Verified Job
Advertising - Public Relations
Marketing & Publicity Director - Books & Retail
Advertising - Public Relations
#30469
Remote / WFH
Highlights for Children
Job Description
Marketing and Publicity Director – Books & Retail
Department: Consumer Business
Reports To: Vice President, Books & Retail
Position Summary:
The Marketing and Publicity Director leads the Books and Retail marketing function as a commercial growth driver. This role owns retail and B2B marketing, equips the sales organization with high-impact tools and programming, and drives consumer demand generation for titles where pull marketing is a meaningful lever. Amazon and online retail marketing are excluded from this remit.
Own major retail promotions, trade advertising, retailer partnerships, and trade show marketing that strengthen sell-in, visibility, and sell-through.
Lead B2B marketing to national accounts, booksellers, librarians, and teachers — increasing awareness, institutional demand, conversion to orders, and hand-selling support.
Own publicity and campaign activity for select titles, including PR strategy, media outreach, review coverage, influencer and creator partnerships, and buzz-building.
Lead demand generation for titles where placement alone is not the primary sales driver — focusing resources on books with strong upside that require consumer pull.
Partner with Sales and Amazon to support POS growth for key titles and the broader list through coordinated, commercially focused marketing activity.
Partner with Product Development and Design to contribute to title positioning, packaging, cover direction, and concept shaping.
Ensure all marketing assets — copy, visuals, positioning, and campaign materials — are high quality, commercially effective, and aligned to channel needs.
Oversee creative production and design execution for marketing assets, ensuring quality, speed, and alignment to priorities.
Establish, monitor, and act on key marketing KPIs across campaigns, promotions, B2B programs, publicity, email, title performance, and sales enablement.
What you should show up ready to teach anyone on your first day:
How to build marketing programs that strengthen sell-in, improve sell-through, and support POS performance across retail and institutional channels.
How to equip a sales organization with compelling tools, messaging, and programming that improve buyer engagement and selling effectiveness.
How to identify which titles require true demand generation and focus resources accordingly.
How to market effectively to librarians, teachers, booksellers, and national accounts in ways that build awareness, relationships, and institutional demand.
Within your first month, you’ll:
Build working relationships across Sales, Amazon, Product Development, Design, and other key partners.
Gain a clear understanding of the list, annual priorities, title segmentation, and the distinction between placement-driven titles and those requiring demand generation.
Assess current marketing plans, campaign priorities, trade show commitments, external relationships, and resource allocation — identifying the highest-value improvement opportunities.
Evaluate the quality and effectiveness of current sales materials, merchandising support, email programs, campaign assets, and publicity efforts.
Review how marketing currently supports national accounts, booksellers, librarians, and teachers — identifying opportunities to improve engagement and commercial impact.
Assess campaign planning, creative production, project management, and cross-functional communication to identify execution gaps.
Evaluate external partners and relationships to determine where stronger rigor, prioritization, or expanded reach is needed.
Establish a working view of key marketing KPIs and where stronger reporting and attribution are needed.
Within your first year, you’ll:
Strengthen the overall commercial effectiveness of the marketing function across retail, B2B, publicity, and sales support.
Improve POS support for priority titles and contribute meaningfully to stronger title performance in partnership with Sales and Amazon.
Elevate the quality and effectiveness of sell-in materials, retailer marketing, sales conference programming, merchandising support, and campaign assets.
Build stronger, more productive relationships with national accounts, booksellers, librarians, teachers, media contacts, influencers, and other external partners.
Department: Consumer Business
Reports To: Vice President, Books & Retail
Position Summary:
The Marketing and Publicity Director leads the Books and Retail marketing function as a commercial growth driver. This role owns retail and B2B marketing, equips the sales organization with high-impact tools and programming, and drives consumer demand generation for titles where pull marketing is a meaningful lever. Amazon and online retail marketing are excluded from this remit.
Own major retail promotions, trade advertising, retailer partnerships, and trade show marketing that strengthen sell-in, visibility, and sell-through.
Lead B2B marketing to national accounts, booksellers, librarians, and teachers — increasing awareness, institutional demand, conversion to orders, and hand-selling support.
Own publicity and campaign activity for select titles, including PR strategy, media outreach, review coverage, influencer and creator partnerships, and buzz-building.
Lead demand generation for titles where placement alone is not the primary sales driver — focusing resources on books with strong upside that require consumer pull.
Partner with Sales and Amazon to support POS growth for key titles and the broader list through coordinated, commercially focused marketing activity.
Partner with Product Development and Design to contribute to title positioning, packaging, cover direction, and concept shaping.
Ensure all marketing assets — copy, visuals, positioning, and campaign materials — are high quality, commercially effective, and aligned to channel needs.
Oversee creative production and design execution for marketing assets, ensuring quality, speed, and alignment to priorities.
Establish, monitor, and act on key marketing KPIs across campaigns, promotions, B2B programs, publicity, email, title performance, and sales enablement.
What you should show up ready to teach anyone on your first day:
How to build marketing programs that strengthen sell-in, improve sell-through, and support POS performance across retail and institutional channels.
How to equip a sales organization with compelling tools, messaging, and programming that improve buyer engagement and selling effectiveness.
How to identify which titles require true demand generation and focus resources accordingly.
How to market effectively to librarians, teachers, booksellers, and national accounts in ways that build awareness, relationships, and institutional demand.
Within your first month, you’ll:
Build working relationships across Sales, Amazon, Product Development, Design, and other key partners.
Gain a clear understanding of the list, annual priorities, title segmentation, and the distinction between placement-driven titles and those requiring demand generation.
Assess current marketing plans, campaign priorities, trade show commitments, external relationships, and resource allocation — identifying the highest-value improvement opportunities.
Evaluate the quality and effectiveness of current sales materials, merchandising support, email programs, campaign assets, and publicity efforts.
Review how marketing currently supports national accounts, booksellers, librarians, and teachers — identifying opportunities to improve engagement and commercial impact.
Assess campaign planning, creative production, project management, and cross-functional communication to identify execution gaps.
Evaluate external partners and relationships to determine where stronger rigor, prioritization, or expanded reach is needed.
Establish a working view of key marketing KPIs and where stronger reporting and attribution are needed.
Within your first year, you’ll:
Strengthen the overall commercial effectiveness of the marketing function across retail, B2B, publicity, and sales support.
Improve POS support for priority titles and contribute meaningfully to stronger title performance in partnership with Sales and Amazon.
Elevate the quality and effectiveness of sell-in materials, retailer marketing, sales conference programming, merchandising support, and campaign assets.
Build stronger, more productive relationships with national accounts, booksellers, librarians, teachers, media contacts, influencers, and other external partners.
