Director of Marketing / Chief Marketing Officer
Benge's Hardware(entity of KennMar) – Indianapolis, IN | Full-Time | Reports to CEO
The Mission of This Role
Benge's Hardware is hiring a revenue-obsessed marketing leader — Director of Marketing or CMO, depending on experience — to own one number above all others: top-line revenue growth, driven through increased store traffic and improved return on ad spend (ROAS). This is not a brand-awareness or "creative for creative's sake" role. This is a growth and performance role for someone who thinks in dollars, conversion rates, and foot traffic — and who can build and lead a team to hit those numbers quarter over quarter.You will own the full P&L-adjacent impact of marketing: every campaign, promotion, sponsorship, and dollar of spend is expected to answer the question "did this drive revenue?" If you get energized by tying marketing activity directly to sales lift, category revenue growth, and measurable ROI — and you want to build and lead the team that makes it happen — this is your role.
About Benge's HardwareBenge's Hardware is one of Central Indiana's fastest-growing multi-location hardware and home-improvement brands, operating retail stores, mower service centers, and an expanding B2B division. Core revenue categories include:
- Paint
- Power tools
- Mowers & mower servicing
- Grilling
- Home preservation
- Commercial/B2B supply programs
Our mission: deliver convenience, expertise, quality, and exceptional customer service to every homeowner, contractor, and business partner — and grow revenue doing it.
Role Overview
The Director of Marketing/CMO owns company-wide marketing strategy with a hard mandate: grow revenue through store traffic and ROAS. You will build and lead a marketing team, manage agency and creative partners, run the marketing budget across stores, service shops, and B2B, and be held accountable to hard revenue and performance targets.This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who understands the retail customer journey, can execute across digital, traditional, in-store, and event/experiential channels, and can prove ROI on every dollar spent.
Key ResponsibilitiesRevenue Growth & Strategic Leadership
- Build and own an annual marketing strategy with explicit revenue, store-traffic, and ROAS targets — presented and reported against monthly.
- Set and be accountable for KPIs including revenue lift by category, cost per acquisition, customer lifetime value, ROAS, and traffic-to-conversion rate.
- Build and manage the marketing budget across stores, service shops, and B2B as a revenue-generating investment, not a cost center — reallocating spend aggressively toward what's working.
- Report directly to ownership/executive leadership on marketing's contribution to revenue.
Team Leadership & Management
- Build, lead, and develop a high-performing marketing team, setting clear revenue-linked goals and holding direct reports accountable to them.
- Manage external creative, media, and digital agency partners to ensure output is tied to performance, not just deliverables.
- Establish a culture of measurement — every team member should know how their work drives traffic and revenue.
Retail & Local Store Marketing
- Run targeted promotions, seasonal campaigns, and product-category pushes (Paint, Mowers, Tools, Grills) engineered to drive measurable store visits and basket growth.
- Oversee in-store signage, POP materials, and local marketing with a direct line to sales lift by location.
- Implement and continuously optimize strategies proven to drive store traffic — tracking visit-to-purchase conversion by store.
Digital & Performance Marketing
- Own SEO, paid search, paid social, email/SMS, programmatic, website, and CRM segmentation as revenue channels, optimized relentlessly for ROAS.
- Build and maintain tracking systems for ROAS, CAC, LTV, attribution, audience lift, and foot-traffic conversion — no spend goes unmeasured.
- Deliver monthly revenue and performance dashboards to executives and store operations, with clear calls to action on where to invest or cut spend.
Events & Experiential Marketing
- Own the annual events calendar as a revenue-driving channel, planning and executing:
- Store grand openings and re-grand-openings to drive new-customer traffic
- Seasonal sales events
- In-store DIY workshops and product demo days designed to convert attendees into buyers
- Contractor & B2B appreciation events and trade days to grow commercial account revenue
- Community sponsorship activations, including leveraging high-value local sports partnerships for client and customer entertainment tied to business development
- Local festivals, home shows, and community events that generate qualified store traffic
- Set and track revenue/traffic targets for every event, and report actual results against goal.
Community & Sponsorship Activation
- Leverage local sports partnerships and community assets for customer engagement, client entertainment, and business growth — treated as a revenue and relationship-building tool, not just brand goodwill.
B2B Marketing
- Develop acquisition funnels for contractor, commercial, and property-manager business accounts, with clear revenue targets per funnel stage.
- Create sales enablement materials and targeted outreach for $10K+ B2B packages, and own pipeline-to-revenue tracking in partnership with sales.
Qualifications
- 7+ years in marketing, with at least 3 years in a leadership or director-level role managing a team.
- Retail, home improvement, or multi-location experience strongly preferred.
- A track record of driving measurable revenue growth, store traffic increases, and ROAS improvement — you should be able to speak to specific numbers you've moved.
- Deep understanding of digital advertising, attribution, CRM, and performance metrics.
- Demonstrated success using ROAS, CAC, and LTV to optimize marketing spend and prove ROI.
- Experience planning and executing events or experiential marketing that converted into sales.
- Proven people-management experience — hiring, developing, and holding a team accountable to performance goals.
- Strong analytical, communication, and cross-department collaboration skills.
Pay: $100,000.00 - $130,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
