Data/Excel Guru for Email Marketing and Research

Hello,
I am looking for a data analyst that at first, can take over my email marketing endeavors, and once those are fully underway and in a position of maintenance, move into a data management/research role.
I own a professional services recruitment boutique that services highly-educated, top-of-the-food chain professionals. Email marketing is a lynch pin of my business (and my industry as a whole), so I am looking for a long-term relationship with an email marketing/data management person who can take over these duties. I’ve been at this for over 20 years and expect to do it for at least 15 more.
This will be a full-time position until we’ve determined what the various campaigns will be, and get them up, running and Upgrade to see actual infoom there, your email marketing duties will become more maintenance, and you’ll move into a research role.
I am well acquainted with the email marketing process and have a good idea as to what I want, so you won’t be starting from scratch, and I don’t suspect that it will take very long to get us onto solid footing (for the right person). My intent:
(i) Get a handful of evergreen, optimized campaigns up and running that, once set, will only require periodic checking/maintenance.
(ii) From there, there will be data management (Gather all sources of data, cleanse, reconcile and put all into their proper places) 2-4 times per year, and
(iii) Periodic maintenance/tuning of the campaigns (based on analytics) and/or deploying ad hoc campaigns (should the need arise).
Language: Your English will NEED to be excellent. Regional accents are fine, but your English will be extremely fluent.
Hardware Requirements: At a minimum, you’ll have extensive experience with Excel and a computer that can handle large files. The candidate files (in particular) have ~220K rows of data (before winnowing), which can bind up smaller systems. Ideally you’ll have access to a computer that runs a 64bit version of MS office.
Software Requirements: A windows operating system with a very recent version of MS Office.
Skillset: (i) While this isn’t a deal killer, ideally, you will have some experience with coding (VBA, Python, HTML, for instance), which will give you a good understanding of Boolean structures and working with data. At a minimum, you will be a wizard with Excel. You should be able to create (at least) basic macros, and again, ideally you’ll know VBA. If you don’t, you should be capable of using ChatGPT to have it write any macros/VBA for you. (ii) You need to be very good – and therefore, expedient, and efficient – with data. You’ll also know how to watch/analyze the data from the campaigns so that you can make informed decisions about how to optimize them. Which subject lines get more opens; which links get more clicks; which email bodies get more/better response, etc. You’ll need to be able to create reports in my email marketing service so as to measure and act on this information in a way the best optimizes the email campaigns. (iii) You’ll know how to use OpenChat GPT (or one of the other AI systems) for content creation / ad copy.
Wish List: You’ll have experience working with frontend/backend email marketing systems (Sparkpost, Ongage, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Moosend, SendGrid, Mailjet, etc.). Again, not a deal killer if you don’t have this, but it would be ideal.
Quality. Your work should be professional. To be direct, I should only have to skim your work and approve or make minor changes/edits. With sites like Grammarly, the new MS Office spelling/grammar check and ChatGPT (in particular), any initial content drafts should be of high quality and clean. WHERE DATA, IN PARTICULAR, IS CONCERNED, IF YOU SEND IT TO ME FOR REVIEW AND I IMMEDIATELY FIND MISTAKES, I WILL SEND IT BACK TO YOU “TO FIX”, AND YOU WILL DO THAT ON YOUR OWN TIME. I don’t want to have to find your issues and tell you what they are. If I am doing that, then I might as well do the work myself. Of course, there is ramp up when doing new things – you getting used to the Ongage platform and/or coming up with new ideas for email flow and/or language, for instance – that is fine to bring to me for help. But if you know something really well, and I am finding continued quality issues, that won’t last Upgrade to see actual infoegrity. To be direct, I am truly looking for a long-term relationship. And a large part of that is having someone that is efficient and cost conscious. taking 5 hours to do a two-hour job won’t last long with me. I am extremely familiar with all the processes that I am looking for you to take over. Of course, there is ramp up. But, it will become evident if/whether you are efficient and act with integrity.
Responsibilities (at a high level):
1. Email Marketing. I use an advanced email marketing engine, with multiple lists comprising ~100K recipients (sometimes more) that are serviced from a platform composed of a Sparkpost backend with an Ongage front end. I currently have the following campaigns: (i) two quarterly broad solicitations and (ii) two evergreen service offerings. I will eventually look to launch other informational/content and/or ad hoc campaigns. To be direct, there isn’t much interaction with Sparkpost. But, you will need to be (or, become) extremely familiar with Ongage. List creation, data upload, creation of segments, campaigns, events, transactional/response emails (automation), analytics, etc. You will be responsible for:
a. Refreshing the data 2 – 4 times per year (more about that, next), and
b. Email flow creation. To be direct, this isn’t rocket science. If you are familiar with ChatGPT, you can use that to help create the email flows (which are “if/then” structures that dictate what emails to send based on recipient activity).
c. Optimizing, running, and managing the current campaigns (ensuring that they continue to run), and
d. Watching and reading the analytics to make informed decisions about if/when/how to change/manage the campaigns, and
e. Interacting with me to determine link/download/subject line/content strategies to engage the recipients, and
f. Content creation. To be direct, with access to ChatGPT – something I use often – content creation is an afterthought. While my audience is human (of course!), they are not the average “consumer”. All have law degrees; many possess ivy league degrees. Likewise, many have 7 (and some 8) figure incomes. Content will be direct, respectful, NOT salesy, and mature and professional. If you’re good at content creation, then that’s great. But, if you are not, then I am content with your creating it via ChatGPT and I will review it.
g. Split testing various subject lines and content to determine which convert the best, and
h. Setting up “transactional” campaigns that launch follow up emails based on in-email clicks, and
2. Data management. 2 – 4 times per year, I refresh the data that I use for email campaigns and research. This is an extensive process, which is well documented. Along with a handful of web scrapes that need to be done, I have numerous proprietary software solutions/tools, services, and that are used in this process. The process is fairly extensive, but not challenging for someone that is comfortable working with data in excel (via macros and/or VBA skills, for instance).
3. Ad Hoc Campaigns. There may be times when we launch segment-specific campaigns.
4. Documentation. You will document in a manual-esq format some-to-many of the things that you do for me. I’ve been at this for a long time and have hired on Upwork for years: people can come and go. Should you dUpgrade to see actual info to move along, I want your duties/responsibilities to be documented in a way that allows someone else to get up to speed quickly. I already have extensive notes/documentation on the data management/cleansing process – which comprises the vast majority of replicable (and therefore, documentable) work – so most of this responsibility would be simply ensuring that that documentation is up to date.
Once all of this is taken care of – which will take a number of months to do – then you will move into a maintenance role where the email marketing is concerned, and begin taking on research for me. This will include web and proprietary tools for the purpose of facilitating attorney movement from one law firm to Upgrade to see actual infopensation: I realize that you are in the Philippines, but you will be working for an American company. We do not do 13th month, here. So, please factor that into your hourly bid.
Disclaimer: From where I sit, this is a good start. As should be obvious, however, I don’t know what I don’t know. So, other duties/responsibilities may arise as we get going.
All that said, if this looks of interest, please let me know your thoughts and what specific experience you have that makes you right for the job. I look forward to working with you!
David