news posts, press releases, case studies, fact sheets
  • Liaise with other organisations to arrange sharing our content/messages through their channels
  • Support our reactive media relations work, helping to respond to media requests
  • Write and produce publicity materials such as leaflets, posters and exhibition materials, working with designers and other suppliers
  • Take and source images and video footage, cataloguing media in CAfS’ digital libraries
  • Arrange print advertising including overseeing design
  • Expand our marketing lists for key audience groups
  • Collate data and feed in ideas to support the evaluation and ongoing improvement of our communications
  • Contribute to audience research, such as setting up online surveys written by senior marketing staff
  • Attend internal (and occasionally external) project meetings to provide advice and support delivery of action plans
  • Contribute to producing corporate documents such as our annual report
  • Support colleagues across CAfS to adhere to relevant best practice and regulations
  • Work with the whole staff team to carry out any other task or project required from time to time, as directed by the manager or trustees

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential skills and attributes:

  • Basic knowledge of sustainability issues and an interest in the objectives that CAfS seeks to deliver
  • Ability to plan and manage digital ad campaigns using a range of social media channels and Google ads
  • Ability to set up and manage Google analytics and tag manager
  • Experience of email marketing
  • Experience of adding content to websites
  • Experience of producing a wide range of communications materials, such as press releases, web content and leaflets, and working with external partners such as designers
  • Driven to keep up to date with developments in marketing and apply new knowledge, tools and trends to improve communications outcomes
  • Ability to tailor content for different audiences
  • High standard of written communication, grammar and spelling, with excellent proofreading abilities and a high level of attention to detail
  • Good verbal communication skills
  • Ability to source, optimise and edit images for a wide range of uses
  • Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office products, including Outlook, Word and Excel
  • Proactive and creative, with the ability to manage own workload, take responsibility for tasks, prioritising and scheduling work to meet deadlines, with minimal supervision
  • Ability to work cooperatively as part of a small team

The following are desirable but not essential:

  • Experience of search engine optimisation
  • Experience of using WordPress
  • Experience of using social media management platforms, such as HootSuite and Buffer
  • An existing network of contacts in Cumbria
  • Knowledge of GDPR and copyright
  • Experience of developing marketing strategies and action plans
  • Experience of evaluating the effectiveness of communications
  • Experience of making basic videos for social media use

For more information about the role, please email Jaki Bell, marketing & communications manager: [email protected].