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Director of Marketing and Audience Development

Manager, Digital Marketing

Director of Development

Assistant Web Editor

Development Intern (Paid, Flexible Hours)

Arts & Culture Internship

About the Forward

Director of Marketing and Audience Development

Job Description

The Director of Marketing and Audience Development is responsible to drive audience growth and engagement for the Forward's newspapers and websites; to maximize revenue from subscriptions and memberships; and to manage marketing resources, budgetary and human, in support of advertising sales, major gifts and grants, and other efforts.

Working collaboratively with other senior executives, and reporting to the associate publisher, the Director of Marketing and Audience Development leads all marketing-related strategy, messaging, creative, operations, and analytic tasks and initiatives in support of advertising, fundraising and circulation/audience development. Direct reports include staff in circulation, traditional and digital marketing and audience development.

This role is particularly exciting, and critical, because the Forward is at a crucial moment in its 117-year history, conducting the most significant repositioning since its transition from a Yiddish-language newspaper to a multilingual, primarily English, multiplatform news organization. Always independent and nonprofit, the Forward became a 501(c)(3) just five years ago, reflecting and facilitating the increasingly central role of donations to support its ambitious journalistic mission.

The successful Director of Marketing and Audience Development will be passionate about the Forward's products and mission, skillful in generating creative marketing and membership programs and eager to participate actively in their execution.

STRATEGY

• Serve as a proactive thought leader, looking at trends and innovations and envisioning how these can be effectively leveraged at the Forward, and syndicating these ideas throughout the organization.
• Develop and execute a cross-platform audience development plan that describes and prioritizes marketing, public/media relations and operational initiatives to optimize the Forward's subscriber acquisition and renewal efforts, improve distribution and sales, and increase print and online audiences.
• Engage with editorial and advertising colleagues to develop, test and launch new "vertical" content products - such as e-newsletters, scheduled and special sections, and events - that will enlarge our audience, increase their engagement and create new advertising opportunities.

MARKETING

• Draft the annual marketing plan and manage spending according to the departmental budget.
• Develop and leverage a deep understanding of the Forward's audience demographics, psychographics and behavior patterns, the Forward's online and print editorial products, trends in the Forward's competitive space, and insight on advertiser needs, to create effective ad sales stories. Direct design and delivery of all messaging, presentations and proposals, sell sheets and other creative executions.
• Stay abreast of industry best practices and monitor competitive media to inform and lead senior management consideration of pricing, product, promotion and distribution.
• Initiate and manage market research, from readership surveys to discrete category research projects that support the sales effort.
• Manage public and media relations activities to maximize the visibility of the Forward, its editorial content and its leadership as a key element of broader audience development activity.
• Conceive, manage, test, and optimize direct mail, telemarketing, online marketing, event-based and affinity marketing campaigns designed to grow donor/membership, print circulation and online readership, and to increase penetration into key audience segments.
• Work with the editorial departments to effectively use social media and SEO to deepen the Forward's relationship with various audience segments.
• Work with distributor(s) and point-of-sale partners to improve the Forward's placement.
• Identify, execute upon, test, and optimize the full range of renewal-increasing opportunities.
• Oversee management of all Forward public, advertiser and donor events.

OPERATIONS

• Report regularly on departmental financial results, and explain variances between projected and actual revenues and expenses.
• Ensure circulation is in compliance with post office periodical regulations and audit rules. Oversee the AAM audit process managed by the Circulation Manager.
• Ensure that all online promotions are in compliance with the most recent governmental privacy and other regulations.
• Work with staff and vendors on every step of the paper distribution process to ensure cost-effective and timely delivery of the English- and Yiddish-language print editions.
• In partnership with the Director of Advertising, develop and implement:
  • An effective process to develop and create collateral materials to support an aggressive sales effort to develop a broader base of advertisers for print and digital products;
  • Innovative pricing, packaging and positioning programs to drive multimedia sales.
• In partnership with the Director of Development, create a segmented communications plan and messaging for donor acquisition and retention.

