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Marketing Support Officer (Design)

Job band 1-2 (Intern)

Working Hours: Full Time - 37 hours per week

Intern contract for up to 7 months

Based: Chelmsford

The Role

This role is to deliver marketing solutions that promote the business and economic growth activity of Essex County Council.

Essex County Council’s (ECC) vision is for Essex to become an internationally competitive economy where businesses of all sizes are able to start up, innovate and grow, and which will become both a location of choice for inward investment and a platform from which international trade can thrive.

ECC run a number of business growth programmes (referred to here as Enterprise) to deliver on this vision. This role is concerned with the promotion of those programmes and Essex as a business solution location.

Enterprise programmes . . .

  • INVEST Essex - Promoting the business solutions of Essex to companies in the UK and abroad
  • Essex International – providing expertise and experience to help companies and organisations to access the Chinese market
  • Essex Innovation Programme – helping companies, both early stage and established, to develop their creative and innovative commercial development ideas
  • Essex Enterprise Centres - Providing flexible, stimulating and supportive business environment for companies, typically micro and small, looking to take their first steps into occupying premises

Job purpose

The Marketing Support Officer (MSO) will work with the Marketing Manager (MM) and Programme Managers to deliver content marketing projects that are key components of the marketing action plan (for each of the above programmes) and which deliver core messages to target audiences.

The MSO will work with colleagues to prioritise and manage projects, provide research and insights, gather other assets write and sub edit copy and publish through appropriate channels. 

Design focus – In addition this role focuses on producing marketing collateral to be used in the promotion of the Enterprise programmes. These will include graphic design projects, elements of web build projects and video projects depending on the requirements of the programmes as outlined in the marketing strategy.

Duties will include, but are not limited to:

  • Developing ongoing marketing content to promote the opportunities, benefits and activities of Essex County Council’s Enterprise team.  This will involve research, copywriting, sub editing, collation of assets (photos and video), liaison with internal clients/external partners to gather inputs and obtain permissions, obtaining sign off and publication
  • Work with colleagues to manage and prioritise content marketing output using online management tool (Trello)
  • Writing and publication of social media content to promote blogs etc, e.g. micro blogging through Twitter and LinkedIn
  • Publishing content through a content management system (website), gathering and preparing all assets, applying appropriate formatting and publishing against a schedule
  • Liaising with ECC’s marketing and communications team to promote content through press channels
  • Liaising with external media
  • The creation of marketing materials for all programmes; graphic design and artwork creation, client liaison from concept to sign off, production and publication management
  • Creating design routes and concepts to clients, ensuring that these adhere to established and adopted brand approaches (programme and ECC) and developing these through to completion and sign off
  • Retouching, preparation, resizing etc of images according to the requirements of MM and other work commitments
  • Managing the production/publication process from initial client requirements to final delivery and including securing print/supplier quotes, ensuring purchase orders are raised and managed etc
  • Responsible for ensuring all programme brands are used correctly both in terms of our own use and as partners/suppliers use our brands. Also responsible for brand liaison with ECC and ensuring we comply

Qualifications Knowledge, Skills and Experience

  • Educated to degree level, equivalent academic qualification, or equivalent relevant experience
  • Experience in carrying out research to develop content
  • Good understanding and experience in creating content geared for digital marketing including and understanding of how to write for digital/online publication
  • An understanding of Search Engine Optimisation and its application
  • Ability to digest business and industrial themes and boil it down to concise copy
  • Excellent reading comprehension and written communications skills
  • Experience of working with a web content management system (CMS) (in our case this is Expression Engine)
  • Experience of publishing through Twitter and LinkedIn
  • Good negotiating and liaison skills
  • Excellent knowledge of IT systems, including Microsoft Office and a sound working knowledge of social media in a commercial/professional environment
  • Good working experience of Adobe’s Creative Suite including Illustrator, In Design and Photoshop
  • Experienced in creating design concepts for marketing materials
  • Experience in brand management
  • Preferred experience in developing and publishing video content for digital marketing outputs

Excellent team working skills

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

Our aim is to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications, regardless of race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, age or religion or belief. All applications will be considered solely on merit.

To apply . . .

To register your interest please send your cv to . Closing date for applications is 16 September 2016.