What Is a Marketing Manager? How to Become One, Salary, Skills.

Marketing managers handle the strategy, content creation, budgeting and collaboration involved in developing marketing campaigns. Marketing managers may also oversee a team of marketers who use their specialties to execute campaign requirements. Here’s what to know about a marketing manager’s salary, needed skills and how to become one.

What Is a Marketing Manager?

Marketing managers are responsible for establishing and maintaining a company’s marketing strategies and campaigns. Marketing managers can be found across industries and work in a variety of mediums ranging from digital to print to media. The main objective of marketing managers is to spread awareness of their brand’s products or services and grow the customer base.

What Do Marketing Managers Do?

Marketing managers work closely with a team of marketers to help develop marketing strategies, create content and measure marketing performance metrics.

Marketing Manager Responsibilities

• Create and manage marketing campaigns for their company or organization. 
• Create campaigns across digital platforms as well as print and media campaigns.
• DeveIop and implement various marketing strategies. 
• Collaborate with other departments, including product development, sales and customer service. 
• Measure marketing performance metrics and report findings to leadership.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities of Marketing Manager 

• Collaborate, manage and coordinate marketing staff.
• Conduct market research to identify current trends of products and services. 
• Create and manage ad campaigns. 
• Monitor performance metrics of current campaigns. 
• Work with the marketing team to continue to develop strategies for new and ongoing campaigns.

 Marketing Manager Within a Company

Marketing managers are typically mid-level roles within a company’s marketing department. This role may report to a senior marketing manager, director of marketing or VP of marketing. Although they are often individual contributors, sometimes they manage direct reports. They may work closely with sales and product teams to establish marketing strategies and track the success of campaigns. 

Importance of Marketing Manager

Marketing managers are essential to a company’s growth strategy, as they help run advertising campaigns and develop and manage content creation, promotions and social media.

What Skills Are Needed to Be a Marketing Manager?

Qualifications to Be a Marketing Manager

• Understanding of marketing best practices.
• Ability to manage multiple projects within budget.
• Familiarity with market research practices and tools.
• Familiarity with the latest marketing tools and software.

 Marketing Manager Prerequisites

• Marketing managers often have a bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, public relations or a related field. 
• Strong portfolio of past marketing campaigns, including but not limited to paid ads and search, market research and SEO writing.

Marketing Manager Hard Skills

• Market research. 
• Writing skills.
• Basic SEO skills.
• Basic design skills. 
• Data analytics. 
• PPC advertising.

Marketing Manager Soft Skills

• Communication and presentation skills. 
• Time management skills.
• Collaboration and teamwork skills. 
• Creative thinking and problem solving skills.

Tools and Programs Marketing Manager Use

• Google Analytics
• Hootsuite
• Ahrefs
• Salesforce
• Microsoft Dynamics
• MailChimp
• HotJar
• Optimizely
• Canva

How to Become a Marketing Manager

Marketing Manager Education and Experience

Marketing manager positions usually require a bachelor’s degree in marketing or a related field. Besides earning a degree, having a portfolio and previous marketing experience is essential to becoming a successful marketing manager. Building a portfolio of ad campaigns, SEO writing and social media experience is an important step for an aspiring marketing manager. 

Marketing Manager Certificates and Courses

• Content Marketing Courses & Webinars to Know
• Digital Marketing Accelerator
• Meta Marketing Analytics
• Digital Marketing Strategies: Data, Automation, AI & Analytics
• Digital Marketing Certification

Marketing Manager Career Path

Many marketers use internships as the first step in their career. After that, they may take on roles such as marketing associate, marketing coordinator or marketing manager. Some marketing managers may go on to become a senior marketing manager, director of marketing or VP of marketing. 

Marketing Manager Salary and Job Outlook

The outlook for professionals working in digital marketing is promising. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that there will be an average of 35,000 marketing jobs open each year from 2021 to 2031.

The full compensation package for a marketing manager depends on a variety of factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s experience and geographic location. See below for detailed information on the average marketing manager’s salary.