Head of Marketing

Salary:£40,000 per annum
Contract: 12 months Fixed Term Maternity Cover – 40 hours per week

is a registered charity, inspiring a lifetime of creativity for audiences, artists and participants throughout Plymouth and the wider region. As the principal home of performing arts in the Southwest, we engage and inspire many communities, creating memorable experiences for people from all backgrounds. TRP do this by creating and presenting a breadth of shows on a range of scales, with their extensive creative engagement programmes, by embracing the vitality of new talent and supporting emerging and established artists, and by collaborating with a range of partners to provide dynamic cultural leadership for the city of Plymouth.

As the largest and most well-attended regional producing theatre in the UK, we present diverse productions on our three stages: The Lyric, The Drum, and The Lab. With a regional population of over 2.1 million, we employ 300+ dedicated staff, including leading artists and craftspeople, and attract over 300,000 annual audience members.

About You

We’re looking for someone full of enthusiasm and with a creative mind, who’ll be able to maintain their strategic approach in amongst the glitz of theatre This a demanding role that requires energy and focus.

You’ll have a track record in one or more areas of Strategic Communications, Marketing, Development, Media Relations, or Advocacy, and be able to confidently demonstrate transferable skills and experience that will support your delivery in these areas.

You’ll have a strong understanding of the wider considerations required to lead audience and revenue focussed teams in an ever-evolving marketplace and be able to deliver multi-faceted campaigns to support the work of the charity in this regard.

You’ll be a champion of efficient and dynamic communication strategies, and be able to review, update and deliver against these.

You’ll have experience of developing and delivering strategic advocacy campaigns for short, medium, and long-term objectives, have strong commercial and financial awareness, and be an experienced and collaborative line manager who can set clear routes to goal delivery and support team development.

The Role

This is a key and exciting role within the Leadership Team of TRP. In collaboration with the wider Leadership Team, you will lead the strategic direction of TRP. You will support your teams to deliver our new Creative Strategy- creating, making, building, and presenting world class theatre in Britain’s Ocean City.

Core Responsibilities:

• Oversee TRP’s marketing output to deliver highly effective campaigns that engage audiences and support the organisation’s strategic objectives.
• Ensure marketing activity reaches financial targets, is segmented and targeted, delivered on brand and that assets and communications are of the highest standard.
• Lead audience development plans and ensure these are delivered and evaluated to meet business plan objectives.
• Manage departmental budgets and ensure accurate delivery whilst keeping a firm focus on ROI.
• Provide excellent leadership for the Marketing Manager, Media & Communications Manager, Development Manager, Digital Content Manager and Design Manager, and their teams, ensuring the strategic alignment of the teams’ outputs to support the Vision & Mission of TRP.
• Develop and manage relationships with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders to ensure the impact of TRP’s charitable work is understood, valued, and supported via a year-round programme of communications and events.
• Ensure all marketing, communications and digital activities are in line with TRP’s brand, Creative Strategy, and business objectives.

Principal Tasks:

• Enhance the customer journey with other Heads of Department and maximise opportunities to enrich our patron experience.
• Identify and maximise opportunities to generate additional revenue and enhance patrons’ experience and loyalty.
• Lead the planning, development and delivery of the marketing and digital strategy using a full mix of communications and marketing tools, including digital and social media, advertising, Front of House spaces, direct marketing, web development, email marketing and the production of brochures and flyers.
• Liaise with TRP producers, co-producers and external visiting companies and their agencies on all elements of campaigns, artwork, and performance.
• Provide leadership and support to the Marketing Manager in the delivery of the day-to-day running of marketing campaigns and report on their performance against agreed targets and audience segments. Ensure effective evaluation mechanisms are in place to measure success.
• Support the Media & Communications Manager in the development and execution of an annual media and communications strategy to promote the work that TRP undertakes across the region.
• Work with the Design Manager to ensure that all TRP collateral adheres to brand guidelines. Set and maintain standards of excellence in design and brand across Marketing and Communication teams, and across the organisation.
• Support the Digital Content Manager in keeping TRP at the cutting edge of digital communications.
• Identify strategies and opportunities with the Development Manager to generate further income through both our individual and corporate Membership schemes.

