Applications are invited for the post of Digital Marketing Officer. Please complete an application form and submit with your CV at https://ptes.org/apply-for-a-job. The closing date for applications is 5.00 pm on Wednesday 1 September 2021 and the proposed date for interview is Wednesday 8 or Thursday 9 September 2021 (please ensure that you would be able to attend if requested).

About People’s Trust for Endangered Species

Whether bats or beetles, hedgehogs or hyenas, we stand up for animals and their habitats.  The delicately balanced ecosystem that we all depend on is under threat. Alarmingly, in the UK almost two-thirds of species declined in the last 50 years. Globally, around a quarter of mammals face extinction in the next three decades. This rate of loss can be stopped and that’s why People’s Trust for Endangered Species exists. For 40 years we’ve improved the outlook for endangered species in Britain and throughout the world.

Passion drives our work but it’s grounded in science. Our approach is to invest in research and test the best ways to protect endangered species in their natural habitats. Then we put what works into action, creating vibrant wildlife havens.

Our work is varied and extensive, ranging from direct support for conservation professionals to involving the public and volunteers in practical action to help specific species and their habitats. Current priority species are hedgehogs, dormice, water voles and invertebrates and our priority habitats are orchards, woodlands, hedgerows, wood pasture and parkland. As well as carrying out our own work, which focuses particularly on British mammals, we also support conservation work throughout the world. Recent projects funded range from protecting slow lorries in Indonesia to conserving Persian leopards in Iran.

We have 20 staff, five trustees and thousands of volunteers helping us.

Job Purpose

We have a successful track record of engaging people in our work. Already thousands of people interact with us each year mostly through doing one or more of our wildlife surveys or other public engagement activities but also through buying goods online, signing up to our enews and by donating. The main focus of this role is to attract new potential individual and corporate supporters to us, enthuse them to volunteer, donate and then to stay with us. The emphasis of the work is on devising and implementing:

• a rolling programme to excite and enlist new supporters with associated follow up to maximise participation and gain donations
• effective supporter journeys that inspire people already engaged with our work to maximise participation and elicit donations

To reflect the importance of our need to raise income, this role sits within the fundraising team, working closely with colleagues who oversee the individual giving strategy. The postholder will also liaise regularly with conservation staff running activities that rely on public engagement.

Duties and responsibilities

Engaging new audiences

• Building mainly online (occasional off-line) promotional campaigns by reviewing and documenting the routes existing supporters came from and identifying areas of previous success.
• Planning target audiences for marketing each activity appropriately, identifying where marketing for different purposes can overlap and dovetail.
• Devising, implementing and testing off- and online (mainly Facebook) advertising campaigns, including copywriting advertising materials and liaising with the Design and Communications Officer over images, appearance and technical specifications and with the Digital Communications Officers over timings of digital advertising.
• Coordinating with the Individual Giving Manager, to plan and implement other donor acquisition campaigns across the calendar year. Potential campaigns include seeking donations for advice packs, gifts, shop discounts etc and occasional external events. 
• Running (mainly) digital campaigns to attract suitable volunteers for PTES surveys and other public engagement activity and planning subsequent fundraising conversions.
• Dovetailing clear and low maintenance supporter communication journeys for people engaged through any new activity into the ongoing existing communication plan.
• Analysing campaign responses and conversions using online and offline data to set and measure targets, forecast returns, RoIs, producing reports on each campaign including analysis in relation to the overall fundraising strategy and setting yearly targets for income and recruitment.

