multi-faceted marketing leadership
Hello, I'm Ellie-
As a B2B marketer with an MBA, Professional Certifications from the American Marketing Association and Digital Marketing Institute, and 16 years of experience marketing B2C automotive service and sales retention 'marketing products,' I bring a deep understanding of the marketing world.
In my recent two-year break from the auto industry to spend more time with my children, I have stayed busy:
I currently serve as the Chair for the Seven Peaks School Board of Trustees, a PK-8 independent International Baccalaureate school. Honing my skills in: communication, management, public speaking, strategic planning, leading through crisis management scenarios, and providing visionary and fiduciary leadership.
Name
Ellie Eliopulos
ellie.eliopulos@gmail.com
Phone
(503) 380-9541
Location
Bend, Oregon
SKILLS
Competitive Intelligence
Adept at gaining a comprehensive understanding of the market landscape, with the ability to analyze, disseminate, and respond to competitive offerings.
Targeted Sales Programs
Innovative thinker, skilled at leveraging competitive gaps by creating sales and marketing programs in response to industry trends and opportunities.
Marketing Collateral & Branding
Proficient at creating all forms of marketing collateral -- brochures, flyers, internal product positioning sell sheets, infographics, direct mail, email marketing campaigns, and digital ads -- all consistent with each organization's unique Brand Standards.
Public Relations
Practiced at building relationships with industry press to gain freelance thought leadership article space and event press coverage.
Marketing Strategy
With a Masters in Business Administration and Professional Certifications from the American Marketing Association and Digital Marketing Institute, I am well-versed in strategy development.
Leadership
Skilled at finding creative, collaborative solutions to complex problems, while staying calm and steady under pressure.
Event Planning
From the massive National Auto Dealers Association trade show, to much smaller scale school-hosted community events, I have created marketing strategies that drive attendance, press recognition, and get results.
Product Management
As a Marketing Product Manager, I have experience reporting to C-level executives on product performance, highlighting sales trends, individual rep performance, and industry opportunities.
16
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
In both a large corporation as part of a marketing team, and independently running the marketing efforts for a small regional operation.
500+
COMPLETED PROJECTS
Competitive Research, Sales Training Programs, Dynamic Brochures & Flyers, Product Capability Sheets, Marketing Catalogs, Client Testimonials, Webinars, Case Studies, Presentation Decks, Return on Investment Calculators, Videos, Internal Podcasts, Press Releases, Cooperative Advertising Programs, or Brand Standard Compliance ... If it's marketing, I do it!
100%
SATISFACTION
One of just two (out of 60) employees retained after the acquisition
16 years of stellar performance reviews
Four years of re-election to the Seven Peaks School Board, promotion to the highest officer role, as Chair - responsible for the strategic direction of the school and management of our Head of School's performance.
DISCLAIMER
*The following portfolio shows an extremely limited snapshot of my capabilities.
All work products created during my many years at Reynolds remain the sole property of Reynolds and Reynolds. Given my management role within the company, all competitive intelligence comparison guides, sales campaign reports, internal product capability sheets, and strategy documents were confidential and thus it would have been highly inappropriate for me to intentionally retain personal copies of that work.
Also, all work shown follows the creative direction of the organization for which it was created, and does not necessarily reflect my personal creative preferences.
When you're motivated by the work itself, you work because you enjoy it. Work is play.
MARKETING STRATEGY EXAMPLES
ORION EYE CENTER
Bend, Oregon-based Orion Eye Center contracted with me to review their current marketing practices and suggest actionable insights and simple targeted steps that their Office Manager could take to enhance their visibility in the community.
SEVEN PEAKS SCHOOL
As the Chair of the Board, I lead the board annually in its strategic planning work over a 2-day board retreat. Following the retreat, I created this short presentation to provide a community-facing overview of our 3-year Strategic Plan.
Actionable competitive insights are key to anticipating competitive moves, capitalizing on market gaps, and proactively adjusting sales and marketing strategies.
COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE
For 12 years, my primary role as Marketing Manager at Reynolds was to help our organization make informed decisions about pricing, product development, customer targeting, and promotional tactics in response to competitive intelligence. I collaborated with sales management and our team of approximately 200 sales representatives to build, manage and disseminate competitive intel and use that intel to mold our sales strategy.
EXAMPLE: I spearheaded a competitive sales training & marketing program that resulted in 2x more contracts sold to targeted accounts per month.
- Ford: 1.6 to 3.28 average enrollments per month
- Nissan: 1.5 to 4.57 average enrollments per month
- Honda: 1.3 to 3.14 average enrollments per month
- Toyota: 1.6 to 2.71 average enrollments per month
- GM: 3 to 3.5 average enrollments per month
EXAMPLE: I built an internal competitive intelligence database to make competitive assets easy to access and understand. I created competitive comparison grids and discovery question guides to increase close rates.
* Both examples above were instrumental to our sales efforts and were confidential and proprietary; I do not have copies of these work products.
In this Sales Bulletin example, when a competitor temporarily reduced their advertising in response to COVID-related budgetary pressures, I shared the news and targeted sales tactics.
Throughout my time at Reynolds, I used a mix of bulletins, internal sales success podcast interviews, case studies, and webinars to update our sales team on:
- Actionable competitive intelligence
- Industry news
- Product enhancements and updates
In this Direct Email Marketing example, when the new vehicle sales market shifted to 30% of all vehicles leaving lots as leased, I leveraged industry news to sell our lease-directed customer retention communications via a direct email marketing campaign.
I capitalized on market trends with multi-channel marketing strategies, including: email marketing, promotional flyers & brochures, and product sample sets.
As ReminderTRAX Product Manager, I worked with our creative team on video elements. This PowToon video is an example of those used by our sales team to self-promote ReminderTRAX via LinkedIn.
As a Product Marketing Manager, I frequently used PowToon, a quick turnaround video platform, to internally generate excitement around new sales incentive programs in response to competitive gaps.
"Ellie played a key role in our 22% sales growth with ReminderTRAX this year. The highlights of her achievements include the creation of the 2nd generation of the Competitor Cliff Notes, the 5 OEM Gap training programs, and the 34 bulletins to our sales organization covering a wide range of important topics. Without a doubt, Ellie is and has been a key contributor to our Marketing Services business. Her industry and competitive insight, collaboration with team members and subject matter expertise is extremely valuable and does not go unnoticed despite her working virtual." - Senior Marketing Manager, Carol Brackman | 10 year Anniversary - Performance Review comments
BRAND STANDARD COMPLIANCE EXAMPLES
In November of 2016, while conducting market research with our clients, I learned of a major change coming within 2-months to Cadillac's Brand Standard compliance requirements. Essentially, dealers would be faced with fines and major restrictions if they were found to have advertising outside of ad templates pre-approved by their new, Cadillac Pinnacle Program.
Realizing the effect that the Pinnacle Program would have on our Cadillac business, I quickly spearheaded internal initiatives to comply, including creating and securing approval for 35 custom direct mail templates, 5 service reminder templates, and 1 PromoTAG template -- in the challenging November/December holiday timeframe!
Securing these approvals required much more than design work. Given the automated nature of our marketing products, internal software modifications were necessary to create Pinnacle-compliant digital and print advertising layouts.
Once templates were approved, I created a Cadillac Branding Checklist as an audit tool for our sales team to evaluate whether a marketing communication (Reynolds or otherwise) met Pinnacle standards. I also created a Template Booklet to showcase all 46 templates and their respective IDs to ease the backend sales support fulfillment process.
In my role as Marketing Manager at Reynolds, I managed all elements of Co-op Advertising eligibility and reimbursement for OEM programs. This required an in-depth understanding of OEM's Brand Standards, Corporate Identity Guidelines, and compliance and reimbursement documentation.
