Marketing Coordinator

Direct Report: Director of Development 

Status: Full-time; Exempt with benefits: Blue Cross Medical/Dental/Vision, 403(b) retirement plan, Holidays, 4 weeks Paid Time Off, 10 weeks paid Parental leave

Salary: $61,880

Alternatives Overview

Alternatives’ mission is to inspire young people to create a just future through practices that heal individuals, restore communities, and transform systems. Since 1971, Alternatives has modeled innovative alternatives to the status quo in Chicago's youth services field. Our restorative justice and behavioral health programming responds to capacity building needs as well as direct services within schools and community-based organizations. We support young people to individually and collectively address violence, grief, and trauma while building social-emotional, career, and social change skills. In addition to working directly with young people, we train, coach, and advocate for youth-serving systems to be restorative and trauma-informed. 

Position Overview

The Marketing Coordinator is a mid-level media marketing professional with 2-4 years of experience in the field. This position plans and directs the creation of material that will maintain or enhance the favorable public image of Alternatives by communicating programs, accomplishments and/or points of view. This professional is primarily responsible for tasks such as, but not limited to stories design, Social media oversight and planning, preparing media kits, and organizing press conferences. 

How do you impact Alternatives’ mission?

In this role, you will play a pivotal part in expanding awareness of Alternatives’ programs and services, engaging the public, attracting new audiences, and raising the image of Alternatives’ leadership as subject matter experts. The Marketing Coordinator will be responsible for strategic collaboration, design vision and execution. You will support the development strategy and fiscal year fundraising plan, with the goal of building and enhancing a favorable image of Alternatives with employees, potential candidates, clients, potential customers, influencers and the public. This position is responsible for the implementation of communication strategies to engage donors, increase brand trust, and cultivate and maintain positive relationships with media contacts. When negative press issues arise, you must identify the source and create responses to reduce or eliminate the unfavorable publicity.

Responsibilities

Perform the following from a racial, gender, sexuality, and ability equity lens: 

• Prepare media kits
• Organize public events and press conferences
• Engage in dialogue and interact with both internal business leaders and executives as well as the broader constituents affected by Alternative’s brand and policies
• Plan and develop communications (including traditional and digital media) to support marketing objectives. 
• Design and review the variety of promotional and marketing materials: online content in media announcements and media kits
• Monitor organizational image frequently and ensure it is in compliance with company brand
• Check and manage content produced for website and social media channels
• Develop and implement PR policies and procedures
• Determine KPIs PR and Marketing goals
• Develop advertising and marketing communications material such as branded emails, social media posts and campaigns, offline marketing material, press releases, annual report, annual appeal, podcast, and blogs. 
• Monitor social, economic, and political trends that might affect organization
• Recommend ways to enhance the organization’s image on the basis of trends
• Oversee the ongoing maintenance of the website to ensure consistency and accuracy, regular auditing, and other web maintenance. 
• Foster cross-promotional opportunities by developing relevant partnerships and community relations. 
• Collect data to continually improve quality and effectiveness of marketing initiatives.
• Other duties as assigned by the Director of Development. 

1. Bachelor’s degree in Public Relations, Journalism, English, Communications or Marketing and 2-4 year equivalent relative experience in communications, PR & Marketing management or PR specialist role. 
2. Experience with G-Suite marketing and analytics platforms, Google Analytics and Google Ads. 
3. Aptitude as a communicator and presenter
4. Excellent verbal and written communication skills
5. Excellent organizational and planning skills
6. Keen eye for graphic design, attention to detail, and creativity. 
7. Tactical understanding of all primary social media platforms including Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok and YouTube. 
8. Nimble copywriting skills: Ability to express complex ideas in accessible, clear, jargon-free, and appealing ways for broad audiences, with a portfolio of sample content to demonstrate content competencies 
9. Knowledge and passion for social justice and racial equity. 
10. Interest and knowledge of current events and marketing trends. 
11. Be proactive, reliable, responsible and accurate with an attention to detail
12. Has an understanding of antiracist marketing practices, inclusive and asset-based language, and accessible communication practices. 
13. The COVID vaccine is mandatory for all employees to the full extent permissible under applicable law. Alternatives’ Marketing & PR Manager must be committed to racial equity.