Marketing Communication Specialist

Close To My Heart, a leader in the scrapbook and stamp industry, is looking for a Marketing Communication Specialist (MarCom) to be a part of our Marketing team. This position will support the marketing team through the project management of printed and online tasks, making sure all are on time, on budget, and on strategy, as well as help define, articulate (verbal and written), and manage the strategic messaging platforms of the company. We are located in Pleasant Grove, Utah. This is a full-time, in-house position.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Work with internal clients to initiate all projects. Initiations include objectives, audience, unique selling propositions, supporting points, look and feel requirements, specifications, budget, timeline, milestones, and final deliverable.
• Write marketing and strategic copy for the web and print collateral pieces while being a project team leader in the communications area to produce all written messaging for the company and partner with management team to craft branding strategies/product naming conventions, product packaging position, etc.
• Work closely with a cross-functional team of designers, writers, instructional technologists, purchasing, product development, in-house clients, and management.
• Deliver web-specific products and projects to include e-commerce and promotional/campaign pieces; manage a corporate website, public and authenticated site, various HTML newsletters, online surveys, image archives, and replicated website offering for the sales field.
• Deliver print-specific pieces including training manuals, marketing publications, brochures, postcards, catalogs, advertisements, how-to publications, product packaging, banners, event collateral, and web items.
• This position requires independent motivation and strong creative and fact-finding abilities. The position will require personal productivity.
• The position also requires significant team interaction and leadership abilities, include strength in tact, persuasion, problem-solving, listening, customer service, and follow-though.

Qualifications/requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, business, or English required
• A minimum of 2 years experience in business, marketing, or public relations is required beyond degree
• Exceptional writing skills with an extensive portfolio including marketing copy, ad copy, persuasive/editorial copy, instructional copy and script writing
• Strong project management skills with exceptional attention to detail, particularly in a content-rich, production-intensive environment (publishing, media, or agency experience preferred)
• Web experience not required, and no programming/application knowledge is necessary, but candidates should have a strong aptitude for technology and be able to learn new applications and methods quickly

Visit our web site at www.closetomyheart.com

How to Apply:

Interested candidate should send resume and writing samples (see below for sample instructions) to stacys@closetomyheart.com including job title “Marketing Communications Specialist” in the subject line. Please include salary requirements.

For full consideration, please submit the following writing samples with your resume:

• 1 long writing sample (anything of at least 2,000 words: book chapters, manual excerpts, training course, video script, etc.)
• 2 short writing samples (anything of 500 words or fewer: a review, advertising copy, press release, article excerpt, etc.)

An on-site editing/writing test will be a part of the interview and selection process.

Scrapbook Artist

Close To My Heart, a leader in the scrapbook and stamp industry, is looking for a part-time scrapbook artist to be a member of our art studio. This position will support the Creative Marketing team through the design and creation of artwork for printed and online collateral, making sure all are on time, on budget, and on strategy. Artwork may include layouts, handmade cards, 3-D items, and home décor.

Qualifications & Responsibilities:

• Create artwork for semi-annual catalog
• Self starter
• Deadline driven
• Problem solver
• Respond well to feedback
• Remain creative under strict guidelines
• Understand and follow trends both inside/outside of the scrapbooking industry
• Interest in scrapbooking and/or crafting
• Excellent organization skills with attention to detail
• One year experience scrapbooking and stamping preferred, but not required
• Working knowledge of Photoshop is a plus

Other duties may be assigned to meet business needs.

Visit our web site at www.closetomyheart.com

Hours:

Hours vary based on demand and can range from 5 to 31 hours per week.

Rate:

$12/hour

How to Apply:

Interested candidates should send resume to carlier@closetomyheart.com including job title “Scrapbook Artist” in the subject line. Please include your preferred schedule.

For full consideration, all candidates will be required to submit a portfolio that includes the following artwork samples:

• At least three examples of scrapbook pages
• 2–3 handmade cards
• 2 or more 3-D/home décor type items

Portfolios may be mailed or dropped off to the front desk at Close To My Heart, 1199 W. 700 S., Pleasant Grove, UT 84062. Please label all portfolio items “Attention Carlie Robertson” and include your contact information so that we can return your portfolio when we have completed the hiring process.

Interaction Production Designer

Department: Creative Services

Reports to: Art Manager—IxD (Creative Services > Marketing)

Interaction Design (IxD) team members at Close To My Heart design, curate, and improve our external and internal web applications and experiences. We’re looking for an Interaction Production Designer who will work with content producers, interaction designers, and developer teams in a rapid-prototype environment to contribute to development and production considerations. Your portfolio and interview should demonstrate an appropriate level of visual thinking, planning, communications skills, and attention to detail. Here’s what we’re looking for:

• You have one to three years’ experience working in interaction/multimedia experiences.
• You have proficiency in HTML and CSS standards-based front-end development.
• Have additional proficiency in Javascript or ASP/.net environments? That’s a plus, but it isn’t required.
• Have familiarity in working with content management systems? That’s a big plus, but it isn’t necessarily required.
• You have good communication skills and the ability to self-manage multiple and simultaneous assignments in a small, dynamic team environment.
• You’re attentive to detail, you’re a self-starter, you have the ability to identify directions and needs, and you love technologies that make web experiences better.
• Naturally, you have proficiency in Adobe CS applications, but if you have additional skills in audio, video, and/or other related multimedia production applications, that’s also a huge plus.
• You’ve got a college degree or certificate in visual, web, or interaction design, or related fields or you have equivalent work experience that makes you a good fit.

