Category Marketing Manager

Graco manufactures and markets premium equipment to move, measure, control, dispense and spray a wide variety of fluid and powder materials. What does that mean? Well, we pump peanut butter into your jar, and the oil in your car. We glue the soles of your shoes, the glass in your windows and the screen on your phone. We spray the finish on your vehicle, coatings on your pills, the paint on your house and texture on your walls. Graco is part of your daily life.

The Category Marketing Manager is responsible for developing and executing growth marketing and go-to-market strategies for assigned categories. This role dives deeply into relevant industries, applications and customer needs to build a strong voice of customer (VOC), strategic marketing plans to drive growth, and a five-year category strategic plan.

The Category Marketing Manager is responsible for formulating and executing integrated strategic marketing plans to achieve market growth through brand awareness, demand generation, product launches, and sales and channel partner enablement. The role serves as an orchestrator, ensuring relevant teams collaborate on and execute a shared global go-to-market strategy. 

What You Will Do at Graco

Strategic Marketing and Execution

• Develop a 5-year category roadmap for assigned areas aligning with the division’s global strategy and market trends.

• Perform market research (primary & secondary) on assigned category to understand market dynamics, customer needs, and competitive landscape to identify what opportunities, challenges, and dynamics exist for the organization and its individual products.

• Create and implement comprehensive, global category marketing strategies and go-to-market plans that align with divisional goals and measure KPIs against performance goals.

• Identify target customers within the vertical/category and assess their potential value, determine wallet size potential, and prioritize marketing efforts accordingly. Champion demand generation strategies and provide them to sales team for execution.

• Foster customer loyalty, satisfaction, retention and growth through customer marketing and advocacy.

• Apply technology and data to increase market reach, grow demand and streamline processes to make more informed decisions.

• Track and report on KPIs while providing insights and recommendations to improve results.

• Build an understanding of customer applications and operating environments, including considerations such as productivity, uptime, product quality and integrity, sanitation, safety and regulatory requirements where relevant.

Product Brand and Launch

• Define and manage product branding strategies to ensure consistency and alignment with company values and brand identity.

• Plan and manage global product launches in collaboration with product management, channel marketing, corporate marketing and other functions.

• Develop quantifiable value proposition, messaging and positioning that resonate with target market and buyer personas, connecting product capabilities to customer application needs.

• Collaborate with channel marketing and corporate marketing in the creation of thought leadership, portfolio content, sales tools, integrated campaigns and advertising.

• Determine the need for product-related events, such as trade shows, webinars, industry conferences, and relevant vertical-specific events.

• Develop compelling marketing messages for products, presentations, and other promotional materials in alignment with channel marketing.

• Collaborate with sales and operations teams to develop accurate product forecasts and inform inventory management and production planning.

• Name products within the established brand guidelines, ensuring alignment with brand values, market positioning, and target audience preferences.

• Create and maintain a global messaging document to ensure consistency in messaging across markets and channels.

Customer and Competitive Market Research

• Conduct and analyze VOC research to inform marketing strategies, market segmentation, target personas and buyer journey maps.

• Analyze VOC data to understand the customer's needs, preferences and pain points, translating insights into actionable marketing strategies.

• Gather and analyze global customer feedback, market data, industry trends, application requirements and relevant changes in standards or regulations to identify customer needs and product opportunities.

• Translate customer process and application challenges into actionable market, product and commercial opportunities

• Use research insights to inform product strategies, optimize marketing efforts and maintain a competitive edge.

• Continuously optimize marketing efforts based on performance metrics, customer feedback and market trends.

• Coordinate with Engineering and Sales to conduct customer interviews to gather feedback and insights.

• Conduct comprehensive competitive analysis to identify market trends, assess competitor strategies, and identify opportunities for differentiation.

• Define the solution alternatives available to buyers, including direct competitors and adjacent solutions, and assess relative strengths, weaknesses and points of differentiation.

• Define clear, detailed product requirements and create customer requirement documents (CRDs) based on market research, customer feedback, monetary value and technical requirements.

• Identify and articulate the product’s unique value proposition, highlighting key customer benefits and advantages.

• Gather customer testimonials and feedback and collaborate with channel marketing and corporate marketing to incorporate insights into marketing materials.

• Conduct market pricing analysis to inform competitive pricing strategies and optimize product positioning.

What You Will Bring to Graco

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business Administration, or a related field.

• 3+ years of experience in marketing, with demonstrated success in vertical-specific and market development strategies.

• Demonstrated ability to effectively create, plan and implement marketing programs and strategies.

• Ability to understand technical products, customer applications and complex buying environments and translate them into compelling commercial strategies and customer value propositions.

• Ability to effectively manage and communicate with a wide range of stakeholders, including executive leadership, partners, and customers.

• Collaborative team member with demonstrated experience working across multi-functional and global teams.

• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to interpret VOC insights and translate them into action.

• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with experience reporting to senior leadership.

• Ability to travel approximately 25% of time, both domestically and internationally.

Accelerators

• Global industrial manufacturing experience and knowledge.

• Experience in food and beverage, pharmaceutical, life sciences, medical, personal care, chemical or other process manufacturing industries.

• Experience marketing products or solutions used in hygienic, sanitary, regulated or mission-critical processing applications.

• Experience with fluid and material handling, processing or application technologies, including pumps, fluid transfer, dispensing or related technologies.

• Understanding of process-industry customer needs such as uptime, cleanability, product integrity, reliability, safety and total cost of ownership.

• MBA or equivalent advanced degree.

#LI-Hyrbid

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a permanent and unrestricted basis. This position is not eligible for immigration sponsorship now or in the future (e.g., H-1B, TN, E-3, O-1, L-1, or employment-based permanent residence sponsorship). Candidates working under temporary employment authorization, including F-1 OPT, STEM OPT, CPT, or similar programs, are not eligible for this position. 

At Graco, you truly make a difference. Your unique talents contribute to our organizational growth and future. Not only do you make a difference, but Graco’s culture empowers employees to create their own career path. Whether you choose to advance within your current department or explore new opportunities in different divisions, you have the ability to build your future. Our managers are here to provide support and guidance as you continue to grow within your career.

Graco has excellent opportunities available to individuals who want to be part of a fast-moving, growing company that is committed to quality, innovation and solving fluid handling problems for our customers. Graco is proud to be named a Best Place to Work by Fortune Magazine in 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021 & 2022. Graco offers attractive compensation, benefits and career development opportunities. Graco’s comprehensive benefits include medical, dental, stock purchase plan, 401(k), tuition reimbursement and more.

Our company uses E-Verify to confirm the employment and eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit www.dhs.gov/E-Verify.

The base pay range for this position is listed below, exclusive of fringe benefits or other compensation.  If you are hired, your final base hourly rate will be determined based on factors such as geographic location, skills, competencies, education, and/or experience.  In addition to those factors, we will also consider internal equity of our current employees.  Please keep in mind that the range provided is the full base salary range for the role.  Hiring at or near the maximum of the range would not be typical to allow for future and continued salary growth.