Marketing Manager Job Description – Top Skills, Salary & More

MARKETING MANAGER FAST STATS

Marketing Manager: Understanding the job

What is a marketing manager?

A marketing manager is hired by a company to develop and execute a marketing plan about its products or services, to communicate that to current customers, and to use it to attract new customers. A marketing manager may manage an entire business’s or organization’s products or services, several lines of products or services, or just a single line. In short, they promote a business or its products. They communicate with customers and users in as many relevant ways as they can.

Marketing managers work within budgets they help to craft, so they are in charge of deciding the most cost-effective ways to communicate, whether they be digital, in print media, or multi-platform campaigns. Managing and leading a team of marketing professionals, meeting with executives to present marketing ideas and discuss sales targets, and communicating with the general public about their company’s image are all essential points in the marketing manager job description.

Along with needing to be aware of the latest marketing trends, marketing managers need to use the following skills among others on a daily basis: communication and interpersonal skills, budgeting, team leadership and strategic planning, digital marketing, time management and creative thinking.

Top marketing manager skills

What does a marketing manager do?

The marketing manager job description varies from company to company as these different businesses may need a single product promoted, a collection of products promoted, or the entire business and all its product lines or services promoted. Regardless of the employer and the nature of the employer’s marketing needs, every marketing manager job description includes:

• choosing the best channels of communication to promote a product (sponsored ads, events, digital or print ads, billboards, social media, promotions, partnerships, etc.)
• leading a marketing team of creative and technical staff to implement those channels
• managing the upkeep of those channels
• gathering feedback on each channel of communication and adjusting marketing campaigns accordingly
• conducting market research to guide marketing strategy and explore new markets
• managing campaign budgets for cost-effective implementation of marketing strategy
• representing marketing team ideas in pricing and product placement strategy meetings with executives

''...they promote a business or its products and communicate with customers and users in as many relevant ways as they can.''

What great marketing managers do

1. Great marketing managers find profitability in new markets

Really valuable marketing managers are great at reading the current market environment and finding ways of creating new markets or finding market niches for new products that companies would like to introduce. They convince executives through market research and strong leadership of their marketing team that new products will be profitable in the new markets they and their team will forge. It is a trusted position executives rely upon to consistently produce profitable results. Companies accordingly reserve marketing manager jobs for a strategist they trust will understand how their goals fit into the market forces around them.

2. Great marketing managers know their products

Part of creating profitability is working closely with product development and research and design teams to know new products in and out. The most valuable marketing managers understand what wows people about a new product and what does not, which people are more receptive to those wow factors than others. They design campaigns that match a product’s benefits with the people who will most benefit from consuming it while making it seem appealing even to those who are either on the fence or not in the market for anything new.

3. Great marketing managers build trust

Another way of creating profitability is communicating to as many potential customers as possible, so great marketing managers are skilled public relations representatives. They become friendly with all the media outlets that reach their target markets and are savvy social media campaigners when needed. In essence they build trust between their company, product or line of products and the general public, and they specialize in forming relationships with new and unexpected marketplaces.

4. Great marketing managers are expert communicators

It goes without saying that great marketing managers are great communicators given that their primary function is to communicate to consumers about products, but it is worth mentioning how important internal communication is to being successful in the most demanding marketing manager jobs. They work with executives to craft product pricing strategies and form budgets and sales targets and then turn around and lead their marketing teams to form campaigns that meet those challenges. Cooperating with executives and leading a marketing team are very different and highly specialized skills that great marketing managers toggle between on a daily basis.

Typical day as a marketing manager

A marketing manager is always juggling multiple things at the same time that require completely different skills or people but connect in the end to serve a campaign.

They may start their day by meeting with the product development team to gather all the latest details on a product to help shape a current campaign or guide an upcoming one. Next they may go out of the office and conduct customer research to understand how people are using and purchasing a product. They may then share what they learned about the product in and out of the office with the creative team to help guide the advertisements and communications they draw up as well.

''...personal costs may be high in most marketing manager positions but they do not tend to go unrewarded in terms of salary, upward mobility, and creative outlet''

Feedback from creative may send them to another department to help the technical team to re-shape their application of digital communications and social media campaigns. An hour or two spent optimizing web pages and analyzing online traffic to inform paid online ads versus shepherding organic traffic may be in order.

From there a meeting with executives may be in order to discuss current campaign progress based on online traffic, feedback from customers and the marketing team. While meeting with executives they may be asked to weigh in on adjusting pricing strategies to meet targets within budgetary constraints. A new sales strategy or product launch initiated by executives may require a marketing manager to spend the rest of the day contacting media outlets to shore up or develop brand awareness. It may even require travel to different media centers or market hubs to do so.

If it seems like a lot in one day, extrapolate that into a week or a month to begin to understand the demands put on a typical marketing manager by an enterprising company.

 Marketing manager basic duties

Virtually all marketing manager jobs come with the following responsibilities.

• Trying out new marketing channels and exploring unestablished marketplaces
• Overseeing campaigns and redirecting them to follow market trends
• Developing various marketing materials and creative ways to promote new products
• Driving social media campaigns and strategy
• Cultivating productive partnerships with outside entities in business and media
• Maintaining online presence through SEO and site optimization
• Performing market research and analyzing customer response to campaigns
• Running marketing campaigns within budget
• Lead creative and technical teams to create and drive marketing campaigns
• Improving or maintaining brand/company identity and reputation
• Communicating to internal departments and executives to align company practices to marketing strategies

How to become a marketing manager?

