Job Overview Director of Brand Strategy & Customer ExperiencePosition Summary The Director of Brand Strategy & Customer Experience is responsible for developing and leading the company's overall brand, marketing, customer experience, and customer engagement strategy across our automotive dealerships and related businesses. This position will create a unified strategy that connects marketing, brand development, CRM and customer data, content, community involvement, customer acquisition, conversion, retention, and reputation. The Director will lead a centralized team that includes the Marketing Manager, Sales Systems and Training Manager, Corporate Video & Photography, and Community Relations. The role will work closely with dealership General Managers, Sales, Service, Collision, Rental, Reconditioning, Human Resources, and executive leadership to ensure customers experience a consistent and differentiated brand throughout their relationship with the organization. The Director reports directly to the CEO. This is not primarily an advertising execution position. The Director is expected to provide strategic leadership, creative direction, proactive planning, analytical insight, and measurable business improvement. Primary Objectives The Director of Brand Strategy & Customer Experience will:

• Develop a clear and differentiated company brand that extends beyond the individual OEM brands represented by the organization.
• Create and lead proactive annual and quarterly marketing and customer experience strategies.
• Improve the effectiveness of marketing investments by connecting spend to customer opportunities, appointments, sales, retention, and lifetime value.
• Improve the customer journey from initial awareness through purchase, service, collision, rental, repeat purchase, and referral.
• Provide creative leadership and develop compelling campaigns, content, and brand stories.
• Establish consistent customer experience standards across all locations and business units.
• Create greater alignment among Marketing, CRM, Content, Community Relations, and dealership operations.
• Use customer and business data to identify opportunities and recommend meaningful operational improvements.
• Increase customer retention, loyalty, advocacy, and long-term value. Key ResponsibilitiesBrand Strategy & Creative Leadership
• Develop and maintain the overall company brand strategy, positioning, voice, and customer promise.
• Build greater awareness of the organization as a company and community brand in addition to the individual OEM brands represented.
• Develop creative campaign concepts that differentiate the organization from competitors.
• Establish creative direction for advertising, digital content, video, photography, social media, customer communications, events, and community initiatives.
• Create an annual content and campaign strategy rather than relying primarily on reactive marketing requests.
• Partner with the Corporate Videographer/Photographer to develop meaningful, high-quality storytelling.
• Identify opportunities to tell stories involving customers, employees, technicians, career development, community partnerships, service, collision, and other aspects of the organization.
• Ensure brand consistency across dealerships, departments, channels, and customer touchpoints. Marketing Strategy
• Develop annual and quarterly marketing plans across all dealerships and related operations.
• Lead strategic allocation of the marketing budget based on business priorities and measurable performance.
• Evaluate advertising agencies, technology providers, media partners, and other marketing vendors.
• Establish measurable objectives for campaigns and evaluate results.
• Partner with the Marketing Manager on campaign implementation, OEM programs, websites, digital advertising, social media, promotions, events, email/SMS, and other marketing activity.
• Identify opportunities for cross-brand and cross-business marketing.
• Balance OEM-specific marketing requirements with development of the broader company brand.
• Develop strategies supporting new and used vehicle sales, service, collision, rental, recruiting, and other business priorities. Customer Experience Strategy
• Map and continuously improve the customer journey across the organization.
• Evaluate customer experiences throughout: Awareness → Inquiry → Contact → Appointment → Showroom → Purchase → Delivery → Service → Collision → Rental → Retention → Repurchase → Referral
• Identify areas where customers encounter friction, inconsistency, or poor communication.
• Develop customer experience standards and work with department leaders to implement them.
• Partner with General Managers and operational leaders to improve customer handling without assuming direct responsibility for managing dealership sales or service employees.
• Evaluate customer feedback, CSI, online reviews, complaints, and other voice-of-customer information.
• Recommend improvements based on customer feedback and observed trends.
• Develop strategies that strengthen loyalty across sales, service, collision, rental, and other company operations. CRM, Customer Data & Sales Process Analytics
• Partner closely with the Sales Tools & Systems/CRM Manager to improve customer opportunity management and CRM utilization.
• Establish consistent definitions and reporting for internet, phone, showroom, and other customer opportunities.
• Monitor the customer conversion funnel, including: Lead → Contact → Appointment → Show → Sold
• Analyze internet, phone, and showroom closing performance by dealership, source, department, and campaign.
• Identify breakdowns in customer handling and work with dealership leadership on improvement plans.
• Develop meaningful executive-level dashboards and scorecards.
• Evaluate lead source quality based on appointments, sales, gross profit, retention, and customer value—not simply lead volume.
• Use CRM and DMS data to support retention, equity, service, collision, cross-shopping, and repurchase strategies.
• Promote consistent CRM processes and disciplined customer follow-up throughout the organization. Customer Retention & Lifecycle Marketing
• Develop strategies to increase repeat purchase, service retention, referrals, and customer lifetime value.
• Identify opportunities to connect customers across company businesses rather than treating each transaction independently.
• Develop lifecycle communication strategies for customers at key ownership milestones.
• Work with Sales, Service, Collision, Rental, and other departments to identify customer retention opportunities.
• Develop strategies to reconnect with customers who have stopped servicing or purchasing from the organization.
• Create targeted campaigns using customer data and behavioral insights.
• Establish measurable retention objectives and monitor performance. Reputation & Voice of Customer
• Develop an organization-wide reputation strategy.
• Monitor trends in online reviews, CSI, customer complaints, surveys, and other feedback.
• Identify systemic customer experience issues rather than treating negative feedback as isolated incidents.
• Partner with leadership to address recurring customer concerns.
• Develop strategies that encourage satisfied customers to advocate for the organization.
• Protect and strengthen the company's reputation within the community. Community & Brand Engagement
• Ensure community initiatives support the company's brand, recruiting, employee engagement, and business objectives.
• Provide strategic direction to the Community Relations function.
• Evaluate sponsorship and event opportunities based on their alignment with company priorities.
• Incorporate community initiatives into the company's broader storytelling and content strategy.
• Support workforce development and recruiting initiatives, including TechPathways and related programs. Team Leadership The Director will provide leadership and strategic direction to a centralized Brand & Customer Experience team that may include:
• Marketing Manager
• Sales Systems and Training / CRM Manager
• Corporate Videographer / Photographer
• Community Relations The Director will:
• Establish annual objectives and priorities for the department.
• Ensure team members understand how their individual responsibilities support broader company objectives.
• Develop the strengths of existing team members.
• Create clear accountability while avoiding unnecessary duplication of responsibilities.
• Encourage proactive planning rather than reactive task management.
• Facilitate collaboration among Marketing, CRM, Content, Community Relations, and dealership operations.
• Establish an annual and quarterly planning cadence.
• Provide professional development and coaching for team members.