Responsibilities & Skills:

• Actively contribute as a member of TRP’s Leadership Team, delivering against strategic goals and TRP’s Creative Strategy.
• Provide inspirational leadership and effective management within the department, ensuring that team members are motivated, developed and empowered to achieve excellence.
• Ensure all systems, processes and procedures within the department are compliant with all relevant legislative and industry best practice standards.
• Champion TRP and ensure our strategic ambitions and Creative Strategy are confidently represented within a range of internal and external forums (both inside and outside of our industry).
• Facilitate and support the attendance and contribution of team members to internal TRP project groups and external networks.
• Facilitate regular two-way communication within your department to ensure that strategic objectives and operational priorities are understood, and that any organisational change is clearly explained and implemented supportively and with empathy.
• Act as a role model and champion of our core values and ensure that these are demonstrated positively and consistently across all areas of responsibility.

Tasks:

• Hold financial responsibility for the work of your department, including budget setting and management in line with business plan objectives, monitoring income and expenditure across the year, and understanding and reporting variances that might arise as part of any forecasting process.
• Plan and support the delivery of effective recruitment, induction, and development of new team members in line with TRP recruitment policies, and to oversee the welcome, induction and settling in of new team members within the department.
• Coordinate departmental activity appropriately ensuring that time, budget, and resource is allocated fairly and consistently to support the achievement of daily tasks and agreed project work on time and within budget.
• Develop the potential of your teams by encouraging skills training and shared learning.
• Provide reports to producers and the TRP Executive team.
• Provide pastoral support to Managers within your department in line with TRP’s Positive Performance Framework
• Set and monitor KPI’s for the department in line with operational requirements and objectives of TRP’s Creative Strategy & Business Plan.
• Cultivate a positive, supportive work environment for your department that provides opportunity for regular ongoing communication and feedback, supports individual and team wellbeing, and creates the conditions for success.
• Build, maintain and develop strategic relationships within our region, our industry, and your area of expertise.
• Fulfil all other reasonable duties that may be requested by your line manager.

Person specification

We are committed to our core values of quality, diversity, creativity, and collaboration. Everyone who works here, no matter what their function in the team, is expected to deliver their job and work with colleagues bearing these values in mind. As a values-led organisation, it is expected that the post-holder will be an established leader, committed to ongoing professional development of themselves and the teams that report to them, and be accredited by relevant bodies. As a Head of Department at TRP, you will be expected to:

• Be self-motivated and able to use initiative to identify improvements and develop new skills, training, and solutions.
• Possess excellent project management skills with strong personal administrative techniques and be able to assess the needs of stakeholders and support others to deliver to deadlines.
• Set standards of quality and drive a culture of continual improvement.
• Act with discretion and display high levels of trustworthiness when dealing with confidential information.
• Be flexible, willing, and able to respond to the demands of a public facing organisation that operates 52 weeks a year, and where the show must always go on.

Values

In addition, for the role of Head of Marketing & Communications, we hope to find someone with the following values-led attributes:

Collaboration:

We communicate openly, listen, and make sure we understand people’s needs. We value and respect the relationships we have with colleagues, artists and partners and celebrate our shared successes.

• Excellent Line Management skills with a passion for supporting and inspiring teams.
• Personable and an excellent communicator.
• Interacts and works confidently with a wide variety of individuals (TRP colleagues, Producers, visiting companies, industry peers, agencies, and suppliers).
• Builds relationships with industry and local peers to maintain a solid and supportive understanding of current and possible trends.

Creativity:

We use our knowledge, experience, and judgement to explore doing things differently. We aim to empower everybody in the organisation to adopt a flexible, open-minded, and imaginative approach.

• Imaginative and enthusiastic approach to finding and testing creative marketing ideas.
• Ability to manage a personal workload, setting own priorities and working on multiple projects, targets, and deadlines.
• Strong evaluation ethos with the skills and passion to understand and celebrate the impact of marketing activity.

Diversity:

We embrace and value difference and individuality; treating everyone as equally important. Together we are stronger and more effective.

• Able to challenge and develop our established practices to ensure TRP operates as inclusively as possible.
• Able to consider the needs of a variety of audiences and create innovative and effective ways to engage with groups and communities.
• Works with a wide variety of colleagues from senior staff to casual employees across the organisation.

Quality:

We take responsibility for and pride in what we do; recognising each other’s good work. We consistently exceed expectations in all that we do and ensure that everyone has the skills to achieve excellence.

• Significant and relevant experience in a Marketing role.
• Strong understanding of the use and application of marketing data sources and a passion for meeting and exceeding targets.
• Excellent attention to detail and communication skills.
• Excellent time management skills with the ability to prioritise your own and your team’s work.
• Able to represent TRP and your team at internal and external events.

Closing date: 25 April 2024