Business Development Strategist (For a Marketing / Creative Agency)

Job Description

Job Description

Salary : $85K-$125K per year

Taoti Creative is looking a Business Development Strategist to join our agency's business development team!

(Sorry in advance for the long read. But this is your career were talking about here! Its worth the extra detail, right? The right fit is critical for both of our sakes, so please forgive us in advance for the verbosity.)

Now, about the Job...

Its one thing to have brilliant ideas and technical knowledge to put together a solution for a client. But its another thing to be able to write it and articulate it in a clear, concise, and compelling fashion. Thats your job : to beadriving force behind coming up with winning themes and ideas and then translating them into proposals and pitches. Our business developmentprocess is extremely collaborative, so its not like we throw an RFP at you, lock you in a dark room, and say, here, write a response to this. As our opportunities come in, ourteam evaluates, qualifies, and strategizes them. As a team, we decide which opportunities to pursue and what our big ideas are. Thats where you step up. You borrow bits from old proposals, take ideas from our team, add in your own two cents, and set out to write the worlds best proposal that willget us in the roomwith the client(metaphorically speaking) to win the work.

Lets be clear : this is abusiness developmentrole, so you should be comfortable with the idea that you build relationships with prospects and clients to increase revenue.And within the team, a lot of your time will be spent writing and putting together proposals and other client communication. But its not your (primary) job to go find leads or be the leading voice in pitch meetings (though if you want to, you can do it).

We think apart of being a good Business Development Strategist isgetting inside the head of the prospect. You will need to have calls with themtodetermine if we are the right fitandto identifywhatneedsthey have. You willalsoneed to research themto understand how to connect their needs to what we propose,creatinga proposal that emotionally connects with them.

And no, this is not a commissioned position (Taoti doesn't actually have any commissioned positions). Everyone works on a fixed salary here.

What Were looking for

• You have a demeanor that projects confidence and credibility.
• You are comfortable speaking with others during pitches and calls
• You write unbelievably well.
• You have3-5years of business development or account experience in the world of web development, strategic communications, marketing, etc.
• You eat 80-page RFPs for breakfast.
• You WANT to write proposals. Its not a chore. Not something you have to do as punishment. Not something you do when you run out of other things.
• Youre not afraid to let some personality show through your writing and know how muchisthe right amountofedgy.
• You know Word inside and out. Youd never dare individually format a heading without applying a style. You know how to create dynamic TOCs. You could teachClippya thing or three.
• While you may not be an artist, you know how to make a fine-lookin document.
• Youre collaborative. Youre not afraid to get out of your chair and go ask a dev about why a client would want SOLR and how you should position it in the proposal.
• You can work directly with clients to refine and revise proposals, scopes, and other documents.

Responsibilities

Tips for getting onto theshort list

So what on earth is a Taoti??

Established in 1996, Taoti Creative is a boutique, full-service creative agency located on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. We are privately owned and have no corporate overlords (nothing personal, WPP.) We have the in-house ability to concept and deliver holistic branding, marketing and integrated digital solutions for our clients. This includes brand guides, logos, marketing strategies and execution, web development, social media management, branding, experiential marketing, video, AR / VR, etc. Our mission is to move the needle for our clients. We leverage technology, creativity, and innovation to generate meaningful and measurable results for our clientsthats what drives us. Speaking of clients, theyre about 50% government, 30% non-profit, and 20% commercial. Some of our customers include DC.gov, U.S. Figure Skating, Events DC, Howard County, MD, science and health-related non-profits, World Bank, USAID, the Environmental Defense Fund, the NFLPA, Jane Goodall Foundation, a slew of water utilities, commercial clients and dozens of National Association of _____________, etc.

Our full-time team of about 60 employees is about 65% in-house and 35% remote. We hail from over 12 countries. Theres of course plenty of additional information on our website. If youve not done so already, be sure to check out our Instagram, LinkedIn, and culture video : https : / / vimeo.com / 289302105. Or if youre feeling virtual, heres a snapshot of some of our current team in our office, located in the former rehearsal space for the Shakespeare Theater (Warning : not suitable for printers.)

Whats the corporate culture like?

Fun but focused, as one Taotian put it, is a great way to sum up our culture. Were a fun and casual shop. The kind of place where you can wear whatever and bring in your dog (one at a time).. We take the work seriously and believe deeply in the mission to make meaningful and measurable impacts for our clients. The perks and the office vibe is fun, but to really fit in here, you need to be about the work .

We also believe in total transparency and open communication across teams and across ranks. We want everyone to have and share their own voice. About once per month, the CEO holds CafeClutchjust so he can hear ideas and feedback directly from the team instead of through the filter of management.

Logistics

This is a full-time, W2, in-house role based out of our Washington, DC office. A note about what it means to be in-house here : the rule of thumb is that most employees in the DC area should be in the office 3.5 days a week. Certain roles (such as managers or people involved in projects that require more on-site meetings) may be more, and that may change from time to time. Ultimately, our goal is to embrace a hybrid office culture that balances the needs of the agency with the needs of employees.

What about benefits?

What about benefits?

Our Culture

Great ideas happen when diverse perspectives come together. Those perspectives are Taotis secret sauce. So, building a diverse team and culture where everyone has a voice and is included in the process is not just the right thing to do. Its good for business. Wed love your own perspective to add to our mix! We're eager for new, diverse voices to join the team and sincerely hope people from every walk of life will apply! And of course, Taoti is an equal opportunity employer.

Next steps

If youre qualified and interested, please apply on our website (https : / / www.taoti.com / careers.) Please note that these job ads often get placed onto other websites with their own application systems (were looking at you Jooble!) and some sites (looking at you Indeed!) have made up random salary ranges. We aren't able to respond to applications that dont come through our own website (because we use software to manage our hiring process, and without it, it would be the wild west here. So please be sure youre applying on our website. But don't worry real people read these. There's no AI involved here.)

Pretty please, no recruiters.