Marketing & Communications Manager

About Orchard Care Group

The Orchard Care Group is a wholly owned Irish company that provides services to children and young adults in the care and disability sectors. Operating nationwide the group comprises Orchard Community Care, Orchard Fostering and Orchard Residential Care.

Marketing and Communications Manager is a new role that demonstrates our growth and ambition to help build brighter futures for the people we support and our teams across Ireland. Our vision is that the people we support live meaningful lives through our high-quality model of excellent care, within our positive, collaborative, values based culture. Our values are Advocacy, Integrity, Excellence, Collaboration & Human Rights.

About the Role

As Marketing and Communications Manager, you will lead the development and implementation of our brand and communications strategy, maximising our digital assets to increase awareness, engagement and support.

You'll be an established marketing professional with practical experience in shaping and implementing multi channel marketing and communications plans. You will source and interpret data to understand our audiences, measure the success of campaigns and optimise activities to achieve our objectives.

Better storytelling and effective communication of our impact are essential to achieving our goals. The ability to proactively generate engaging content and case studies is key.

The role will involve delivering multiple, high impact, cross organisational projects (often with competing deadlines) and requires prioritising, staying focussed and being adaptable.

This hybrid role can be based at our Sligo or Dublin offices with the expectation to travel regularly to visit services or attend meetings with stakeholders. Own car and full driving licence are essential.

Planning and Delivery

• Help shape and deliver the brand and communications business plan that supports our ambition and core objectives
• Ensure consistent branding, messaging and tone of voice across campaigns, materials and channels
• Develop and own processes to manage projects effectively
• Be proactive and innovative, asking the question 'what if?'
• Create, plan and execute marketing and communications campaigns utilizing best channels
• Keep abreast of marketing trends, sector developments and topical content to stay relevant and connected
• Understand our database and target audiences to ensure outputs are relevant, effective and achieve objectives
• Develop and present reports for boards and committees
• Ensure activities comply with legal and regulatory standards

Digital Communications & Content

• Manage digital marketing activities, ensuring effective use of SEO, organic and paid social media, Google Ad Grants
• Monitor digital and social trends to keep the company at the forefront of online engagement
• Optimise digital platforms and tools to grow supporter engagement (CRM, email marketing, social media tools)
• Generate impactful stories and real case studies that highlight Orchard Care Group's impact
• Develop and manage content for website, socials, intranet, campaigns, PR, impact reports and supporter events ensuring timely, engaging and brand aligned messaging
• Establish and manage KPIs to measure and track progress

Communications Planning

• Create and deliver high quality, tailored communications to engage, inspire and motivate audiences
• Ensure consistent and impactful brand and messaging
• Develop and deliver compelling case studies that communicate impact clearly
• Maximise PR opportunities to amplify our impact
• Proactively identify opportunities to broaden reach and engagement
• Integrated Campaigns
  • Create, plan and manage integrated marketing and social media campaigns using the best mix of channels and messaging to engage supporters and stakeholders

Media, PR & Stakeholder Engagement

• Help identify and nurture relationships with high profile supporters, influencers and media outlets to build profile and reach
• Secure positive coverage through relevant local, regional, national and sector media outlets

The Ideal Candidate

• BA degree in Marketing, Business or other relevant degree
• 4+ years experience in Marketing, Communications or Public Relations, ideally within a service delivery environment
• Experience developing and implementing digital strategies to achieve organisational objectives
• Significant experience of planning, creating and implementing multi channel marketing and communication plans
• Demonstrated experience managing and motivating a team whilst managing own workload and outputs
• Creative thinker with a passion for storytelling and brand profile building
• Experience gathering information across an organisation and writing engaging, inspirational content and copy
• Experience working with agencies, media and external stakeholders
• Ability to source and interpret data to understand target audiences
• Strong organisational and project management skills, able to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Proficient in digital marketing tools and strong knowledge of SEO and paid digital marketing
• Design skills and experience with Adobe Creative Suite and Canva
• Experience with email marketing platforms, CRM systems and website content management systems
• Ability to work calmly under pressure and balance competing priorities and deadlines
• Strong attention to detail, demonstrating exceptional accuracy in copywriting
• Knowledge of media and marketing legislation, copyright law, GDPR and our regulators
• Ability to engage effectively with all levels of the organisation, demonstrating enthusiasm and initiative
• Eligible to live and work in Ireland without restriction
• Must have valid Garda Clearance
• Must have valid overseas clearance if applicant lived abroad for more than 6 months

Skills & Competencies

• Strategic thinker with commercial acumen
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills
• Analytical and data driven decision making
• Excellent stakeholder management
• Resilient and solutions focused

Personal Attributes

• Values driven and aligned to Orchard Care Group's objectives
• Collaborative leadership style
• High integrity and governance awareness
• Adaptable in a changing environment

Benefits to working with Company

• Company Pension
• Generous annual leave entitlement
• Orchard Values Champion Awards
• Enhanced Maternity Allowance
• Dedicated team and access to a knowledgeable multidisciplinary team
• EAP Scheme
• Bike to Work Scheme

About us

The Orchard Care Group is a wholly Irish owned company dedicated to providing the best possible care, support and outcomes for children, young people and adults in Ireland across a range of settings and locations, including fostering, disability and mainstream residential services. The Group brings together three leading brands in Irish social care - Orchard Residential, Orchard Community Care and Orchard Fostering.