Relationship With Dealership Leadership The Director of Brand Strategy & Customer Experience will work closely with General Managers, Sales Managers, Service Managers, Collision leadership, Reconditioning/Rentals leadership, and other department leaders.

The Director is responsible for:

• Identifying customer experience and conversion opportunities.
• Providing data and strategic recommendations.
• Establishing customer experience standards in partnership with executive leadership.
• Developing strategies and processes that improve customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.

Operational leaders remain responsible for managing their employees and ensuring execution within their departments. The Director should therefore be an effective influencer and collaborator who can create organizational change without unnecessarily blurring operational accountability. Key Performance Indicators The Director's performance should be evaluated using a balanced scorecard that may include: Customer Acquisition

• Marketing investment per retail vehicle sold
• Cost per qualified customer opportunity
• Cost per acquired customer
• Marketing-generated opportunity volume and quality
• Website and digital conversion performance Customer Conversion
• Internet lead closing percentage
• Phone opportunity closing percentage
• Showroom closing percentage
• Contact rate
• Appointment set rate
• Appointment show rate
• Sold-from-show rate
• Lead response performance Customer Experience
• CSI and other customer satisfaction measures
• Online reputation and review trends
• Customer complaint trends
• Customer experience consistency across locations Retention
• Service retention
• Repeat vehicle purchase rate
• Customer reactivation
• Referral performance
• Cross-business customer utilization Marketing Effectiveness
• Marketing spend versus budget
• Campaign ROI
• Vendor performance
• OEM compliance and co-op utilization
• Brand awareness and engagement trends Organizational Effectiveness
• Execution of annual strategic priorities
• Department collaboration
• Completion of proactive campaign and content plans
• Team development
• Adoption of agreed-upon customer experience initiatives Qualifications The ideal candidate will possess:
• Significant experience in marketing, brand strategy, customer experience, or a related leadership role.
• Demonstrated ability to develop strategy rather than simply execute marketing tactics.
• Strong creative instincts and the ability to develop compelling campaign and brand concepts.
• Strong analytical and financial acumen.
• Experience using customer data to make business decisions.
• Ability to connect marketing activity to measurable business outcomes.
• Strong understanding of CRM, customer lifecycle management, and digital marketing.
• Demonstrated leadership and team-development ability.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to influence senior operational leaders and build cross-functional relationships.
• Experience managing agencies, vendors, and significant marketing budgets.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with practical execution.
• Understanding of the Automotive Industry and workings of a dealership.

Automotive retail experience is strongly preferred, although exceptional candidates with relevant multi-location retail, hospitality, consumer, or customer-experience leadership backgrounds may also be considered. Ideal Leadership Profile The successful candidate will be: Strategic Thinks six to twelve months ahead and builds plans around defined business objectives. Creative Sees opportunities others may overlook and develops differentiated ideas rather than relying entirely on vendors or OEM creative. Proactive Anticipates opportunities and challenges rather than primarily responding to requests. Analytical Comfortable working with marketing, CRM, sales, customer, and financial data. Customer-Focused Considers decisions through the eyes of the customer and understands the entire ownership lifecycle. Commercially Minded Understands that marketing and customer experience must ultimately contribute to profitable business growth. Collaborative Can work effectively with executives, General Managers, department heads, and individual contributors. Decisive Can prioritize initiatives, stop activities that are not producing value, and focus resources on the highest-impact opportunities. A Developer of People Recognizes the strengths of existing employees and helps them perform at a higher level. What Success Looks Like During the first 12-18 months, a successful Director of Brand Strategy & Customer Experience will have:

• Established a clearly defined company brand strategy.
• Developed a proactive annual marketing and content calendar.
• Improved coordination among Marketing, CRM, Content, and Community Relations.
• Created greater visibility into marketing ROI and customer conversion.
• Established consistent reporting across dealership locations.
• Identified and improved major points of customer friction.
• Developed measurable customer retention initiatives.
• Improved the strategic use of video, photography, social media, and storytelling.
• Created stronger alignment between community activities and company objectives.
• Strengthened customer experience consistency across the organization.
• Shifted the department from primarily reactive execution toward proactive strategic leadership.

Role Mission Build the brand. Improve the customer journey. Turn customer insight into measurable business results. We are an equal opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination/harassment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

Benefits:

401(k) 401(k) matching Dental insurance Employee assistance program Employee discount Health insurance Life insurance Paid time off Professional development assistance Referral program Retirement plan Tuition reimbursement Vision insurance

Work Location:

In person