There is a sentence that I often find myself saying that I take a lot of pride in. That sentence is, “I work for Bookmans.” I am incredibly lucky to work for a company I love. Spending my days surrounded by books is basically my idea of a dream job. But, with that sentence, it’s usually followed up by, “what do you do there?” The easy answer: I’m a Marketing Coordinator. But what do I do? That’s a little bit harder to explain.

What does a typical day for a Marketing Coordinator look like? First and foremost, it’s never the same. My job requires me to wear many hats as I juggle event planning, community outreach, social media, amongst other things in and out of my location. Sometimes there are days where I can sit down and focus on a single project, but most days I find myself multitasking with the best of them. Being a Marketing Coordinator takes an outgoing, creative, detail-oriented mind that is capable of being very organized.

The beginning of my day usually starts with daily small projects like checking my email, organizing my schedule to meet with people and organizations in the community, and other things I know that I can bust through efficiently. This could be anything from adding tweets to my Twitter scheduler, adjusting my Instagram schedule, graphic designing, or catching up with fellow employees at my location to see what new and cool items we recently took in over the trade counter and finding ways to highlight these items. Most of my day, however, I focus on very key points of my job.

In-store Events

Planning events is a major part of what I do at Bookmans. That includes scheduling, coming up with new fresh ideas, advertising, and making sure they are well staffed and inclusive to our clientele base. Each Bookmans location has a variety of in-store events every week. We host book clubs, crafting nights, author events, and game nights. Just to name a few. Every single one of these events is put together by that location’s marketing coordinator and is catered to each store specifically. These events play a huge part in my day to day routine as well.

There are days when I have multiple events throughout the day that I’m responsible for and others that are only in the evenings. These events give me a chance to get to know our customers, but they also give us, as a community, to try new things together. Have you always wanted to learn how to paint something cool? Or wanted to try a new game out? Or maybe you just want to meet new people? These events are the perfect way to do that.

Community Outreach

The best thing about working for Bookmans is the fact that we are a local company that loves to give back to our community. Like I said before, being a Marketing Coordinator takes a real people person. My favorite thing to do is be out at events and meeting new people, finding out what they do, and figuring out a way to help and be a part of the amazing things that other people are doing. One of my favorite things about my job is going to schools and talking to the youth in my community. Literacy is such an important thing to me. It’s great to be able to go to classrooms and read to kids. Of course, then I get to hear what they love about reading, or what video game they are playing, or even the TV shows they are into now. It’s the best way to stay in the know!

Social Media

On a daily basis, I’m responsible for my location’s social media accounts. These include Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and writing blog posts like this one.  I work directly with Bookmans’ Social Media Director regarding specific items, then… This is really where my creativity can go wild. I can often be found utilizing precious moments in my day crafting together an Instagram post. As we all know, social media doesn’t stop, it’s a constantly growing medium. Throughout every day, I’m posting on each of our accounts, commenting with followers, and really showcasing what makes Bookmans amazing. I also work alongside my store’s Visual Merchandiser to make sure that we are making each post unique and interesting.

Budgeting

Events and community outreach, unfortunately, don’t pay themselves. I have to ensure I have funds for what I need/want on a month to month basis. So, just because I want to get a bunch of custom-made skull planters for customers to paint for my Studio Nights event doesn’t mean I should. Especially if I also am coordinating a large gift card donation to a charity raffle, then also filling backpacks with supplies for kids as they return to school. I have to make that call and keep to my budget. It usually comes down to a balance of fun and community partnership.

Taking all of these things into consideration, my day to day is constantly changing. This is, honestly, the best part about being a Marketing Coordinator. My job is never boring. What my manager is looking for may sound a bit different, so you should check that out here.