About Symondsbury Estate…
…a beautiful farm, village and visitor destination located on the outskirts of Bridport, just one mile from the Jurassic Coast. Symondsbury Estate has an exceptional customer offer through its holiday accommodation, wedding venue, restaurant, visitor centre, home and garden shop, and independent retail and wellbeing outlets. Conservation farming land and ancient woodlands, our visitors can immerse themselves in this delightful natural environment and landscape. It's a small, vibrant community with big ambitions.
Role Overview
The Head of Commercial and Brand will be responsible for developing and executing the commercial strategy for the Estate across all revenue lines including retail, café, weddings, holidays, rentals and farm-led products and experiences. It is essential that the successful candidate delivers an integrated sales and marketing strategy which aligns with the Estate objectives to champion the natural environment and wildlife while growing revenue across all areas.
This a Senior Leadership Team role working alongside Operations and Finance with clear accountability for pricing, revenue performance and margin across the estate. Operational delivery, staffing or rota management sit under the Operations Manager.
Main Duties:
This role is central and pivotal to the success of the estate. The Head of Commercial and Brand will work closely with senior management and the finance team to deliver business performance budgets. The post holder is ultimately responsible for delivery of the following:
Revenue Responsibility
· Set and maintain annual, quarterly and rolling revenue targets across all business areas.
· Oversees pricing strategies and contract negotiations.
· Analyse market trends to identify opportunities for growth.
· Manages multi-channel revenues effectively.
· Owns pricing discipline and yield optimisation across all revenue areas including accommodation, weddings, retail and F&B
· Review performance against margin expectations in collaboration with Finance.
· Identify underperforming revenue streams and take corrective action.
· Identify and manage all sales channels including direct, digital and third-party platforms, ensuring appropriate commission control and margin protection.
Brand
· Define, develop, and grow the estate brand.
· Combine sales and marketing efforts to drive revenue and brand awareness.
· Ensure all areas of the business buy into and embrace the brand.
· Ensure all Estate activities are in line with brand strategy.
· Deliver visible brand through materials and maintain these to standard.
· Communicate the brand to relevant audiences and stakeholders.
· Recruit new consumers and increase loyalty and frequency with existing consumers.
· Ensure the Estate's nature-led and countryside rooted identity is reflected consistently across commercial propositions, pricing and communications.
· In collaboration with Operations, shape the commercial positioning and pricing of events and workshops
· Develop new commercially viable products and experiences
Marketing
· Consistent delivery of brand and estate values through marketing.
· Develop integrated communication and social media programmes.
· Oversee digital marketing strategy and audience growth aligned to revenue objectives.
· Link to local media outlets.
· Advertising of services and events.
· Communicate, manage and be the face of media for the estate via outside publications and broadcasters.
· Analyse and act on customer feedback and market trends.
· Put in place measurement and evaluation methodologies.
· Manage and develop the marketing team.
· Use feedback from customers and market analysis to develop and grow the estate.
Skills Required
· Strong commercial acumen with a desire to drive quality growth in terms of consumer experience and profitability
· Experience with pricing strategy, yield management and revenue forecasting essential
· Experience developing new products or revenue streams
· Clear communicator and steady decision-maker
· Creative marketing expertise
· A deep-seated passion for wildlife, the countryside and natural environment
· Strong and confident at building and nurturing relationships, including external partners
· IT Literate
· Confident management of a team
· Exceptional people skills, hands on and good under pressure
· Exceptional attention to detail and problem solver
· Previous experience in a similar role essential