Marketing & Sales Manager

Job Title: Marketing & Sales Manager

Experience: 5 - 8 Years

Location: Chennai

Company Description

The Chennai Chess Club is India's fastest-growing chess community, committed to delivering top-tier chess education globally and hosting engaging meetups in Chennai. With close to 2000 students worldwide and numerous events in the city, we are your ultimate destination for all things chess.

Role Description

We are looking for a Marketing & Sales Manager to bridge the gap between lead generation and revenue. You will own the entire customer journey—from the moment a lead clicks an ad to the moment they become a long-term subscriber. This role is perfect for a data-driven professional who can manage a marketing budget, oversee content strategy, and work closely with the sales team to hit growth targets.

Responsibilities:

Funnel Management

• End-to-End Ownership: Own the lead funnel from ad click to DM/WhatsApp inquiry, trial, and paid subscriber status.
• Motivation: To play a key leadership role in motivating and guiding the team to consistently to achieve the monthly goals and long-term organizational targets.
• Optimization: Track drop-off points and relentlessly improve conversion rates at each stage of the journey.

Lead Generation

• Paid Media: Oversee paid ad campaigns and manage the marketing budget across all digital channels.
• Inbound Flow: Own the top of the funnel to drive a steady, predictable flow of inbound inquiries.
• Organic Growth: Build and scale organic channels including SEO, YouTube, Instagram, Google and active chess communities.
• Strategic Partnerships: Run referral programs and forge partnerships with schools, chess federations, and tournament organizers.

Strategy & Oversight

• Growth Planning: Set overall growth targets and decide which marketing channels to prioritize for maximum impact.
• Team Direction: Brief the Digital Marketing Executive on campaign goals, target audiences, and budgets (high-level oversight rather than manual execution).
• Strategic Calls: Review ad performance to make critical decisions on whether to scale or kill specific campaigns.
• Revenue Tracking: Set and track key business health metrics: revenue targets, churn rates, and LTV.

Organic & Content Marketing

• Social Presence: Oversee our presence on Instagram Reels, YouTube, and the website, focusing on chess tips, game analysis, and club culture.
• Content Coordination: Manage relationships with content creators and editors to ensure consistent, high-quality output.
• Nurture Sequences: Build an email list and run automated nurture sequences for leads who haven't yet converted.
• Institutional Outreach: Tie up with schools, clubs, coaches, and institutions for referral pipelines and co-hosted online tournaments.
• Channel Expansion: Constantly explore and add new marketing channels to attract people from all walks of life.

Brand & Positioning

• Global Recognition: Work to improve the worldwide brand recognition of the club.
• Positioning: Decide the club’s strategic positioning—balancing premium coaching, beginner-friendly entry points, and competitive training.
• Consistency: Ensure brand consistency across all touchpoints, including the website, social media, and the onboarding experience.

Analytics & Reporting

• Metric Monitoring: Monitor leads generated, demo success rate, conversion rate, MRR, churn, and ROAS.
• Tool Proficiency: Utilize Meta Ads Manager, Google Analytics, and CRM dashboards to pull actionable insights.
• Leadership Reporting: Present monthly performance reports to leadership, owning the budget allocation across channels.
• Data Loop: Track CAC, CPL, traffic, and lead volume, feeding performance data back into the system to refine the overarching strategy.

Qualifications

• Experience: 5 - 8 years in marketing or growth roles, ideally within a subscription or ed-tech business.
• Sales Leadership: Ability to manage and motivate a sales team, ensuring they hit onboarding targets and maintain high conversion rates.
• Performance Marketing: Proven ability to manage marketing budgets and run successful campaigns on Meta Ads and Google Ads.
• Analytical Skills: Comfortable using Google Analytics and CRM tools to track metrics like conversion rates, CAC, and churn.
• Data-Driven Mindset: Ability to analyze lead drop-offs and use data to improve the journey from inquiry to paid member.
• Sales & Marketing Alignment: Experience bridging the gap between lead generation and sales closing to ensure a seamless customer journey.
• Content Oversight: Experience briefing creators and editors to ensure consistent, high-quality social media and video content.
• Strategic Thinking: Capable of setting revenue targets and deciding which marketing channels to prioritize for growth.