Digital Strategy Specialist

This competition is restricted to current employees of the University of Alberta only. Please indicate your internal status using the "Advertisement" drop down menu when applying.

This position is a part of the Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA).

This position offer a comprehensive benefits package which can be viewed on our Benefits Overview page .

Location

Work primarily takes place at Enterprise Square, Edmonton.

Working for the University of Alberta

The University of Alberta acknowledges that we are located on Treaty 6 territory, and respects the histories, languages and cultures of First Nations, Métis, Inuit and all First Peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our vibrant community.

The University of Alberta is teeming with change makers, community builders, and world shapers who lead with purpose each and every day. We are home to more than 40,000 students in 200+ undergraduate and 500+ graduate programs, over 13,000 faculty and staff, 260,000 alumni worldwide and have been recognized as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers for over a decade.

Your work will have a meaningful influence on a fascinating cross section of people—from our students and stakeholders, to our renowned researchers and innovators who are quite literally curing diseases, making discoveries and generating solutions that make the world healthier, safer, stronger, and more just.

Position summary

Reporting to the Manager, Digital Strategy, the Email Digital Strategy Specialist will be required to oversee all aspects of email marketing campaigns, including market research, content creation, and the dissemination of copy. As an email marketing specialist, you will also be required to collaborate with coworkers across colleges, faculties and other departments from across the university to ensure maximum uptake of offerings.

You will develop, implement, and manage email marketing, communications, and online projects that support the University of Alberta’s strategic goals and reinforce the university brand. 

This person leads decisions and takes action to optimize email and other online marketing campaigns for External Relations Marketing as well as other University groups. Through the use of audience research, web analytics, and content analysis, the Digital Strategy Specialist analyzes and implements new ideas for building email engagement. You will analyze marketing data and metrics to develop engaging campaigns and strategies to drive web traffic.

In this position, you will be responsible for developing the layouts and landing pages, amassing an email list. You must also measure the success of your campaigns with tools like Google Analytics and email analytics tools.

The Office of VP External Relations works collaboratively with colleges, faculties, university leadership to carry out this mission.

Duties

• Develop and oversee email marketing strategy based on user needs, best practices, stakeholder objectives, U of A  business goals, and governmental guidelines (CASL)
• Implement sound decisions around email content requirements, scheduling, and priorities ensuring that strategies adhere to legislation and industry best-practices
• Maintain, compile and purge email lists
• Implement email copy provided by External Relations Marketing groups
• Ensure that designs and layouts of emails are optimized, user and mobile-friendly
• Measure the effectiveness of External Relations digital assets, and plan and execute improvements in all digital media that contribute to ongoing fundraising and alumni relations strategies to increase engagement and donations
• Research and assess best practices in email communication techniques from non-profit, university, and media websites to develop knowledge and improve the execution of External Relations email campaigns
• Manage the creative email direction for the University of Alberta’s strategic online brand as defined by the Marketing group.
• Creatively look for opportunities to improve user experiences through data-driven assessment of current digital communications and by testing new ideas
• Devise and implement experiments to identify opportunities to improve digital engagement strategies that are meaningful to email recipients, ensuring that the online strategies are aligned and integrated with business objectives
• Advise and partner on the plans for multiple digital communications channels designed to attract new support, steward current donors, attract potential employees, and increase engagement with donors and alumni
• Create and monitor timelines and costs for a pipeline of ongoing and project-based digital communications and online marketing including but not limited to email, web, and social content
• Inventory existing content, identify gaps, and assess the requirements for ensuring a rich interactive online experience that connects with U of A email campaigns
• Lead the selection and evaluation of email, digital and online vendors and ensure that necessary deliverables and timelines are met
• Work with executives and stakeholders from a variety of groups within External Relations, colleges, and faculties to meet digital requests, while keeping within budgetary and technological constraints
• Build strong relationships with university fundraising and communications staff that lead to increased collaboration, consistent messaging, and a common look and feel across our email marketing campaigns
• Support and guide subject-matter experts and communicators with varying levels of web expertise on telling compelling stories online, developing the digital execution for email content that aligns with strategic goals and best practice, and providing ideas on how to have email and digital properties work together to enhance the university’s reputation
• Work with colleagues within the group on web analytics, reports, design requirements, information architecture, metadata, accessibility, SEO, creative direction, and user interface design from the perspective of an email marketer.
• Develop tracking and web analytics strategies to help the U of A optimize move forward in improving, understanding, and optimizing email marketing practices
• Work with the group  to develop appropriate tracking tools, reports, systems and documentation that evaluate success in achieving online business goals
• Oversee tracking and analysis of digital usage and recommend ways to improve the usability and interaction with email marketing initiatives
• Report on findings and help refine the strategy to improve the performance of digital communications and online giving
• Guide the development of digital tools that support the analysis and reporting of web traffic
• Provide knowledge feedback on the design, function, and implementation of email templates
• Provide direction and advice to email marketers and assist with the implementation of email marketing campaigns
• Lead, teach and create documentation that will guide others on how to improve  the effectiveness of our email marketing campaigns

Minimum qualifications

• Must have a certificate in digital marketing, SEO, development, or similar areas. A bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business, or humanities computing would be an asset.
• Must have three to five years of experience in email marketing, email strategic planning, execution, and campaign success measurement. An equivalent combination of experience and education will be considered.
• Must have demonstrated ability to plan and execute multi-platform digital engagement programs including web strategy, email campaigns, and social media.
• Must have significant experience with HTML and CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript, and other development languages and platforms, as well as experience with enterprise web content management systems and Google Analytics.
• Must have significant experience using email databases and CRM’s and it would be nice to have experience using database API’s for the purpose of accessing, pulling, and creating email lists.
• Supervisory experience is an asset.

Note: Online applications are accepted until midnight Mountain Standard Time of the closing date.

We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those individuals selected for an interview will be contacted.