Senior Digital Marketing Specialist, CRM, Growth and Loyalty at Specialty Restaurants in Costa Mesa, CA, USA

Job description

• You'll be joining a marketing team that values creativity, innovation, and measurable results. If you thrive in a fast-paced, multi-concept environment and want to shape the future of restaurant marketing, we'd love to meet you.
• Specialty Restaurants is seeking a strategic, highly organized and hands-on Senior Digital Marketing Specialist: CRM, Growth & Loyalty to oversee key digital touchpoints across our portfolio of restaurant and hospitality brands.
• This role sits at the intersection of guest engagement, technology and brand communications. The Senior Digital Marketing & Communications Specialist will help shape the guest journey- from the first loyalty enrollment or website visit through repeat visits, VIP recognition and long-term brand affinity.
• This is an execution-focused role for someone who is equally comfortable developing a guest communication strategy, building an email or SMS campaign, updating a website, reviewing performance data and troubleshooting an inaccurate restaurant listing.

Responsibilities

• Loyalty / VIP Membership & Guest Journey
• Support the strategy, execution and ongoing development of the company's loyalty, VIP and membership programs.( Must be knowledgeable of programs such as Toast, Punchh, Thanx)
• Develop a strong understanding and campaigns of the complete guest journey, including acquisition, enrollment, onboarding, first visit, repeat visitation, birthdays, anniversaries, lapsed-guest re-engagement, VIP recognition and long-term retention.
• Create and maintain an annual CRM and loyalty communications calendar aligned with restaurant priorities, seasonal promotions, new openings, menu launches and companywide initiatives.
• Manage automated and triggered communications, including welcome journeys, enrollment rewards, birthday offers, member benefits, expiration reminders, win-back campaigns and VIP communications.
• Track program performance, including enrollment, active-member participation, visit frequency, retention, offer redemption, incremental revenue, member engagement. Also tracking any potential fraud.
• Email, SMS & Guest Communications
• Create, edit and proofread compelling, brand-appropriate copy for email campaigns, SMS messages, landing pages, website promotions, loyalty communications and membership updates. (Must be knowledgeable of programs such as Fishbowl, Marketo, Sales Force or similar)
• Adapt messaging for different restaurant concepts while maintaining consistent brand standards - develop targeted campaigns based on guest behavior, restaurant preference, location, visit frequency, spending, loyalty status, engagement and lifecycle stage.
• A/B testing subject lines, creative, when possible.
• Partner with graphic designers, agencies and internal marketing team members to develop campaign creative and digital assets.
• Digital Listings & Local Presence
• Own the accuracy, consistency and ongoing maintenance of restaurant listings across Google Business Profile, Yelp and Tripadvisor, as well as other relevant discovery platforms.
• Maintain current restaurant hours, holiday hours, menus, pricing links, contact information, addresses, reservation links, online-ordering links, amenities, categories, descriptions and photography.
• Conduct routine listing audits to confirm that information is consistent across platforms and restaurant websites - optimizing listings to improve local visibility, search relevance and guest conversion.
• Monitor listing performance, including impressions, searches, website visits, phone calls, direction requests, reservation activity and other available engagement metrics.
• Overseeing Google Key Words ads
• Website Management & Maintenance
• Directly manage and update content across the company's restaurant and corporate websites - working confidently within content management systems such as Popmenu, BentoBox, WordPress, Shopify or similar.
• Update menus, restaurant hours, promotions, events, private-dining information, photos, leadership biographies, press mentions, reservation links, online-ordering links, gift card information and other guest-facing content.
• Build and update landing pages, announcement bars, website pop-ups, forms and promotional modules and perform routine quality-assurance reviews.
• Maintain SEO fundamentals, including page titles, metadata, image naming, alternative text, internal links and location-based content.
• Accessibility, Privacy & Digital Compliance
• Serve as the primary day-to-day marketing contact for the company's website accessibility, privacy and compliance agencies.
• Coordinate recurring website audits and translate agency findings into clear, actionable updates for internal teams, website vendors and developers.
• Make direct content-level corrections when possible and escalate development-level issues to the appropriate technical partner.
• Maintain accessibility-friendly website content, including meaningful alternative text, descriptive links, logical headings and properly formatted digital content.
• Assist with the maintenance of privacy notices, accessibility statements, cookie and consent tools, data-request forms and other required website content.
• Maintain organized records of audits, remediation requests, vendor correspondence, completed updates and outstanding issues.
• Analytics, Reporting & Optimization
• Create recurring reports covering loyalty performance, email and SMS engagement, membership growth, website activity and digital-listing performance.
• Monitor key metrics such as enrollment, active-member rate, repeat visitation, redemption, revenue, open rate, click rate, conversion, unsubscribes, SMS opt-outs, website traffic and local-listing actions.
• Use tools such as Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, CRM dashboards and platform-level reporting to identify trends and opportunities.
• Provide clear, actionable recommendations rather than reporting data alone.
• Cross-Functional & Project Management
• Partner closely with Marketing, Operations, Information Technology, Culinary, Private Events and restaurant-level leadership.
• Coordinate with CRM providers, website developers, compliance agencies, digital-listing platforms and other external vendors.
• Manage multiple restaurant brands, campaigns and website requests simultaneously while meeting firm deadlines.
• Protect the integrity of each restaurant's individual brand while supporting consistent companywide standards.
• Maintain organized platform credentials, campaign archives, training materials, standard operating procedures and vendor documentation.

Requirements

• 3-5 years of experience in digital marketing, CRM, lifecycle marketing, loyalty marketing, website management
• Degree in Marketing, Communications, Digital Media, Hospitality, Business or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and professional experience.
• Restaurant, hospitality, multi-unit retail or consumer lifestyle brand experience - working across a portfolio of multiple brands or locations.
• Demonstrated understanding of the guest or customer journey, including acquisition, engagement, retention, loyalty and reactivation.
• Experience with loyalty and CRM platforms such as Punchh, Paytronix, Thanx, Salesforce, Marketo, Mailchimp or comparable systems.
• Experience supporting a loyalty, rewards, VIP or membership program.
• Experience managing digital listings through Google Business Profile, Yelp and Tripadvisor.
• Hands-on experience updating websites through platforms such as Popmenu, WordPress, Shopify or comparable content management systems.
• Strong writing, editing and proofreading skills with the ability to adapt communications across multiple brands.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to translate performance data into practical recommendations.
• Exceptional attention to detail, particularly when reviewing promotional terms, links, audience segments, restaurant information and website content.
• Excellent communication and relationship-management skills.
• Proactive, resourceful and comfortable troubleshooting digital-platform issues.
• Working knowledge of website accessibility, digital privacy, consent management and email/SMS compliance practices.
• Experience working with external agencies, software providers, developers and technology partners.

Skills

Required

• SEO fundamentals
• A/B testing
• Strong analytical skills
• Exceptional attention to detail

Benefits

• Competitive salary in the range of $80,000-$90,000 annually depending on experience
• Benefits including vacation pay, medical, dental and vision insurance
• Lifestyle Spending Account, this benefit supports you and your family in numerous ways such as through gym memberships, child care, groceries, student loans & more!
• Weekly lunches provided on site Mondays-Wednesdays
• Company dining package with allotted spending amount each month
• Variety of Supplemental Benefit Plans for life's unknowns
• 401k with annual employer match after 12 months
• Employer paid life Insurance throughout the length of employment
• Paid/Floating holidays for 10 major holidays
• Education Assistance Program (EdAP) for hospitality related education growth
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to assist with work life balance
• Management Referral Program with up to a $4,000 payout for qualifying management positions