Case Study #1- Online Marketing Director
Client was looking to raise the level of expertise in all aspects of online marketing, particularly ecommerce. This particular company operates largely on an offline MLM business model and wanted to aggressively expands its online acquisition marketing efforts. They wanted someone who could collaborate closely with product managers and other departments, including executive level management, but also needed to be highly proficient with SEO/SEM, sponsored links, banner adds, mobile and email because of the small size and experience level of staff. It was critical that they understand how their work impacts the overall business goals (something we put a great deal of emphasis on). Candidate has been in the position for two years making significant accomplishments, and in fact, his duties and responsibilities have been expanded as a result of his success to date.
Case Study #2- Vice President of Digital and Direct Marketing
Client is a leading provider of life insurance through both affinity marketing and direct-to-consumer. Reporting to the CMO, this role is to provide company-wide leadership enabling the organization to achieve strategic direct marketing and digital marketing objectives by developing innovative, strategic programs to drive sales and website traffic. This individual will work closely with internal department heads and contribute significantly to the company’s Operating Committee. Position required the following core competencies against which we qualified potential candidates: Leadership, communication, strategic thinking, planning and execution, initiative and creativity. Our candidate has now been in this position for almost 3 years, and has been instrumental in putting my client “on the map” in online marketing in their industry.
Case Study #3- Director of Ecommerce
Assignment involved a nationwide search for the new Chief of Ecommerce for a $100M BtoB OEM and reseller. The accomplishments of our candidate during his multi-year tenure has been numerous, including: Conceived the strategy and drove development of their global internet presence (B2B eCommerce) for the company, managing an internal ecommerce operation including SEO/SEM, Email, Web Design and Development, and analytics; provided critical direction and strategic leadership to bolster the business through technology enhancements; leveraged his expertise in project management, communications, negotiations and team leadership to improve business performance through the application of technology; envisioned and spearheaded development of a stand-alone IR (B2C eCommerce) site to better utilize spare capacity; improved access to key sales data; guided the integration of salesforce.com with an ERP system; lowered costs and increased revenue flow; conceived and implemented a custom EDI solution designed to integrate with a variety of vendors and customers; facilitated integration of ‘near’ real time data with newly designed website; and guided a major overhaul of an existing ERP system that enabled this achievement.
Case Study #4- Director of Marketing
Our client is one of the nation’s largest suppliers of branded office products with annual revenues of more than $3 billion, and was seeking a Direct-to-Consumer Marketing Director to lead the ecommerce and consumer direct marketing team. It is noteworthy that they had attempted to fill this position on their own for six months before going to an outside search firm. When that search firm failed to find the right candidate, they turned to Bernhart Associates. The responsibilities of this position were wide and varied, managing ecommerce, email marketing, research, catalog, database marketing and analytics, and web merchandising, essentially almost VP-level (our candidate is the heir apparent to the VP). It required expertise in developing and implementing the direct and digital marketing strategy as well as managing product selection, pricing strategy, promotions and affiliate marketing opportunities. We needed someone with a proven track record of increasing customer acquisition through effective SEO and SEM (website conversion), achieving high levels of consumer retention and leading and supervising a consumer marketing staff of nearly 20 people. Our candidate brought a strong history of profitable channel management and driving business growth, a deep background in online marketing including paid search, SEO, affiliate marketing and social media, solid experience in consumer segmentation strategy, strong management skills, and experience collaborating with brand teams (the company does the majority of its marketing through retail channels, but putting growing emphasis on its direct-to-consumer channel).
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