Marketing Specialist (Private Label)

Cardinal Group Career; Wilmington (NC); On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Vision insurance

Dental insurance

Pet insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Student loan assistance

Licensing & CE reimbursement

Parental leave

Housing allowances or gifts

Job summary

Cardinal Group Career is seeking a Marketing Specialist in Wilmington, NC. You will drive quality leads and manage social and digital presence to support occupancy goals across a portfolio of communities.

The role requires hands-on digital strategy, content governance via Canva, and close collaboration with portfolio leadership. You will optimize campaigns, analyze data (GA4/UTM), and coordinate with agencies to maximize occupancy while maintaining brand standards across local listings and

Qualifications

• 4–6+ years of digital marketing experience, preferably in real estate or multifamily.
• Strong knowledge of paid media, SEO, and ILS performance with data-driven optimization.
• Hands-on experience updating WordPress sites and understanding UX fundamentals.
• Proficient in GA4, GTM, and digital attribution to guide budget decisions.
• Ability to build and optimize lead funnels and measure ROI.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary digital performance strategist to support leasing and occupancy goals.
• Gather recommendations from Agency Fifty3, ILS partners, and vendors and propose spend options.
• Analyze portfolio data to determine the ideal digital marketing mix per property.
• Present strategy recommendations, impact, and budget guidance to management.
• Manage ILS listings (Apartments.com, Zumper, Zillow) with compelling content and accurate tracking.
• Monitor ILS performance, adjust spend, and optimize for lead quality and CPL.
• Maintain and optimize property profiles across Google, Yelp, and Yext for local SEO.
• Ensure accuracy and quality across all community websites and perform monthly SEO audits.
• Lead Canva Brand Governance, design templates, and provide on-site teams with brand-aligned content.
• Coordinate with agencies for events, partnerships, and campus activations; track KPIs.

Skills

Digital marketing

GA4

GTM

SEO basics

Lead generation optimization

UX fundamentals

WordPress

AI tools Gemini

Tools

WordPress

Canva

GA4

GTM

Opiniion

Job description

Community l Wilmington, NC
Wilmington, NC, USA

• Operations
• Full-Time
• Requisition #: MARKE020367

Description

POSITION : Marketing Specialist

COMPENSATION : Pursuant to Colorado regulations, if this job is performed in Colorado, the salary range is $70,000 - $90,000 plus bonus potential. Eligible to participate in the company benefits plan. We offer health, vision, dental, and pet insurance. We offer a 401(k) retirement plan, student loan assistance, licensing and continuing education reimbursement, parental leave, and housing allowances or gifts.

Reports To: Associate Director of Operations

Summary

The Marketing Specialist is a hands-on technical expert and systemic creative, responsible for driving quality lead generation and ensuring every community has a vibrant, high-performing social and digital presence. By optimizing the traditional and digital funnel, designs, and campaigns, you will ensure every prospect touchpoint contributes to high-quality leads that support the portfolio's occupancy goals

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary digital performance strategist for the assigned portfolio, ensuring campaigns, spend, and optimizations directly support leasing and occupancy goals.

Gather digital marketing recommendations, spend options, and digital channel proposals from Agency Fifty3, ILS partners, and additional marketing vendors.

Analyze community-specific data (historical leads, GA4 data, market velocity, current occupancy, seasonality) to determine the ideal digital marketing mix per property.

Present digital strategy recommendations, expected impact, and budget allocation guidance to Portfolio Manager and Associate Director of Operations.

Manage and optimize Internet Listing Service (ILS) platforms (e.g., Apartments.com, Rent., Zumper, Zillow), ensuring compelling content, competitive pricing display, accurate amenities, and optimized tracking.

Monitor ILS performance monthly and recommend spend shifts, package adjustments, or strategic changes to improve lead quality and CPL.

Maintain consistent and accurate property profiles across directory sites including:

Google Business Profile

Yelp

Yext (ensuring listings syndication, accuracy, review tracking, and SEO strength)

Ensure all directory profiles are optimized for local search visibility, reputation management, and conversion.

Website & Online Presence Management

Ensure the accuracy, functionality, and visual quality of all community websites, including updates, content refreshes, new photos, specials, floor plan updates, and troubleshooting issues.

Conduct monthly website audits to assess SEO health, user experience, compliance, page speed, broken links, content accuracy, and form functionality.

Manage and maintain all vanity numbers ensuring routing, tracking, and call attribution are functioning as intended.

Partner with marketing agency and internal stakeholders to ensure new websites or redesigns follow brand standards and operational needs.

Social Media & Designs

Canva Brand Governance: Act as the primary \"Brand Approver\" within Canva. Design, organize, and maintain a library of high-impact, customizable templates that allow on-site teams to create \"on-brand\" content in minutes.

Content Resource Development: Build \"Plug-and-Play\" social kits for major student housing milestones (Move-in, Renewal, Pre-leasing 100%, and \"Red Light\" recovery).

