Fractional Marketing Director

Mockingbird Gallery & Peterson Contemporary Art

Mockingbird Gallery & Peterson Contemporary Art | Bend, Oregon | Monthly retainer | 1099 | Heavier in first 90 days, lighter once the system is running | ~5 hrs/week

You have built marketing functions before. Want to do it again for two galleries with real ambition and the taste to match?

This is a senior, part‑time role for a marketer who thinks in systems — someone who can set direction, build the operating model, coach quality, and turn scattered marketing activity into a real growth engine. The role is not about making every post or writing every email. It is about deciding what matters, creating the frameworks that make execution better, and helping a hands‑on Marketing & Content Manager do excellent work with confidence.

This is the rare fractional seat where the owner wants senior marketing judgment and where a dedicated executor carries the weekly engine. It is not a full‑time CMO role shrunk down, and it is not advisory‑only. This seat owns the marketing operating system: strategy, priorities, standards, measurement, coaching, and the scaffolding that helps the function work.

Mockingbird Gallery and Peterson Contemporary Art are two galleries a few blocks apart in downtown Bend. Mockingbird has a long‑standing reputation for traditional work and deep collector relationships. Peterson Contemporary Art is the newer sibling: sharper, more contemporary, and attracting a different kind of buyer.

The galleries are moving toward one shared gallery group with two expressions: same team, same standards, different voices. Bend has become a real destination for collectors, and First Fridays downtown are a big part of that. The next step is expanding beyond Central Oregon, bringing in more out‑of‑state collectors, and building a marketing function that matches the caliber of the work shown in the galleries.

The central challenge is a positioning and operating puzzle: one gallery group, two distinct identities — traditional and contemporary — both aiming for broader recognition without blurring into each other.

• Take ownership of the ICPs and audience segmentation already developed — validate them against what you see, and refine as you learn, with emphasis on high‑value, out‑of‑state collectors.
• Sharpen the picture of buyer motivations, channel preferences, price sensitivity, and the messages that matter by customer type.
• Own and adjust channel strategy, and recommend budget allocation for Jim’s buy‑in — where to invest, what to prioritize, and what to ignore.
• Own and evolve the brand voice and messaging frameworks that help Mockingbird and PCA sound distinct while belonging to one shared gallery group.
• Take the 90‑day roadmap into execution, and set the quarterly priorities that follow.
• Turn the brand foundation into practical tools — making sure voice, content pillars, templates, artist storytelling, and visual standards get used, not shelved.

• Translate the existing strategic foundation into a simple operating rhythm: content calendar, review cadence, decision rules, weekly priorities, and clear expectations for what good looks like.
• Own and extend the experimentation roadmap: what to test, in what order, what each test is meant to teach, and what signals determine whether to repeat, improve, or stop.
• Use the infrastructure audit — email platform, CRM, website, Instagram, analytics, and workflow — to prioritize what needs attention now versus later.
• Extend the onboarding scaffolding for the Marketing & Content Manager, including the first 30/60/90 days of expectations, milestones, and early wins.

• Define the measurement framework and practical KPIs across awareness, engagement, list growth, gallery visits, collector inquiries, and sales conversations where possible.
• Establish baseline metrics and the dashboard structure the Manager will maintain.
• Run a monthly performance review with Jim: what is working, what is not, what has changed, and what the next priorities should be.
• Make marketing less subjective by connecting activity…