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Marketing Manager

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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.

A day in the life of a marketing manager WFH in tech. Video: Angel Zheng

 

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
Find out who's hiring.
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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

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.

How do you become a marketing manager?

In addition to a bachelor’s degree and marketing certifications, marketing managers require several years of working experience to be successful in their careers.

To be considered qualified for a marketing manager role, marketing professionals should begin by strengthening their educational background. A bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications or another related field will prepare candidates for their future responsibilities with courses that teach how to conduct research, build ideal customer profiles and perform other essential marketing tasks. Furthering one's education by earning a marketing certification from providers like Udacity can reinforce this knowledge and strengthen the resume of graduates looking to breaking into the marketing field.

Before reaching the marketing manager position, candidates will need to accumulate several years of experience in the marketing field. Entering the industry as a marketing associate, junior copywriter or another entry-level role will provide professionals with exposure to common marketing demands and allow them to develop their skills in the most productive manner possible. From here, volunteering to lead projects and developing strong people management can provide candidates with the managerial know-how required to successful lead a team.

What is the salary of a marketing manager?

Marketing managers play a critical role in the success of organizations across industries and earn an average base salary of $88,850 in the U.S. as of 2022.

According to Built In, a marketing manager’s average base salary in the U.S. is $88,850 as of 2022. Marketing managers in the United States also earn an average of $7,777 in additional cash compensation, raising their average total compensation to $96,627.  Those who exceed expectations have the potential to earn as much as $210K with the right blend of experience, skill set and proven results.

What skills does a marketing manager need?

Marketing managers must pair an expert-level, well-rounded marketing skill set with strong leadership and collaboration abilities.

By building out their education and gaining work experience, marketing managers will develop a versatile marketing skill set that they will be put to work in a marketing manager role. Strong copywriting, digital marketing, market research, interactive marketing and content marketing abilities are just a few of the many skills that marketing managers will be required to have an expert's knowledge of. A deep understanding of customer needs and SEO principles are also two top marketing skills that marketing managers should have at the ready when beginning any project.

Additionally, the marketing manager position requires a great deal of both cross-team collaboration and time spent guiding team members through the requirements of a project. Marketing managers must feel confident in their ability to determine workflows and coordinate with internal and external partners to make best use of the resources their company has at their disposal. Quick-but-informed decision-making is crucial for keeping marketing campaigns on schedule and budget while avoiding analysis paralysis so marketing activations can be executed and evaluated in a timely manner By being communicative and decisive, marketing managers can become essential not just in the marketing department but across the entire organization.

Courses

Expand Your Marketing Manager Career Opportunities

Raise your marketing skill set to the next level by completing Udemy’s online marketing courses.

Udemy

If you want to be a business owner or a corporate executive whose job involves business decisions, then you will certainly need to master three fundamental disciplines:

  • Business Strategy   

Udemy

Learn how to write the perfect plan in 4 minutes, then explore it in approximately one hour. 8 other short lectures approximately 7 minutes each lecture. The SOSTAC® Planning framework was voted in the Top 3 Business Models in the world by the…

Udemy

Learn how to write the perfect plan in 4 minutes, then explore it in approximately one hour. 8 other short lectures approximately 7 minutes each lecture. The SOSTAC® Planning framework was voted in the Top 3 Business Models in the world by the…

Udemy

5 Step Marketing Plan to Get More Customers, Referrals & Make More Money - A Winning Marketing and Sales Strategy for Small Business.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a startup/small business owner is to not have a…

Certifications

Marketing Manager Certifications + Programs

Build a foundation for the next phase of your career by securing marketing certifications through Udacity.

This digital marketing course is designed for students with a range of professional experiences — including beginners. You’ll take a deep dive into the essential channels and tactics behind effective campaigns. Get hands-on experience with social media, search strategy, conversion optimization, Google Analytics, and more.

You will concentrate on the most important tools for executing digital marketing strategies on the job. The program’s content is curated by the General Assembly digital marketing advisory board so that you are able to meet the evolving employer demands of a digital marketer. 

 

What you'll accomplish

This course will equip you with the skills you need to be a productive and effective marketer and keep pace with an evolving digital landscape. You’ll learn current tools and best practices to drive sales leads, boost customer engagement, and help your brand stand out in a crowded market. Throughout this expert-designed program, you’ll:

  • Use a full arsenal of digital marketing tools, including Google AdWords and Facebook.
  • Design and execute comprehensive marketing plans through channels such as social media, search, email, and paid advertising.
  • Execute marketing strategy that’s powered by data and customer insight.
  • Measure and optimize performance for campaign success using Google Analytics.
  • Apply what you’ve learned to create a portfolio project: an end-to-end campaign that addresses a real-world growth problem.

 

Why General Assembly

Since 2011, General Assembly has graduated more than 40,000 students worldwide from the full time & part time courses. During the 2020 hiring shutdown, GA's students, instructors, and career coaches never lost focus, and the KPMG-validated numbers in their Outcomes report reflect it. *For students who graduated in 2020 — the peak of the pandemic — 74.4% of those who participated in GA's full-time Career Services program landed jobs within six months of graduation. General Assembly is proud of their grads + teams' relentless dedication and to see those numbers rising. Download the report here.

 

Your next step? Submit an application to talk to the General Assembly Admissions team


 

Note: reviews are referenced from Career Karma - https://careerkarma.com/schools/general-assembly

 

Udacity
Beginner
3 months
10 hours

In this program, you’ll learn foundational data skills, gain an in-depth understanding of Google Analytics and marketing analytics. You’ll learn to analyze data and build models with Excel, Data Studio, and create informative data visualizations with Tableau.

Udacity
Beginner
3 months
10 hours

Learn to create marketing content, use social media to amplify your message, make content discoverable in search, run ad campaigns and advertise on Facebook. Additionally, learn how display and video ads work and how to market with email, and measure and optimize with Google Analytics.

Udacity
Beginner
3 months
10 hours
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