Director of Marketing

Salary: $75,000.00 - $90,000.00 per year

Smoky Mountain Resorts (SMR) is a family-focused, collaborative and goal-driven hospitality resort company. Our Great Smoky Mountains community is significant to us. As a third generation, family-owned, and operated business, we embrace a strong commitment to SMR's 'Spirit of Hospitality' and our Smoky Mountain community.

The Director of Marketing will become a key leader across three of the best ranked vacation resorts in America. In this role, you will lead efforts to bring our resorts to life through direct booking growth, local search visibility, content and social media, guest retention marketing, local partnerships, and online reputation. We are seeking a strategic and driven professional who will set the marketing vision for SMR's portfolio.

The Director of Marketing will work 8 to 10+ hours per shift as needed, based on occupancy, seasonal demand, and property needs. Holidays and peak periods may require additional flexibility, as all team members work together during those times to keep the company running efficiently.

• Develop and lead marketing strategy across three hotel/resort properties, including direct booking growth, local SEO, content and social media, email/guest retention, local partnerships, and online reputation management.
• Lead direct booking growth strategies, including booking incentives, rate promotions, and guest loyalty programs, to increase direct-channel revenue and reduce reliance on OTAs.
• Develop and oversee content creation across blogs, website copy, email, and social media, ensuring quality and brand voice across each property.
• Source, manage, and grow social media influencer and content creator partnerships to expand SMR's reach and exposure.
• Manage email marketing campaigns and messaging to repeat and prospective guests, including segmentation and retention sequences.
• Hire, train, and manage marketing team members, interns, and outside vendors supporting these efforts across all resort properties.
• Own and manage the marketing department budget, including paid media, partnerships, and vendor relationships.
• Stay up-to-date on booking, SEO, and social media trends and best practices, bringing fresh and data-driven ideas to SMR's marketing efforts, including exploring the growing field of AI tools.
• Work closely with the Operations Team on seasonal promotions to ensure seamless integration of marketing and operational strategies.
• Report on key marketing metrics (direct bookings, OTA mix, review volume/sentiment, campaign performance) to the Director of Commercial Strategy.
• Knowledge and ability to comply with all company operating policies and procedures.
• Perform other incidental and related duties as required and/or assigned.
• Management reserves the right to change, remove, or add to these duties as necessary.

• Build and maintain relationships with local and regional press, travel writers, and media outlets covering the Smoky Mountains/Tennessee tourism market.
• Draft and distribute press releases and announcements for new amenities, renovations, events, and company milestones.
• Prepare crisis communications materials and coordinate public response in the event of a service failure, safety incident, or negative press situation.
• Proactively pursue earned media placements and positive press coverage, working alongside the reputation and review-management efforts led by the marketing team.
• Coordinate press trips and media kits for influencer and creator partnerships, treating select collaborations as earned media rather than purely paid/gifted content.
• Identify and pursue relevant award and 'best of' list submissions (e.g., Best…