Jacob Maples: Marketing Brand Manager in Guntersville, AL

I was the first employee of Compass 360 where we started building a rainwear and outerwear consumer goods business from the ground up in 2015. This experience has lead me to wear many hats and be the critical touch point for many business decisions such as ERP implementation, inventory planning, product design, branding, sales, customer service, and marketing. Sales and Marketing leader with experience and quantifiable success driving revenue, generating new business, planning and implementation, and executing sales and marketing initiatives to exceed annual business goals. Sales success generated from cold calls, industry tradeshows, as well as big box retail chains. Brand building experience starting from logo/name design and trademarking, to generating brand focused content to own the customer experience. Successfully build of loyal brand ambassador program to build user generated content and build word of mouth marketing campaigns. E-Commerce experience in building brand image and generating sales on platforms such as Amazon, Netsuite Site Builder, and eBay. Implementation of web advertising strategies has led to over 100% YOY growth on all web platforms while lowering CPC and increasing organic search results due to above average conversion rates lowering ROAS and overall ACoS spend. Building a company from the ground up as been a great experience and education in all aspects of professional development. I have a solid understanding of cash flow, inventory forecasting, warehouse management, and sales demands necessary to drive market share and maximize profits. Key Results: * Launched Compass 360 products on web through our Company website, Amazon, and eBay. * Secured Amazon brand registry for Compass 360 bringing all Compass 360 products under the protection of brand registry. Created all product listings on Amazon from scratch and optimized those listing to maximize visibility and conversion rates with A+ content. * Launched sponsored brand campaigns (Headline search ads) on Amazon to build brand awareness and test against Amazon sponsored product ads to future optimize Amazon ad spend. * Generated sales forecast based off historical sales, current trends, and future sales goals and worked with production team to keep key products in stock and keep listings fully optimized with all variations available. * Managed strategic KPI's on B2C platforms to increase ROAS and lower ACoS to stay within margin demand and continually drive sales. * Optimized product listings on Amazon through Enhanced Brand Content to increase listing conversion rates and build brand image. * Managed all aspects FBA inventory to increase listing optimization and avoid long term storage fees while decreasing warehouse daily work load. * Worked with Google Analytics to better understand our customer base and market trends. * Conducted research on brand names and brand name trends in the outdoor market to develop and trademark the company name COMPASS 360 as well as its icon, fabric names (HydroPore, RainTek, and Chillo's) * Conducted market research to define our competitive landscape and find where product would fit in the marketplace and price point those products needed to be in order to penetrate into a competitive market. * Working with key vendors and management team to build an entire new and innovative product line of rainwear and waders with an emphasis on current market offering and critical price points. Designed and brought over 103 new product styles to market containing over 870 SKU's. * Work with key vendors to dissect the of the bill of materials and cost of goods, to help develop a better insight into the manufacturing process and identify where product quality improvement, manufacturing processes, and overall cost savings might be possible, while maintaining healthy profitable relationships for both Compass 360 and our vendors. * Designed and implemented all point of sale material from product hangtags, stickers, boxes, and PDQ displays, utilizing my skill set in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. * Actively worked with senior management team to manage inventory levels and cash flow, by generating accurate sales forecast utilizing complex excel worksheets, historical sales data, and future sales demand reports. * Lead management team in researching, procuring, and the implementation of the most efficient and effective ERP system to encompass all areas of business from: order entry, fulfillment, procurement, warehousing, financial, and e-commerce needs. * Developing sales forecast with a focus on the seasonality of certain product markets such as camouflage hunting apparel, fishing waders, light weight shells, and cooling products. * Coordinated all tradeshow attendance with show organization, and conducted booth design, and merchandising of relevant products. These tradeshows included Outdoor Retailer, ICAST, SHOT, NBS, and EORA. * Developing training materials on all products for company sales reps and staff, identifying product features, differences, and competing products currently on the market. * Building and maintaining a loyal Pro-Staff of market influencers to test and promote the Compass 360 brand name in key channels and develop relevant content to use in various media channels. * Worked with print and web media groups to engage our target customers with relevant content. * Independently generated company catalogs from 2015 to 2019, turnkey taking and editing all catalog lifestyle photos, product shots, product copy, and bullet point features.

Worked my way through college as a sales associate at Dick's Sporting Goods, managing both the lodge and fitness centers and acting as store bike technician. These roles allowed me to learn retail sales, merchandising, planograms, and actively engaging with product end users.