Paid Advertising Manager, The Ascent

Who are we?
The Motley Fool’s mission is “To make the world smarter, happier, and richer." For nearly 30 years that has meant providing impartial and informed investment recommendations with a healthy dose of personal finance guidance on the side. Ever the insatiable Fools that we are, our coverage has continued to expand as we seek to empower everyone with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to attain financial freedom.

We launched The Ascent, a Motley Fool service, in 2018 to rate and review critical personal finance products like credit cards, savings accounts, mortgage lenders, and stock brokerages, as well as provide jargon-free advice on topics ranging from how to navigate getting out of debt to choosing the best insurances for a rainy day. There’s some good (and a lot of bad) money advice out there, and The Ascent is cutting through the noise that often leaves people feeling helpless and insecure about these key financial decisions. 

In just 6 short years, The Ascent has grown rapidly to become one of the leading sites in its space. We see a huge opportunity in front of us, and this role is a key component to our future success. That’s where you come in!

What would I do in this role?

The Paid Advertising Manager Role is responsible for owning direct response affiliate marketing budgets for various personal finance verticals within Google & Microsoft Ads. In this role, you will be responsible for identifying, creating, and scaling cost-effective direct response campaigns across several new and established verticals. You will help shape the strategy for each ad network and vertical you work with. You will develop advertising campaigns, manage them in the ad platform, produce copy and creative assets, identify and grow prospecting and remarketing audiences, use data to inform strategy, and manage a significant marketing budget to achieve company-goals.

The right candidate will thrive in a highly entrepreneurial, fast-changing, and collaborative environment where people are motivated, enthusiastic, not afraid to take risks, and proactively share ideas.

But what does this role actually do?

Campaign Management:

• Plan, execute, and optimize paid advertising campaigns across Google & Microsoft Ads. Monitor and analyze campaign performance, adjusting strategies and conducting testing to maximize ROI.
• Provide updates on campaign performance and management to the team.

Strategy:

• Execute and enhance existing SEM, Demand Gen, and Performance Max strategies by critically assessing current campaigns, challenging the status quo, and implementing innovative approaches to expand market share and improve profitability.
• Own the end-to-end process of launching new verticals in SEM, Demand Gen, and Performance Max by developing tailored landing pages, collaborating with Analytics teams to establish robust reporting systems, crafting compelling ad copy, and conducting thorough audience and competitive research to ensure a successful market introduction.

Ad Copy & Creative Development:

• Create compelling, conversion focused ad copy and visuals
• Conduct A/B Testing to refine ad creative and improve campaign performance

Budget Management:

• Set, manage, and optimize advertising budgets to achieve conversion and  ROI objectives
• Identify opportunities for cost savings and efficiency improvements

Data Analysis:

• Utilize analytics tools to measure and analyze performance to extract actionable insights to inform optimizations and identify new opportunities based on business data. 
• Understand our tools & data flow to be able to identify if something isn’t working as expected and needs review.
• Stay updated on industry trends and ad platform changes

Testing & Conversion Rate Optimization:

• Work with our Conversion Rate Optimization team to identify on-site opportunities and conduct tests across paid marketing efforts to continuously improve results.
• Create, implement, and test copy on landing pages associated with your owned ad efforts.
• Assess & test new advertising channels/platforms, marketing tools, and affiliate partnerships as needed to support business needs and growth.

Cross Team Collaboration

• Collaborate with Business Development, BI, Tech, Compliance, Legal and other teams as needed to support performance and growth of paid advertising efforts. 

What do you need to apply?

• At least 3-5 years of performance marketing experience owning SEM channels with a focus on conversion optimization and revenue generation.
• Experience managing direct response marketing budgets and revenue goals of significant scale.
• Excellent analytical and quantitative skills, and the ability to use data to optimize day-to-day performance, build efficient and scalable direct response initiatives, and a relentless drive to beat the control.
• A customer-centric mindset, collaborative attitude, and the motivation to work entrepreneurially on a lean, dynamic team.
• Nice to haves:
• Experience with direct response affiliate marketing principles and methodologies.
• Exposure to advertising with compliance and legal limitations.
• Experience and excitement around the world of personal finance! 

Please note, no sponsorship is available for this position. You must reside in, or be willing to relocate to, one of these states for employment: California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington DC, and Wisconsin.

Below you’ll see a few of our perks, but check out out Careers Site for the complete list: 

• Flexible, remote work environment (*see our open states above)
• No “vacation policy” (not to be confused with a “No vacation” policy)
• Generous fully-paid parental leave
• $1,000 annually to invest in stocks of your choice
• Super low premiums for medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Comprehensive compensation package, including company equity