I started Reynolds co-op program from scratch, at first housing all co-op information for our manufacturing and sales team in one large manual. This became cumbersome to maintain, so in 2017 I created an internal website to make co-op guidelines and sales tactics more accessible for our traveling sales team. With the new site, our sales could quickly access:
1. The OEM’s co-op manual, with pertinent information to RDS highlighted and explained in laymen's terms.
2. View OEM-approved samples (updated quarterly).
3. See at a glance which products are co-op eligible by manufacturer.
4. Use a newly condensed, sales-focused, internal co-op manual to quickly learn co-op percentages, eligibility, and restrictions.
"Ellie continues to be a very strong contributor to the RDS Marketing team. She is our go to person for service marketing competitor intelligence and for OEM co-op programs. She is committed to keeping our sales organization informed and giving them the necessary tools to aid in their sales efforts. Her ability to keep up to date on all of these programs is impressive. This year, Ellie played a significant role in making sure our products were compliant with Cadillac's Project Pinnacle program. It was a large project that required lots of collaboration and coordination. The quantity and quality of the work that Ellie completes is outstanding." - Senior Marketing Manager, Carol Brackman | Performance Review comments
EXPERIENCED AT:
* This collection adheres to company brand standards and does not reflect a personal creative preference.
Industry Press
Articles
Procurement
Campaigns
Management
Question Guides
Advertising
"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." - Steve Jobs
BOARD LEADERSHIP
See a copy of the Seven Peaks School Annual Report, including a letter from me as Board Chair.
In my current role, as Chair of the Seven Peaks Board of Trustees, I:
Lead the board in its annual strategic planning work
Work with the board to establish and maintain systems for evaluating and compensating the Head of School
Ensure the long-term financial health of the school
Oversee the growth and development of the board
Monitor ethical and legal standards, and ensure board policies align with our mission, vision, and values
Partner with our Head of School to establish mutually agreed upon goals, set meeting agendas, handle crisis management scenarios, and ensure that the board is addressing imperative strategic issues
Sit on committees for: Development, Finance, Facility, Diversity Equity and Inclusion, and Governance
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Much of my freelance articles at DiversiForm were ghostwritten to increase market credibility and solicit sales leads for our sales team. However, when the recession hit in 2009, I authored the lead article, "Maximizing a Down-Sized Ad Budget," in Fixed Ops Magazine, bringing national visibility to our small Pacific-Northwest operation, several trackable sales leads, and the attention of Reynolds and Reynolds, who acquired DiversiForm in 2009.
* This article was created to follow the tone and writing style of the magazine.
TRADE SHOW MARKETING - BIG BANG, SMALL BUDGET
Annually, the National Auto Dealers Association (NADA) brings the industry together for the world's largest automotive retail convention and expo. 500-plus exhibitors compete to draw the attention of thousands of Dealer Principals and General Managers from across the country. Compared to industry behemoths, like Reynolds, DiversiForm was a little fish in a big pond at the convention. As Marketing Director, my task was to design a booth that would stand out at NADA and generate sales leads to make the trip worth the expense -- all with a small physical footprint and budget. To support the event, I:
Created creative at-show flyers (pictured below), modeled after our dispatch hangtag product. These were mailed before the event to attendees, and physically handed out to attendees throughout the convention center by our sales team.
I facilitated the rental of a Money Air Machine and created booth signage to draw attendees to our booth.
Sent a post-event targeted direct mail campaign reminded prospects of our booth and drive sales leads.
The result: our booth drew record attendance, and a gathering to compete with the industry giants!
APPLICANT FOR UNITED STATES PATENT
In August of 2009, Reynolds applied for a patent on the product I invented and brought to market, PromoTAG. (Reynolds ultimately decided to let this application lapse.)
Recognized as "best new money maker in the industry" winning the 2007 Print Solutions Magazine 'Peak Award.'
After the product's acquisition by Reynolds, I assisted in bringing product sales from roughly $300k to $3M.
