Regional Marketing Manager

Location: Kelowna, BC preferred; Edmonton, AB considered

Travel: Regular travel throughout British Columbia and Alberta

Work Arrangement: Remote/Hybrid

Reports to: Director of Marketing & Strategy

About the Role

Bannister Automotive Group is looking for an experienced Regional Marketing Manager to serve as a key marketing partner to an assigned portfolio of dealerships.

Working directly with dealership leadership and Bannister’s internal marketing team, this role translates business priorities into effective marketing plans, identifies opportunities, provides recommendations, reviews performance, and coordinates the resources required to bring campaigns to life.

Our dealerships operate in different markets, represent different brands, and have their own business priorities. Effective automotive marketing is not one-size-fits-all. The Regional Marketing Manager must understand each store’s business, customers, inventory, market conditions, and goals, then develop recommendations that reflect the needs of that individual dealership.

This is a highly relationship-driven role requiring exceptional communication skills, strong business judgement, a very high level of attention to detail, and the ability to simplify complex marketing, technical, and performance information for dealership and senior leadership.

The Regional Marketing Manager will spend meaningful time in dealerships across their assigned portfolio. We are looking for someone who enjoys being close to the business, building relationships in person, understanding local market dynamics, and working collaboratively with store leadership.

What You’ll Do

• Serve as the primary marketing partner for an assigned portfolio of Bannister Automotive Group dealerships.
• Build strong relationships with General Managers, Sales Managers, Fixed Operations leaders, and other dealership stakeholders.
• Spend regular time in dealerships to understand business priorities, inventory, competitive conditions, customer needs, operational challenges, and opportunities firsthand.
• Lead regular marketing planning and performance discussions with dealership leadership.
• Develop dealership-specific marketing plans and campaign recommendations aligned with each store’s objectives, brand requirements, budget, and local market.
• Proactively identify opportunities based on performance, seasonality, inventory, customer behaviour, competitive activity, and dealership priorities.
• Bring forward new ideas and recommendations rather than relying solely on incoming store requests.
• Translate dealership needs into clear, actionable briefs for internal media, creative, web, content, analytics, and other marketing resources.
• Work closely with the Marketing Operations Manager and broader marketing team to coordinate execution, establish realistic timelines, prioritize work, and maintain clear visibility on the status of dealership requests.
• Ensure campaign details, budgets, creative requirements, timelines, reporting, and stakeholder communications are accurate and thoroughly reviewed.
• Review digital advertising, website, lead, CRM, and campaign performance and translate results into clear insights and recommended next steps.
• Monitor key performance indicators including traffic, lead volume, lead quality, conversion performance, cost per lead, cost per acquisition, and campaign ROI where applicable.
• Prepare concise performance updates and recommendations for dealership and senior leadership, focusing on the information most relevant to business decisions.
• Translate complex marketing concepts, platform changes, technical issues, vendor recommendations, and performance data into clear, practical business language.
• Help dealerships evaluate marketing opportunities, campaign investments, and vendor recommendations using data, business context, and sound marketing judgement.
• Support OEM programs and requirements, including co-op opportunities, brand standards, campaign requirements, and manufacturer considerations.
• Coordinate with external vendors and partners where required and help ensure their work aligns with dealership objectives and Bannister’s broader marketing standards.
• Support and, for assigned dealerships, directly own elements of retention and lifecycle marketing, including CRM, email, and SMS campaigns.
• Develop or coordinate retention initiatives including customer segmentation, service marketing, reactivation, ownership lifecycle communications, and targeted promotional activity.
• Manage campaign scheduling, QA, performance review, and optimization for lifecycle initiatives where required.
• Identify issues affecting marketing performance, including website conversion friction, tracking gaps, creative needs, media performance, CRM challenges, or process breakdowns, and work with the appropriate teams to resolve them.
• Maintain proactive communication with dealership leadership regarding recommendations, timelines, deliverables, results, and next steps.
• Share successful campaigns, ideas, learnings, and best practices across the group where they may benefit other dealerships.
• Balance consistent Bannister marketing practices with the individual needs, priorities, and market realities of each dealership.

What You Bring

• Minimum 3 years of automotive marketing experience, preferably supporting dealerships, dealer groups, or automotive retail clients.
• Strong understanding of dealership operations and the factors that influence automotive marketing decisions, including new and used vehicle sales, inventory, lead generation, fixed operations, OEM programs, and local competition.
• Experience developing and managing integrated marketing plans across digital advertising, websites, CRM, email, SMS, social media, content, and traditional media.
• Working knowledge of customer retention and lifecycle marketing, including CRM data, segmentation, email, and SMS communications.
• Strong understanding of performance marketing and measurement, including conversion rates, CPL/CPA, lead quality, attribution limitations, and funnel performance.
• Ability to interpret marketing data, identify what matters most to the business, and turn it into clear recommendations.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly, confidently, and professionally with General Managers, senior leaders, vendors, and internal teams.
• Professional fluency in English, both written and verbal, is required.
• Strong business writing skills, with a high standard for grammar, clarity, tone, structure, and accuracy across emails, presentations, briefs, and reporting.
• Demonstrated ability to simplify complex, technical, or data-heavy information for non-marketing audiences without losing the substance required for decision-making.
• Strong presentation and facilitation skills, including the confidence to lead meetings, explain recommendations, answer questions, and navigate differing viewpoints with senior stakeholders.
• Strong active-listening skills and the ability to quickly understand dealership needs, ask effective questions, and clarify requirements.
• Exceptional attention to detail, with a consistently high standard for accuracy across budgets, campaign details, reporting, presentations, briefs, and stakeholder communications.
• Strong relationship-management skills and the ability to influence decisions through credibility, data, and sound recommendations.
• Excellent organizational and project-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple dealerships, campaigns, and competing priorities simultaneously.
• A proactive, resourceful mindset and the ability to identify opportunities, solve problems, and follow through without significant day-to-day direction.
• Experience working with advertising agencies, media partners, website providers, CRM platforms, or automotive marketing vendors is an asset.
• Post-secondary education in marketing, business, or a related discipline is an asset. Equivalent relevant experience will also be considered.
• Ability and willingness to travel regularly throughout British Columbia and Alberta.

What Success Looks Like

Success in this role means the dealerships you support see Marketing as a knowledgeable, responsive, and reliable business partner.

You understand what each store is trying to accomplish and bring forward relevant ideas before being asked. Your recommendations are grounded in data, dealership priorities, and local market context rather than applying the same solution to every rooftop.

Dealership leaders have a clear understanding of what Marketing is recommending, why it matters, what is happening next, and how their campaigns are performing.

You are known for strong follow-through, sound judgement, and exceptional attention to detail. The information you provide is accurate, timelines are clearly communicated, and complex marketing or performance information is presented in a way senior leaders can quickly understand and act on.

You are equally comfortable sitting down with a General Manager to discuss business priorities, reviewing campaign performance, building a retention campaign, briefing an internal specialist, working through an OEM requirement, or helping a dealership evaluate where its marketing investment may have the greatest impact.

Working Relationships

The Regional Marketing Manager works closely with the Director of Marketing & Strategy, Marketing Operations Manager, internal media, creative, digital, web, content and analytics resources, dealership leadership teams, OEM representatives, and external marketing partners.

Location & Travel

Regular travel to dealerships throughout the assigned region is an important part of the role. Candidates should be comfortable spending meaningful time on-site with dealership teams and travelling throughout BC and Alberta as required.