Requirements

The Director of Marketing and Audience Development must have:

• Creativity and drive.
• A proven track record of building audience and revenues for a media company.
• Experience with digital advertising and audience development methods (e.g., social media, SEO) and knowledge of best practices.
• Outstanding project management and analytical skills.
• Financial management skills, to include budgeting and forecasting.
• The ability to write effective marketing copy for online and offline environments.
• The proven ability to hire and manage a successful marketing team.

To Apply

E-mail your résumé and personal statement to search@forward.com with "Marketing & Audience Development" in the subject line.

The Forward Association, Inc., is an equal opportunity employer.

Manager, Digital Marketing

Job Description

The digital marketing manager leads digital and social media marketing activities and coordinates efforts with the editorial web team on behalf of marketing/audience development and other business-side functions. He or she develops proposes and implements advertising, marketing, social media and public relations strategies to improve and augment engagement with target audiences.

This role is particularly exciting, and significant, now as the Forward is conducting the most significant brand relaunch in its 117-year history, a project in which the digital marketing manager will play an active role.

This position reports to the director of marketing and audience development.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute digital marketing plans, including social media, search, public relations and other channels to engage target audience segments.
• Promote engagement with target audiences by identifying niche communities, organizations, and influential individuals in the digital world.
• Coordinate implementation of new brand guidelines across digital activities.
• Provide real time intelligence on trending topics and competitive developments to editorial and business leadership.
• Manage and measure the impact of social-media strategies for the marketing department.
• Advise marketing department and senior management on new developments in digital media and technology.
• Manage relationships with third-party vendors of digital services, and identify new digital revenue opportunities for the company.
• Plan and execute to achieve traffic and transactional targets.
• Serve as contact point and liaison with outside blogs, newsletters, websites, app producers, and other disseminators of content aimed at audiences congruent with ours to promote placement of Forward content and links.
• Participate in product planning and development.
• Coordinate with the marketing manager on public events to promote them selectively on social media and other digital platforms.
• Recommend opportunities to expand interactive and multimedia elements on forward.com.
• Devise new means of capturing email addresses, generating Facebook “likes,” and attracting Twitter followers.
• Compile, analyze and report relevant audience and engagement metrics across platforms.
• Additional duties as assigned by the director of marketing and audience development.

Requirements

The digital marketing manager must have:

• Advanced skills and substantial experience in social media, including close knowledge of how to maximize the reach and impact of content on Facebook, Twitter and other social-media platforms.
• Strong familiarity and skill with the interactive aspects of new media.
• Resourcefulness to devise means of using interactivity to build loyalty among multiple demographic niches.
• Working knowledge of emerging communications technologies.
• Training and experience in journalism, marketing communications or public relations.
• Ability to communicate clearly and persuasively in writing.
• Interest in issues pertaining to the American Jewish community.
• Experience in (and enthusiasm for) interpreting data to formulate action plans.

To Apply

E-mail your résumé and a cover letter explaining your interest to search@forward.com with "Digital Marketing" in the subject line.

The Forward Association, Inc., is an equal opportunity employer.

Director of Development

Job Description

The director of development, part of the senior executive team at America's premier Jewish media organization, is responsible for generating a significant portion of the revenue necessary to sustain a storied 117-year-old nonprofit to produce and deliver world-class, independent journalism for and about American Jews.

The director of development will work closely with the president/publisher and board to identify and engage individuals and foundations as potential major donors, to coordinate board members' giving, and to direct processes relating to acquisition, fulfillment, recognition and renewal of grants and contributions. He or she will represent the organization in a variety of external settings, and will participate with editorial and business staff colleagues in developing and implementing strategies for audience and donor engagement.

The director of development reports directly to the president/publisher.

