Big Sea, a digital marketing agency and full-service HubSpot partner, is looking for an experienced Search Marketing Strategist to join our team in beautiful downtown St. Petersburg. As a Search Marketing Strategist, you will be responsible for developing and executing search marketing strategy for a diverse range of retainer-based clients located across North America.  We need your deep knowledge of search engine marketing, social media advertising, analytics, and conversion tracking to complement our strong inbound marketing team.

You will bring your technical knowledge, enthusiasm for managing people and clients, top-notch communication skills, and breadth of SEM experience to Big Sea, and in return, Big Sea will give you an environment where you can grow personally and professionally, find satisfaction in your impact and accomplishments, and be compensated for your success.

This role requires a deep appreciation for the digital technology space and an insatiable desire to stand out from the crowd.

You will report directly to the CMO, but additionally will work with the Content, Design, and Development teams to ensure you're collaborating on ideas for producing interesting, buzzworthy campaigns.

Core Responsibilities

Together with your cross-functional team, you will help create comprehensive digital marketing strategies for our clients, covering all aspects of their digital presence including paid, earned, owned and shared touch points. Your clients may range from higher education to local medical providers, from windsurf equipment dealers to international eCommerce retailers.

Strategy

• Create effective ranking strategies for client keyword and marketing goals

• Align SEO efforts to campaign and strategic efforts with help of your cross-functional team

• Consult on media strategy such as search, display, social, sponsored content and influencer outreach and be able to execute on said strategy

• Leverage experience in digital media planning and buying

• Manage the strategy and planning of paid search and social campaigns, managing the launch of each program, optimizing each program to meet specified performance objectives and managing client expectations and communications throughout the duration of the engagement

• Oversee and direct client's budgets, keeping their various campaigns within these budgets

• Identify and develop the most effective and cost-efficient paid search programs

• Research and select keywords to drive content strategy, including ad copy and landing pages

• Utilize strong analytical skills to identify important data points and drive business decisions; analyze and report on campaign performance

• Set and update budget caps and make sure accounts are pacing properly based on predetermined spend

• Troubleshoot changes in performance

• Keep current on the latest trends in the search marketing space

• Manage IOs and budgets with search engines, specifically Google AdWords

• Review websites for SEO technical precision, pre- and post-launch

• Analyze data, determine insights and develop recommendations to optimize the experience/messaging

• Identify new distribution channels and marketing opportunities for B2B and B2C clients

• Complete in-depth traffic and ranking reports using tools like SEMRush, SpyFu, Hubspot and Google Analytics

ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT

• Maintain open and consistent dialogue with clients and internal team on account status and health, goals, next steps, etc.
• Look for opportunities to maintain and grow client relationships
• Manage and maintain positive relationships with clients.

COMMUNICATION

• Help prepare monthly and quarterly reports and lead status meetings with selected clients
• Deliver engaging, informative, well-organized presentations as needed
• Understand how to communicate difficult/sensitive information tactfully
• Resolve and/or escalate issues in a timely fashion

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of five years working full-time in a related marketing role
• Demand generation campaign experience
• Strong client/partner relationship skills and confidence for challenging negotiations
• Mature problem-solving skills for triage of complicated business logic
• Reporting and analysis (Excel dashboards, Google Analytics)
• Strong track record of advanced search engine optimization campaign skills
• Google Analytics and AdWords certified

EMBRACE CORE VALUES

• Open & honest, always - Early, often and even when it's difficult.
• Own it - Be invested in your work & understand the “why.” Be passionate, and strive to continually improve our industry.
• Smile - Foster enthusiasm and fun, while remaining professional. Be relaxed; work without fear of mistakes.
• Elevate & educate - Teach, share, learn, and contribute.  Be positive and collaborative, this is a team sport!
• Think long-term - Consider future ramifications of all choices.  
• It's all personal - Be approachable, reliable and act in a manner that is welcoming to our clients, to your colleagues, and to our community.