Digital Marketing Strategist

POSITION: Digital Marketing Strategist

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

Summary

The Digital Marketing Strategist is a hands-on technical expert responsible for driving quality lead generation and conversion success for the assigned portfolio of communities via all digital channels. This role focuses on optimizing the digital funnel to ensure every touchpoint contributes to high-quality leads that are effectively tracked and directly support the portfolio's leasing and occupancy goals. They stay current on best practices and emerging trends to ensure our digital efforts are optimized to reach our target market.

Responsibilities

Digital Strategy & Portfolio Optimization

• Serve as the primary digital performance strategist for the assigned portfolio, ensuring campaigns, spend, and optimizations directly support leasing and occupancy goals.
• Lead the intake for all new community transitions by gathering package recommendations, spend options, and digital channel proposals from Agency Fifty3, ILS partners, and additional 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 Sales & Marketing Managers and Portfolio Managers.
• Continuously monitor monthly performance reports to identify trends, assess ROI, validate lead quality, and recommend optimizations.
• Prioritize high-impact digital actions across the portfolio by understanding community goals, risk levels, and marketing constraints.

Website & Online Presence Management

• Ensure the accuracy, functionality, and visual quality of all community websites, including WordPress updates, content refreshes, new photos, specials, floor plan updates, and troubleshooting issues.
• Conduct quarterly 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 Agency Fifty3 and internal stakeholders to ensure new websites or redesigns follow brand standards and operational needs.

SEO & Listings Optimization

• 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.

Media Performance Coordination

• Partner with Agency Fifty3 and other digital vendors to oversee paid search, social, retargeting, display, geofencing, and remarketing campaigns.
• Evaluate media performance monthly and provide strategic insights such as:
  • Spend reallocation
  • Updated keyword strategy
  • Audience refinements
  • Creative recommendations
• Ensure vendor performance aligns with contractual expectations, KPIs, and community needs.
• Maintain a strong understanding of lead quality indicators and downstream leasing metrics to advise on the true value of generated leads.

Analytics, Tracking & Data Integrity

• Own the accuracy and ongoing integrity of GA4 and GTM across the portfolio.
• Validate tracking scripts, pixels, tags, and conversions are implemented correctly for all websites, ILS platforms, and paid media partners.
• Conduct periodic audits to ensure the health of the digital tracking ecosystem, including cross-domain tracking, conversion attribution, and event measurement.
• Translate analytics insights into understandable, actionable takeaways for internal teams and onsite staff.
• Partner with BI/Data teams to ensure digital KPIs and data sources can be integrated into DOMO or future dashboards.

Vendor, Tools & Platform Management

• Act as the key day-to-day liaison for digital agencies, ILS representatives, directory partners, and third-party vendors.
• Oversee the onboarding, setup, and configuration of digital tools for new communities.
• Ensure all needed contracts, approvals, assets, access permissions, and operational inputs are completed in a timely and accurate manner.
• Maintain digital documentation, processes, and standard operating procedures that support scalability across a large, diverse portfolio.
• Provide digital budget recommendations for new business, acquisitions, and lease-ups.

Reputation, Branding & Digital Presence Quality Control

• Support review response strategy through Google, Yelp, and ILS platforms as needed to maintain brand reputation and consistency.
• Assist communities in maximizing online curb appeal, including image strategy, review health, and consumer-facing messaging.
• Ensure brand compliance and accuracy across all listings, websites, and collateral.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Stay informed on emerging multifamily digital trends including SEM, SEO, AI capabilities, local search evolution, analytics changes, and platform algorithm updates.
• Recommend new tools, technologies, or strategic approaches to strengthen performance and streamline operations.
• Provide training and education to Leasing & Marketing teammates on digital best practices.

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.