Managing and converting existing non donors

• Working closely with colleagues leading surveys and campaigns, reviewing and documenting the communications that non-donors receive, taking account of digital and postal communications, style and frequency of communications, and calls to action.
• Interrogating the supporter database to gain insight into existing supporter history.
• Revising and creating supporter journeys to maintain the prime interest of non-donors alongside the desire to diversify their experience and encourage other interaction where possible, in particular donations.
• Implementing the agreed journeys in concert with relevant staff including copywriting communications (emails, social media messaging, printed materials) using the appropriate voice for PTES and contributing ideas for still and video images also consistent with our brand.
• Working closely with the Design and Communications Officer over the content for the design of communications and the timings of dispatch.
• Preparing insightful data briefs to ensure that communications are appropriately targeted.
• Continually monitoring the effectiveness of journeys to give insight into numbers repeating activity, engaging in new activity and donating and, in the process, identifying typical timescales before taking action, assessing the quality of those actions, and the main attrition risk points, and adjusting plans accordingly.
• Maintaining existing partners and documenting reasons for loss of partners.
• Seeking new corporate partnerships with appropriate partners undertaking due diligence to ensure they fit well with our ethos.
• Being sufficiently flexible with relationships to attract new partners whilst working within a common framework to minimise stewardship admin.
• Seeking opportunities for ways corporate partners can support other fundraising effort (eg in-kind support of goods or services).
• Liaising with the Digital Communications Officer responsible for the online shop when exploring opportunities with retailers and other suppliers wishing to tie in products to our shop.

Managing and developing corporate partners

·         Managing existing relationships with corporate supporters, ensuring commitments are honoured each way (such as promotion and acknowledgements), and ensuring funds are collected at appropriate intervals.

Other tasks

• Ensuring campaigns are to budget, meeting objectives and advising on variances.
• In the event that fundraising agencies are used (subject to budget), developing and managing relationships with such agencies to achieve defined objectives, giving feedback and controlling budgets.
• Devising content for website and social media connected with marketing, including donation forms, webpages and social media copy.
• Liaising both internally and externally with numerous stakeholders, supporters and others.
• Helping with other tasks as advised by the Chief Executive.

Relationships

Internal:

• Working within the fundraising team and also with conservation staff running wildlife surveys and campaigns.

External:

• PTES contacts and potential supporters through multiple communication channels and occasional public events.
• Businesses and other organisations already or likely to support PTES’ work through corporate membership which manifests itself in a variety of forms.
• Supplier agencies providing fundraising support.
• External marketing channels and suppliers.
  

Person Specification

Essential knowledge and experience

• University degree or equivalent.
• Good knowledge and experience of communications and direct marketing best practice and techniques including use of digital and traditional media channels.
• Experience of running digital campaigns, especially Facebook.
• Experience of writing copy for a variety of media channels.
• Understanding of the importance of analysing data, and ability to interrogate a database for insights relevant for effective marketing and to analyse results.
• Understanding of the hands-on nature of a small charity or organisation.
• Commitment to our goals and values and an interest in biodiversity and conservation demonstrated through academic achievements and/or voluntary work in the sector.
  

Essential skills

• Excellent organisational skills, ability to work on own initiative, and to manage simultaneous projects, often with conflicting priorities.
• Self-motivation, a general ‘can do’ cooperative manner, and the ability to work both independently and as part of a close-knit team with a passion for conservation, understanding the limitations of a small charity.
• Strong communication skills and ability to relate and converse confidently with a wide range of people with diverse backgrounds face to face and remotely.
• Ability to inspire confidence and deliver results.
• Proven ability to write clearly and appropriately for internal and external audiences, particularly online.
• Proven ability to manage projects, meeting objectives on time and on budget
• Ability to work with consistent accuracy and attention to detail.
• Strong digital literacy, a thorough understanding of the digital landscape, and an aptitude for quickly acquiring new digital skills.
• Flexibility for occasional  out of hours work such as attending an external event.
  

Desirable selection criteria

• Experience of using a Raiser’s Edge database or similar (eg ThankQ, Care, Salesforce).
• Experience of writing content for (WordPress) webpages, editing page layouts and creating donation forms.
• Experience of working with digital colleagues structuring websites for specific audiences.
• Experience of managing marketing agencies and suppliers.