Careers at The Bay Citizen

Director of Sponsorship and Advertising Sales, The Bay Citizen

About The Bay Citizen:

Founded in January 2010, The Bay Citizen is a nonprofit, nonpartisan member- supported news organization. Our mission is to enhance Bay Area civic and community news coverage, stimulate innovation in journalism and foster civic engagement. With support from foundations, philanthropists, and individual members, and in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeleyʼs Journalism School, The New York Times, and other media organizations, we are creating a model for what local, high-quality public service journalism will look like in the future. Our primary distribution channel is online at www.baycitizen.org, as well as in The New York Timesʼ bi-weekly Bay Area Report and, over time, through mobile devices and podcasts. For more information, please visit: www.baycitizen.org.

Position Summary:

As a start-up organization, The Bay Citizen is looking for a high-energy, entrepreneurial leader with a proven track record in growing sponsorship and advertising revenues to serve as the Director of Sponsorship & Advertising Sales. The person in this position should be a creative, marketing-oriented media seller skilled in the operational elements needed to execute sales, and able to move between big picture strategy and the day-to-day details.

This position is responsible for developing sponsorship and online advertising strategies and plans, identifying and maintaining key client relationships, increasing the awareness of The Bay Citizen within the corporate community, and earning corporate sponsorship and online advertising revenue. The Director will be a key player in the growth and expansion of this rapidly growing organization

The position reports to the Chief Executive Officer and works in collaboration with the Director of Marketing & Membership and Vice President of Development.

The ideal candidate shares a passion for ensuring the integrity and vitality of professional journalism covering Bay Area culture, arts, education, politics and other topics of civic and community importance.

Responsibilities Include:

• Designing and executing the annual corporate sponsorship/advertising sales plan
• Identifying and initiating contact with senior corporate executives; generating leads and developing new accounts
• Conducting meetings with and making presentations to prospective corporate sponsors
• Planning, negotiating and closing large sponsorship deals
• Maintaining positive relationships with corporate sponsors and advertisers
• Coordinating the advertising sales and production cycle
• Developing and managing sponsorship and ad sales budgets and targets
• Integrating sales efforts and communication messages with other activities, including public relations and marketing
• Working directly with the CEO to develop materials for Board and Finance meetings
• Coordinating efforts with the Director of Marketing and Memberships and the Vice President of Development
• Producing high quality sales materials and correspondence

Qualifications include:
• A minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in sponsorship/media sales work
• Established relationships with key corporate clients and agencies in the Bay Area
• Experience with cultivating and building solid working relationships with senior corporate executives
• Proven ability to communicate goals/objectives and interact effectively across all levels of organizations
• A demonstrated understanding of corporate marketing objectives
• Demonstrated success in developing and managing budgets
• Distinctive presentation and public speaking skills
• Strong troubleshooting and problem solving tools
• Proven closing techniques throughout the sales cycle
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and produce sales materials on schedule
• Ability to adjust rapidly to new strategies and approaches for building support in a fast-moving environment
• Well-organized, highly motivated, people-oriented and excited to be part of a growing nonprofit news organization
• Bachelorʼs degree from an accredited college/university

If this job description meets your experience and interests, please send your resume and cover letter to jobs@baycitizen.org with the subject heading “Director of Sponsorship & Advertising.”

Online Marketing Associate (contract position)

About The Bay Citizen:
Founded in January 2010, The Bay Citizen is a nonprofit, nonpartisan member-supported news organization. Our mission is to enhance civic and community news coverage in the Bay Area, stimulate innovation in journalism, and foster civic engagement. With support from foundations, philanthropists, and individual members, and in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley Journalism School, The New York Times, and other media organizations, we are creating a model for what local, high-quality public service journalism will look like in the future. Our primary distribution channel is online at www.baycitizen.org, as well as The New York Times’s Friday and Sunday Bay Area Report. Over time we will also distribute content through mobile devices and podcasts. For more information please visit www.baycitizen.org.

Position Summary:
We are looking for a dynamic, results-driven Online Marketing Associate on a contract basis. This person will be responsible for generating traffic to our website through link development and outreach to other sites, social media marketing, search engine optimization, and search engine marketing. The ideal person is someone who recently started his or her online marketing career and feels passionate about taking ownership of online marketing activities for an innovative journalism start-up.

Responsibilities:
Plan, execute and analyze online marketing campaigns, including 1) editorial marketing through link building and direct outreach to other news sites and blogs; 2) social media marketing; 3) assistance with keyword optimization and other SEO efforts; and, 4) search engine marketing via Google Adwords and similar channels.

Editorial marketing and outreach
• Help identify and build relationships with established editorial brands, and drive links to Bay Citizen stories and other editorial features on a daily basis.
• Create and execute strategy for obtaining “reference links” on a wide variety of information websites, including government and university sites, listings sites, travel sites, local business sites, and others.

Social media marketing
• Coordinate and expand The Bay Citizen’s presence on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.
• Stay up to date on new social media tools and best practices, and communicate findings regularly to Bay Citizen staff

SEO
• Use web tools to track site traffic, rankings, and visitor activities, and inform staff of trends.
• Analyze keyword search traffic to baycitizen.org on a daily basis to identify most relevant keywords. Communicate findings to technology and editorial teams for keyword optimization
• Assist technology team in optimizing website meta-tags and link architecture

SEM
• Develop, maintain, and optimize search engine marketing campaigns, including daily evaluation of keywords, budgets, and ad performance
• Work closely with editorial to understand upcoming content and optimize paid keyword strategy
• Collaborate with technology team to develop successful copy, design and landing pages that correlate with campaign focus and targeting
• Assist with online marketing campaigns (may include banner advertisements, pay-per-click advertising, etc.)

Other: assist with other marketing and PR initiatives as needed

Skills/Qualifications:
• BA or BS, ideally in Marketing, Information Science, Advertising, Business, or Communications
• Interest in and passion for journalism in general and online news in particular
• 2-3 years of hands-on experience in online/media marketing
• Experience building and engaging social media audiences
• Strong passion for emerging web and social media technologies and an advanced knowledge of social marketing tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Digg, YouTube
• Clear understanding of SEO, pay-per-click advertising, and online marketing techniques (Search, Display, Behavioral, Viral, etc.)
• Working knowledge of web analytics and SEO and SEM tools including Google Analytics and Google Adwords, among others
• Great grasp of numbers with proficiency in Microsoft Excel or similar data analysis tool
• Ambitious, hard working, execution-oriented, eager to get results and succeed
• Able to work autonomously and independently within a start-up environment
• Excellent communication (oral and written), time management and organizational skills

If this job description meets your experience and interests, please send your resume and cover letter to jobs@baycitizen.org with the subject heading “Online Marketing Associate.”

Please note:

Due to the high volume of interest in opportunities with The Bay Citizen, we are unable to respond personally to all inquires and/or resume submissions. We will review all resumes, and if your work experience appears to be a good match with the job requirements, you will be contacted to schedule an initial interview.

Applicants who are not contacted are encouraged to reapply for future employment opportunities for which they qualify.

The Bay Citizen is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate because of race, color, creed, religion, sex, marital status, domestic partner status, ancestry, national origin, weight, height, physical or mental handicap, pregnancy, medical condition, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship, veteran status, or age.