Marketing Specialist (General)

Overview

You're part of the marketing team at ACV Auctions, a public company (NYSE: ACVA) that runs an online marketplace where car dealers buy and sell used vehicles. The marketing team supports both dealer acquisition (getting more dealers onto the platform) and dealer engagement (keeping them active). This role could span demand generation, content marketing, events, or other marketing functions—the post doesn't specify the exact function beyond mentioning an Email Marketing Specialist opening.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Public company (NYSE: ACVA)

Size: 1,858 employees

Growth: Large enough to have specialized marketing roles; hiring indicates continued expansion

Market Position: Leading online marketplace for dealer car auctions—established player in automotive wholesale space

What They Do: ACV runs daily online auctions where car dealers buy and sell used vehicle inventory. They do vehicle inspections, provide condition reports, and facilitate nationwide transactions. It's B2B—dealers are both buyers and sellers on the platform.

Marketing Context at ACV

Who You're Marketing To:

• Used car dealers (independent lots, franchise dealers)
• Wholesalers who move volume inventory
• Fleet managers at larger dealer groups

Marketing Challenges:

• It's a two-sided marketplace—need dealers to both list cars AND buy cars
• Network effects matter—more inventory attracts more buyers, more buyers attract more sellers
• Competing with traditional physical auctions (Manheim, ADESA) and other online platforms
• Dealer behavior is habitual—they have existing auction relationships

Marketing Channels Likely Used:

• Email campaigns to dealer lists (hence the Email Marketing Specialist role)
• Trade shows and automotive industry events
• Direct outreach and dealer relationship marketing
• Content marketing (probably guides, market insights, inventory trends)
• Possibly some digital advertising targeted at dealer personas

What You'll Actually Do

Since the specific marketing function wasn't defined, here's what different marketing roles typically do at a B2B marketplace like this:

If Demand Generation:

• Build and manage campaigns to drive dealer sign-ups
• Work with sales on lead nurturing sequences
• Run webinars or virtual events showcasing the platform
• Manage paid acquisition channels (LinkedIn, trade pub ads)
• Track conversion metrics from awareness to active dealer

If Email Marketing Specialist (mentioned in post):

• Build and manage email campaigns to dealer segments
• Nurture sequences for new dealer onboarding
• Re-engagement campaigns for inactive dealers
• Promotional emails for specific vehicle inventory or auction events
• A/B testing subject lines, CTAs, send times
• Managing email deliverability and list hygiene
• Reporting on open rates, click rates, conversion to auction activity

If Content Marketing:

• Create guides, case studies, blog posts for dealer audience
• Develop market insight reports (vehicle pricing trends, inventory data)
• Support sales enablement with one-pagers and pitch materials
• Manage dealer testimonials and success stories
• Possibly manage social media presence

If Events/Field Marketing:

• Plan and execute presence at automotive trade shows
• Organize dealer appreciation events or regional meetups
• Coordinate booth presence, demos, lead capture
• Follow up on event leads with sales team

Time Breakdown (Estimate)

Campaign Execution (40%) | Cross-functional Meetings (25%) | Analysis & Reporting (20%) | Admin/Tools (15%)

Typical Weekly Activities:

• Campaign Planning: Working with sales and leadership to define what to promote, which dealer segments to target
• Execution: Building emails, landing pages, ads, or content pieces
• Coordination: Syncing with sales on lead handoffs, with product on feature launches, with customer success on retention campaigns
• Measurement: Pulling reports on campaign performance, dealer engagement metrics
• Tools Work: Managing marketing automation platform, CRM hygiene, tracking setup

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• Niche B2B audience: Car dealers are a specific persona—not a huge TAM, and they're set in their ways
• Attribution complexity: In a marketplace, it's hard to prove marketing directly drove a dealer to list or buy specific vehicles
• Two-sided dynamics: Your campaigns need to balance attracting sellers (dealers with inventory) and buyers (dealers shopping for inventory)
• Internal stakeholder management: Marketing at a 1,800-person public company means lots of approvals, cross-functional dependencies, and reporting up
• Dealer skepticism: These are pragmatic business owners who've been burned by new tech before—they want proof of ROI
• Repetitive work: Lots of the work is execution—building the 50th email campaign, pulling the weekly metrics report, updating the same landing page

What Success Looks Like

• For Demand Gen: X new dealer sign-ups per quarter, Y% conversion from lead to active dealer
• For Email: Hit open rate benchmarks (industry average ~20-25% for B2B), drive Z% of dealers to attend auctions or list vehicles from campaigns
• For Content: X downloads/views per piece, sales team actually uses your materials
• For Events: Capture X qualified leads per show, Y% convert to sales conversations

Who You're Supporting

Internal Stakeholders:

• Sales Team: Needs leads, needs nurture support, wants content to send prospects
• Customer Success: Wants retention campaigns, dealer education content
• Product: Launching new features, needs go-to-market support
• Executive Team: Wants growth metrics, ROI justification for marketing spend

External Audience:

• Dealer Principals/Owners: The decision-makers who decide whether to join platform
• Used Car Managers: Day-to-day users who list and buy inventory
• Wholesalers: High-volume buyers and sellers who need efficiency

What Dealers Care About:

• Inventory access: Can they find the cars they need at competitive prices?
• Speed and convenience: Is this faster than driving to a physical auction?
• Condition accuracy: Do the vehicle reports match reality when cars arrive?
• Financial terms: Auction fees, payment terms, logistics costs
• Trustworthiness: They're moving $20K-50K+ per vehicle—they need confidence

Requirements

• 2-4 years marketing experience, preferably B2B
• Experience with marketing automation tools (Marketo, HubSpot, Pardot, etc.)
• Comfortable with data and reporting—you'll be expected to show campaign ROI
• Strong project management—lots of moving pieces and stakeholders
• Bonus: automotive industry knowledge or marketplace experience
• Located near Buffalo, NY or willing to work remotely (company has remote roles but check specific req)
• Comfortable in a corporate environment—this is a public company with structure and process