As a Herschend Family Entertainment property, Adventure Aquarium is in the business of creating memories worth repeating by greatly exceeding guest expectations, serving others, making emotional connections, and seeking constant improvement. Financial stewardship, guest satisfaction, and team member satisfaction are our core areas of focus. We aim to be a great place to work for great people by leading with patience, kindness, humility, respect, unselfishness, forgiveness, truthfulness
Admissions Revenue & Marketing Director
About Your Role
As a business driver, you will lead the marketing and admissions revenue functions for Adventure Aquarium. You will be primarily responsible for developing marketing, ticket sales, and PR strategies and tactics to achieve attendance, revenue, and EBITDA goals. You’ll lead the day-to-day group sales, promotions, membership, and public relations efforts to deliver business targets. You will partner with our Atlanta-based Property Support Center (“PSC”) in delivering each of the elements in the Adventure Aquarium marketing mix with excellence. With a constant eye on attendance and other critical business metrics, you will be a hands-on leader who designs, leads, and executes shifts in strategy to reach established targets. To be effective and successful, you will provide strategic thinking, departmental leadership, partnership, and executional excellence in delivering property business goals.
What You’ll Do
- Develop annual ticket sales, marketing, and public relations plans; execute plans to deliver targets.
- Manage the operating calendar, attendance mix and capacity, and admission prices based on historical data, market conditions, trends, and competitive activity.
- Provide ongoing monitoring of business performance and goal attainment; recommend shifts in strategies and tactics as necessary to ensure financial plan attainment.
- Lead a team of six sales and marketing professionals to achieve business objectives and inspire the property as a whole toward “creating memories worth repeating” for every guest.
- Author campaign briefs, informed by guest insights and defined KPIs, to work with PSC to execute paid media creative, paid media placement, website updates, and email sends.
- Review and approve advertising strategy, creative concepts, media mix, weight, and timing; provide feedback professionally and in a way that demonstrates partnership with the PSC and respect for the process.
- Plan and administer the annual Marketing budget.
- Lead the development of consumer research and utilize existing tools and data to uncover insights, guide marketing strategy, and identify growth opportunities.
- Lead the process to identify, develop, and promote new products, including events, limited-time offerings, and up-sell opportunities. Play a vital role in developing the strategic plan and new exhibit concepts.
- Bring a spirit of collaboration and service to the position, applying insights to assist property leaders in determining where the aquarium brand has opportunity.
- Represent the Aquarium in the local community, tourism partners, national zoological networks, and industry-related meetings and conferences.
- Model and reflect the Adventure Aquarium culture to guests, partners, direct reports, supervisors, peers, and property and PSC leadership.
- Purposefully develop all direct reports through an ongoing commitment to growth, creating an environment of clarity in expectation, praise/recognition, and accountability.
- Other duties as assigned.
- Oversee the development and implementation of the aquarium’s membership program, providing strategic guidance to ensure the successful delivery of channel objectives.
- Oversee the development and implementation of the promotions strategy and plan, which leverages brand assets and paid/earned/owned media to establish Adventure Aquarium as a brand of choice with our target guests and drive visitation.
- Oversee the development and implementation of the annual group sales plan, providing strategic guidance to ensure the successful delivery of channel objectives.
- Oversee the development and implementation of all public relations and social media strategies and tactics.
- Oversee the implementation of all sponsorship agreements.
- Author campaign briefs, informed by guest insights and defined KPIs, to work with PSC to execute paid media creative, paid media placement, website updates, and email sends.
- Review and approve advertising strategy, creative concepts, media mix, weight, and timing; provide feedback professionally and in a way that demonstrates partnership with the PSC and respect for the process.
- Plan and administer the annual Marketing budget.
- Lead the development of consumer research and utilize existing tools and data to uncover insights, guide marketing strategy, and identify growth opportunities.
- Lead the process to identify, develop, and promote new products, including events, limited-time offerings, and up-sell opportunities. Play a vital role in developing the strategic plan and new exhibit concepts.
- Bring a spirit of collaboration and service to the position, applying insights to assist property leaders in determining where the aquarium brand has opportunity.
- Represent the Aquarium in the local community, tourism partners, national zoological networks, and industry-related meetings and conferences.
- Model and reflect the Adventure Aquarium culture to guests, partners, direct reports, supervisors, peers, and property and PSC leadership.
- Purposefully develop all direct reports through an ongoing commitment to growth, creating an environment of clarity in expectation, praise/recognition, and accountability.
- Other duties as assigned.
What You’ll Get
- Competitive base salary ranging from $105k-$120k
- 20% annual bonus potential
- Comprehensive benefits plan through Humana (Cigna in 2024) and Guardian
- Profit Sharing and 401K with company match, starting in January 2024
- Up to 100% paid tuition through GROW U program
- 2 weeks’ vacation, 1 week personal time, 1 week sick time, 8 paid holidays; all based on a full calendar year
- Free admission & 24 General Admission tickets annually, to be used by family and friends
- Complimentary tickets and occasional employee outings to other local attractions
- 30% Discount at our Retail and Photo areas, as well as in-house food vendors
Required Skills
Who You Are
You have a talent for balancing strategy and execution and are unafraid to get your hands dirty bringing your plans to life. You value the strength of a team and know it is better to go together than go it alone. You have a keen ability to cultivate data into insights, insights into action, and action into results. You are rewarded by constant improvement and leading others to success.
What You’ll Bring:
- 10+ years of progressive marketing or ticket sales experience required
- Minimum four years of leadership experience required.
- Bachelor's Degree in business or marketing preferred, (may be substituted with equivalent years of experience in a related field).
- Experience in for-profit attractions, theme parks, museums, or sports franchises is strongly preferred.
- Business leadership demonstrated through patience, kindness, trust, unselfishness, truthfulness, forgiveness, dedication, and humility.
- Expertise and passion for cross-functional collaboration with PSC (Property Support Center) team members and numerous partners to gain insights, resulting in an optimal plan.
- Ability to inspire and motivate property stakeholders towards a shared vision.
- Ability to accept feedback and sell ideas that will improve the business.
- Highly organized with strong verbal and written communication skills.
- Ability to work independently and cooperatively as part of a team.
- Ability to travel locally to attend expos and networking events during and outside scheduled hours.
- Ability to work a flexible schedule, including weekends, evenings, and holidays.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills and adoption of technology.
Special Requirements:
- Successful completion of pre-employment drug screening and background check
- Ability to speak, read, and write effectively in English
- Ability to operate a computer and keyboard
Experience Required
- 10+ years of progressive marketing or ticket sales experience required
Salary
- Base salary $105k-$120k + 20% annual bonus potential