Visual Standards: Set the bar for \"High Quality\". You aren't just looking for pretty pictures; you are looking for visuals that stop the scroll and drive engagement.

On-Site Empowerment: Conduct regular \"Creative Clinics\" to teach on-site teams how to capture better iPhone content, write punchier captions, and use the latest social trends to tell their local story.

Content Mapping: Develop monthly content \"themes\" that align with the Student Housing lifecycle, ensuring we are speaking to the student's needs at the exact right time.

Data-Driven Strategy: Use social media tools to monitor portfolio-wide and property-specific metrics. You don’t just report numbers; you provide the \"Why\" and the \"Next Step\".

Oversee all digital output. This position will have final approval on 100% of posts sent by the onsite teams.

Attribution, Tracking & ROI Measurement

Campaign & Event Execution: Partner with external marketing agencies and internal stakeholders to plan, execute, and analyze targeted marketing initiatives, including campus activations, local business partnerships, resident programs, and prospect events.

Establish KPIs for all events and external partnerships—tracking metrics such as cost per attendee, lead attribution, resident satisfaction scores, and partner renewal rates to refine the community relations playbook.

Actively benchmark market and campus-area competitor outreach efforts, identifying underserved local partnership niches and innovative engagement tactics to maintain a competitive advantage.

Strategic Oversight: Review and manage the monthly marketing calendar to ensure all initiatives are executed to standard, drive measurable attendance, and generate high-intent leads.

Brand Collaborations: Establish and nurture cross-promotional partnerships with local businesses, universities, and commercial brands to broaden market reach and community visibility.

On-Site Team Enablement: Lead regular \"Creative Clinics\" for on-site staff, providing actionable training on trend-forward event staging, interactive prospect outreach, and local relationship building.

Promos and Merchandise: Curate, negotiate, and manage centralized, approved vendor catalogs for property-branded swag, seasonal promotional drops, and move-in gifts, providing cost savings and brand consistency for on-site ordering.

Marketing Collateral Systems: Ensure communities know about and user the Canva platform for print and digital collateral kits (flyers, one-sheets, door hangers, rate cards). Work with AF3 to ensure catalog of templates meets the needs of onsite teams with fresh and trendy designs

Signage Strategy: Provide guidelines and placement frameworks for temporary and seasonal signage (A-frames, bandit signs, campus banners, directional wayfinding) to maximize curb appeal and drive-by discovery.

Actively monitor Opiniion private feedback loops to identify resident dissatisfaction early, flagging operational bottlenecks, service failures, or maintenance complaints to on-site leadership before issues escalates into public negative reviews

Coach leasing and maintenance teams on best practices for generating authentic resident reviews, running periodic team incentive challenges tied to verified review growth and customer satisfaction milestones.

Reputation Playbooks: Provide on-site teams with actionable toolkits for reputation building (Opiniion sentiment tracking, Google Business Profile review generation campaigns, and review response guidelines).

Design, launch, and monitor automated multi-channel review campaigns via Opiniion across key resident milestones (post-tour, move-in, completed maintenance, and lease renewal)—A/B testing messaging to optimize conversion rates while tracking review velocity, Net Promoter Score (NPS), and platform performance on Google and ApartmentRatings.

Qualifications

4–6+ years of experience in digital marketing, ideally within multifamily, student housing, real estate, or high-volume B2C environments.

Intermediate to advanced working knowledge of AI tools including Gemini (or equivalents).

Demonstrated experience analyzing paid media, SEO, and ILS performance and providing data-driven optimization recommendations.

Proven hands-on experience managing and updating websites in WordPress and understanding of UX fundamentals.

Deep understanding of lead funnels, digital attribution, conversion paths, and performance metrics.

Proficiency with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) , Google Tag Manager (GTM) , and tracking ecosystem best practices is required.

Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple projects across dozens of communities simultaneously.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate technical data into actionable business recommendations.

Familiarity with Fair Housing laws, digital accessibility considerations, and industry regulations.

Ability to embody and model the Cardinal Culture and Core Values daily.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those a Team Member encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Incumbents work in an office environment and also have frequent exposure to outside of apartment buildings and in all areas of the property including amenities and have frequent exposure to outside elements where temperature, weather, odors, and/or landscape may be unpleasant and/or hazardous.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a Team Member to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the Team Member is regularly required to use hands to finger, type, handle, or feel and talk or hear. The Team Member regularly required to stand; walk; reach with hands and arms, and climb, stoop, or squat. Incumbents must be able to physically access all exterior and interior parts of the property and amenities and must be able to work inside and outside in all weather conditions including, but not limited to rain, snow, heat, hail, wind and sleet.

The Team Member must be able to push, pull, lift, carry, or maneuver office products and supplies of up to twenty (20) pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

Equal Opportunity Employer This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the notice from the Department of Labor.

Equal Opportunity Employer
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws.For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.