Chief Marketing Officer
Chicago, IL
Salary target $250-280K
Chicago Public Media (CPM) is seeking an experienced and dynamic Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) to lead and oversee the marketing, circulation, and membership efforts for the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ. This role is pivotal in driving member and subscriber growth, retention, and engagement while managing a diverse marketing team and the head of internal and external communications.
Key Responsibilities:
- Circulation and Membership Oversight:
- Develop and execute strategies to increase and retain the Chicago Sun-Times circulation and WBEZ membership base, currently comprising 130,000 members and subscribers.
- Manage and optimize single-copy sales for the Chicago Sun-Times.
- Subscriber Acquisition and Retention:
- Implement sophisticated subscription marketing and recurring revenue business models.
- Utilize direct mail, email marketing, paid media, and paid social channels for subscriber acquisition.
- Develop pricing and packaging strategies to enhance subscriber value and drive revenue growth.
- Marketing Leadership:
- Oversee the marketing team, providing direction, mentorship, and support to achieve strategic goals.
- Guide brand building, brand identity, and strategic positioning initiatives to strengthen the CPM brand portfolio.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure cohesive and effective marketing campaigns.
- Communication Management:
- Lead the head of internal and external communications to ensure clear, consistent, and compelling messaging across all platforms.
- Foster strong relationships with media, stakeholders, and the community to enhance CPM’s visibility and reputation.
- Leadership
- Team-building: recruiting, training, managing, and nurturing marketing and comms staff through goalsetting, mentorship, evaluation, and recognition. Deep experience as a visible and effective leader and the ability to recognize and nurture talent while building and retaining a successful team.
- Advisor: acting as a trusted advisor to the Chief Executive Officer and contributing as a member of the leadership team on the development and implementation of strategic marketing and brand-building campaigns and membership growth
Desired Traits
- Passion: a passion for public media and a commitment to the belief that a shared, independent, and trusted public media space remains central to an effective and informed democracy.
- Marketing and Comms Leadership: Leading and thriving in all marketing, communications, and membership growth and sustainability.
- Vision: An ability to articulate and execute a marketing and comms vision for Chicago Public Media to internal and external stakeholders;
- Communication: The ability to communicate clearly and effectively to diverse audiences internally and externally as an advocate for public media and Chicago Public Media’s objectives and goals.
- Cultural competency: A high level of cultural competency and a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace expressed in both approach and experience.
- Collaborative: A desire to work as a team member, work across internal and external stakeholders, and strategically partner with and support the CEO, Board of Directors, other leaders, and the development team in identifying marketing opportunities and strategies.
- Technology: A high level of competency with technology and an aptitude for mastering new technology.
Qualifications:
- Proven experience in a senior marketing role, preferably within the media or publishing industry.
- In-depth understanding of subscription marketing, recurring revenue business models, and subscriber acquisition methods.
- Demonstrated success in direct mail, email marketing, paid media, and paid social campaigns.
- Strong expertise in pricing and packaging strategies.
- Exceptional leadership and team management skills.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities.
- Strategic thinker with a passion for brand building and market positioning.
About Chicago Public Media
Chicago Public Media (CPM) is seeking an experienced and dynamic Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) to lead and oversee the marketing, circulation, and membership efforts for the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ. This role is pivotal in driving member and subscriber growth, retention, and engagement while managing a diverse marketing team and the head of internal and external communications.
Chicago Public Media is a leader in public media, dedicated to delivering trusted news and exceptional storytelling. With a commitment to our community and a passion for innovation, we connect, inform, and inspire through our diverse array of platforms.
Chicago Public Media believes independent journalism is essential to a well-functioning democracy and access to fact-based, objective news and information is a right of every citizen. The organization serves the public interest by creating diverse, compelling content that informs, inspires, and enriches. It connects diverse audiences and helps them make a difference in their community, the region, and the world. Chicago Public Media employs many who are inspired by its mission and want to belong to an organization that inspires, supports, and challenges.