Responsibilities

• Identify, cultivate and solicit contributors and prospects to secure and increase major gifts, including planned giving and grants.
• Promote and support complementary fundraising efforts by the president/publisher and board members.
• Assist the president/publisher, the board and its development and nominating committees to recruit and develop board members actively engaged in ensuring organizational sustainability.
• Create cultivation and recognition events, leveraging other public activities of the organization when possible and desirable.
• Lead the development team — composed of a manager, grant writer (new position, currently vacant) and interns — and oversee its operations, including prospect research, donor database management, and reporting.
• Collaborate with the marketing and audience development team on public relations and marketing initiatives impacting major-gift and grant-acquisition efforts.

Requirements

The development director must have:

• Proven record of success in obtaining major gifts from individuals and foundations
• Outstanding oral and written communication, collaboration and team leadership skills
• Five to 10 years' management experience in development, with direct involvement in planned and annual giving and grant writing
• Familiarity with regulatory and legal requirements for 501(c)(3) nonprofits and their fundraising activities
• Awareness of cultural, social and political issues pertaining to American and global Jewry
• Close knowledge of the Jewish philanthropic community
• Facility with digital and social media, office applications and CRM/fundraising databases

Familiarity with journalism and digital media, Yiddish language and culture is helpful.

Compensation

Competitive compensation, commensurate with experience, and excellent benefits including individual or family medical coverage, pre-tax flexible spending accounts, disability insurance, vision care, and 401(k).

About The Forward

The Forward is American Jewry's essential, independent news organization, delivering incisive coverage of the issues, ideas and institutions that matter to American Jews with rigorous, unbiased reporting and balanced, thoughtful commentary on news, politics, arts and culture that are acclaimed in the news industry. The Forward produces enlightening and entertaining multimedia content in English and Yiddish through a variety of newspapers, websites, blogs, videos, podcasts, e-books and apps.

Founded in 1897, the Forward has the entrepreneurial spirit of a startup. It occupies a unique position of independence as a nonprofit news organization, beholden to no institution, denomination or political faction.

To Apply

E-mail your résumé and personal statement to search@forward.com.

The Forward Association, Inc., is an equal opportunity employer.

Assistant Web Editor

Job Description

The Forward seeks a creative aspiring journalist with illustration, photography and graphics skills to serve as assistant web editor. The successful candidate will be hired as a Forward Fellow, which is a one-year entry-level position with full benefits.

The ideal candidate will have the creative chops and technical know-how to create smart, fun images, illustrations and graphics for the Forward.com website, across a broad range of topics from news and opinion to arts and features. He/she should surprise and amaze our audience on a daily basis with inventive ways of visualizing stories about changing Jewish attitudes to Israel, the rising cost of belonging to synagogue, explaining why so many Nobel prize winners are Jewish or the demise of kosher restaurants on the Lower East Side.

Along with this visual role, the fellow would help a growing team of five editors run the Forward’s vibrant and fast-growing web site. He/she will also play a key role managing our presence on a number of social media and other platforms.

Responsibilities

• Identify and create photos, illustrations and graphics for the forward.com web site.
• Help push out content and run social media across the Forward’s numerous platforms.
• Assist in running the forward.com site, including posting and editing stories blog posts and multimedia.

Requirements

• Proven experience creating illustrations, graphics and multimedia elements for the web.
• Outstanding oral and written communication, collaboration and team leadership skills.
• Advanced degree in journalism preferred.
• Experience in social media management.
• Superior writing and editing skills — and great nose for news.
• Knowledge of the Jewish world is desired.
• Working knowledge of either Hebrew or Yiddish would be a plus.

Compensation

Competitive compensation, commensurate with experience, and excellent benefits including individual or family medical coverage, pre-tax flexible spending accounts, disability insurance, vision care, and 401(k).

