Acquisition Strategist

The Acquisition Strategist will lead the strategic direction of user acquisition for the Michigan Lottery’s iLottery program. This role focuses on analyzing performance, identifying growth opportunities, and advising on campaign strategy. The Acquisition Strategist will collaborate with internal teams and external partners, including the client’s marketing team, media agencies, and affiliate networks, to optimize multi-channel acquisition efforts and ensure alignment with business goals. The Acquisition Strategist will also manage an Acquisition Coordinator responsible for supporting partner communications and daily campaign logistics. 

What You'll Do: 

• Lead the development of user acquisition strategies to meet iLottery growth targets, ensuring alignment with broader marketing and business objectives. 

• Serve as a strategic advisor to internal teams, media partners, and affiliate networks by providing direction on campaign strategy, audience targeting, messaging, and promotional offers. 

• Monitor acquisition performance across all channels, including paid media, strategic partnerships, influencer outreach, and affiliate marketing, to identify optimization opportunities. 

• Recommend and oversee structured testing strategies (such as A/B and multivariate tests) to drive continuous performance improvement in collaboration with agency partners. 

• Analyze acquisition data to evaluate channel effectiveness, inform media mix and targeting decisions, and identify trends or areas for improvement. 

• Define and maintain acquisition KPIs and benchmarks; generate performance insights and communicate findings to stakeholders. 

• Collaborate with CRM, analytics, and data teams to ensure accurate attribution and reporting across the marketing technology stack. 

• Assist with acquisition budget planning, forecasting, and pacing oversight. Ensure spend aligns with ROI goals in partnership with finance and agency teams. 

• Guide affiliate strategy in partnership with third-party networks or agency partners, including partner recruitment, onboarding, and performance evaluation. 

• Recommend offers, creative strategies, and promotional tactics to optimize affiliate performance while maintaining cost-per-acquisition efficiency.

• Review affiliate reports and coordinate with internal and external teams to ensure invoicing and reconciliation processes are completed accurately. 

• Ensure affiliate efforts are aligned with broader acquisition strategies and campaign calendars. 

• Work with creative, brand, and compliance teams to ensure that acquisition and affiliate campaign assets meet regulatory standards and brand guidelines. 

• Support the development of co-branded or partner-led campaigns to increase reach and visibility. Provide guidance on positioning and targeting. 

• Collaborate with retention, CRM, and remarketing teams to ensure a seamless, full-funnel approach that supports player conversion and early retention. 

• Manage the Acquisition Coordinator by overseeing daily responsibilities, client deliverables, and professional development. 

What We're Looking For: 

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or a related field. A comparable amount of training and related experience may be substituted. 

• 5 years+ experience in acquisition or affiliate marketing and/or similar role in a digital marketing environment preferred. 

• Strong understanding of digital acquisition channels and performance metrics, with an emphasis on analysis and strategic planning. 

• Experience working with or managing external media agencies, affiliate partners, or marketing vendors. 

• Proficiency with marketing analytics tools such as Google Analytics and Power BI, with the ability to translate data into actionable insights.