Position Summary
The Marketing and Communications Manager is responsible for building a community and ensuring visibility and healthy attendance of our programs with our audiences. You are a natural connector, planner and executor, who loves to passionately and creatively bring our organizational mission to life through communications and marketing. This role is a key part of the Programs team, crucial for spreading the word about the center and programs, as well as cultivating brand and resources. You will collaborate with teachers, cultivate key partnerships, and prioritize activities and projects to cultivate a strong foundation of marketing and communications, in collaboration with other team members. You will drive all our marketing including digital and in person, towards effectively filing retreats and building communities. You will be extensively liaising with external audiences, stakeholders, community partners, interested teachers, organizers and groups. Intimately understanding and aligning with our retreat center offerings, the land and our culture is the foundation of this role.
You’ll work directly with the Program Director, be an outreach hub for upcoming retreats and be a public-facing representative of BBRC. This role requires you to be on-site at BBRC approx. once a month, at least 25-50%. This may include housing as part of the compensation package, if interested in relocating. Includes health benefits and time off package.
Role and Responsibilities
- Recreate, execute, evaluate, and continually refine the BBRC’s annual and overall marketing strategy
- Develop a comprehensive timeline of projects for marketing and communications
- Run, monitor, and evaluate marketing channels to ensure effective promotion of BBRC programs and brand that align with intended audiences, accessibility, and values
- Promote public-facing programs on various marketing channels to ensure retreats fill and meet registration targets (i.e. website, newsletter, social media, flyers)
- Develop and co-promote programs with key partners and teachers, driving shared success in marketing efforts and promotional materials
- Develop marketing assets, digital and print, for optimal outreach, effectiveness, and brand alignment
- Manage the BBRC website (Wordpress) with regular updates and improvements to align with brand, messaging, and marketing priorities
- Develop effective program landing pages for newly listed public-facing programs
- Create marketing materials and campaigns aligning with the overall vision, mission and storytelling of BBRC - including creatively featuring the retreat experience (accommodations, food program, land, etc.)
- Proactively create partnerships and collaborations with local and effective partners in the area and broader, supporting co-promotions, outreach, events, etc.
- Evaluate, setup and refine marketing and communications systems, tools, staffing, and reporting to ensure marketing department is effective, aligned, and data-driven solutions are supported regularly
- Regularly report on marketing outcomes and effectiveness, improve regularly and solicit feedback and contributions from the team regularly
Role Requirements
- 5+ years in marketing and communications
- Proven track record of developing and executing comprehensive and effective marketing strategies
- Strong organization skills with great attention to details
- Professional in-person and online communication skills, written and verbal
- Excellent at researching and organizing information in computer software / platforms
- Community driven and natural storyteller
- Calm, clear and compassionate communicator
- Works independently but also collaborates well with team
- Completes tasks thoroughly and with great diligence, meets deadlines
- Works at least once a month on campus (approx 25-50% of time), to establish on-land program presence, develop marketing assets, team bonding, and deep understanding of center and retreat flow
- Flexible work schedule: typically 5 days a week, but will vary depending on retreats. Must be available some weekends and holidays, some overtime, some evenings.
Preferred Skills and Experience
- Marketing platforms (such as Mailchimp, Wordpress, social media channels)
- Google Suite (docs, sheets, calendar, slides, etc.)
- Familiarity with various types of retreats; including leadership / team retreats, Insight meditation retreats (i.e. InsightLA, Spirit Rock, IMS, IRC, etc.), yoga retreats, etc.
- Experience with working in remote environments and/or retreat center environments
Big Bear Retreat Center is an equal opportunity employer. At BBRC we strive for equity, celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all.
BBRC Overview
Big Bear Retreat Center (BBRC) is a retreat destination located in +/-100 acres in the San Bernardino National Forest on a former church camp site. Founded in 2018, BBRC was envisioned as a Southern California meditation residential retreat destination. Additionally, BBRC expanded its vision to provide focused retreat space for political and social justice organizations.
BBRC offers dharma retreats, organizational retreats, and family and friends getaways. BBRC has collaborated with partners to provide inclusive meditation retreats including the first residential transgender and gender expansive retreat, Spanish language retreat, Black Women’s retreat, teens of color retreat, and more. Big Bear Retreat Center has partnered with or hosted non-profit and political action organizations across Southern California.
Big Bear Retreat Center is located a 2.5-hour drive from Los Angeles, nestled in the ancient Juniper forests of the San Bernardino Mountains at a 7,000-foot elevation (four mountain seasons) near the town of Big Bear Lake.
BBRC Mission
Big Bear Retreat Center is a residential retreat center that provides space for mindfulness, respite, and healing to foster individual and collective transformation and illuminate our connection with nature, one another, and society.
BBRC Vision
Big Bear Retreat Center provides quality hospitality and care in a beautiful natural setting to foster connection, build community, and shape positive social change. We engage across world views, practices, and backgrounds to cultivate generations of leaders and change makers that promote greater compassion, equity, and justice in the world. One retreatant at a time.