About The Forward

The Forward is American Jewry's essential, independent news organization, delivering incisive coverage of the issues, ideas and institutions that matter to American Jews with rigorous, unbiased reporting and balanced, thoughtful commentary on news, politics, arts and culture that are acclaimed in the news industry. The Forward produces enlightening and entertaining multimedia content in English and Yiddish through a variety of newspapers, websites, blogs, videos, podcasts, e-books and apps.

Founded in 1897, the Forward has the entrepreneurial spirit of a startup. It occupies a unique position of independence as a nonprofit news organization, beholden to no institution, denomination or political faction.

To Apply

Send a resume, cover letter and samples of work (including graphics) to digitaljobs@forward.com.

The Forward Association, Inc., is an equal opportunity employer.

Development Intern (Paid, Flexible Hours)

Tasks and Responsibilities

• Prospect research
• Maintaining constituent records
• Gift processing and acknowledgement
• Preparing queries and reports
• Assisting at development events

Qualifications

To succeed in this position, you must be well-organized, self-motivated and reliable, capable of multitasking and scrupulously accurate data entry. You must have excellent written and oral communication skills in English, sharp Internet research skills and comfort using Microsoft Word and Excel. Familiarity with Raiser's Edge or other donor databases is also desirable.

If you're interested in public/nonprofit journalism and Jewish philanthropy, that couldn't hurt.

To Apply

Send a cover letter and resume to development@forward.com.

The Forward Association, Inc., is an equal opportunity employer.

The Arts & Culture Internship

The Forward is seeking a talented, enthusiastic, motivated writer to serve as an intern on our arts & culture team. The internship is geared towards students and recent graduates who are self-starters and show initiative in spotting and pursuing stories, have good critical-thinking skills, can synthesize information quickly and accurately, and don’t mind working long hours as part of a team to produce excellent stories. The internship may be for pay or for college credit.

Knowledge of contemporary Jewish issues and affairs and the Jewish arts scene is a plus. The ideal candidate will have had at least one journalism internship. He or she will have good writing and reporting skills and a background in arts and features reporting as well as writing. The internship will consist of a combination of assisting the arts and culture team with administration and research as well as developing stories on your own. The reporter should be able to spot stories of Jewish interest not covered in the mainstream media, or look for uncovered angles in those that do make the MSM. He or she will receive mentoring by experienced editors and will take part in the same professional opportunities afforded the staff.

The Arts & Culture intern will:

• Write regularly for arts and features sections.
• Attend art openings, film screenings, concerts, and so forth
• Master the Forward's content management system.
• Contribute to special sections.
• Post blogs and stories on the Web.
• Help with proofing of the paper.
• Write blog posts for The Arty Semite
• Assist with web production on the blog and arts section
• Assist with photo research
• Assist with finding ways to make stories pop online with multimedia

The arts and culture intern will be encouraged to pitch stories for the paper and the blogs. He or she will also be encouraged to blog daily and must commit to working at least three days a week in the newsroom for a minimum of 10 weeks.

Interested candidates, please send a resumé and links or pdf's for 3 clips to Anna Goldenberg: goldenberg@forward.com.

About the Forward

The Forward delivers incisive coverage of the issues, ideas and institutions that matter to American Jews. Its rigorous reporting and balanced commentary on politics, arts and culture have won numerous awards year after year, including repeated recognition by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily, the Forward soon became the most widely read Jewish newspaper anywhere, with a larger circulation in the 1920s than the New York Times. It chronicled the events that affected a population of immigrants eager to take their place in American life, and published regional editions around the country before any other newspaper.

The English Forward was launched as a weekly in 1990. Its perspective on world and national news, and its unparalleled coverage of Jewish arts and culture, have made it the most influential nationwide Jewish media outlet today. More than half a million readers visit forward.com each month for award-winning news, thoughtful commentary, and captivating videos. And more than 40,000 subscribers receive e-newsletters that highlight the latest stories and areas of special interest like Arts & Entertainment and Food & Drink.

The Forward has always been a nonprofit association and is supported by the contributions of its readers.