VP of Marketing & Communications

Discover Durham is Durham, North Carolina’s marketing and sales agency, generating economic impact by drawing 12+ million leisure, business, and sports visitors to our vibrant community. Discover Durham also operates the Durham Sports Commission (DSC), a 501(c)3 whose mission is to create economic and social impact by leading the community’s efforts to attract, support and promote sporting events at every level. And Durham Next , a 501(c)3 created to lead the research, planning and implementation of initiatives put forth in the Destination Master Plan that advance Durham as the best place to live, work and visit.

The VP of Marketing & Communications is charged with the leadership and strategic direction of Discover Durham’s and the Durham Sports Commission’s innovative and impactful marketing efforts to attract visitors, elevate Durham’s national profile and strengthen the visibility and understanding of the visitor economy as a community asset. The role is responsible for building, stewarding and evolving Durham’s destination brand, ensuring it is distinct, authentic and consistently expressed across all channels, audiences and partners – as much as furthering and maintaining efforts to increase visitation across all paid, earned, shared and owed efforts.

As a member of the organization’s Leadership Team, the VP of Marketing & Communications leads a high-performing team that is at the center of it all, making data-driven decisions, using research, analytics and performance insights to guide strategy to ultimately optimize marketing investments and demonstrate impact. This role provides oversight to all marketing functions, leads long- and short-term strategic planning and aligns marketing efforts across key stakeholders in the future.

Organizational and Marketing Leadership

• Serve as a member of the Leadership Team and participate future-planning discussions, problem solving and decision-making for Discover Durham, the DSC and Durham Next.
• Lead the development and annual updates of the organization’s three-year strategic plan, including cross-departmental planning sessions, forecasting needs as projects evolve and presenting results to the Tourism Development Authority and other key stakeholders.
• Establish annual marketing goals, strategies and performance benchmarks aligned with organizational priorities, available resources and destination demand.
• Provide strategic leadership and oversight to all marketing functions, including but not limited to: advertising, brand strategy, public relations, media relations, content development, social media, digital marketing, creative services.
• Guide the organization’s destination research, analytics and insights strategy, ensuring research investments directly inform marketing effectiveness, destination performance and organizational decision-making and supporting the cultivation and stewardship of the organizations’ research portfolio.
• Ensure research outputs are translated into actionable, data-driven insights that inform marketing strategy and campaign planning, destination brand positioning and evolution, audience targeting and segmentation, community and stakeholder communications and measurement of the visitor economy’s impact.
• Lead, mentor and manage the Marketing department with direct reports spanning multiple functions and levels of seniority.
• Build and sustain a strong, inclusive Marketing team culture that reflects Discover Durham’s values and commitment to cultural competency.
• Encourage innovation, experimentation and continuous improvement across marketing initiatives, platforms and storytelling approaches.
• Co-lead the Durham Marketing Leaders Council with peers at Durham’s visitor top points of interest.
• Pursue professional development opportunities, certifications, board participation and industry engagement that advance organizational goals and elevate Discover Durham’s leadership within the community and the destination marketing field.
• Complete required administrative tasks accurately and in a timely manner. This would include, but not limited to, reporting, system entries, task updates, credit card reconciliations, and adherence to organizational processes and deadlines.

Destination Brand Strategy and Stewardship

• Lead the development, articulation and long-term stewardship of Durham’s destination brand, ensuring it is authentic to the community, distinctive to the competitive destination landscape and flexible enough to support multiple audiences (leisure travelers, sports tourism, residents, partners and stakeholders)
• Ensure consistent application of the destination brand across all marketing channels, campaigns, partner-facing materials and organizational communications.
• Define and further support Durham’s core brand pillars, differentiation factors and storytelling, translating them into compelling campaigns and content that resonate locally, regionally and nationally to drive visitation.
• Oversee brand research, audience insights and marketing intelligence to inform brand evolution and positioning over time.

Leisure, Brand, Sales and Sports Marketing Strategy

• Develop and refine marketing strategies that support measurable outcomes, including awareness, engagement, visitation and economic impact.
• Lead leisure marketing, destination stewardship, and sports marketing strategy, providing direction on Discover Durham, Durham Next and the DSC’s evolving marketing and communications planning and implementation.
• Provide leadership and final approval for major leisure campaigns, including out-of-market advertising, seasonal initiatives, brand campaigns and co-branded partner efforts.
• Collaborate with internal teams and external agencies to ensure campaigns are strategically sound, creatively compelling and measurable against clearly defined KPIs. • Identify new ways to meet traveler demand and increase awareness of Durham as an attractive leisure and sports destination amid shifting traveler behaviors and media consumption habits.
• Oversee the marketing support of the Durham Sports Commission and Discover Durham’s sales activities including supporting winning bids for new business, retaining and expanding existing events, elevating Durham’s brand awareness and visibility as a world-renowned host city.
• Strategize and serve as the communications leader related to increasing awareness of tourism related economic development as well as major initiatives that advance Durham Next’s mission, brand and work to implement the Destination Master Plan.

Strategic Communications, Advocacy Messaging and Reputation Management

• Find ways to celebrate the power of tourism and tourism-related economic development within our community, leading education and awareness campaigns or initiatives that increase understanding of the sector’s importance and impact.
• Lead executive-level communications and thought leadership strategy for Discover Durham, Durham Next and the Durham Sports Commission.
• Oversee reputation management efforts for all organizational brands, including crisis communications planning and responses as needed.
• Align organizational messaging with strategic public and private communication initiatives when appropriate and mission aligned.
• Support and collaborate with Sr. Director of Design & Research and Sr. Manager of Public Affairs to demonstrate tourism’s relevance and return on investment, clearly articulating our value to policymakers, partners and residents.
• Create and support opportunities to cultivate local ambassadors and proactive conversations around tourism and economic development.
• As warranted, develop advocacy campaigns for the hospitality industry and workforce as well as projects that strengthen Durham’s tourism economy.

Key Competencies and Attributes

• Visionary marketing leadership with strong executional discipline
• Deep understanding of brand strategy and destination storytelling
• Ability to translate data and research into actionable marketing insights
• Strong people leadership and cross-functional collaboration skills
• Comfort navigating public-private partnerships and community-facing work
• Commitment to equity, inclusion and responsible destination marketing

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business or related field required; advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive marketing and communications leadership experience, including managing high-performing, cross-functional teams.
• Proven success developing and executing marketing strategies that drive measurable outcomes such as brand awareness, engagement, visitation or revenue growth.
• Strong expertise in brand strategy, digital marketing and public relations leadership.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with experience collaborating across organizations and external partners; tourism, hospitality or destination marketing experience preferred.

Salary & Benefits

Discover Durham offers exceptional benefits, including employer-paid insurance premiums for staff and employer contributions to HSA, generous retirement contributions to the NC pension program, a flexible hybrid work schedule, an enviable vacation and holiday allowance, paid parental leave, a wellness stipend, a monthly mobile device stipend, paid downtown parking, and a great team of coworkers. It is a hybrid work environment, with employees expected to be in the office at least three days a week. Plus, you’ll work in a prime location on Main Street in the heart of downtown Durham.

As the VP of Marketing & Communications, you can expect a salary in the range of $110,000 to $125,000, commensurate with experience.

Discover Durham is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, race, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or status as a protected veteran.