Hybrid Strategic Marketing Lead, K12 Schools

at Follett Content Solutions

• Job title: Strategic Marketing Lead, K12 Schools
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Senior
• Salary: $110,000 - $130,000 per year
• Degree requirement: No Education Requirement
• Location requirements: Hybrid, McHenry, United States

About the role

• Strategic Marketing Lead for K12 Schools developing and executing marketing strategies; collaborative role enhancing brand and engagement.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement comprehensive marketing strategies for K12, driving growth, engagement, and retention.
• Partner with business leadership to align marketing plans to overall company goals, market trends, and customer needs.
• Partner with product management to shape product roadmaps based on customer and market insights.
• In partnership with Product, lead positioning, messaging, and go-to-market strategy for key products, services, and brand initiatives.
• Champion a unified brand identity while tailoring communications and campaigns to the unique priorities of each ICP/target persona.
• Partner closely with Product Management, Corporate Marketing, Demand Generation, Sales, and Customer Success to ensure cohesive storytelling and market alignment.
• Serve as main point of contact for all marketing-related inquiries.
• Prepare presentations, when requested, that highlight marketing plans, actions, outcomes, etc.
• In partnership with Product Management, serve as company expert on K12 — funding, competitive landscape, customer challenges, etc.
• Stay current on trends in education, libraries, literacy, and publishing to inform strategy and uncover growth opportunities.
• Use data and market research to understand customer behaviors, persona challenges, and decision-making.
• Gather feedback from customers, sales, and partners to continuously refine messaging and product-market fit.
• Translate insights into actionable marketing strategies and differentiated positioning.
• Champion development of marketing campaigns that drive awareness, demand, and loyalty across channels (email, web, events, social, PR, etc.).
• Collaborate closely with demand/lead generation, creative, and communications teams to optimally execute campaigns.
• Lead the creation of launch plans for new products, services, and features.
• Direct thought leadership and storytelling initiatives that reinforce the company’s role as a trusted partner to K12 schools.
• Be responsible and accountable for ensuring a consistent and high-quality customer experience through all asset development.
• In partnership with Product teams, ensure products and services are merchandised effectively on Titlewave and follettcontent.com and align to campaigns, as appropriate, to ensure maximum impact.
• Work closely with Curations Team to ensure we have updated lists to support all key initiatives and special occasions celebrated by schools at optimal times of year.
• Responsible for the strategic development and tactical execution of integrated marketing plans focused on both retention plays and growth where applicable (grow wallet, grow market share).
• In partnership with business/pillar leadership, develop strategies and tactics to elevate referral business where applicable.
• Establish KPIs and work in partnership with marketing analytics resources to build dashboards to optimally track marketing effectiveness and ROI.
• Live a continuous process improvement mindset through testing, data analysis, and performance optimization.
• Take responsibility for campaign development related to other strategically related initiatives as needed to support business goals.
• Working in close partnership with sales leadership, identify marketing activities needed to support Sales in reaching company-established K12 goals.
• Oversee all asset creation ensuring each adheres to brand standards and is accurate and effective.
• Partner with sales leadership to align marketing and sales strategies, ensuring mutual visibility, optimal timing, and accountability for results.
• Collaborate with customer success, product, and operations teams to enhance the customer experience wherever possible.
• Support executive communications and brand/thought leadership initiatives that reinforce our market leadership position.
• Work in partnership with events and demand gen team to ensure our presence at events (national and regional/local tradeshows) is reflective of current focus areas/strategies and all assets adhere to brand standards, are accurate, and position us well to engage with prospective and current customers to drive retention and new business where applicable.
• For national conferences, support event strategy and ensure proper pre-, during, and post-event plans are put into place, measured, and shared with internal conference attendees.
• Work closely with Director of Partner Management/Publisher Relations to ensure close collaboration on cooperative advertising campaigns and assets targeted to K12 specific buyer personas to ensure maximum impact.
• In partnership with other senior leaders, support existing growth areas and identify future areas for growth, determine potential revenue impact, and project what investment would be needed to achieve that growth.
• Communicate regularly with all marketing team members on expansion activities and ensure the team is allocating the appropriate resources and budget to support expansion.
• Prepare and submit budget and related reports.
• Ensure revenue and expenses meet or exceed budget.
• Forecast and accurately project expenses.
• Take corrective action to address variances.
• In partnership with VP of Marketing and other marketing leads, evaluate freelancers and/or contractors, as needed, to support workload. This includes vetting, contract negotiations, communications, onboarding, and management.

Requirements

• 10+ years of progressive marketing leadership experience, ideally in K12 education, publishing, libraries, or related sectors.
• Proven success managing strategic marketing across multiple customer segments or business lines.
• Strong understanding of library systems, educators, literacy trends, and book buying workflows.
• Demonstrated ability to translate insights into actionable marketing strategies and measurable results.
• Proven track record of successfully launching new products and growing brand presence in existing markets.
• Strong understanding of project management and how to manage the priorities of multiple stakeholders in a complex environment, while keeping focus on the delivery of results in the form of awareness, engagement, revenue, and retention.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and interpersonal skills, with a demonstrated ability to influence and align stakeholders at all levels.
• Ability to work and thrive in a fast-paced, ever-evolving environment and be intellectually curious.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to leverage data and insights to develop actionable strategies and recommendations.
• Passionate about reading, learning, and the library community.
• Strong project management skills with a history of successfully leading and delivering complex initiatives.
• Flexibility to adapt to changing priorities and manage ambiguity.
• Demonstrated leadership skills, including the ability to motivate and inspire cross-functional teams.
• Deep understanding of market trends and product lifecycles.
• Sharp negotiation tactics.
• Market research and assessment experience.
• eCommerce experience is highly desired but not required.
• Experience in product marketing is highly desired but not required.

Benefits

• None specified