Home to the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ, Chicago Public Media (‘CPM’) is one of the country’s largest local nonprofit news organizations. WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times serve more than 4.4 million people weekly across broadcast, print, and digital platforms. Chicago Public Media’s mission is to strengthen the well-being of local communities and democracy through independent local journalism. Its newsrooms produce accessible, trusted news, information, and programming that helps all Chicago area residents make informed decisions every day, and Chicago Public Media aspires to become the essential and most trusted news source Chicago turns to each day to understand the people, events, and ideas that shape America’s third-largest metropolitan community.
Chicago Sun-Times is Chicago’s oldest continuously published daily newspaper. It is known for its hard-hitting investigative reporting, in-depth political coverage, timely behind-the-scenes sports analysis, and insightful entertainment and cultural coverage. Winner of eight Pulitzer Prizes, the Sun-Times is known for capturing America’s third-largest city’s spirit and diverse essence. Over the years, it has also been home to nationally celebrated voices like Roger Ebert, Ann Landers, and Mike Royko.
WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR news station, serves the community with fact-based, objective news and information. WBEZ’s award-winning journalists ask tough questions, dig deep for answers, and expose truths that spark change and foster understanding. In addition to its local and national news programming, WBEZ Chicago is home to its midday talk program Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons and a growing portfolio of popular podcasts, including the “Making” series of Making Beyoncé, Making Obama, and Making Oprah, an investigative podcast series, Motive; Nerdette; and Curious City. WBEZ Chicago has a legacy of innovation as the birthplace of nationally acclaimed programs such as This American Life and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! and the ground-breaking podcast, Serial. Listen live at WBEZ 91.5FM, wbez.org, or on WBEZ’s mobile app. During the past five years, Chicago Public Media has significantly expanded the size and ambitions of its newsroom. In addition to bringing nationally syndicated public radio news and talk shows to a Chicagoland audience, its award-winning newsroom desks cover education, criminal justice, politics and government, race, class, and communities. It’s a live, two-hour show on WBEZ, Reset, and drives and further expands the daily conversation during midday listening hours. Chicago Public Media has expanded its community engagement initiatives with community conversations around issues that intersect with its reporting, in-depth exploration of specific topics and discussions in a live event setting, curated live podcast events, and a newsmaker series with prominent journalists and business, civic, and cultural leaders.
Reporting Relationships: The Chief Marketing Officer will report to Melissa Bell, the Chief Executive Officer. In addition, the Chief Marketing Officer will be a member of the CEO’s Executive Leadership Team and oversee a team of 20.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: To fulfill its mission, Chicago Public Media is committed to creating a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive organization that is reflected in the work it produces, the policies it practices, and the culture it perpetuates. This vision of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive future requires it to prioritize the hard work that must be done with a commitment to openness and transparency. As Chicago Public Media embarks on this journey, its efforts focus on three initiatives: recruiting, hiring, and retaining a diverse staff at all levels, cultivating a culture of inclusivity and opportunity, and aligning its content and audience with the demographics of its coverage area. If you are interested in the role but don’t meet every point in the job posting, please apply with a cover letter to let us know how to bring your unique skills to the team.
Key Colleagues: Chicago Public Media’s incoming Chief Executive Officer Melissa Bell. Bell co-founded Vox, the industry-changing explanatory news network launched in 2014 to bring context and clarity to the news. Under her leadership, Vox became an award-winning multiplatform newsroom with over 11 million subscribers to its YouTube channel and an audio slate that includes the flagship daily news show Today Explained, one of the nation’s top 20 podcasts. Bell also served as Vox Media, Vox’s parent company, publisher beginning in 2016, overseeing the company’s editorial brands and playing a critical role in shepherding Vox Media’s merger with New York Magazine, along with their premium brands of Vulture, The Cut, Intelligencer, Grub Street, and The Strategist. The merger brought together 13 distinct newsrooms that earned 50+ National Magazine Awards, 20 James Beard Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, and a News & Documentary Emmy.
To Apply
All applications must be accompanied by a cover letter and résumé. Cover letters should be responsive to Chicago Public Media’s mission—to serve as a cornerstone of the public conversation, a central pillar of civic community, and a heart of innovation within public media. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the successful candidate has been selected.
If you are interested in this position, please visit this link to apply. To nominate a candidate, please contact Leonor Ayala: leonor@url-media.com. All inquiries will be held in confidence.