Now that you know what a marketing manager does, read on to find out how to get a job as a marketing manager. Learn about the education, work experience and top skills required to become a marketing manager.

Marketing manager job requirements

Education

A bachelor’s degree is a basic requirement for almost all employers. Marketing or communications are the most desired degree fields, but other related fields such as graphic design, public relations and business-related fields are also commonly accepted. Master’s degree is required in managerial positions in some companies and will typically be expected to be in marketing or business management related fields.

Experience

A minimum of four years experience is required for marketing manager positions in smaller companies and can go as high as a minimum of ten years for positions in larger companies. Ultimately, experience is the most important requirement. It can outweigh educational requirements, even having a bachelor’s degree, if the experience is extensive enough. Marketing managers have to learn quite a bit on the job, whether it’s marketing software, web management systems, the specifics of a new product, or a company’s brand identity. An employee with a lot of experience learning those elements of a company is an attractive candidate no matter how much education they have under their belt.

Skills

No matter the size of the organization, it expects its marketing managers to have a specific set of technical and soft skills. Those skills include: knowing established and emerging marketing trends, communication, interpersonal skills, budgeting, team leadership and strategic management, digital marketing (Google analytics, Google AdWords, SEO, social media, UX and website optimization), time management, and creative thinking.

''U.S. News and World Report’s Money section ranks marketing manager at #1 in best sales and marketing jobs, #15 in best paying jobs and #45 on their overall 100 best jobs list...''

Ideal marketing manager resume

The ideal marketing manager resume lists at least 10 years experience in marketing and at least a bachelor’s degree in marketing or a PR/communications related field. A smaller business or start-up may accept between 2-5 years experience and be prepared to mold a candidate into their product lines, brand identity, systems and procedures more readily than a larger company or corporation.

A high quality marketing manager resume like this should earn an interview with a hiring company. This is the candidate's opportunity to add details about their experience that their resume may not reveal. Demonstrable and valuable experience is just that important in the marketing manager hiring process, as is finding a way to communicate the top marketing manager skills highlighted in this article.

Marketing manager salary

Because marketing manager is a highly specialized position requiring a diverse skill set and executive level status, marketing manager salary is typically quite high. This is more true in larger organizations and corporations than in smaller businesses. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) lists the median annual marketing manager salary at $136,850. They cite a 6% job outlook for growth between 2019-2029, a faster than average rate of growth.

Is marketing manager the right job for me?

It is undoubtedly a demanding position that often requires 40+ hour work weeks with the possibility of frequent travel to conduct market research and outreach to regional and national media outlets. Because executives rely on marketing managers for dependable informed analysis of market trends, customer satisfaction, and profitable marketing campaigns, marketing manager can be a high-pressure and highly demanding position.

The upside of the high pressure and long hours (besides the high salary!) is the space to be a creative leader, problem solver, and communicator and to use the latest technologies to do so. Here are some reviews and advice from real marketing managers that discuss the benefits of such a creative work environment.

''Technology is unleashing new levels of creativity for marketers and enabling connections with people that we couldn't have even imagined years ago.''

''It's an exciting profession that allows you to unleash your potential and pursue your passions in ways you never thought possible. ''

Also, U.S. News and World Report’s Money section ranks marketing manager at #1 in best sales and marketing jobs, #15 in best paying jobs and #45 on their overall 100 best jobs list. They also identify upward mobility in marketing manager positions to be above average with high probability of advancement and higher salary.

The personal costs may be high in most marketing manager positions but they do not tend to go unrewarded in terms of salary, upward mobility, and creative outlet.

Top marketing manager skills

Know marketing trends and channels - fluent in traditional marketing channels and adept at seeking out new and emerging ones, a marketing manager must be able to research and analyze market trends to find the right niche for their product campaigns

Communication and interpersonal skills - excellent written and verbal skills to promote brand identity to customers and media, the finesse needed to form relationships with marketing teams who create campaigns, the persuasive ability to pitch ideas to executives or external clients, and the cooperative skills necessary to formulate the right value proposition with executives to promote a product

Budgeting - create promotional campaigns, conduct market research, purchase online ads and strengthen social media campaigns within a planned promotional period all within an allotted budget

Team leadership - lead a team of creative writers and designers and a technical team of IT and social media professionals to reach specific markets and forge in to new and emerging ones in a competitive and profit-driven environment

Strategic management and planning - identifying trends and challenges in marketplaces and analyzing their fit for the demographics and pricing targets of a given product as a tool to produce a multi-channel campaign to promote products and and strengthen brand identity

Digital marketing - analytics certification or comfortable knowledge of Google analytics, Google AdWords, SEO, social media campaigning, marketing data visualization, UX and website optimization as well as adaptability to different marketing software employed by companies

Time management - managing the different elements and channels in a marketing campaign at the same time and figuring out which aspects require more attention and at what times

Creative thinking - using market research and a creative team to set a product or a company apart from competitors in order to reach customers in emerging or highly competitive markets in novel ways that build brand identity and company reputation

Similar or related job titles

• Marketing director
• Digital marketing manager
• Market research analyst
• Sales manager
• Financial manager
• PR and fundraising manager
• Advertising manager
• Product marketing manager