About the ABC

The Association of British Climbing Walls (ABC) promotes the professionalism, health and growth of indoor climbing. It is an industry going through major change with new climbing walls opening all the time, and the sport featuring at the Olympics in 2020. In response, the ABC is accelerating the development of its organisation and the offer it provides to members and individual indoor climbers. Further information about the ABC is appended to this role profile.

It's a really exciting time to be part of the ABC as we build our capability on behalf of our members. Right now, we need a specialist contractor with deep skills in digital marketing and social media to join our team for a six month pilot.

Background to this role

The ABC's membership and Management Committee are interested in pursuing the development of an individual membership offer for indoor climbing. We believe there is a gap in the market for those people who only climb indoor, who are looking to feel part of a bigger community. Our market research estimates that this may be as many as 71% of all people who climb indoors and they are predominantly young, urban and frankly quite cool.

The overall market for indoor climbers is ca. 1,000,000 who climbed last year, and we want to support efforts to convert these into the 100,000 that climb regularly. The reason that the ABC wants to do this is to increase conversion and retention in this market; so that more people want to climb, more often.

Scope

We need support from a digital marketing and social media specialist with the capacity and capability to work with us for half a day a week for six months to market test the viability of the development of such an online indoor climbing community. In particular, they will need to deliver the following:

• Work with the ABC Chief Executive to scope out activity for the six month period, including setting objectives and outcomes from the project. This will include more specific definition of the target demographics, methods of engagement and creation of a plan to deliver against
• Delivery of the plan, predominantly using social media and other low cost engagement mechanisms. At this stage we envisage supporting ABC members spread the word about their activities, as well as developing and supporting national initiatives working with partners such as the BMC and UKClimbing.com. Overall, the role is one of a curator of relevant content, rather being than the creator of it.

This is a pilot project which, if successful, may develop into a more substantive role. It is for a self-employed contractor / freelancer who will have little or no budget to work with.

Person specification

We would like to hear from experts with the following knowledge, skills and experience:

• Demonstrable understanding of B2C digital marketing – from planning through to implementation
• Excellent knowledge of the indoor climbing market
• Technical skills to be able to curate content from appropriate sources
• Management of social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter, as well as websites
• Ability to engage with ABC members to understand, translate and re-purpose their marketing and community focused material
• Self-starting and creative with the ability to work as part of a geographically dispersed team, with limited supervision
• Experience of a business start-up environment
• Experience of working with volunteers

How to apply

Please send a covering letter and CV setting out your relevant experience and credentials, set against the specification above to: graham@abcwalls.co.uk. This must include your daily rate for the work, and two referees for similar work. The closing date for applications is 25th March. Applications will be assessed against the person specification above in a Skype or phone interview w/c 26th March.

Find out more about the ABC