Does this sound like you? Let’s talk. Please email a resume and appropriate links to work projects to dougs@closetomyheart.com. Thanks.

Would you like your company’s job listed on Scrapbook Update? Please email your listing to nancy[at]scrapbookupdate.com for posting. 

Want to stay up-to-date on all the latest scrapbook news?

Today Lain Ehmann joins Scrapbook Update as our guest blogger.

Lain Ehmann is CEO and co-founder of Ella Publishing Co. A former “Simple Scrapbooks” contributing editor, she is the author of “Snippets: Mostly True Tales from the Lighter Side of Scrapbooking.” She blogs at Five Things.

Why can’t we all get along?

American Crafts buys Pebbles, Inc. Rhonna Farrer, Heidi Swapp, and Janet Hopkins band together to create House of Three. Colorbok buys Heidi Grace from Fiskars. In addition to creating an entertaining game of corporate musical chairs to observe, mergers and partnerships like these say that the time of cooperation is at hand for the scrapbooking industry.

Social media is ushering in a new era of interactivity between companies, even those who appear to be at odds with each other. The Internet is such big property that one company or entity can’t cover it all, and the only way to make an impact is to team up. A great example of this is our very own Nancy Nally working with Noell Hyman of Paperclipping. Instead of viewing each other as competitors, they’ve teamed up to bring a very valuable – and fun! – resource to the scrapbooking community via Paperclipping News Break.

An area where I’ve seen rampant and impressive RAKs (random acts of kindness, for the uninitiated) is in the digital scrapbooking arena. In my experience, digital designers go above and beyond to promote other digital designers. For example, in a recent article for Ella Publishing Co.’s Scrapbook Ellaments eZine, digital designer Jodie McNally sang the praises of Paislee Press. “When I’m in need of a perfectly precise, quirky quote… I go straight to Paislee Press,” she writes. It reminds me of the scene in “Miracle on 34^thStreet” when Macy’s gained tons of great press when their Santa Claus forwarded children on to competitors when the toy they wanted couldn’t be had in-store. Not to call “Scrooge,” but when’s the last time you heard Stampin’ Up! sending people over to Close to My Heart?

Speaking of good ole’ Stampin’ Up!, they’ve been taking quite a beating lately. When they mandated that their demonstrators sever Internet ties with non-SU entities, the backlash was swift and immediate, with many demonstrators choosing to lay down their Stampin’ Up! aprons rather than forsake their friendships. The statement was clear: Consumers, employees, and industry bystanders have seen the power of connection and aren’t willing to relinquish their personal or professional networks in favor of corporate short-sightedness. And they shouldn’t have to.

Despite the economic realities of our times, the scrapbooking pie is a large one. Rare is the consumer who uses exclusively one product line; most have scrap rooms where Fiskars punches are used on Bazzill cardstock, and Fancy Pants patterned paper co-exists peacefully on the shelf next to Piggy Tales. It’s time for the manufacturers to realize the next generation is about interaction and support, not exclusivity and isolationism.

For manufacturers and designers who want to make their way in today’s social media but don’t know how, here are a few starting points:

Twitter. Open a Twitter account and freely offer your expertise and support to those around you – yes, even to your competitors! If that’s too big a step, start with companies or designers who sell complementary products rather than competing ones.

Facebook. Become a Facebook fan of a competitor. When you do so, the news is relayed to your entire network – what a powerful statement of solidarity!

Blogs. Mention a cool product you saw from a competitor on your blog. Go over to their blog and leave a supportive comment. Or in your next tutorial, use products from a competitor and give them credit. Instant karma boost!

To me, the future is clear: Those who pair up and work together will prosper, while those who insist on going it alone will suffer and eventually die off. Survival for all of us in this global economy, in this recession, depends on partnerships. After all, if you Tweet in the forest and there’s no one around to hear it, does it make any noise?

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In April 2009, Creative Memories became the new back cover advertiser for Creating Keepsakes. The slot had been vacated by direct sales company Close To My Heart after many years, because CTMH decided to focus their advertising efforts online. Creative Memories only stayed for 6 issues, however, and isn’t present at all in the October 2009 issue.

Qualifications include knowledge of MS Office (especially Powerpoint), elearning authoring systems, and photo/audio/video editing software. Candidates with some college and 1-2 years experience in the Direct Sales industry preferred. For more information or to apply, click on the job title above.